Thursday Media Review: Stellaris

Written By TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following review may contain spoilers to the game itself.









Space: the final frontier; These are the geopolitical and expansionistic voyages of the Not Imperium of Man. Its ongoing mission, to purge dangerous Xenos, to seek out all threats in the name of the God-Emperor, to boldly Exterminatus like no one has done before…

No, it’s not a poorly written Star Wars and 40k Crossover; it’s a popular Paradox game called Stellaris. Released on May 9th, 2016, and released in 2019 for the consoles, lastly on the Xbox Series X/S in 2021. It’s a 4x Strategy game similar to those like the Civilization series. (it was inspired by games like Master of Orion 2 and Star Control 2, according to Director Henrik Fahraeus). So does this game stack up to those kinds of games? Well, that’s what ya boy’s here to do: Let’s jump into light speed and get into Stellaris.



Gameplay

Stellaris isn’t a game with a default story, as YOU get to make the story in the gameplay. You have a choice of several premade empires to play. However, suppose you’re adventurous, a role-player, or someone who loves other sci-fi races. In that case, you can build your own alien races from the various stocks. Regardless of what you do with your empire, the objective of the game is simple: Become the supreme power in the galaxy while surviving the various threats the game will throw at you, such as dreaded leviathans, rival empires, vengeful fallen empires, catastrophes, space pirates, and even marauders led by great kahns. Luckily, your empire (built or created) has unique abilities to help you out. Maybe your species are very hearty at gathering resources, your government’s ethics giving you better upkeeps. Perhaps your origin providing you with an edge like having your own personal gateway in your system, Or maybe you’re just a space version of Skynet wanting to purge meat bags. In Stellaris, there’s more to the game than colonizing worlds, expanding your empire, and crushing your enemies. There is a galactic political aspect to the game too. You’ll have to please your empire’s political parties or galactic neighbors—things like how you treat pre-spacefaring civilizations, planetary refugees, or liberating slaves. So be careful if you’re the kind who runs xeno-slave rings or just an outright douchebag. Cuz it can lead you to be blocked off through border closing or even having a war at your doorstep. You have resource management as well, as your empire needs to be happy. Resources like Ammenties are required to ensure your workers can afford to work. You need jobs to ensure things like consumer goods or law enforcement to ensure crime can’t thrive. By the near end of the game, you’ll deal with a mechanic called a Crisis, which is something that’ll wipe everyone out if no one is careful or prepared. Depending on the whole galaxy is your plaything or battleground, you can make it a utopia or constant warfare.


Galactic Wonders: What makes the Game good

Stellaris has many impressive features that folks will enjoy. One such thing that the gameplay is variable but can be customizable to fit whatever you or other players will like. Maybe you don’t want marauders in this galaxy or make things harder with fewer hyperlanes or other items. Sure, you can’t get achievements if you play it this way, but it’s something impressive. The second thing that the game has a TON of content. Some of the newest content provides new gameplay and even new empires. For example, Synthetic Dawn introduces Mechanical empires into the mix, and Lithoids give you Rock aliens to play. Megacorp introduces the ability to play Megacorporation Empire, which lets you build branch offices (or criminal undergrounds) in some empires. Lastly, Nemesis’s latest expansion not only introduces espionage but allows you to BE the endgame crisis. The final and personal favorite thing in this is that the game has a thriving modding community. Usually, ya boy isn’t fond of needing mods to experience a game, but Stellaris makes having mods enjoyable. Some of them are cosmetic or add a feature into the game. One such mod I could suggest is NSC2. It’s a mod that provides a TON of quality of life features, new ships, buildings, and other cool features that makes playing a bit easier and less tedious. Another mod that makes things enjoyable (and realistic) is Planetary Diversity. It’s a mod that fills your galaxy with various planetary biomes like Tidal-locked worlds, primal worlds, and even the strange luminous worlds. Whatever you want in your Stellaris game, there’s a mod for it.


Black Holes: What the game lacks

Though the game is good, some problems can be a buzzkill while playing. One such is that though the game is fun, it’s very complicated due to all the various things to manage. Things like managing Empire Sprawl, so you don’t go over, ensuring your empire upkeep doesn’t produce deficits. Ordering your envoys for empires and even keeping an eye out on planet populations. Those things can lead to people feel intimidated when playing the game for the first time. Another problem with Stellaris is that the multiplayer setup can be a pain. Sure, you can play against AI empires; it’s the player empires that work. The issue is that the constant content and DLC in the game means that some people will have to get the content and DLC needed. Meaning if someone doesn’t have any content, they won’t be able to join the session. The last thing that can be a pain and a turn-off is this: The game has a TON of content. Sure it’s nice and all, but sometimes it can be overwhelming to experience the entire game itself. So picking and choosing each DLC can be a pain in the wallet if you want ALL The content. Luckily, the developers have made some packs available in bundles.



Star surprises

Some may not have noticed, but Stellaris has several easter eggs found throughout the game. One example is Warhammer 40k, as you have things like the Gene Seed Purification technology and the Devouring Swarm government for hiveminds. You even have references from the likes of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy and some references from Sid Meir’s Alpha Centauri. There are so many things linked, but the link here will explain the whole thing here.

Galactic ambition: Should you get this game?

In conclusion to my review of Stellaris, I’d say that it’s a game that’s not your mother’s Civilization or Red Alert. Suppose you like to play games that involve heavy micromanagement with a sci-fi twist, or you’re just a 40k Fanboy who wants to be the God-Emperor of your own Imperium. In that case, I’d suggest you get this game and enjoy it. Ya Boy enjoys this game and uses it to help with worldbuilding his empires for his stories.

Links used

Tuesday Mumbles: Vaccine Briberies

Written By TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following is based on my own opinion. So do not take it too personally if you dislike them.








Happy Tuesday everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here.
Everybody’s been getting shots so far some have both and some have their first. Though what gets ya boy curious is how some are still refusing to get these shots.
So what do states do to get these people to get their shots? Well..as I shown here, some of them are going the rout of essentially bribing folks.


How are states doing this? Well..you have your classical things like payments, even weird things like lottery ticket drawings for a million dollars to things like free beer once we reach to normalcy. Free donuts or even hotwings for those that get their vaccine.


Now, ya boy is someone who doesn’t mind a free beer or food for those who get their first/second shot, that’s something okay. Doctors give kids a lollipop or toy for being good. However, high monetary value?! Eeeh, that’s something that’s an extremely dangerous game that ya boy thinks is very sus.

If you have to bribe people with money to get a shot…that’s going to lead to people only doing it to get free handouts and some may try to scam stuff to get extra money. Folks can become real world Warios the moment they could grease their hands with money. What makes it worse is that some folks can get scammed as they chase this little pocket of gold.

Now for things like food, beer or something that isn’t cash or value can be something of a good incentive to help people out. I could maybe suggest things like discounts on groceries or even a big mac would be something that could be. However, even I suspect that could be abused. It almost feels like ya boy doesn’t know what he’s talking about or even know any true answer.

Though some folks, including ya boy’s grandmother, said that it may be a good incentive to get people to get the shot (even if it means paying people.)

I do respect her wish, but it just doesn’t feel right to pay someone just to get a shot. Feels a bit mercenary. As I said, I would rather stick to either free food or discounts for things like that or groceries could be something of a bit more of value that doesn’t feel wrong.

Though, in my honest opinion, having to use any incentive for something like a shot shouldn’t be be something to get a shot to begin with.

Does ya boy know what the right answer is? I don’t know, but as my grandmother told me, “If it gets folks their shot and gets us back to normal? Then Let them.”

Monster Hunter Rise Armor Review: Starting Armor

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Happy Friday everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here and got ourselves a new armor set for Monster Hunter Rise. However this time, it’s an armor set that was found online and was something ya boy played while he played the game for the first time. This armor was created by Youtuber DuncanCantDie, and can be viewed right below here.




The armor set it simple set for both rookies and advances which gives you some good attack and critical strike chances which gets some good power itself. A lot of the parts can be found from some of the easiest monsters are made from like the Great Izuchi, Great Baggi and Jaggi monsters to build your armor set. Duncan also mentioned that the set can benefit from the Kulu-Ya-Ku chestpiece which gives Horn Maestro for you Hunting Horn mains who want to get power for being a bard. However, ya boy also can recommend that the set benefits immensely from weapons with good affinity and can boost the damage output of any weapon too. This makes the armor set very flexible with whatever you feel comfortable with and can help new players figure out their mains. However, though the set can help you out early on, it has one problem when it comes to the set. It can only carry you so far once you get to High Rank, then you’re basically having to search for a new armor. So don’t go too crazy with sinking orbs if you’re expecting to be carries by this set for. Also, the set lacks any defense so don’t get too crazy when it comes to offensive fighting.

So let’s do a brief recap of the set in general.





Pro

  • Parts can be built from early monsters found in Village/Low Rank quests
  • Set is very friendly with any weapon choices whatsoever thanks to the high attack and affinity.
  • Flexible with Hunting Horn Mains with the Kulu Chest piece
  • Can carry the user up to High Rank.

Cons

  • Armor is useless beyond High Rank
  • Set lacks any defensive boosts





Links Used

DuncanCantDie

Tuesday Mumbles: Lolicons

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following is based on my own opinions and not made to be offensive to anyone. So don’t take it personal if I take a jab at you.

Happy Tuesday everyone, it’s Ya boy Choujin here.

Let’s be truthful, everyone likes anime and some people have tastes. However there’s something that gets ya boy going “WTF Bruv.”

and that, is something called Lolicon.









Some are looking at me and going, “What do you have against Lolicons” or some are going “What is Lolicon”

To summarize it (as you can go to Wikipedia here) it’s basically a genere of anime involving pre-pubescent girls (there’s a boy version called Shotacon). To be explanation, there’s no problem with anime involving children but ya boy draws the line when they start doing crap like sexualizing this crap. Ya you heard me, ya boy isn’t into that crap. I don’t mind certain animes that involve adults, but not children. I don’t give a bloody crap if she’s some 2000 year old dragon, some android, demon or some paranormal creature. If it looks like a kid or something, I’m going the other way and probably gonna be torching it!


By now, there may be someone who will go out of their way to play some apologist crap like “You just hate sex” or “But I play violent games and it doesn’t make me into a murderer, so why do you hate Lolicon or assume that I’m into kids” thing. There’s also my personal favorite defense “But they’re not real, so it’s okay for me to have a body pillow of that.”

Oh, so ya boy’s going to let you be normal and just let you be to your weird crap that would get Chris Hansen at your door?













I don’t play that crap, I don’t want to do with lolicon and in your own opinion, whoever thought it would be great to “lewd” them should be burned with a flamethrower like a Xenomorph nest!


Now again, I have no problem with children characters or cute things. However, ya boy draws the line when it comes to sexualizing that crap. And to those who play apologist to this through every defense you play? Well then…


Note: Youtube Clips used belong to their rightful owners and credit to the uploaders

  • In Living Color
  • Team Fortress 2

Friday Fan-Work: Don’t try this at Home+ Twitch Channel announcement

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Hi everyone, Happy Friday and it’s ya boy again.

First off, we got ourselves a bit of announcement: We got ourselves a twitch stream and channel set-up. If you’re curious of the schedule. Here’s the schedule

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday starting at 5pm. And on Friday starting at 8pm (both PST.) So if you’re curious in seeing ya boy doing some gaming, go right ahead and take a peek.

And another thing, today’s writing a piece of work I’ve had to do for my English Writing class. Something that tells a bit of my actual childhood. So with that, sit back, relax and enjoy this piece of work.

“

Don’t this at home,” these sage words have always been something everyone has heard throughout their entire lives. It’s to ensure that nobody does something stupid just because they saw something on T.V. How did this happen to me? Did I copy a stunt that got me hurt? Did it see something that resulted in damage to the house? Well then, let’s start this whole story from the start.

            In 1994, when I was just a wee little tyke of five years old, I used to watch a child’s show called Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, a show that I’m sure you’re familiar with and doesn’t need any introduction. I used to watch it with my mother and bought small diecast models of the characters and cars. I remembered playing on the floor with those toys, doing some reenactments of the episodes I’ve seen. Sometimes it would be inside the house and sometimes outside. As a child, everywhere was a potential story, and I loved it that way so. However, one day, I watched an episode of the show, and it gave me an idea that, looking back, made me wonder why I thought it was a good idea.

            I just watched an episode of Thomas. The titular protagonist finds himself crashing into a snowdrift and cannot escape because of it. A tractor named Terrence rescues Thomas from the snowdrift, and the both of them have a happy ending and a moral lesson. I thought it was a fun episode that I wanted to reenact for a while with my toys. The issue was that it was hard for me to find something close to snow. A five-year-old’s imagination can only go so far with sand, rocks, and even lego blocks. None of which fit that snowy look that I was looking for. Then in one sudden moment, I remembered one thing that was even remotely close to snow: flour.

            My child-like imagination clicked that last part one morning as I walked into the kitchen and carried off with a large container of flour to my play area. It was heavy for me, as I had to find a way to hold it, but I somehow managed to move and carry it off. The next part was then pouring it into a pile, and the rest played on its own. I could reenact the entire scene as I crash my diecast toys into it, as though the flour pile was a real snowdrift the trains were stuck in. It was oh so fun, and I had the best playtime of my life until my mother and grandmother walked into the room. I remembered hearing one of them yelling,  “WHY IS THERE FLOUR ON THE FLOOR?”

When a child hears their full name said all at once, that means one fudged up big time and that they’re going to get a whupping; however, I resorted to saying these words that any child would say when caught in this kind of situation:

“But I saw it on Thomas the Tank Engine.”

Those particular words that came out of my mouth did something different that I never anticipated. Instead of receiving a spanking, my mother began to laugh as this revelation was the funniest thing she’s ever heard before. I took the flour and spilled it on the floor so I could be able to reenact that one scene I saw on Thomas. However, my grandmother wasn’t too fond of it as she had to clean up the mess that I created. Not only that but I basically wasted the entire supply of flour so she had to buy new flour to replace that. Like the character in my show, I learned a valuable lesson that day about wanting to copy what I see.

Looking back at it now, I had to admit it was a funny but stupid moment of my life. Though I also take it easy on myself since I was a child and I didn’t know any better. Years afterward, I never copied that stunt ever again, and over time, I outgrew that part of my childhood. I still have the diecasts as mementos of my childhood. Also, they’re pretty rare as most of them are now just plastics or wooden stuff so I couldn’t bear to donate them today. I do recollect that moment of her laughing at my stunt; both my grandmother and I reminisce with that, one of the better memories of my mother as she’s no longer here. However, on the subject of what happened to my mother? Well, that’s a story for another time.

Don’t Try This At HomeDownload

Monster Hunter Rise Armor Review: Blaster Master

Written by TheChoujinVirus


Happy Friday everyone. It’s ya boy Choujin here with an interesting new set he created. Usually, I’ve always been a person who prefers some explosive damage and that’s why ya boy loved weapons with explosive damage like the Gunlance, Switch Axe and Charge Blade. However, ya boy needs something that provides some explosive damage but also some surviability so I don’t get myself cudgled just because I want to give them the old Explosive Stake to the Monster’s prostate. Hence the introduction of the set: The Blaster Master as I call it.

Any Gunlance (Though ya boy finds that Normal or Wide to being a bit better)
Basarios Helm S
Rhenoplos Mail S
Rhenoplos Bracers S
Uroktor Coil S
Basarios Greaves S
Fortitude Petalace III
Talisman With Defense Boost and Speed Sharpening.

Recommended Decorations: Medicine Jewel 2 x3
Grinder Jewel x2

The core aspect of the set is to take advantage of two basis: Artillery and Load Shells. Artillery helps boost the damage of not just Gunlance Shells but also Phial damage of the Charge Blade so you got yourself a two for one deal of damage. Load Shells helps by boosting your shell and phial capacity so you always have one more shell than usual. For example, a Normal Shell Gunlance has six artillery shells that can be used. Load Shells boosts that to a whopping 7. That’s seven shells that’ll rip through monster hides. Also, Artillery helps boost the power of the Wyvern Fire, a signature move of the Gunlance. It also reduces its cooldown greatly, allowing multiple usage of it in a short timespan.

The Set also provides slots to provide versatility on what you’re looking for. Ya boy suggests that you put some Grinder and Medicine decorations to give yourself Speed Sharpening (your Gunlance will lose sharpness using those shells) and/or Recovery Up (more health recovered from healing items). Alongside the Fortitude Petalace, you’ll have more protection when dealing with monsters and trust me, you’ll need to get up close to blast them in the head. In some hunts, you need survival to keep yourself from being hurt badly.

Though as the set provides some basis for Gunlance and Charge Blades, it does have alot of problems that may make it not a good set. One thing is that the set is ONLY made for those two weapons. If Gunlances and Charge Blades are not your thing, you’ll find yourself with a set that won’t benefit other weapons. The second is that the materials to get them do require you to have to fight and hunt high ranked monsters, so sadly you can’t get them from the village or low rank. Lastly, you need a talisman with at minimum, a lvl 1 Defense Boost. The set does need that fortitude to survive in order to outlast tougher enemies and get that Elemental Resistance as well that is needed. Also, though you could use any gunlance, Normal or Wide are kind of what the set needs.

To summarize the set’s strengths and weaknesses
Pros:

  • Increases the Damage and Capacity of Gunlances and Charge Blades
  • Decoration Slots allow tailoring if needed
  • Defense Boost and Recovery Up allow survivability against tough enemies
  • Speed Sharpening helps with keeping sharpness up on Gunlances
  • increases the damage and reduces the cooldown on Wyvern Fire

    Cons:
  • Requires High Rank monster materials
  • Set doesn’t compliment other weapons.
  • Requires specific talisman.
  • May requires specific Gunlances to be used at a full efficiency

The set is a fun little thing if you want to put the boom in your literal boomstick or wanting your pizza slicer of a Charge Blade to cut a pizza slice out of a Diablos. If you’re into that, then the Blaster Master is one thing you’ll enjoy immensely.

Tuesday Mumbles: Relationship Issues

Written By TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following is based on my own opinions, so do not take any offense to this if it hits a nerve.

Hey everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin. With this pandemic situation going away and attempting to go back to normal, but something got ya boy hit hard. Apparently one of his real life friends got himself in one hell of a situation of a relationship problem. Ya boy’s not gonna be that person who will babble on his friend’s problem. Ya Boy understands the wise words of a certain person. However, ya boy’s seen this stuff from time to time and gets me a bit annoyed.


The first thing I have to admit is why the heck do some people always seem to argue so negatively over the basis of their break-ups? Some i’ve seen always bitch about their partner’s flaws or problems while at the same time they don’t see their own problems in the mirror. I mean, sure, ya boyfriend can be a drunken asshole but maybe try to intervene or keep an eye out on that situation but do nothing on it? To me, that makes it like you don’t care about your partner and let it get this bad. That’s like ignoring the fire in the room as the northern lights. Seriously….


Another thing I have to admit is that some people also seem to hold onto some bad relationships in either two unhealthy ways: They either hold onto the relationship in some hope that things will go back or they become vindictive of their former partner and somehow need some validation that they don’t need them. Now, the reason why ya boy is saying those things are unhealthy is that if you’re intending to move on from said bad relationship, you don’t need to take your frustration out on them let alone pining for them like a sad dog. If there’s a chance that they’ll come back to you, then you’d need to know without needing to validate it. It’s a pretty toxic thing that makes you look bad. Sometimes the best and healthy thing to do is to move on, regardless of the situation. After all, you can rebuild relationships if done right.


Lastly, the one thing that gets me annoyed with how some relationships can be broken is due to how one stupid little thing can be a catalyst to the whole situation. I mean seriously, you have so many problems that you all could have worked out and you let it fester and fester until one little incident ends up becoming the string that snaps the entire relationship? What the heck and why did you let it get that way? Also, what made you not think when you decided to do something. Whether it be one dumb action or poor choice of words, what made you do that shit?


Now, ya boy’s not someone who’s an expert on relationships (sadly, ya boy’s never been in one so I can’t comment on that.) However, my suggestion is that if you’re in tension and not in a break-up, I would suggest you get some couple’s therapy right away so you can figure out the problem and try to salvage the situation. If you love your partner, you would ensure that they remain happy. If the event happens and you’re broken up, all ya boy can tell you is that it takes time. Focus on improving yourself and ensuring it may never repeat again. Though this journey is something that requires time and something you have to deal on your own.


And that’s ya boy’s gripe bout the negative relationship issues. I’m not a man who’s in any relationships or been in one so I can’t really comment on experience, but I don’t like to see people suffer through these issues.

Monster Hunter Rise Armor Review: Gathering Sets

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Happy Thursday everyone, it’s ya Boy Choujin here. Today we’re going to be doing a change of pace with our usual broadcast to bring you a special: Armor reviews for Monster Hunter Rise. Some may be either found online, submitted by people playing the game or even those ya boy cooked up in the Bird’s Nest research labs (eat your heart out Honeydew!)

The first thing in the core of monster hunting has you doing besides just killing monsters is gathering resources like Minerals and plants. Sure you can go into your hunting gear and gather the sources but you may not be gathering as much as you can bring back during an expedition. What if I told you ya boy has an armor set that’s easy enough for you to make and can help gather as much rocks and plants to help you out on your future hunts?  It’s also pretty easy to build and focuses on two aspects you need: Geology and Botany. With that, let’s get our first review of ya boy’s first armor submission.


The first set is a default set uses the following

Chainmail Headgear (Botany 1, Defense Boost 1)
Melahoa Jacket (Botany 1, Recovery Up 1)
Chainmail gloves (Botany 1)
Melahoa Folia (Botany 1, Recovery Speed 1)
Leather Pants (Geologist 1)
any petalace
Breeze Talisman (Geologist lvl 2 )

The set is pretty easy to make and isn’t limited to any weapon. The Chainmail Headgear, Gloves and Leather Pants can be made with common low rank materials you can find like Iron Ore and Leather. The Melahoa pieces do require some items exclusively found in the Argosy trading hub in the Buddy area of the village. However, these sets will make gathering armor much easier through your low rank and some high rank areas as you’ll be able to harvest more things like ore, mushrooms, bones and herbs in one go.

Later on, once you unlock High Rank hunting, you’ll gain access to a high rank materials and thus you’ll gain stronger materials and some harder areas.  Here’s a High Rank variant that’ll help you out should you need it:

Chainmail Headgear S (Botany 1, Defense Boost 1)
Leather Vest S (Botany 1)
Chainmail Gloves S (Botany 1, Defense Boost 2)
Chainmail Belt S (Botany 1, Guard 1)
Leather Pants S (Geologist 1)
any Petalace
Breeze Talisman (Geologist lvl 2)

The armor here does have some protection and flexibility when it comes to the high rank perk should you gain some decorations to add some unique traits to help you out or implement more viable ways to cover the armor. Also, there are better substitutes that can fit the set such as replacing the Leather Vest S with a Rathian Mail S as it provides a Recovery Boost alongside Botany. This makes the high rank set a bit more sought after and with some guard bonuses can allow some monster hunting (though not against more dangerous foes).

Gathering Sets (Low and High Rank)

Pros:

  • Both Armors can be made easily and with materials early into the game
  • Allows more resource gathering from plant and ore nodes, thus making basic resources easier to find and saves money on needing to buy bowgun ammo or potions.
  • High Rank Gathering set can uses sockets to add more survival and versatility for more specific needs.

Cons:

  • Both not really fit with hunting monsters (Low Rank especially)
  • Low Rank Melahoa parts will require Argosy to gather
  • Requires a lvl 2 Geology talisman to gain the lvl 3 requirement from Leather Pants
  • Low Rank set is outshined by later High Rank set.



Does ya boy recommend them?

I’d say yes, though replace the low rank with high rank once you got the chance. Otherwise, the set’s a good way of getting more from the land than usual.

Do you like this set? Have your own set you want to share or a fun set found online? Then post on the comment section and you might see it be reviewed in the next Armor Review. Until then, you have a good one.

No Mumbles, but some updates

hey everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here.

For today, no mumbles will be this week but two things are going on.

first off, my adult education classes are now moving well so I hope I get to get that done.

Second, some may be wondering if Chapter 6 of Slayer of Foultongues is going to be made? Fear not, i’m working on chapter 6 as we speak so the story isn’t abandoned or dead.

Third, a change for Media Review Wednesday will be a special thing: MH Rise Armor Review. For those playing MH Rise, I’ll be submitting or reviewing MH rise armor sets

Finally, if I can get my stuff set up, Ya boy will be probably streaming on Twitch. If I can get some stuff ready and done, we can do some things set up and ready. Will this affect future projects, not really but it’ll broaden things out.

You have a good tuesday

(Late) Thursday Media Review: Monster Hunter Rise

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following review may contain spoilers to the game.







Monster Hunter, I’ve really gotten interested in since my first introduction with Monster Hunter Tri on the Nintendo Wii and the more recent Monster Hunter World and Iceborn. Though one game is released on the Nintendo Switch. Launched on March 26th of this year, Monster Hunter Rise is one game that everyone has been waiting for for a while. Does this game put a big expectation that World left? We’ll let’s do our review.

Story+Gamepay

The Story of Monster Hunter Rise has you being a recently graduated hunter sent to the village of Kamura. The town is being plagued with an event known as The Rampage, and even that transpires throughout the event. You are tasked with aiding the village in protecting them from this calamity while solving the mystery of the Rampage source.

Monster Hunter Rise’s gameplay has you using Kamura Village as your central hub for various things like crafting/upgrading your armor, buying/crafting tools, accessing special features like the Training room or the Argosy Trading post, and of course, accepting missions. Missions are the bread and butter of Monster Hunter Rise as they provide you resources and currency needed to progress your character. They can range from gathering quests to your typical slaying quests, and a lot are straightforward enough to learn. Complete the task without dying three times, running out of time, or failing a specific objective like letting the gate fall in a rampage.

Speaking of Rampages, the newest mode in Rise is Rampage missions. Unlike the usual missions here, Rampages are a tower defense mission in which you must protect the main gate of Kamura village from being busted down by invading monsters. You’re given various arsenals from ballistas, cannons, bombs, and even Gatling guns to repel the wave-like horde. Some missions may have you fighting a powerful leader called an Apex Monster, ridiculously stronger than any other leader or monster.

When you complete any quest, you’re given the reward of money and Kamura Points. You also gain resources like monsters such as claws, fangs, even oddities like mud, or even gems off the monsters. Those parts alongside the money rewards you acquire are vital for crafting the armor and weapons needed to help you move through. When it comes to weapons, you got a whopping fourteen weapons in Monster Hunter. The heavy-hitting Greatsword, the head-smacking Hammer, the long-ranged bowguns, the odd Hunting Horn and the speedy Dual Blades and Longsword. You have various weapons to hack, slash, shoot, impale, explode, vault, and crash.

But wait, there’s more to your tools and traps. Rise introduces you to two new things. The first is the Wirebug, a weapon that replaces the launcher and clutch claw from World. The Wirebug allows you to briefly fly into the air, sticks to walls, even can be used to hang in midair and swing about. Best of all, it can be used offensively with your weapons to unleash an excellent trait called Wyvern Riding. This allows you to mount a monster and control it like a puppet. It can help turn an unwelcome party crasher into a helpful weapon against your target or just to humorously smash its face into walls. The second is a new companion called the Palamute. This Dog-like companion is a partner for your hunter while going solo. Alongside your default cat-like Palico, the Palamute can serve as an offensive ally but also as a trusty steed to help you traverse the map fast to hunt monsters.

Between your new toys, you also have to deal with a menagerie of monsters out there. Some are saurian like the whip-tailed Great Izuchi, while others are odd, like the mud brushing Almurdon or ice slashing Goss Harag. However, nothing tops the series’s flagship, the ghostly but dangerous Magnamalo and its hellish powers that’ll put you to the test. You best bring your A-Game to the field because this monster will make the hunter the hunted. Whether it be in the abandoned Shrine Forests, the Sandy Plains, the Frozen Islands, or even in the volcanic caverns, it’s a battle between colossal monsters.

Hunting Prowess: What makes the game great

Rise brings plenty to the table. One such example is the Quality of Life features brought over from World. The barrier removal of allowing ranged weapons and melee weapons to one armor set over needing separate sets to function makes not needing two different sets for the job of hunting. Another feature is the ability to track monsters across the map. Older games had to require you to use a paintball to track your target and have skills that require you to know when it was about to die. Now you don’t need those skills to see where the monster is anytime, anywhere. The game is pretty stunning, and that’s thanks to the RE engine that runs the game. Thus, the game doesn’t need loading zones for each instanced area on the map as everything is seamless. The environments are also exciting places that make exploring, hunting, and gathering oh so impressive. The Forest Shrine and Flooded Forest give you a mix of two types of jungle vibes, with the Forest Shrine giving you an abandoned village motif and the forest a jungle ruin to explore. Other spaces like the Frozen Isles and Volcanic Caverns give you a very hostile environment to hunt and such. The hub of Kamura Village has a very Japanese vibe to the series that makes it a very good ascetic feeling throughout the game. The last personal favorite is the monsters, the bread, and butter of the franchise. Rise has the new monsters in the series, but you also have some returning favorites. Some like World’s Pukei-Pukei and Anjanath make their recent return in Rise. While fan favorites like the Mizutsune, Zinogre, Nargacuga, and Rajang also enter the roster of the series to test your prowess in hunting.

Quest Failed: What the game lacks.

Though Rise has some good parts, there’s plenty of lacking features in the game that you don’t see and are neglected. One such feature is that though some features do make a return from World, not all of them make a return. No more are the days of capturing endemic life to decorate your home are there, which I missed so well. Another problem is that most of the single-player story ends a bit early and doesn’t continue like World. Once you complete one part of the story in the village, the rest is continued in the Hub quest, which can confuse some folk upon completing the missions. One problem is that though some monsters have made it into the game, not all of them have, and it leaves some confusing parts. Examples are that though the Jagras, Zamites, and Jaggi lines are in, their larger counterparts did not. Not only that, but compared to the last Switch Monster Hunter game, the pool is lacking compared to each game and even compared to World. It’s a darn shame that the monster pools are minimal, but no subspecies are in the game. However, we may see it later on with the DLC.

Hunting Report

If a veteran or a beginner to the franchise, Rise is a good jumping point to get yourself into the game. With many improvements compared to World and its predecessors, Monster Hunter Rise is one such game that you will enjoy immensely by yourself or with allies online. Just remember that in life, there are monsters, and there are Monster Hunters.

References

The Following sources used