Sometimes Steam has these "free weekends" where you can play a game for free for a couple of days. This is the first time I've taken advantage of one of these. BACKGROUND:
Battlefield is one of those military-style shooters that I'm not really into, so I've not really touched the series apart from watching the odd stream here and there. FPS games in the style of Call of Duty and Counter Strike don't really appeal to me (the realistic military style doesn't exactly inspire a sense of excitement in me), but I'm always willing to give them a try if given the chance despite my indifference to them. PLOT: This game takes a novel approach to its campaign, as it's actually split into six standalone stories (quite literally called War Stories). It's like an anthology series, but in video game format. All these stories are set in WWI, and majority of them take inspiration from real-life events from the game (or at least spin a tale using specific historical facets of the war). I actually learned quite a lot about the real war looking up some of the details of each story; WWI isn't as prominent in the minds of people as WWII, so I think a piece of media like this that shows some of the history is neat. Each War Story has a unique protagonist, and you get to see the different events of the war in their perspective. Their stories range from harrowing (a British tank driver watching his team die one by one), tragic (an Italian shock trooper losing his brother despite successfully completing his mission), kinda adventurous (a duplicitous American lying his way into a Royal Air Force pilot position), and heroic (an Australian veteran staying back to face enemy forces to ensure his young apprentice escapes the assault). They all feel like short war movies, with all the drama, action, and bonds forged under fire that you can expect from similar stories. I really enjoyed this anthology approach to tackling WWI. Not only was each individual story engaging in some way, the fact that it covers many aspects of the war (including ones that I knew nothing about) made for a worthwhile learning experiences. Perhaps the only thing one could throw out as a criticism is the fact that the focus is exclusively on portraying the Allied Powers as undisputed good guys, but that's a whole can of worms I don't want to open here. PRESENTATION: Battlefield 1 is one of those games that boasts what I call "AAA graphics", and holy moly, does it look amazing. The level of realism is pretty impressive, with detailed textures, polished models, and lots of neat flourishes like with all the destructible elements and the particle effects. What I find doubly impressive is that this is a game that came out in 2016, and it can hang just fine with even the newest gen releases. Though the sound design leans more on ambient sounds and the more intense sound effects of combat (both of which are rather well done), the game does have a few music tracks that feel like they belong in epic scores to blockbuster movies. GAMEPLAY: As there were only a few days for the free trial, I primarily played the single player campaign and didn't mess around that much with multiplayer. I'll talk mainly about the former, but I'll comment on what little I checked out of the latter where I can. Battlefield 1 is, as established, a first person shooter. The basics are the same: shoot enemies, don't get shot yourself. The game has aspects taken from more modern FPS entries (like the regenerating health mechanic and weapon customization), but other than that, you'll be duking it out with (mostly) period-accurate firearms, grenades, and melee weapons. The guns range from bolt-action rifles, powerful snipers, machine guns, pistols, shotguns, and even a few silenced weapons. Explosives are more or less straightforward, with typical grenades, remote explosives, and even tripwire bombs. In addition to these, it's possible to use tools like poison gas, flamethrowers, and even artillery to lay waste to your enemies, but you only get to use such weaponry in multiplayer. In the campaign, that shit is almost used exclusively against you. The game also features a decent amount of vehicular combat, with tanks and planes taking the forefront. Controlling these vehicles takes some adjusting to, but they're simple to use otherwise. You can mow down infantry pretty easily with these things, but you're not invincible, as tools like field guns and anti-aircraft trucks can rinse you pretty quickly. It's also possible to repair your vehicle on the fly in the heat of battle to restore some HP, but doing so leaves you open to attack (since you can't shoot back). Multiplayer has access to more vehicles, like zeppelins, warships, and even armored trains. In the campaign, you take on a variety of objectives in order to progress the story. These range from capturing key points on the map, eliminating enemies or key installations, defending friendly units, and retrieving key items. This all takes place on a surprisingly open map, and there's a bit of freedom as to how to approach missions; do you go in guns blazing, or do you take advantage of stealth? In multiplayer, you have access to a small variety of modes. You have your standard Team Deathmatch, Conquest and Domination (which are capture-the-points modes), Rush (which is vaguely reminiscent of Counter Strike where attackers try to plant bombs on a site and defenders try to prevent that), and War Pigeons (an interesting spin on capture-the-flag where you fight over a messenger pigeon that can be used to signal an artillery strike). I didn't get time to play all of them, but based on what I've seen, they're mostly standard fare as far as FPS game modes go, and having staples like these is always nice. The one multiplayer mode I do want to highlight is Operations, which is a more time-consuming mode where the battle takes place across multiple maps (giving the feel of an actual war campaign). Attackers attempt to push through and capture all the maps while the defenders try to eliminate the enemy troops. I was really fascinated by this concept; most FPS game modes only take place in one map, so having a mode based around winning across multiple maps was a fresh idea to me. I wish I had time to complete a full round of it, though. Multiplayer has a bunch of features you don't have access to in the campaign. Aside from the aforementioned unique vehicles, you can only customize weapons and equip character classes in multiplayer modes. From what I can tell, these features are unlocked through grinding (the game has an XP system), though there's an option to fast-track progress with a concerningly expensive purchase. I also noticed that this game has a sort of loot box system, but as far as I can gather, these are simply earned through gameplay and not something you have to pay for gachapon-style. The game gives you a bunch of free ones at the start, so I tried opening one. Seems like you mostly earn cosmetic items like weapon skins and the like. It was quite worrisome to see something like this in the game, but it also seems like it's something that can be freely ignored. The game has a bunch of DLC packs that add new weapons, modes, and maps. The free trial actually grants access to said DLC, but sadly, none of them added anything for the single player modes. VERDICT: I can only really judge Battlefield 1 for its single player campaign, so in that regard, I can say that I enjoyed this game quite a lot. Gameplay-wise, it isn't anything I haven't seen before, but shooting feels mostly good, the vehicles are fun once you get the hang of them, and the single player missions have variety to them. The game is also impressive in terms of visuals and sound design, and I enjoyed the anthology approach to the story that shows you many different facets of WWI. As far as the multiplayer goes, the game offers the usual assortment of modes that interest me, which is all I could really ask for. Stuff like weapon upgrades and classes appear to be locked to a grind, however, so enjoying multiplayer to its fullest will take some time investment. Operations in particular was an interesting concept to me, and I wish I got to play more of it. Considering this is a five-year-old game at this point, however, I see little reason to pick it up just to invest time in the multiplayer (especially considering a new Battlefield game was just announced a couple of days ago). I don't know how this stacks up compared to the other Battlefield games (especially in terms of multiplayer), so I can't say for certain if this is the most recommended starting point for newcomers (and I certainly can't speak for veterans of the series on whether this is a standout entry in the franchise). All I can say is that if you're interested at all in the campaign mode and how it depicts WWI, I think it's a game worth checking out just for that (wait for a sale, though, because this game is still steep at full price). Here's the game on Steam: Battlefield 1 ™ on Steam (steampowered.com) - end -
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As of this writing, I've hit the 300 hour mark with my playtime in Monster Hunter Rise. Suffice to say, I got really into it. In fact, I got so into it that I took the time to learn every weapon in the game. I thought it'd be fun to run down my experiences with each weapon; I don't really do these list-type blog entries too much, and this seemed like the perfect topic to do a list on. Before I begin, I should establish that me having learned every weapon does not equate to complete mastery. As you may expect out of anybody who plays this game, I gravitate towards certain weapons more than others. That said, I did establish a couple of rules for myself wherein I can comfortably say that I at least understand the basics of each weapon:
As an added bonus, I added some pictures of my character posing with some of my go-to picks for each weapon. I even put in exactly what my build is in the image caption. I also leave a preference rating for each weapon at the end, based on the in-game Guild Card that lets you show other players which weapons you favor. The rating is between 1 to 3 stars, and my basis for each rating takes into account how much I enjoy playing the weapon and how comfortably I can clear hunts with it. With that out of the way, let's get to the actual list. Dual Blades![]() [Weapon: Reddnaught Dragon Wing (Ramp-Up: Valstrax Soul)] ; [Armor Set: Valstrax Helm (Dragonheart 1, Weakness Exploit 1) | Valstrax Mail (Dragonheart 1, Resuscitate 2) | Valstrax Braces (Dragonheart 1, Weakness Exploit 2) | Valstrax Coil (Dragonheart 1, Resuscitate 1, Resentment 2) | Valstrax Greaves (Dragonheart 1, Resentment 2)] ; [Talisman: Critical Eye 2] ; [Decorations: x3 Speed Sharpening, x3 Critical Boost, x5 Dragon Attack] This was the weapon I started the game with, and I exclusively played it until I beat Thunder Serpent Narwa. I didn't try any other weapons in-game when I first started and simply picked up Dual Blades immediately. I felt that its seeming unga bunga playstyle fit me well, and once I learned the other aspects of the game, I found myself consistently succeeding at hunts without putting much thought into anything other than watching the monster's patterns. Dual Blades don't seem to do much damage on hit, but it's made up for by the fact that it has incredibly fast attacks that you can chain together that'll rack up a ton of damage as you go along. There really isn't a lot of specific combos you need to keep track of; I got by just mashing buttons. In terms of commitment, you don't really have to worry about getting stuck in a long combo, as not only are most Dual Blades combos pretty quick, you have a good amount of mobility that'll help you weave in and out of the monster's range. What makes Dual Blades special is the Demon Mode mechanic. This is a stance you activate that gives you a bit more damage, slightly different attacks, and a very helpful movement speed boost. While in this stance, your stamina drains continuously; you'll need to keep an eye on it so you aren't caught off guard when you lose the speed boost. Attacking in Demon Mode charges your meter, and when it's full and turns red, you go into Archdemon Mode, which is basically the same thing except you can use Demon Mode moves without actually switching into Demon Mode. Filling up the meter shouldn't be too much of a problem so long as you keep landing hits. The default X Silkbind (Piercing Bind) is a weird move to me, as it has nothing at all to do with the Dual Blades itself and is just you jabbing a kunai onto a monster. I did get used to it, however, and it's a solid way to add more damage during openings. The A Silkbind move (Shrouded Vault) is a badass advancing move that serves as a counter, and I always enjoy tanking through monster attacks with it. I have Dual Blades loadouts for every element type and status effect, as I found that I can rack up a bit more damage with elemental builds and proc statuses more quickly with this weapon. I'm sure a raw damage build is equally, if not more effective (I have a loadout focused on that, too), but as I will establish throughout this post: I do not care about building optimally. I'll use whatever weapon I want and build a loadout around that. Additionally, I also don't care about minmaxing damage, so don't expect too many full crit or raw damage builds out of me, either. As for armor skills, I prioritize the following:
My Switch Skill selection:
Final preference rating: 3 stars - You never forget your first, and even after trying all the other weapons, I still really enjoy the fast-paced combat of Dual Blades, and the act of zipping along a monster's back never gets old. Bow![]() [Weapon: Rampage Bow S (Ramp-Ups: Attack Boost IV, Non-elemental Boost, Firing: Rapid, Use Power Coating, Use Exhaust Coating, Arc Shot: Recovery)] ; [Armor Set: Mighty Bow Feather (Bow Charge Plus) | Anjanath Mail S (Focus 2, Marathon Runner 1) | Vaik Braces (Normal/Rapid Up 2) | Vaik Coil (Normal/Rapid Up 1) | Rakna Greaves (Constitution 2, Stamina Surge 2)] ; [Talisman: Constitution 2, Wirebug Whisperer 1] ; [Decorations: x1 Stamina Surge, x1 Constitution] After a while, I felt like trying a ranged weapon, so I went ahead and picked up the bow. Control-wise, it was as straightforward as I expected, but there were two aspects of it that took some getting used to: coating types and shot types. The bow allows you to coat your arrows with special coatings that give passive buffs, from inflicting statuses on monsters or to simply boost damage. Each bow has a specific set of coatings they had access to, so there was an added layer of item management I had to do pre-hunt. Now, you don't really need to use coatings to kill shit, but using them does give you quite the edge in some instances. Each bow also has specific shot types that can vary depending on how long you charge your shot. There's Rapid, which rewards accuracy (since its shots hit a small area), Pierce, which travels through a monster's body (making it good for larger monsters), and Spread, which, as the name implies, is a spread shot of arrows (great for getting a lot of hits in). Aside from their individual strengths, each shot type also has a specific range where your shots do the most damage, and it's always a challenge to stay within that range as the monster moves around and tries to kick your ass. Of these three types, I found Rapid the easiest to use, since all I have to worry about is aiming directly at the monster's weakest points. That said, I do enjoy occasionally using the other shot types; Pierce is always satisfying on big monsters, and Spread lets me be more up close and personal. There's also something called the Arc Shot, of which there are also three types (Recovery for HP regen, Affinity for crit rate boost, and Brace for reduced knockback), but from my experience, I rarely have opportunities to use these buffs apart from multiplayer. For the Wirebug moves, the default X Silkbind (Focus Shot) is more of a utility move that's both a jumping dodge and a way to replenish stamina, but I always forget to use it. The A Silkbind (Herculean Draw) is similar in this regard, but it's a grounded dodge (which I find more useful), and boosts damage for a short period. As with Dual Blades, I have a Bow build for every element, all of which use Rapid shots. I also have a non-elemental Pierce build with the Nargacuga Bow, a non-elemental Rapid build with the Rampage Bow, plus a few elemental Spread Bows just for fun. My go-to Bow armor skills:
My Switch Skill selection:
Final preference rating: 2 stars - I always love using bows in video games, and the Bow in Monster Hunter is just as fun as any other, with the added challenge of managing coatings, staying in range, and maintaining stamina. Plus, Aerial Aim is cool as shit. Hammer![]() [Weapon: Iron Devil's Soul (Ramp-Up: Paralysis Boost III)] ; [Armor Set: Volvidon Helm S (Paralysis Attack 2, Bludgeoner 1) | Anjanath Mail S (Focus 2, Marathon Runner 1) | Anjanath Vambraces S (Slugger 2, Attack Boost 2) | Anjanath Coil S (Attack Boost 2) | Anjanath Greaves S (Marathon Runner 2)] ; [Talisman: Bludgeoner 2] ; [Decorations: x1 Slugger, x1 Paralysis Attack, x1 Focus, x3 Stamina Thief] I watched some other players use the Hammer, and I thought it looked hilarious to bonk monsters on the head over and over, so I gave this a try next. It eventually became my second most-used weapon after Dual Blades. Compared to Dual Blades, the Hammer's few combos are a bit slower and require a bit more commitment, but when they hit a monster in the goddamn face, it feels good. And since it's a blunt weapon, you can inflict stun if you keep whacking the monster's head, and once they get stunned, you get to wallop them some more. It's simple, yet utterly satisfying. In a similar manner, the Hammer's Silkbind moves are perhaps some of the most satisfying moves to hit in the game. The X Silkbind (Silkbind Spinning Bludgeon) is what I like to call Spin to Win; it's a jumping attack where you whirl the hammer like a maniac and clobber monsters multiple times. The A Silkbind (Impact Crater) is perhaps the highest damage move in your arsenal, and feels absolutely cathartic to hit. You also have the ability to charge your hammer up to a maximum of three levels. Letting go of a charge executes a different move depending on the charge level, and some of those moves can chain into your basic combos. You can also charge up and go directly into a Silkbind move, giving those moves even more damage. I didn't get what the point of this mechanic was at first, but I eventually found it to be a fantastic combo starting/extending tool and a good way to reposition myself. Although I have a perfectly decent Affinity build with the Nargacuga Hammer, I ended up building elemental Hammer loadouts anyway, because fuck optimal builds, that's why. Here's what my armor skills look like when I run Hammer:
My Switch Skill selection:
Final preference rating: 3 stars - I found everything about the Hammer to be incredibly satisfying. Bonking feels good, you get to stun monsters, you can hit for big damage, and you're even surprisingly mobile with it. And of course, you can Spin to Win. Light Bowgun![]() [Weapon: Night Owl (Ramp-Up: Attack Boost III | Mod: Long Barrel)] ; [Armor Set: Shell-Studded Hat S (Ballistics 2) | Shell-Studded Vest S (Normal/Rapid Up 1, Pierce Up 1) | Shell-Studded Gloves S (Spread Up 1, Normal/Rapid Up 1) | Shell-Studded Sash S (Ballistics 1) | Shelled Sandals S (Spread Up 1, Pierce Up 1)] ; [Talisman: Reload Speed 2, Defense Boost 1] ; [Decorations: x3 Spare Shot, x1 Pierce Up, x1 Reload Speed, x3 Recoil Down] I was quite intrigued by the fact that there were guns (or, at least, gun-like weapons) in the game, so I gave Light Bowgun a try. Like the Bow, it was straightforward control-wise (just go pew pew), but the thing that made it tricky to master was all the ammo management you had to do. Each Light Bowgun has access to a different assortment of ammo types. You have your standard ones, which work similarly as the Bow (Normal, which is the equivalent to Rapid, Pierce, and Spread), specialized ammo types (like Slicing and Sticky Ammo), ammo that can inflict statuses, and even ammo that can buff teammates. Needless to say, that's a ton of items to keep track of, so it took me a while to keep track of what to bring or what to craft whenever I used a Light Bowgun. Every ammo type also has a specific effective range as well, which was another thing to take into account in the heat of battle. As I was quite overwhelmed with the ammo aspect of the weapon, I initially only ever crafted one Light Bowgun (the Nargacuga one) and built around that. But as I got used to managing ammo, I've slowly started building other sets focused on different ammo types. I've still yet to build sets based around more specialized ammo types like Sticky Ammo, but I now have sets for at least all three basic ammo types. I also quite enjoy the strategy involved in simply switching between different ammo types depending on the situation, so I don't really feel the need to hyper-focus on a specific build centered around just one ammo type. Light Bowguns can also be modded with either a Silencer (to reduce recoil) and the Long Barrel (to increase range). It's a small but neat addition that lets you customize to fit your playstyle. I personally use the Long Barrel more so I have a bit of leeway in terms of effective range. The Light Bowgun also has access to something called the Wyvernblast. I liken these to mines you can plant on the ground, but they only detonate when you fire your weapon at them. They're quite tricky to use since you either need an opening or to successfully kite monsters onto them, but it's rather satisfying to blow them up and deal big damage. The Silkbind moves are more mobility-focused, with the X (Silkbind Glide) being helpful for repositioning on the ground, and A (Fanning Vault) being useful for leaping into the air. The latter is a lot of fun in conjunction with the Wyvernblasts, as vaulting over a monster allows you to plant the mines directly on their bodies, which makes it even easier to deal massive damage. As for armor skills, I mix and match between the following:
For Switch Skills, I favor these:
Final preference: 2 stars - The ammo management can be rather demanding, but I enjoy that very aspect of the Light Bowgun. It's really easy to get into if you've played shooters before, so the real challenge (and fun) is switching ammo types on the fly and inflicting a wide variety of punishment on monsters. Plus, using Fanning Vault to stick Wyvernblasts on monsters is also something I enjoy a lot. Sword & Shield![]() [Weapon: Hi Ninja Sword (Ramp-Up: Silkbind Boost)] ; [Armor Set: Rathalos Helm S (Attack Boost 1, Partbreaker 1) | Rathalos Mail S (Attack Boost 1, Partbreaker 1, Windproof 1) | Anjanath Vambraces S (Slugger 2, Attack Boost 2) | Anjanath Coil S (Attack Boost 2) | Golden Hakama (Critical Boost 2, Latent Power 1)] ; [Talisman: Bludgeoner 3] ; [Decorations: x1 Slugger, x1 Critical Boost] Out of the 14 weapons in the game, Sword and Shield seemed like the least exciting of the bunch to me, but after actually trying it, I quite appreciate how simple it is to use, how mobile it is, and how versatile it can be. At first glance, Sword and Shield's attacks appear to be just "swing the sword", and for the most part, that's true. The cool thing about the sword combos, however, is that mid-combo, you can perform a Backstep that lets you momentarily weave out of danger and jump back in with a variety of attacks. This alone was a lot of fun; performing a Backstep and following up with the Perfect Rush combo always felt satisfying. Compared to the more outlandishly giant weapons of the game, Sword and Shield is more on the reasonable scale in terms of size. Unfortunately, the monsters you face are anything but, and I found myself struggling with certain monsters whose weak points who were too high for me to slash from ground level. You actually have a few moves in your arsenal that let you vault upwards, but you don't really have much of an aerial moveset anyway. This is the first weapon of the bunch that I tried which has a shield, and I never really used it for its intended purpose (guarding attacks) at first. Instead, I use the shield primarily as an attack, as this weapon has moves and combos where you can bash the shield at monsters. Since it deals blunt damage, it can potentially stun monsters if you aim for the head, and that's always helpful. Unique to Sword and Shield is the ability to use items with your weapon drawn (specifically, while guarding). At this point, I was already used to sheathing to heal or use Endemic Life, so I never really take advantage of this. For Silkbind attacks, you have the X (Falling Shadow), which is the quick-and-easy vertical attack that lets you jump up into the air and follow up with another move on hit. Like I said, Sword and Shield can have trouble in terms of vertical range, so this move is always handy. The default A Silkbind is Windmill, a whirling AoE attack that does a modest amount of damage and has some invincibility frames. It's good, but as I'll explain further on, I don't use this much at all. I'm still in the process of crafting a Sword and Shield set for every element/status, but I do have a build revolving around the Hi Ninja Sword, a weapon with 200 raw damage, lengthy green sharpness, and a whopping 100% Affinity. In this rare instance, I built around maximum damage, slotting in Bludgeoner (to complement the sharpness) and Critical Boost (to take advantage of the guaranteed crits) into my armor sets. Here are the skills I focus on when building around Sword and Shield:
I choose the following Switch Skills:
Final preference rating: 2 stars - Sword and Shield is a fantastic jack-of-all-trades weapon, and while I still have the occasional trouble with its vertical range, I love that it has such a variety of moves in its arsenal that can get me through most situations. I also just really enjoy landing Perfect Rushes out of Backstep and stunning motherfuckers with Metsu Shoryugeki. Heavy Bowgun![]() [Weapon: Ladybug Mortar (Ramp-Up: Spread Effect II) | Mod: Power Barrel)] ; [Armor Set: Shell-Studded Hat S (Ballistics 2) | Rakna Mail (Spread Up 1, Reload Speed 1) | Rathalos Braces S (Attack Boost 2) | Rakna Coil (Spread Up 1) | Vaik Greaves S (Ammo Up 1)] ; [Talisman: Evade Extender 3] ; [Decorations: x1 Spread Up, x3 Spare Shot, x2 Reload Speed, x3 Recoil Down, x1 Ballistics, x1 Attack Boost, x1 Ammo Up] After getting used to the Light Bowgun, I gave the Heavy Bowgun a shot, confident that I've at least surmounted the initial challenge of managing ammo (after all, the Heavy Bowgun uses the same ammo types). Though the principle is exactly the same (shoot a bitch in the face), the Heavy Bowgun comes with challenges of its own that set it apart from its lightweight counterpart. The most obvious difference off the bat is that you have significantly less mobility using the Heavy Bowgun. At this point, I hadn't used a weapon with mobility this reduced yet (despite having adjusted to the slightly reduced movement when aiming the other ranged weapons), so I initially struggled with positioning and getting myself out of danger. I did eventually get used to it, but it took a while, and there was also the fact that this is a ranged weapon (i.e. my positioning struggles are focused mainly on staying within range and not so much closing distance). Another thing that sets Heavy apart from Light is the ability to charge your shots. As you expect, a charged shot hits harder. In practice, however, charging my shots didn't really feel useful to me, as it's hard to land hits on a moving target. Moreover, the potential of me getting hit myself increases when I charge, and with the mobility being as little as it is, I simply avoided using charge shots almost entirely. I only really had opportunities to charge during knockdowns, and even then, I'd rather just pelt the monster with a barrage of shots. Instead of the Wyvernblast, Heavy Bowguns can have either one of two special shot types: Wyvernsnipe or Wyvernheart. Wyvernsnipe is a devastating single shot that lets loose a piercing round into the monster and explodes. Wyvernheart, on the other hand, is what I call Siege Mode: it's essentially a minigun that lets you unload a hail of bullets onto monsters that can flinch them if you aim right. Of the two, I favor the latter, because going full Rambo on a motherfucker is never not satisfying. Like the Light Bowgun, you can also mod the Heavy Bowgun, with the choices being a Shield (which allows for automatic guarding) and a Power Barrel (increases damage, go figure). As I go out of my way to remain out of range from most monster attacks, I didn't really take advantage of the Shield at all, so I opt for Power Barrel in pretty much every build. That said, I definitely see use in it for certain builds that require me to be at a closer range, and I'm open to trying it a bit more. The Silkbind moves are also different from the Light Bowgun. The X is Free Silkbind Glide, and while I use it mostly as a horizontal dodge on the ground, you can also follow it up with a melee attack. The A move is Counter Shot, which puts you into a counter stance. Getting hit during this state charges up a powerful shot that deals a ton of damage. Given how reduced the mobility is, this move is a real lifesaver. As the Heavy Bowgun uses the same ammo that the Light Bowgun does, I simply created parallel weapon sets that focus on specific ammo types. Didn't have to think too hard about that one. My choice of armor skills:
My Switch Skill choices:
Final preference rating: 1 star - The same challenge of ammo management remains, but the Heavy Bowgun mixes things up enough to distinguish itself from the Light Bowgun. I may pick Light Bowgun more than Heavy on average because of the mobility, but make no mistake: I enjoy this weapon just as much as its little brother for different reasons. The Counter Shot is equal parts useful and satisfying, and I'll always enjoy blasting monsters with Wyvernheart (and sometimes Wyvernsnipe). Long Sword![]() [Weapon: Phantom Mirage (Ramp-Up: Attack Boost III)] ; [Armor Set: Barioth Helm S (Critical Draw 2) | Jyuratodus Mail (Power Prolonger 2, Evade Extender 1) | Goss Harag Braces S (Critical Draw 1, Punishing Draw 1) | Nargacuga Coil S (Evade Extender 2, Critical Eye 1) | Damascus Greaves (Handicraft 2)] ; [Talisman: Quick Sheath 2, Defense Boost 1] ; [Decorations: x1 Power Prolonger, x3 Speed Sharpening, x1 Quick Sheath, x2 Punishing Draw] I was intimidated by Long Sword at first when I gave it a whirl in the Training Area, but being able to feel like a badass samurai in this game was enough motivation to learn it. After a ton of practice, I ended up really enjoying the weapon and how combo-oriented it is. The basic moves of the Long Sword are about what you expect from a sword, but things get a little interesting thanks to the Spirit Gauge. This is a meter that fills up when you land hits, and that meter is expended when you use certain moves called Spirit Slashes. The idea is to land a full Spirit Slash combo, which ends in a Spirit Roundslash. Landing the roundslash levels up your Spirit Gauge, changing its outer color to denote the current power level (in order: colorless, white, yellow, red). The higher the level, the greater your damage. My initial struggle was my penchant of getting very greedy, as I have a tendency to over-commit to combos. I definitely received my fair share of ass-whoopings because I tried too hard to level up my Spirit Gauge. I eventually learned that there are combos that lead into Spirit Roundslash much quicker, which, along with trying to be more patient, helped me to become more competent with the weapon. You also have access to a couple of other special moves with the Long Sword. The first is Foresight Slash, which you can perform mid-combo (at the cost of all your Spirit Gauge to perform a backward dodge and lunge forward with a counterattack. What's cool about this move is that if you time the dodge to avoid a monster's attack at the last second, you can follow it up directly into a Spirit Roundslash, allowing you to charge your meter in quick fashion. It also fills up the Spirit Gauge itself, so you can fire off more Spirit Slashes if need be. Though a bit tricky to pull off, this move is so badass, I will put myself in danger regularly just so I can have the satisfaction of hitting the counter. The other special move is called Special Sheathe, which is also executed mid-combo. As the name implies, performing this move sheathes your weapon. You then briefly enter a stance where you can execute one of two moves: an Iai Slash or an Iai Spirit Slash. The former is a quick two-hit move that, when it lands, changes the color of your meter to blue, which means your Spirit Gauge autofills. The latter is a straight up counter move; if you time it successfully to parry an attack, you immediately follow up with a Spirit Roundslash. Both these moves are incredibly useful; not only is the Iai Slash helpful for charging meter, I can combo in Roundslash from this move rather quickly. And in the same vein as Foresight Slash, Iai Spirit Slash feels super satisfying to land, and I will go for it at literally any opportunity. As for the Silkbind moves, you have Soaring Kick as the X input. This is like Sword and Shield's Falling Shadow in that it's a jumping attack that has a follow-up. In the same way, this move has two follow-ups when you land the first hit: a basic Plunging Thrust, and the Spirit Helmbreaker. The latter move is perhaps the strongest move in the Long Sword's arsenal, hitting monsters multiple times for a massive amount of damage. Landing the Helmbreaker lowers your Spirit Gauge power level by one, so if you want to make the most out of it, you always want to charge to red before using it. The other Silkbind move is Serene Pose, which is yet another counter move. This is a little easier to use than the Long Sword's other counter moves, as you're put into a stance where you automatically counter when you're hit during it. It also does a hefty amount of damage, but like the Spirit Helmbreaker, it lowers your power level by one. I only made one Long Sword, which was the Chameleos one with the badass invisible blade. I'm planning to make a bunch of elemental sets, but for now, the raw damage build serves me just fine. My selection of armor skills:
I select these for my Switch Skills:
Final preference rating: 3 stars - I now understand why Long Sword is so popular; it looks cool, landing combos feels good, and the many counters make you feel badass when you land them. I always have a fun time whenever I pick this weapon, and few things in this game feel as amazing as countering a monster with an Iai Spirit Slash. Lance![]() [Weapon: Tigrex Lance (Ramp-Up: Attack Boost III)] ; [Armor Set: Kaiser Crown (Critical Eye 3, Critical Boost 1) | Diablos Mail S (Guard 2, Offensive Guard 1) | Rakna Armguards (Constitution 2, Stamina Surge 1) | Diablos Coil S (Guard 1, Stamina Surge 1) | Diablos Greaves S (Guard 1, Offensive Guard 1)] ; [Talisman: Constitution 2, Partbreaker 2] ; [Decorations: x1 Guard, x1 Evade Extender, x1 Constitution, x1 Stamina Surge] Past the halfway point, I was left with the weapons I was too intimidated to try early on. I decided to ease myself in by starting with what seemed like the simplest out of the bunch: the Lance. I was mostly correct in that it was easy to understand, but that's not what I enjoyed about it. The moveset is as simple as you may expect: you can either do a succession of mid thrusts or high thrusts; simply use the one that reaches the monster's weak points. You also have a Wide Sweep, which is a good charge move you can use during big openings, as well as a Dash Attack that hits continuously and helps close the distance. That's basically it: just poke a bitch in the face until it dies. The Lance also comes with a shield, and it is just as important as the weapon itself. As it turns out, you have pretty low mobility while wielding this weapon, so I had to rely a ton on the shield to keep my ass alive. In addition, you also have a Counter-Thrust that immediately lets you attack after a successful guard, allowing you to keep the pressure even after being attacked. You can even perform a Power Guard which greatly reduces the effect of hitstun of blocked attacks, and has follow-ups like a more powerful Counter-Thrust and a Leaping Thrust. I mentioned that I didn't really use the shield of the Sword and Shield, so I wasn't particularly good at using the shield when I first started out with Lance. However, I quickly got the hang of it, and I really enjoyed simply tanking through hits and following up with a series of pokes to a monster's eyes. I'm used to weaving in and out of range when a monster attacks, so standing my ground and staying next to a monster despite the danger was a refreshing change of pace. The Silkbind moves of the Lance are pretty interesting. The X input (Twin Vine) looks like the Piercing Bind of Dual Blades in that you jab a kunai into the monster, but the difference is this creates a wire that connects you to the monster. While this wire is up, you can quickly close the distance by jumping directly to where the kunai is embedded, which is incredibly useful for getting back in range. The other Silkbind move is Anchor Rage, which is a counter stance that boosts your attack when you're hit during it. There's no follow-up, but the attack boost does scale depending on what kind of attack you absorb. As far as my builds go, I mainly have one raw damage Lance ready to go (the Tigrex one), but I'm in the process of making a few elemental sets. Here's what skills I pick for Lance:
My Switch Skills are the following:
Final preference rating: 1 star - Though not my go-to weapon most days, I still like picking up the Lance on occasion, because I get a unique sense of enjoyment from the fact that so much of its gameplay revolves around using your shield. It's a nice change of pace from my usual weapon picks, which are more on the aggressive side. Gunlance![]() [Weapon: Fading Night (Ramp-Up: Attack Boost III)] ; [Armor Set: Bazelgeuse Helm (Artillery 1, Guard 1) | Bazelgeuse Mail (Guard Up 2, Agitator 1) | Bazelgeuse Braces (Load Shells 1, Guard Up 1) | Bazelgeuse Coil (Load Shells 1, Guard 1) | Bazelgeuse Greaves (Artillery 2, Guard 1)] ; [Talisman: Partbreaker 2, Constitution 2] ; [Decorations: x3 Evade Extender, x3 Constitution, x2 Guard, x3 Speed Sharpening] After successfully figuring out the Lance, I thought, "Gunlance should be easy to get into, right?" For the most part, I was kinda right, but I definitely still had a learning curve to overcome before I could start really enjoying what the weapon had to offer. The Gunlance is similar to the Lance in that there's only really a few moves and combos to keep track of, but the main difference is that the Gunlance has explosive shells that you can use to deal a good bit of damage along with striking with the lance itself. Like the Bowguns, there's a bit of ammo management here, and you have to reload occasionally to replenish your clip. Thankfully, however, you don't have to micromanage Gunlance shells like you do Bowgun ammo; it doesn't take up inventory space, and all you have to do is reload when needed. You can also charge your shelling to create bigger booms, but you'd need some decent openings to hit it successfully. Gunlances have one of three shelling types: Normal (which has the highest ammo capacity), Wide (individual shells do a ton of damage at the cost of ammo capacity), and Long (shells have the best range, allowing you to keep distance somewhat). The different types favor slightly different playstyles, but starting out, I crafted one with Long shelling so I have some leeway on how far away I can be from the monster. I'm still getting around to crafting sets for the other shelling types so I have a Gunlance for whichever playstyle I feel like using. Somewhat conveniently, nearly all Gunlance combos end with a move called Wyrmstake Cannon, which embed a sort of spear or harpoon into a monster if landed successfully. Once it's stuck, it does lingering damage. It's a bit of a challenge to avoid accidentally ending a combo with the move when there isn't an opening, but once I got the hang of it, I can consistently land the move with little issue. If you've already used Wyrmstake Cannon and want to use it again, you have to reload it the same way you do regular shells, so you'll also need to pick your moments on when to reload. Some combos allow you to perform a Full Burst, which lets loose all the shells in your clip for massive damage. You'll obviously need to reload shortly afterwards, but landing this move is a quick way to tack on some damage. Like the Lance, the Gunlance is a pretty low mobility weapon, so relying on the shield (which this also has) is pretty important. However, the shield isn't as central to the gameplay of the Gunlance as the regular Lance, as you don't really have much in the way of counter moves. That said, it's still a very handy tool, and because I was already accustomed to the regular Lance, blocking with the Gunlance was almost second nature to me. There's also something called Wyvern's Fire, which is this super powerful charge move that unleashes a devastating blast onto unsuspecting bastards. Since it has a lot of startup, you can only really use this move on big openings, but when those opportunities come up, it's satisfying to land. This move has a cooldown after you use it, so you'll have to wait a while before you can dish it out again. The X Silkbind move is Hail Cutter, a jumping move that slams down on the monster and reloads your Gunlance in the process. It's a pretty good move with a couple of decent follow-ups (Full Burst, and even Wyvern's Fire), and it has the added bonus of shortening the charge time for Wyvern's Fire. The A move is Guard Edge, which is a counter stance that doesn't follow up into an attack, but restores sharpness if you get hit. As it happens, the Gunlance loses sharpness very quickly especially if you use shelling a lot, so this move comes in handy when you can't take the time to use a Whetstone. Here's what I go for with armor skills:
As for my Switch Skills:
Final preference rating: 1 star - Gunlance was a bit tricky to get into thanks to the added wrinkle of managing ammo and sharpness, but once I got the hang of it, I was blasting monsters left and right. I still don't feel that I'm the most effective at it (which is why I marked it 1 star in terms of preference), but that doesn't at all mean that I don't enjoy its explosive gameplay. Great Sword![]() [Weapon: Dark of Night (Ramp-Up: Attack Boost III)] ; [Armor Set: Anjanath Helm S (Focus 1, Slugger 1) | Anjanath Mail S (Focus 2, Marathon Runner 1) | Anjanath Vambraces S (Slugger 2, Attack Boost 2) | Anjanath Coil (Attack Boost 2) | Golden Hakama (Critical Boost 2, Latent Power 1)] ; [Talisman: Evade Extender 2, Weakness Exploit 1] ; [Decorations: x2 Critical Eye, x1 Evade Extender] Watching clips online, I could tell that Great Sword had the same sense of satisfaction that Hammer brings me when I wallop a monster in the goddamn face. However, I immediately noticed that this weapon is slow as fuck. In terms of moves, the Great Sword is pretty straightforward, with a bunch of strikes that you'd expect from most sword weapons. Your main source of damage is the Charged Slash, where you build up power, wallop the monster, and then chain into more powerful iterations of the Charged Slash. The only problem is, you'll have to buy an engagement ring to your moves, because they're quite slow and require a significant amount of commitment to hit. As somebody who's needlessly aggressive in this game, I struggled a ton with the Great Sword, as I often got too greedy and went for my slowest attacks at the least convenient moments. This is really more a hit-and-run weapon, and I don't really roll like that. It also doesn't help that your mobility with Great Sword isn't all that great, either, so closing distance or dodging out of harm's way is a tall order. You do have a couple of tools to help with the latter, like a guard (where you use the flat side of the sword to block attacks), and a tackle (a move that can help you withstand attacks and immediately follow up with your Charged Slashes). The latter in particular is as tricky to use as any other counter move, with the added caveat that even if you tank a hit and keep your charge up, the monster could easily just move out of the way. For the X Silkbind move, you have Hunting Edge, which is a jumping attack that can go into Charged Slash. The Great Sword doesn't have too much trouble in terms of vertical range, but it is pretty decent for closing a bit of distance. The A Silkbind move is Power Sheathe, which is a horizontal dodge that not only sheathes the sword, but powers it up for a brief time. This move is incredibly useful given the low mobility, because it's a really quick dodge that can get you out of trouble in a pinch (and since you come out of it sheathed, you can move a lot quicker and use items if needed). I only really have one Great Sword set (the Nargacuga one), but here's what I look for in an armor set regardless:
Here's what I got for Switch Skills:
Final preference rating: 1 star - I definitely see the appeal of Great Sword, and understand how it's primarily a hit-and-run weapon, but I don't feel comfortable enough yet to use it often. I need some more practice, but I'm slowly but surely getting to the point where I'm consistently getting my hits in. Hunting Horn![]() [Weapon: Teostra's Orphee (Ramp-Up: Teostra Soul)] ; [Armor Set: Anjanath Helm S (Focus 1, Slugger 1) | Jelly Vest S (Blast Attack 2) | Anjanath Vambraces S (Slugger 2, Attack Boost 2) | Anjanath Coil S (Attack Boost 2) | Damascus Greaves (Handicraft 2)] ; [Talisman: Evade Extender 2, Weakness Exploit 1] ; [Decorations: x1 Blast Attack, x1 Evade Extender, x1 Attack Boost, x3 Stamina Thief, x1 Horn Maestro] One of my friends (a legit MH veteran who's been around since the first gen) is a Hunting Horn main in Rise, and he swears by how fun it is. I was willing to try the weapon just going off of that (and the hilarious notion that a musical instrument can somehow vanquish dragons), but upon realizing that the weapon is a bonk-style weapon reminiscent of the hammer, I went and tried it immediately. Yep, it's super fun. The moveset for Hunting Horn is pretty simple: each of your main inputs (X, A, X+A) is an attack, and you can freely combo into any combination of them when you fight. On its own, this wouldn't be that interesting, but there's more: each of those three inputs is associated with a "note" that the Hunting Horn plays. Lining up two of the same note plays a melody, which confers upon you a helpful buff. The idea is to use your bread-and-butter combos to dish out damage, and to activate your buffs when necessary (e.g. when they expire). I thought it was going to be complex, but it's actually quite simple and easy to pick up. The Hunting Horn also has a few special moves. One is called Perform, which you can use to end pretty much any combo (and play some funky music). Successfully landing the moves does two things: one, you play a unique melody called Self-Improvement, which boosts your movement speed and prevents your attacks from being deflected. Second, it fills up your Hunting Horn Gauge significantly (other moves fill it up, but using Perform is the fastest). More on the gauge later. Next, we have Magnificent Trio, which becomes available when you line up all three different notes at once. Using it unleashes a deadly barrage that not only deals a good amount of damage, but plays all three of your melodies at once, applying each corresponding buff simultaneously. It's the perfect move to use during openings. Lastly, we have Infernal Melody. Remember the Hunting Horn Gauge I mentioned before? When that fills up, this move becomes available. It's a follow-up you can input right after using Perform or Magnificent Trio, and what this does is play a concussive tune that also does a lot of damage. It also applies the Infernal Melody buff, which increases your attack considerably. Using this in conjunction with Magnificent Trio is often the most effective way to make the most of it. Each Hunting Horn has a unique set of three melodies (corresponding to each attack input), with effects ranging from healing, status protection, stat boosts, and more. As opposed to checking weapon elements or raw stats, my choices in Hunting Horn were informed by the melodies they played. I prefer having a healing/support set handy, so the Hunting Horn sets I've built have melodies like Health Regeneration and Earplugs. My friend said that the melodies don't make or break a build (they're just nice to have), but I personally found it more interesting to build around the gimmick. Speaking of support, the melodies you play also help out nearby allies! I've been playing solo almost exclusively for the past two months, but in the rare occasions I got to play with friends, it was awesome to actually be able to heal or buff my team to keep them in top shape. There's a certain fun to playing a support role, and Hunting Horn fills that niche quite well in this game. As for Silkbind moves, the X (Slide Beat) is an advancing move (always useful, in my view) that does some decent damage and can combo into Perform/Infernal Melody. The A input (Earthshaker) is a powerful short range attack that embeds a blade into the monster, then from that blade erupts a sonic wave coming from the instrument. It can be tricky to hit unless there's an opening, but it does a ton of damage and can easily interrupt a monster's assault. For this weapon, I select the following armor skills:
For my Switch Skills, I picked:
Final preference rating: 2 stars - I enjoy the Hunting Horn a lot. Its freeform combos feel nice, the melody mechanic is interesting and lends itself well to support play, and most importantly, it bonks the shit out of monsters and plays cool tunes at the same time. This is a go-to pick for me when I go multiplayer. Insect Glaive![]() [Weapon: Evening Calm (Ramp-Up: Attack Boost III) | Kinsect: Foebeetle (Dual Color - Defense)] ; [Armor Set: Kaiser Crown (Critical Eye 3, Critical Boost 1) | Jyuratodus Mail (Power Prolonger 2, Evade Extender 1) | Rakna Armguards (Constitution 2, Stamina Surge 1) | Rathalos Coil S (Attack Boost 2, Windproof 1) | Rakna Greaves (Constitution 2, Stamina Surge 2)] ; [Talisman: Evade Extender 2, Weakness Exploit 1] ; [Decorations: x3 Speed Sharpening, x1 Critical Boost, x1 Constitution, x1 Power Prolonger] Now here was a weapon I was both excited and intimidated to try. On one hand, the whole Kinsect mechanic seemed like a lot to manage for me, but on the other, I really loved what I saw of this weapon's aerial combat. After actually trying the weapon out, I quickly found that my worries were unfounded. On its own, Insect Glaive is a pretty straightforward polearm weapon with moves that slash like a naginata. The grounded combos are more or less simple, but that's not what make this weapon special. The "insect" portion of Insect Glaive comes in with the aforementioned Kinsect. These are giant insects that you can command to attack monsters, and while they don't do a lot of damage, they do something just as important: they collect Kinsect Extracts, which the Kinsects deliver to you when you call them back. Kinsect Extracts come in three colors: red, orange, and white. Each color confers a corresponding buffs: red increases damage and expands your moveset, orange grants better defense and protects you from knockback, and white increases your movement speed. Having all three extracts at ones gives you a bonus Earplugs buff. The challenge of getting all three is dependent on the monster, as different body parts give you a specific color (with some being more troublesome to extract than others). I learned what parts give which extract purely through trial and error, but the weapon has a convenient function to mark targets, which reveals the color extract a body part gives through a color-coded powder that disperses into the air. The Kinsect themselves are a whole separate purchase you have to manage on top of the Insect Glaive itself. They come in four different types: Normal (no unique properties), Powder (attacks marked body parts automatically, and creates clouds of powder that can inflict status on monsters as it does), Assist (auto-attacks monsters when you have all three extracts), and Speed (builds up power when not in use). Each provides a slightly different playstyle; Assist is more hands-off, for example, while Powder is particularly fun if you want to inflict status and challenge yourself with positioning-heavy combat. On top of that, each Kinsect offers a unique bonus, and there's a wide variety of those to choose from. The bonuses can range from free heals on extract, buffs to the Kinsect itself (like faster attack or better stamina management), and even buffs that make extract management easier (increased uptime for your extract buffs). My preferred Kinsect is a subclass called Dual Color Kinsects, which collect two extracts simultaneously (one being the specific extract assigned to a monster's body part, and the other being a fixed extract). It effectively reduces a third of my work in collecting extracts since I only need to target two body parts to get my buffs up. Let's get to the fun part: aerial combat. A specific input allows you to use the Insect Glaive to vault into the air. Once in midair, you can perform a dodge to reposition yourself, or use one of two attacks: a downward slash that sends you back to earth, or an advancing slash that vaults you back into the air after a successful hit. The latter move is easily the most fun part of the Insect Glaive, because you can keep yourself in the air for a considerably long time if you chain successful hits and midair dodges. It's even better when you have red extracts, as this move becomes a multi-hit barrage that looks extra cool to boot. Fighting in the air is such a delight, I pretty much refuse to fight on the ground unless there's a big opening. The two Silkbind moves Insect Glaive has are more on the utility side. Silkbind Vault (the X input) is a straightforward jumping move that isn't an attack at all. However, it is still incredibly useful because you can use it in midair, helping you reposition yourself while flying. The other move is Recall Kinsect, which does as the name advertises, with the added bonus that it's a dodge that you can also do in mid-air. I don't use this move at all, as I can just as easily use the normal recall move to bring my Kinsect back. I'm currently working on Insect Glaive sets for every element, but as of now, I only really use the Nargacuga one for most hunts. My selection of armor skills:
My Switch Skill loadout:
Final preference rating: 3 stars - The aerial supremacy of the Insect Glaive was more than enough to propel it amongst my all-time favorite weapons in the game (it's very quicky become my third most-used weapon in Rise). It's just way too much fun to throw monsters for a loop by dodging in midair and then assaulting them with a continuous flurry of midair strikes. I also found the Kinsect mechanic engaging, as not only is buffing yourself a challenge in positioning in itself, there's also some variety to the Kinsects you can choose to fit your style. Switch Axe![]() [Weapon: Doom Bringer Axe (Ramp-Up: Element Exploit)] ; [Armor Set: Almudron Helm S (Rapid Morph 2) | Almudron Mail S (Razor Sharp 2, Power Prolonger 1) | Almudron Vambraces S (Rapid Morph 1, Evade Window 2) | Almudron Coil S (Evade Window 1, Power Prolonger 1) | Almudron Greaves S (Razor Sharp 1)] ; [Talisman: Evade Extender 2, Weakness Exploit 1] ; [Decorations: x3 Focus, x1 Power Prolonger, x5 Water Attack] We've now arrived at the morphing weapons. I saved the final two for last because I was initially confused by all this talk about phial attacks that I read in the weapon manuals. At some point, I just said "fuck it", and gave the Switch Axe a whirl. I was also partly inspired by another friend of mine who mains Switch Axe (their response to me saying that the weapon seems hard was something along the lines of "just hit the monster until it dies"). Turns out, they were right. The Switch Axe is an interesting weapon, as it can transform between two modes: Axe Mode and Sword Mode. Axe Mode is like the weapon's default state, and it's got a slow, but otherwise simple to use moveset with mostly freeform combos and only a few moves to keep in mind. In contrast, Sword Mode has much faster attacks (but reduced mobility), but it's similarly easy to perform combos since there's only a few moves to keep track of. Seems simple, but there's a lot more going on to the Switch Axe than just a stance change mechanic. Sword Mode also has a special move called Elemental Discharge, where you shove the sword right into the monster and unleash a multi-hit attack that ends in an explosion. It's a high commitment move, so you'll want to hold off on using this move until you have a decent opening. You've also got a Switch Gauge to manage when playing this weapon, and it's divided into two parts. The inner gauge is a meter with a line on it; as long as the meter is filled above the line, you can enter Sword Mode, but performing attacks during Sword Mode expends that meter, so you have to switch regularly so you can charge the meter with Axe Mode attacks (or by waiting). Otherwise, Sword Mode will be inaccessible for a brief cooldown period and you're stuck in Axe Mode for a bit. The outline of the Switch Gauge is a meter in itself, and it's filled by landing Sword Attacks. Once it's full, it glows white, denoting that your weapon is now in an Amped State. During this state, Sword Mode now discharges phial effects on successful hits, making your attacks more potent (more on phials later). Your Elemental Discharge also becomes enhanced when amped, becoming Zero Sum Discharge, where you ride the monster like a bucking bronco as you embed the sword into their body and detonate a massive explosion. It's tough to land, but goddamn, is it one of the coolest moves in the entire game. Each Switch Axe has one of five phial effects, which are applied to Sword Mode attacks during the Amped State. They are as follows: Power Phial (simply tacks on more raw damage to attacks), Element Phial (does increased elemental damage for weapons with elements), Exhaust Phial (inflicts the Exhaust status on monsters), Paralysis Phial (inflicts Paralysis), and Dragon Phial (does Dragon elemental damage). I thought at first that there was some sort of item management at paly with these phials, but nope, they just happen automatically once your Switch Axe is amped and you're in Sword Mode. It was nice to learn that it wasn't something I had to think about too hard. Per usual, you have your two Silkbind moves. The X input is called Switch Charger, a horizontal dodge that tops up your Switch Gauge and negates meter decrease. It's not only super handy as an evasive maneuver (especially when in Sword Mode), but there's also an added bonus of making sure you can keep using Sword Mode. As for the A input, you have Invincible Gambit, an advancing attack that lets you tank some hits as you go. Equally handy, but has actual offensive capability. Same as my aim for mostly every weapon, I have Switch Axe builds for every element/status, with most of the phial effects I selected being either Element Phial or Power Phial. I didn't really feel the need to make Switch Axes that focus on the other phial effects, but I'm sure there are some neat status-focused builds you can make with them. My typical Switch Axe armor set has the following skills:
I choose the following Switch Skills:
Final preference rating: 3 stars - The Switch Axe is a weapon right up my alley, encouraging hyper-aggression to keep your meter filled as much as possible. I also enjoyed the core experience that is its stance change mechanic (going from the slower axe attacks to the quicker sword strikes), and the phial effects are a fun bonus that make Sword Mode even more rewarding to play. Also, Zero Sum Discharge is such a cool move. Charge Blade![]() [Weapon: Bardichion Blade (Ramp-Up: Element Exploit)] ; [Armor Set: Almudron Helm S (Rapid Morph 2) | Almudron Mail S (Razor Sharp 2, Power Prolonger 1) | Almudron Vambraces S (Rapid Morph 1, Evade Window 2) | Bazelgeuse Coil (Load Shells 1, Guard 1) | Bazelgeuse Greaves (Artillery 2, Guard 1)] ; [Talisman: Fire Attack 2, Recovery Up 2] ; [Decorations: x2 Power Prolonger, x3 Guard, x1 Artillery, x1 Load Shells, x3 Fire Attack] Here it is, the final weapon. I saved this for last, because out of every weapon in the game, this seemed like the most complex of them all. The in-game manual for it had way too much information for me to process at first glance, so I was quite intimidated to try it for the longest time. Eventually, it was the only weapon left, so I had to give it a go. In retrospect, I feel kinda stupid, because it actually wasn't as hard as I made it out to be. I like to think of the Charge Blade as the Switch Axe in reverse, as your default state is the Sword Mode with its quick attacks, and you morph into Axe Mode for big damage at the cost of slower attack and movement. The main differences lie in how phials are utilized in this weapon, and the fact that Sword Mode actually comes with a shield (making it a Sword and Shield with extra steps). As far as movesets go for each stance, the basic attacks and combos are easy to pick up, but there are a bunch of nuances and other moves that the game itself doesn't teach you. The basic idea of Charge Blade is to land hits in Sword Mode until your phial meter changes color to either yellow or red. At this point, you can now do the "charge" portion of Charge Blade, and doing so will fill up your phials (which differs from the Switch Axe in that you actually have to manage phials like you do ammo). These phials are then expended in Axe Mode when you perform the Element Discharge move (which is functionally similar to when Switch Axe confers phial effects into attacks, except you do this manually here), or perform the powerful Amped Elemental Discharge or AED (a powerful move that leaves you a bit vulnerable, but applies phial effects multiple times). You have to be a bit careful when attacking in Sword Mode, as performing too many hits causes your phial meter to flash if you don't charge phials after reaching red. This means that any attacks you throw out will start to bounce off the monster, making them rather ineffective in terms of damage. The challenge is to get whatever hits you can and then finding a bit of time to charge phials so you don't reach that overcharged state. The game doesn't teach you this clearly, but you're also able to power up both your sword and shield (indicated on the UI by the corresponding icon glowing red). Powering up your sword require a bit of timing during the charge move, but time your button press right and you perform a Condensed Element Slash. Once the sword is powered up, your attacks are stronger and are less likely to be deflected. Powering up the shield takes a bit more effort, as you actually need some phials before you can power it up. By either pressing the morph input after a shield bash or cancelling an AED with the same button, you perform an Element Up Roundslash, which is a strike that also strengthens the shield. When the shield is buffed, your ability to block attacks is improved, and there's an added bonus of a small phial explosion happening every time a monster's hit connects, allowing you to apply a bit of extra damage while guarding. Having a powered-up shield also does something quite important: it allows you to perform a Super Amped Elemental Discharge, which, as the name implies, is a more powerful version of the regular AED. If you want to use this incredible move (and trust me, you do), you'll want to make sure your shield is powered up as much as possible. Like its normal counterpart, the Super AED leaves you quite open to a counterattack, so it's best to use this when there's a decent opening. While you can guard normally with the shield just fine, the Charge Blade has a unique mechanic called Guard Points you can take advantage of. A few of the attack animations has your hunter put the Charge Blade's shield directly in front of them, and you can actually block attacks during this brief moment. It takes a ton of practice to get the timing right, but using these Guard Points to your advantage feels utterly satisfying. And if you get really good at them, you can actually follow up directly into an AED after a successful guard. Compared to Switch Axe, there are only two phial types to keep track of: Element Phials and Impact Phials. The former is self-explanatory, while the latter inflicts stun. Nothing too complex. The X Silkbind move is Morphing Advance. As the name implies, it's an advancing attack, and it puts you into Axe Mode as you do so. It's particularly useful for closing distance while in Axe Mode, as you have reduced mobility there compared to Sword Mode. As for the A Silkbind, you have Counter Peak Performance, which is a counter stance (go figure). Getting hit during this move not only defends you from harm, but it also completely fills your phials, allowing you to go on the offensive with Elemental Discharges. Counters are always handy in this game, and not only is the ability to quickly fill phials super helpful, but Counter Peak Performance can follow up into a bunch of other moves (including, most notably, an AED or Super AED). Similar to Switch Axe, I have Charge Blades for every element/status. I mostly didn't care what phials they had, but I tried to pick ones with Impact Phial for that stun chance. Here are the skills I have when using this weapon:
For Switch Skills, I choose:
Final preference rating: 2 stars - After getting through the hurdle of its seemingly insurmountable learning curve, I found the Charge Blade to be a fun and challenging weapon to use. Juggling between keeping my phials full, spending them to deal big damage, ensuring my shield is charged, and knowing when to bust out a Guard Point is a lot to keep track of, but that's exactly what makes this weapon fun. Whenever I feel like thinking a bit more than I usually do when I play this game, I'll bust out this weapon. Well, this was quite a list, wasn't it? After I finished writing the main portion of this post, I came to the amusing realization that a mere three months ago, I knew close to jack shit about Monster Hunter. Now, I'm here writing about every weapon in the game like I know what I'm doing (I probably don't). Needless to say, I clearly got a ton of enjoyment out of MH Rise, and I'm glad I'm able to express that with a ridiculously long post describing weapons in excessive detail.
- end - The MCU's been back for a bit with its first couple of Disney+ shows, but the first movie since 2019 is finally here with Black Widow. Thankfully, there is a way to watch this without leaving the house (because fuck that), so I was able to catch it relatively close to release. Set right after the events of Civil War, the movie sees Natasha Romanoff on her long overdue solo adventure. On the run after violating the Sokovia Accords, she finds that the Red Room (responsible for turning her into an assassin back when she was a child) is still active, and she resolves to destroy it for good. Along the way, she reunites with the family we didn't know she had.
Though I wish the movie did a better job of making the mission feel a bit more personal to Natasha, I appreciated the fact that the main plot is closely tied to her history. The haunting intro sequence of the movie is perhaps one of the darkest scenes in the MCU, highlighting the twisted nature of the Red Room and drawing all-too-real parallels to human trafficking and exploitation. That alone made for a compelling case to burn that shit to the ground. Up until this point in the MCU, Natasha's been established as someone who didn't really have anyone outside of the Avengers. In this movie, we find out that she has a family in her sister Yelena Belova (who is also a trained Red Room assassin), and parental figures in Melina (also a Widow) and the Red Guardian (the Soviet super soldier). This movie coming this late into the timeline feels like it conflicts with the previously-established narrative for Natasha, but for the most part, learning about her dysfunctional family was an interesting story. The standout of these new characters is Yelena by a long shot, as she steals the show every time she's onscreen. The parents, I felt, had slightly inconsistent characterization, but I liked them all the same. Red Guardian in particular was a weird one for me, because as much as I found him entertaining, I wish he got a little more than just comic relief. Serving as our antagonist is Dreykov, the leader of the Red Room. He's pretty much just a slimy piece of shit and not much else, so he's not than interesting a character. That said, his demeanor is more than enough to get me to hate his guts, so I suppose what we have works. In terms of physical threats, Natasha and co. face off against an army of loyal Widows, who are Natasha's equals in combat. Along with them is Taskmaster, a character I've always wanted to see in the MCU. As these characters are more the enforcer types than the main villains, you don't get to see much in the way of development for them. That said, their lack of agency in the situation is one of the driving forces behind why Natasha is intent on taking down the Red Room for good. Now, I must address the elephant in the room: Taskmaster's identity. Without giving too much away, the movie deviates greatly from the comics version of the character, and from what I've seen, many people are.... not pleased. Personally, I thought the twist they went with made a lot of sense narratively; the reveal actually ties in with Natasha's story, and I appreciated that. Was it what I wanted? Not really, but what they did do with the character was certainly thought-out. This didn't catch me as off-guard as the Mandarin twist did, so I'm not upset at all. The action in this movie is hard-hitting, with some brutal fisticuffs and over-the-top action set pieces. Though there's certainly a ton of spectacle with the bigger action sequences (the skydiving sequence is pretty nuts), I much preferred the more grounded hand-to-hand combat, which felt rather visceral. The thing I was most looking forward to was Taskmaster in action, because that character is all about mimicking the fighting styles of other heroes. We did get a bunch of that (and it was fucking badass), but I felt like they could have given Taskmaster more to do than what we ended up getting. Natasha herself gets to do some pretty cool shit, and not just in terms of fights. Her clever spy skillset is showcased rather well, as she gets to use a lot of neat tricks to outsmart her opponents. Yelena gets to kick a lot of ass, too, and her demeanor during some of the action sequences made her all the more entertaining. For the most part, I found the plot serviceable, but I did find certain choices to be odd. Some elements, like the plot device connected to freeing the Widows, felt weirdly convenient. Others, like Dreykov's advantage over Natasha, felt comically absurd (though this is saved later on by a badass moment). Still others, like the involvement of Thunderbolt Ross, are completely glossed over. There's also a bunch of telling and not showing for certain things, especially when it comes to some aspects of Natasha's past. I didn't find many of these gripes to adversely affect my overall enjoyment of the movie, but I certainly took notice of some of these strange choices. The humor is standard fare for MCU movies; some jokes land, others... not so much. I do wish that a couple of the more poignant moments in the movie weren't immediately undercut by attempts at humor shortly after. I'd have preferred if those moments were given time to breathe, so to speak. This movie is pretty standalone for the most part, with most of the connecting thread only coming in at the beginning and at the end (both of which are tied to the events of Civil War). There's a small bit of world-building throughout as well, with SHIELD being referenced, and the events of Budapest finally being revealed. However, the history of the Red Room itself isn't really expounded, and Red Guardian's origins aren't really talked about, which I feel are missed opportunities (the former more so, since this is probably the movie to actually establish that corner of the MCU). There's only one after-credits scene in this one, and it's equal parts emotional tie-in to Endgame and a shit-your-pants tease for the future of the MCU (as is tradition). The latter bit is especially significant to me, as it's the first major sign of the Disney+ series integrating themselves into greater MCU and playing into the events of the movies. I'm still extremely wary that the Disney+ shows may end up becoming required viewing and making things extra confusing for general audiences (Loki is kind of teetering that line with its ending), but I didn't feel like this stinger required too much prerequisite knowledge. Apart from a few issues I had, I quite enjoyed the Black Widow movie. Though we probably could have done with getting this movie perhaps five years ago, this still did a good job as the swan song for the longtime MCU character, while also setting up a few things for the future. As I talked about when I read Vol. 1 of the 2016 Black Widow comic (more on that here), my younger self was indifferent to the idea of this movie, but now that the years have gone by and my appreciation of a character I once didn't care for grew, I'm glad we finally got this movie. - end - With our first movie since 2019 in Black Widow finally coming out, plus two Disney+ series behind us, the MCU train is slowly building momentum again. I just finished the finale of the Loki series, and oh boy, there's a lot to say. Like before, I'll split this up into non-spoiler discussion and spoilery ramblings at the end. There'll be a warning, no worries. The show follows up the little surprise that happened during the Avengers' time heist in Endgame. If you recall, the team who came to retrieve the Tesseract/Space Gem was caught off guard, which allowed the Loki of that timeline to escape using the cube. Unfortunately, Loki didn't get off scot-free, as not long after, he is apprehended by the Time Variance Authority, an incredibly powerful organization tasked with keeping the MCU's timeline free of branches, as decreed by the mighty Time-Keepers.
Once captured, Loki is set to be essentially erased from the timeline, but a TVA member named Mobius instead recruits him to a special mission: help capture a rogue variant (a variant is essentially a version of a person not meant to exist in the timeline). From there, Loki and Mobius go on a wild time-hopping adventure, with Loki eventually finding out the secrets behind the TVA, and why the rogue variant is doing what they're doing. Right off the bat, the show gets extra weird. Between the TVA pretty much playing by its own rules, all the wacky timeline variances, and all the big reveals throughout the season, I didn't know what to expect. Though I had an inkling about certain twists (one of which I will ramble about later on), there were some genuine surprises mixed in here that I 100% did not expect. A concern of mine was the fact that instead of the Loki of the main timeline, our main character is the Loki who has yet to undergo the arc he did post-Avengers. Though I feel like they fast-tracked parts of his development, we do see this Loki confront his major flaws and grow from them (well, mostly). At the end, I felt like I could root for this Loki, too. Some of the other characters are equally engaging, with Owen Wilson in particular killing it as Mobius. Something about his demeanor was just a treat to watch, and his dynamic with Loki was something I found quite entertaining. The other characters I want to talk about lean more into spoiler territory, so I'll leave my thoughts for them in the other half. [This is the halfway point of the non-spoiler section. The spoilers are five paragraphs down.] The time travel itself doesn't get as wild as Endgame, with the places they visit not really crossing over with the events of previous movies, or exploring certain gaps in the MCU timeline. Still, there were some interesting stops to real-life historical events, and even a few possible futures. I would've loved if they hopped through a few more timelines, but I'm mostly content with what we got here. I appreciated the show's brisk pace, as most big questions are answered in a rather satisfactory manner in short order. I expected the identity of the rogue variant to be dragged out until the end, but it was resolved in the first two episodes. I enjoyed most of the big reveals as well; I definitely had my fair share of "oh shit, business is picking up" reactions throughout the season. One thing I'd like to highlight is the show's score, because it is phenomenal. It has this epic, somewhat ominous feel to it, and the motif was instantly memorable to me. Marvel soundtracks tend to be hit or miss, but this is certainly a hit in my book. Out of every Disney+ series so far, this is the most impactful to the greater universe yet. Again, that leads into spoiler territory, so more on that in its own section. As a whole, I enjoyed this show. Having a fan favorite character explore a completely new, bizarre corner of the MCU with zero clue on what was going to happen next made for six whole weeks where I was excited for every Wednesday. [OK, here's the spoiler section. You've been warned.] With me checking out this one NES game, I'm finally done with May's Switch Online emulator updates. BACKGROUND:
As is tradition, I've never heard of this game prior to its addition to the Switch Online emulator service. One quick search reveals that it was never released outside of Japan until the Wii era, which is probably one of the reasons why I don't know about it. SUMMARY: Ninja JaJaMaru-kun is an arcade-style platformer where the goal is to defeat all the enemies in each level. I like to think of it as the game City Connection (also an NES game available on Switch Online), except with a ninja. Like most games of this era, there's little focus put on the story, so I don't really know what's going on. The most I can glean based on the elements of the game is that the protagonist ninja dude is trying to rescue what I assume is a princess being held captive by a pirate. Yep, definitely a game from the '80s. Though the overall aesthetic varies from level to level, each has a similar layout of four floors that you can jump between once you break the bricks scattered about the level Mario-style. Each level has you face off against eight assorted enemies, and you must defeat them in order to progress. Your ninja character can stun these enemies by jumping on their head, then dispatch them by throwing shurikens. It's quite simple, and the objective is the same all throughout the game. In terms of design, the enemies have some distinct designs, but gameplay-wise, there's little to differentiate them other than slightly unique attacks or movements. The general strategy of stomping them then throwing a shuriken works across the board, and the challenge lies more with not getting blindsided by another enemy. There's also the matter of dealing with the game's not-so-smooth controls; jumping in particular takes quite a bit of adjusting to. Breaking the bricks not only allows you to move across the level, but sometimes items will appear once you break them. Some of these items are benign, adding only to your overall score, others are bad and straight up kill you, while others are power-ups that have almost imperceptible benefits (seriously, I had to look up what they did because I couldn't figure it out). What is noticeable, however, is what happens when you collect three distinct power-ups. Doing so summons a frog which the ninja will mount, at which point you're completely invulnerable and devour any enemies in your path. It's not really that essential a power (especially once you get used to the game and get consistent at avoiding and killing enemies), but it's always fun to completely blast through a level with it. Defeating all the enemies can be a challenge in itself, but time is also of the essence. Not only is there a visible timer on the screen, but once a certain amount of time passes, the game will go out of your way to kill you. A fireball that relentlessly follows you can spawn, and the evil pirate dude (who is mostly a background element for most of the game) will throw an onslaught of bombs at you. These are a pain in the ass to deal with, so I did my best to clear levels as quickly as I could. The game also has a random element in a collectible sakura petal that occasionally drops in the level. Collecting three of these takes you to a shmup-style bonus stage (which unfortunately only rewards bonus points). It doesn't really mean anything, but I guess it's neat. VERDICT: Ninja JaJaMaru-kun is one of many games from the '80s that I think of as arcade-style. There's an emphasis on score, the gameplay is simple, restricted to a small area, and is largely the same all throughout, and there's not much else apart from that. I was entertained for the little bit I played it, but after a dozen or so levels, I felt like I've experienced most of what the game has to offer and was comfortable stopping. The most I can recommend is playing this game for a couple of minutes (or play through a few levels) and see if you like it. If you're not really into repetitive arcade-style games, you'll have your fill quickly. Regardless, I think it's a serviceable time-killer. - end - I've been sitting on this comic for over a year. It's finally time to read it. BACKGROUND:
I may have said this before, but Black Widow was never a character that really interested me as a child. In a universe that had Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, and Wolverine, it was a little hard for younger me to get into "regular spy". Even when the character made it into the MCU, it took me a while to see how interesting she really was. In the same vein as other characters I didn't grow up liking (like Thor and Captain America), engaging portrayals of the character in adaptations and actually digging deep to find interesting comics about Black Widow eventually helped me see that a regular spy can be interesting in a universe full of mutants and heroes. Obviously, I'm reading this now because the Black Widow movie is finally premiering after 2020 fucking everything over. While I'm excited to see the movie now (when it's safe; I'm not risking disease over this), I wasn't really interested in the idea several years ago (back in the Phase One days when not every character had a show or movie). As the years have gone by (and I've read more Black Widow books), my ambivalence eventually shifted into a desire to actually see a proper story told for the MCU version of the character. My initial disinterest was rooted in younger me's perception of the character (again: I dismissed her as "regular spy" when I was a kid), but in the same way I found a liking to the character as I learned more, my interest in seeing a movie also grew. As for this book in particular, I don't really know much about this run. I think the latest run of Black Widow I've read was the 2014 one, and I don't even remember much about it. THE WRITING: In this one, Black Widow is a fugitive, and she's running from none other than SHIELD, the agency she's been working with since she became a good guy. The reason? A mysterious figure called the Weeping Lion has blackmailed her with secrets she desperately wants to keep hidden, and until Natasha can figure out how to get out of her predicament, she'll have to play along, and that means pissing off SHIELD. Black Widow's journey here has her revisiting her dark past as an assassin of the Red Room, and she discovers that a new incarnation of it has risen. And if that wasn't enough, her secrets get her into a heated confrontation with fellow Avenger Iron Man. Natasha's got a lot on her plate, and she'll have to fight her way out of every pickle to get answers. This comic is very action-heavy, with a ton of panels focusing more on the drag-out fights Black Widow finds herself in as she tries to figure out her situation (more on this in the next section). This is apparent in the very first issue, which tells little story (other than a bit of exposition to establish that SHIELD is after Natasha) and is mostly Black Widow kicking a ton of ass as she escapes Director Maria Hill's clutches. In the later issues, more time is taken to explain what's happening, but there's still a ton of exciting action to go along with the slower, narrative-focused segments. Black Widow's past has always been dark, and she's always kept her secrets (especially her more shady ones), but the fact that she was willing to cross SHIELD to keep certain secrets hidden was immediately engaging. It's no secret that Natasha's done some horrible shit as one of the Red Room's assassins, but the reveal that one of the things she's kept hidden will get her in a confrontation with one of her trusted allies shows that her secrecy isn't necessarily out of a sense of self-preservation. In terms of her spy skillset, Black Widow's expertise is on full display here. While her combat is the primary focus in a lot of the issues, we see her excel at stealth, and one of the later issues sees her use some incredibly clever trickery to acquire the information she needs. I always enjoy when brains is employed over brawn (especially in spy stories), so the fact that we got some of that on top of all the fisticuffs is awesome. Though not necessarily the primary antagonist in the story, SHIELD is a force to be reckoned with, as Natasha has to really fight to overcome an army of agents trying to apprehend her. Maria Hill is her usual angry self, but the introduction of SHIELD Agent Elder adds an interesting wrinkle to how the agency views Black Widow as an operative. We may see her as a hero, but some folks at SHIELD take exception to Avengers taking point on missions. Weeping Lion himself isn't much of a character. Barring a surprising twist at the end, he's a typical manipulator using blackmail to amass power. I wager his involvement in the story gets more interesting in later volumes given what happens. We don't see much of the Dark Room (the latest iteration of the Red Room), but its brief introduction ties in well with a series of flashbacks we see of Natasha's past, where we see her interactions with the Headmistress, as well as a fellow trainee named Anya. Again, this'll probably be more explored as the main conflict in later volumes. THE ART: For the most part, the comic's art is simple, with mostly flat colors, thick lines, not much detail, and simple shading. But in certain panels, the style of shading changes, the palette shifts to fit the setting/mood, and the level of detail increases. It's awesome to see these changes take place, especially during the many action sequences of the comic. On that note, the combat looks and feels super dynamic, with some visceral hand-to-hand as well as over-the-top sequences filled with explosions. I'd like to shout out the first issue again, which I mentioned is mostly action-packed panels, and is exemplary of the book's art. VERDICT: This particular volume of Black Widow is one filled with intrigue, as we see Natasha go as far to fight against SHIELD to keep certain secrets, discover the darkest part of her past rear its ugly head again, and kick a whole lot of ass along the way. I found it an exciting, engaging read, both in terms of its story and its action-packed art. The story here is pretty standalone, so if you're interested in reading some Black Widow comics, you can't go wrong by starting here. Here's the book on Comixology: Black Widow Vol. 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted - Comics by comiXology - end - We're at the end of the latest batch of Switch Online's new SNES additions. I took my time this go-around, as I had just finished playing two update's worth of games when this new batch was added. BACKGROUND:
I'm not American, so baseball is one of those sports that I never really got into. I did eventually get a good understanding of it when I got older, but even then, it just wasn't a sport I was interested in (because no one plays it where I live). That's never stopped me from playing the occasional baseball video game, however, though in the same vein, those types of games rarely hold my interest unless they're Mario Sports-style wacky sports game. SUMMARY: Now, this may come as a surprise: Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 is a baseball game. What a twist! Jokes aside, this game is about as much as you expect from a sports sim. It's just the sport itself in video game format. Naturally, you have to have some prerequisite knowledge of baseball to get a sense of what's going on. If you don't, you're gonna have a bit of trouble understanding every aspect of the game, but as long as you recognize the basic idea of hitting the ball with a bat, I think you'll piece together everything else eventually. In terms of gameplay, there's really not much out of the ordinary if you have a good grasp of the rules of baseball. I will say that the controls will take a bit of experimentation to figure out, but once you're past that hurdle, I think you'll be OK. There is one thing that sets this game apart, however, but I'll get to that later. Like many sports games, this one has two main modes: Exhibition (which is your standard jump-into-a-game mode) and Season (the long-form version of the game where you simulate an entire season of baseball). In both modes, you can set the number of innings, the stadium you play at, and CPU difficulty. You can also choose to play the game manually, or pick manager mode, which is a more hands-off mode where you give instructions to your team as opposed to directly controlling them. I found that I'm pretty ass at playing this game, so spectating CPU matches or playing manager mode allowed me to enjoy the game from a distance (so to speak). A fun thing this game has on top of everything else is the ability to create your own baseball team. The default roster features 18 teams, but you can make your own if that isn't enough for you. Custom creator features are always neat, so it's cool to see that there's one here. The most notable thing about this game is that while it's mostly on the realistic side when it comes to simulating baseball, it has this video game-ass mechanic called Ultra Power-ups. As the name implies, these are power-ups that tips the scales in your favor, allowing you to throw pitches that confuses the shit out of batters, or hit home runs that no fielder can catch. These power-ups are fun, but only a fraction of the game's teams have access to them, so you'll have to edit them into the other teams should you wish to play with them. It would have been cool if they built the game around these power-ups, because if there's one thing I find more fun than sports games, it's sports games with wacky bullshit. VERDICT: Baseball isn't really my thing, but I still thought Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 was a serviceable game that is faithful to the actual sport, and has a surprising amount of options in terms of gameplay settings and custom content. Again, I wish the game was built more around the Ultra Power-ups that made shit weird, but I appreciate that it's there all the same. Can't really say this one's for me, but I don't think it's terrible by any stretch. I don't know much about any of the modern baseball simulators in the market today, but if you want a more retro-style experience, this is probably a decent title to check out. The controls may take you a bit to get a hang of, but for a Super Nintendo game, I think this game features a respectable amount of depth. - end - I missed a couple of Switch Online Game Trials in the three months my Switch was bricked, but now that I'm back, I can start checking them out again! BACKGROUND:
I heard a bit about this game a while back, and while I thought the idea of a rhythm game where you're basically a DJ (while not entirely new) was interesting, I never really looked into it. I actually didn't know it was even on Switch until I saw that it was going to be on the Game Trials program for a week. Perfect opportunity to see what it's about. PLOT: There's actually a campaign for this game, and the basic idea is that your avatar is an up-and-coming DJ whose stock gradually rises as you play bigger and bigger venues. Each venue has a promoter of sorts that serves as your mentor and teaches you the ropes. Pretty simple story, but it works well enough to contextualize what you're doing. PRESENTATION: The game is quite colorful, with dazzling backgrounds that show crowds of excited people in a concert setting jamming to the tunes you're mixing as you play. The UI of the game itself conveys relevant information well enough, and I liked the additional touch that it looks like a DJ turntable. In terms of style and fidelity, the visuals didn't really do anything for me. Not bad, but not revolutionary, either. To my surprise, the character customization for your avatar is modestly robust. There were a lot more options than I initially expected, and you can acquire new clothing and accessories through playing the game. Although you only really see your avatar in a few cutscenes, I still thought it was neat how much I could customize my look. As this is a rhythm game, music is at the forefront of the experience, and Fuser has, in my opinion, an excellent song selection. The songs certainly skew towards more popular stuff that came out within the past decade, and the genres don't really diverge from pop, rap/hip-hop, or dance music, but I still feel there's enough outliers to mix things up a bit. Sure, Party Rock Anthem is a sensible pick for a game like this, but this game surprised me with some awesome picks from way back (like X Gon Give it To Ya), and even stuff that I never would have guessed would make it to a DJ's song selection (Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth was not on my bingo card). While the base game's song list is solid, there's only so many you can play around with, and I found myself wishing there were more songs, and more diverse picks (nothing against the hits of the 2010s). There is additional DLC where you can purchase extra songs, and one glance at a list reveals equally inspired picks. However, the price point for said DLC seems a tad steep for a game built around having a diverse selection of music. While I'd normally save this explanation for the next section, I think I need to address this here: the main hook of Fuser is to mash up all these songs to create your own unique sound. I'm not musically inclined in real life (and my skill at rhythm games in particular varies greatly), but the game does quite a lot to make the shit I do actually sound good. There is some skill involved (as I'll get into later), but for many aspects, the game gives you a bit of leeway such that you don't have to micromanage absolutely everything to make your mix sound good. GAMEPLAY: Though elements of more traditional rhythm games exist in Fuser, the core experience is taking elements of famous songs and putting them together to create a brand new sound. It's still a game in the sense that there are goals and objectives, but the main focus is about the creative side, and I loved that immediately. At its most basic, you have a "crate" which contains an assortment of songs you can choose from, and each song has different components that you can put into your mix (which allows you to put a maximum of four components). You can mix together the bassline of Killing in the Name, the main melody of Call Me Maybe, the main beat of Push It, and the vocals of All the Stars to make a cool-sounding track (I've actually tried this example, and it's not half bad). As your set goes on, you can mix and match the songs at will, which gives you the freedom to change the tune according to your mood. It's amazingly simple to do: all you have to do is press the designated buttons and the game helps you with the rest. Once you progress far along enough, you gain access to brand new tools that lets you personalize your mixes even more. You can stack same components in the same mix (e.g. use vocals of multiple songs as opposed to just one), for one. Another thing you can do is manipulate already-playing tracks by adjusting their volumes (allowing for fade in/out effects), muting or soloing tracks, and quick-swap between two tracks. You'll also eventually unlock a synthesizer that allows you to add custom instrumentation to your mixes, as well as neat sound effects to boot. Hell, you can even adjust stuff like the tempo on the fly. There's an overwhelming amount of tools at your disposal, but the game eases you into each of these new elements quite well thanks to the single player campaign. Now, I said there's still an element of skill and aspects of conventional rhythm games here. That's because there's a score-based star rating like other classic games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and your rating is based on a number of factors. One key factor is timing, which matters in pretty much every rhythm game out there. Putting down your tracks at the perfect time (like on the downbeat or at specific moments when the particular track picks up) not only nets you a higher score, it also makes your work flow much better as a mix. Other factors include special objectives (like "play a specific component of a specific song") and audience requests (some of them will call out to you to play their favorite song). The star rating is mostly for leaderboard chasers (or people who want to unlock cosmetic items), but there's still incentive to do well because you can fail at this game. As opposed to missing notes in typical rhythm games (though you are punished for doing certain things off-beat), the audience loses interest if you linger too long on certain elements (e.g. you keep the same four tracks going for too long). You're always encouraged to switch up elements of your mix to keep things fresh, which is a pretty significant lesson to learn when it comes to mixing tracks, as it turns out. If you just wanna mess around with no consequence, the campaign has a no-fail mode, and there's a freestyle mode. Speaking of modes, you have your campaign (which is where you learn everything about this game's mechanics), a freestyle mode (which lets you experiment at your leisure), and a bunch of multiplayer modes. There's a co-op mode (which I couldn't test, but it sounds like fun), a battle mode (which I assume is a score battle), and something called Diamond Stage, which is this community-based effort where a rotation of players take center stage and other players get to spectate. Overall, the mode selection is adequate for a game such as this, but I do have a few sticking points. For instance, you can't really capitalize on Freestyle until you've beaten the campaign, because a lot of big mechanics are locked behind progression. I do understand why they did this: it's important to teach newcomers the basics before throwing them out in the wild, after all. I just feel like more knowledgeable players would appreciate having all the tools the game offers at their disposal immediately. Another thing I find a bit odd is the very nature of the Diamond Stage. That mode requires diamonds if you want to participate, and diamonds are a form of currency that you earn by gaining XP (done so by playing through the various modes). That means you'd have to grind if you want to participate regularly. I suppose it's no big deal if you're an avid player of the game, but having a cool community-building mode that's all about enjoying the creativity of other players (or sharing your own) . If it's any consolation, however, the Diamond Stage is streamed continuously on Fuser's Twitch channel. I've since started having it on in the background as I work, because there are some gifted folks in the community. I already touched on it, but yes, there is DLC. Most of it is obviously for music tracks, but you can also pay for cosmetic items and additional mixing elements. Like I said, the base song list is a lot, but eventually, you might want to change things up significantly, and those extra tracks will look super tempting. Up to you to assess if buying the DLC is worth it. VERDICT: I found Fuser to be a surprisingly addictive experience that highlights the more creative aspect of music as opposed to simply testing your rhythm and reflexes. Despite being mostly novice-level in anything music-related, I was still able to grasp the game's robust mechanics, and soon enough, I was putting together mixes that didn't sound like complete shit. Apart from a few gripes, I had a lot of fun with the game, and I'd actually be tempted to buy it for real if I weren't on a tight budget these days. If you're into music games (especially if you're interested in playing DJ and mixing songs), I think this is a game worth checking out. If even I can get into it, I think most casual players can learn the game through the campaign. I also think this would be a great game to play co-op or during parties in the same way Rock Band is a fun thing to do when friends get together. I also imagine this is a good entry point into actually making mixes. This game is available on Steam. There's also a free demo on there you can try. See if it's for you: FUSER™ on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - |
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