Wraithguard's Adventures in Monster Hunter World


Video Games


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I've put a little bit of time into the game, but I've not made too much progress, at least I don't think I have. Combat is challenging but not quite as bad as some games I've played. So far I haven't touched any online team capabilities but I was sorely tempted for one fight.

I've started up two new characters, mainly for the fun of trying out new weapon types in parallel.

The bow wielding huntress Sindrea and her partner Nightshade and

A more personal character:
Steven and Tuli. You might recognize the cat name from here. I figured I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a butt kicking partner cat and not name her after my old cat.
I haven't settled on what sort of weapons to test out on the other character but it'll likely be a gunlance, buster sword, or other melee weapon. My first used the Insect Glaive extensively and I think that has a very unique play style.

I'll share the experiences of my new characters starting tomorrow, likely starting with Sindrea.

I'd also like to hear from anyone else there experiences with the game.

Editor

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm picking this game up in a couple of weeks. I'm so excited! I put in maybe 100 hours into MH3U and MH4 a few years ago, but I haven't had time to play since. My switch-axe arm is itching!


We reached the New World.

The plan was to follow an Elder Dragon on the Elder Crossing, not that it all means much to me. I got the call that we were close to our destination and went down to the mess to get some food and meet the team. If I knew I was going to be thrown off the deck and onto the back of the Elder Dragon we were following or I would have worn more than normal clothes, my slinger, and a darned toothpick of a knife.

Well, my handler and I landed on its volcanic back, barely avoided being turned into a smear by the boat we were tossed from, and scaled its back. Thankfully we were close enough to shore that some ornery wingdrakes were flying around. We latched onto one and it flew to land where we were unceremoniously dropped onto soil. I've never been so happy to fly through a few dozen tree branches.

My handler was quick to run off to a camp a short ways ahead where she found a map with a rough layout of the land. We spotted the planned rendezvous point and attempted to make out way there. Hopefully Nightshade made it there alright, I didn't see her after I was thrown clear of the ship.

We headed out into a clearing and boy did the scoutflies go crazy. Interesting plants abound as well as some docile critters. A brief look around though reveals that we need to head through some side trails because of some large obstacles blocking the most direct path to the rendezvous location. Just our luck.

That trail happened to be infested with a half dozen or so small predators, but I don't even have a proper weapon. We hid in some bushes and they eventually lost track of us. We pushed on through some vines and down a cliff. The scoutflies went crazy over some monster tracks and scrapings, so I set myself to collect some samples. Well, little did we know that the critter that made them was still right around the corner.

It looked like a larger version of the previous predators. It jumped and pinned my handler and if it weren't for a new arrival, I doubt she would have made it out alive. The beast eventually threw him off its back, but it cleared a way through some debris for us to run.

I chased after my handler and the new guy as the beast chased them. The beast closed in when another larger and scarier predator burst out and began slinging the beast about. I barely squeezed pass them as the two clashed and made it to relative safety.

The new guy informs us that we are a short ways from home. Thank the Sapphire Star.

Somewhere in that town is a bow with my name on it.


Astera sure is something. Nice enough looking place and stocked with everything a group of hunters, scholars, and researchers could need.

The new guy, whom I guess isn't so new actually, was born over here (new name, homeboy). This has been his home the whole time, so he gives me and the handler a tour around the place as we look for Nightshade.

Supply stockpile, everything you need to stock up for the next hunt.

Research area, a giant pile of books really, to discuss the various wildlife we encounter with the book worms. He was also very clear that the giant pile of disorderly books is already ordered quite nicely and doesn't need cleaned up.

Workshop, great place to turn those gathered materials into armor and weapons. In a pinch you could always buy a weapon from them.

We then took a walk to the Canteen. Nightshade was there! She looked so worried and then she saw my cheery little handler and tackled her with a hug. Reunited at last!

After the heart-warming reunion I turn to homeboy but I'm cutoff by the horn. Seems they want a meeting.

Long boring story short, pest control. By the sounds of it these are those wonderful little vermin that accosted us as we made out way here through the wild.

Homeboy directs me to my quarters, I put on some armor (I'm never leaving my room without this again) and grab a sturdy bow.

Time to get to work.


The handler and I took a flight out to that small camp we found the map at when we originally landed here. From there it was a quick little walk to the last place those buggers, Jagras I'm told, ambushed us.

They aren't very strong, but they're fast and work well together. It doesn't take much to bring one down though. A few sidesteps and full drawn arrows solve the pest problem. Carve them up, time to report back and grab some grub. Then I'll see whats next as that wasn't very satisfying.

Next up, Kestodons. Not much of an issue either. They have boney heads that love ramming into people but really only the males are any threat at all. The notice said that they have been getting more ornery as of late, thanks to the Elder Dragon messing things up no doubt, and the ones nearest town need culled.

Same drop point as last time and they did me the favor of being right up front. Slower than Jagras, but they take more shots to bring down. I make sure to carve up the first herd (leave nothing to waste) before heading to the second. The second herd is slightly bigger, which caused some issues with getting surrounded but nothing some herbs and Nightshades first aid can't handle.

Just as I'm about to bring the last one down though a much bigger critter busts out of a tunnel and through some vines. The darned thing swallows a kestodon whole, huge bloated belly and decides to get aggressive with me! The nerve, I didn't steal your food, don't get upset with me!

A scuffle on a hill overlooking a beach against a bloated Giant Jagras. Well, a few dozen shots to the gut and head makes him lose his lunch and run off. You aren't getting away that easy. This time he has some help from little Jagras, but they do little more than get in the way as I continue to pepper his face and tail with arrows. He starts to limp off and I give chase once more.

The nest is hidden rather well but he leaves a path a cart could follow. Some flash flies provide an easy way to temporary blind him and the other Jagras and it doesn't take much to take it down. The little Jagras scatter, I carve up the corpse as Nightshade gathers some other materials. Time to head back.

Let's see what tomorrow holds.


Characters:
The main character is silent and none of the NPCs so far have gotten a proper name, just titles. To me, this means it's time to make nicknames for everyone I interact with more than a few times. I'm much further now after a weekend off (doesn't happen much) so I've got quite a few cut scenes that I've seen so far. I'll probably just post one major hunt a day though.

Nicknames so far:
Sunshine (Handler)
Homeboy (Field Leader)
Old Man (Commander)
Bookworm (Ecological Research Head)
Greenthumb (Botanical Research Head)
One-eye (Smithy)
Chef (Canteen Head Cat)
Givers (The group of people that make up the Resource Center)


Weapons:

Like I said earlier, this is my first time playing the series. One thing I love about this game is the variety of weapons and how different they are from each other and the complexity that each has.

For example, I used the insect glaive for awhile and I must say that my performance at the start was pathetic. Kills took forever because I wasn't using vaulting correctly and the insects went completely unused.

Well, I barely beat the Tobi-Kadashi with him and I knew something was wrong. I went on an exploration after visiting the training ground to master some basics and my power improved dramatically.

Fast forward to the Coral Highlands and I knew I wasn't using the insects well and I had seen some amazing aerial combos that I did earlier and I wanted to learn how I did it. Behold, red insect essence unlocks more impressive attacks and ups my damage greatly. Getting all 3 essences improves speed, resist to knockback, and further improves damage, turning a once clumsy glaive user into an aerial dervish worth fearing.

Now, the bow. I figured it worked well as a charge up and fire attacker similar to countless other games and I didn't even utilize the Dragon Piercer. What a fool I was.

My first Barroth and Jyuratodos took almost a half hour each. Once again, I knew I was doing something wrong. Took a look at the training ground and realized the potential of a well aimed Dragon Piercer. My next Barroth kill took less than 15 mins and it rarely got to utilize mud armor much.

Fast forward to Coral Highlands and I stumbled upon what I call rapid fire archery. Normally I would charge a full power shot and drain a ton of stamina lining up a good triple shot. I couldn't do much before needing to get stamina back so if the enemy wasn't a good Dragon Piercer target, a kill would take a bit. Well, I accidentally fired off a shot without charging and immediately went to fire another volley off and I noticed the telltale red shine of a charged up shot.

Turns out that rapid firing causes the next volley to gain power until you hit the max which causes it to reset to the lowest level. My ability to do damage jumped immediately, resulting in quicker breaks and much faster kills.

The lesson here. If you don't feel like you are doing well, you probably aren't doing it just right. No worries, go and learn, then kick butt.

Now, back to the adventures.

Homeboy and Sunshine wanted to go and explore a bit to look for Zorah's trail, the Elder Dragon. We found a large chunk of still cooling rock with traces of magma on it as well as some critter that seems a little perturbed the rock is there in the first place. We are quite a long ways away from camp Homeboy says and that we should talk to the Resource Center about setting up a new base out here.

The Resource Center is run by a little group of people that handle everything from bounties to investigations. Seems thay always have something that needs done and they just love giving it to hunters. Setting up a second base in the Ancient Forest is something they've always needed done and it seems I was nominated for simply asking about it.

Sunshine, Homeboy, and I set out to explore the forest for a suitable location. It needs to be fairly secure and difficult to find so an angry critter doesn't trash it by walking through. It also needs to be closer to the direction of that rock we found, so on the other side of the map is where it needs to be.

The forest is a wonderful place to explore, so many different types of mushrooms and plants and even bugs that all have some use. Finding critter tracks, mucus deposits, and claw marks also serves to increase the research we have on certain monsters. Rather overwhelming given all those options, but finding a base camp is our goal with this outing so I ignore actually hunting any large monsters. Given that a Big Lizard (Great Jagras) walked right on by me without a fuss, I'd say he doesn't give a hoot about me either.

Homeboy finds a suitable location just as I round a bend and see him and a nearby researcher. I help the researcher out with catching a bird nearby and then see what Homeboy found. I climb on up the vines nearby and come face to face with some critter examining a large pot. The critter, a Kalu Ya-Ku (Snatcher) was just as freaked out as I was and he bolted. Sunshine tells me that we should take out that monster before we set up base or else it'll be back before long and destroy it.

Time to go to work.

I chase him out of the tree we are in and out into a clearing. It tries to pounce, some quick slashes, and even snatches rocks from the ground to use as a weapon. His head is almost always wide open and his scrawny little claws make easy targets as well. He runs off after chucking his rock at me and I give chase.

Another quick fight or two and it limps off to a nest. I catch up to it as it snatches an egg and begins to eat it. Stationary target, a bunch of quick shots to the face and he goes down. Well, that was a bizarre fight, but the base should be available to set up now.


A quick trip back to Astera to get some supplies and Sunshine and I head back out to take care of that agitated Pukei-pukei. I'm told to carry some extra Antidotes with me because he is likely to spit poison covered seeds at me or spread poison on the ground. Wonderful.

Puker is easy to find from the new base. Seems it trundled on by a little bit ago as some feathers are still sitting on the ground. A few footprints and a pile of feathers later and the scoutflies are leading the way.

The first fight takes place in a little flower covered clearing filled with scatternuts. Plenty of ammo for him but plenty of room for me to maneuver. Seems like a fair enough place for us to fight to me.

Puker isn't very quick unless he makes flying hops and is quite clumsy compared to Snatcher. Lining up shots isn't too difficult because his wings are easy targets to hit. Dodging spit balls is fairly simple too. The only wrinkle comes in when an Anjanath walks by and spooks Puker, sending him flying off. I run off since I one, don't feel like being Anja chow, and two, killing Puker is my goal. Anja doesn't bother chasing me more than 50 feet and I circle around to follow my scoutflies.

I catch up to Puker again in a wide open area with a pack of Little Lizards hiding in the trees, too scared to get on the ground. A little shooting, avoiding a poison spray and then curing the poison I got from the seed that smacked me in the butt, and Anja comes by again. Puker flees, I flee.

I chase Puker down and find him all the way in his nest back where we started. A quick fight and Puker gets carved up. High five Nightshade and we head back.

Time for a rest, some food, and a trip out to the wastes when the scholars get there stuff ready.

Liberty's Edge

Hearing really good things about this game. Thinking of picking it up. But how hard is it for someone that's never played a MH game before?


I would say it depends on your previous video gaming experiences. I've spent some time with unforgiving games in the past but not any of the other Monster Hunter games. I'm a veteran of games like Demons Souls and Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, and I've played more than a few games with the difficulty cranked up as high as it would go. I'm used to one-shot and two-shot kill moves, status effects and plenty of other stuff.

Many of the beginning hunts will throw you up against enemies that are easy to dodge, predict, and damage depending on the weapon you use. You need healing items but they throw them at you like crazy the whole game.

I'm not sure what you have played before CC, but if you don't mind learning as you go you should be successful. All go over a few things and how much I've had to mess with them since I've started and played up until you access high rank hunts.

Armor: I started with leather, crafted bone (decent quick upgrade), eventually found I liked the look of the Kulu Ya-Ku armor and made it and upgraded it extensively. Upgrading just boosts armor, not the skills attached. While the skills on it might not do me much good I found most of the others unappealing to look at. Kulu Ya-Ku armor is very low grade but I progressed up till the start of the High Rank hunts with it and beat the first High Rank Pukei-Pukei.

Weapons: Upgrade regularly, but the game tells you exactly what you need. Element stuff can be ignored if you stick to basic raw damage. An upgraded Bone Bow worked fine for me for a long time.

Healing Items: Extremely plentiful and cheap to make.

Conclusion:

Low Rank is about keeping a level head and learning. If you don't mind learning as you go, I'd give it a shot bud.


Woke up the next day and Sunshine is ready to get things moving. Scholars have a cart ready to go and my job is to escort them and Sunshine out into the Wastes and retrieve a chunk of magma that fell from Zorah Magdaros.

It starts off slow enough, new plants, animals, insects, some grazing herbivores, nothing unusual. Up a hill, down the other side and then, dead stop. Up ahead is a Rathian. I slowly sneak forward, grab some stones and shoot them around the area and lure her off enough so that the cart can get wheeled by the side path and out to the lower area.

That was close. Rathians look nasty enough that I don't even want to tangle with it for a short time let alone try to kill it.

We continue on but some large tracks make me worried something large and angry is nearby. The chunk of Zorah is just ahead so the scholars and Sunshine run off as fast as they can towards it. I approach, the scoutflies get rather interested in it as well, and then that big angry thing appears, a Barroth. If it wasn't for some nearby scatternuts and a good shot to the face with a slinger Sunshine probably would have gotten trampled.

Barroths have club tails, a thick forehead ridge used to ram, and a love of mud. When properly covered in mud they will shake some off to leave big mounds of sludge that are almost impossible to move through.

Arrows didn't seem like they were doing much to this guy since his whole darned head is armored and the rest of hid body is not exceptionally vulnerable.

After a bit he runs off and flops around in the mud to cover himself again. Great, now I need to break off that crap again. This struggle felt like it took an eternity, an excruciatingly boring eternity that only drug on for a half hour.

I must be doing something wrong.

I pay Bookworm a visit and he lets me know about some basic weaknesses of a Barroth. Wait, his scrawny arms are his weak spot. Now I'm disgusted with myself.

As soon as I'm done with Bookworm though they let me know that some scholar went missing in wastes and they want me to find him. Well, maybe I'll get a chance to use this lesson I learned.

(This is when I learned to read your little monster guide to figure out where the weak points are if it isn't obvious. At this point I was still doing charge up shots and didn't use Dragon Piercer.)


Sunshine and I head back to the wastes to track down this scholar. Immediately something is a little off.

The scoutflies are going nuts after the scholar's tracks but also some weird bone spikes around the area. These spikes keep showing up near the scholar's trail.

Time to pick up the pace!

I run past the next few sets of tracks, its obvious I'm following the trail by the scoutflies illuminating them. I love those little guys.

Down a little waterfall, follow the creek, and up ahead is a large carcass of some sorts impaled by a half dozen spikes. I can barely see the traumatized scholar huddled near the carcass.

What the blazes is going on here?!?!

Sunshine and I wade through the bog to get to him and as luck would have it, the same sort of monster he was huddled near bursts from the water.

Water dwelling, loves getting caked in mud (Bless this game!), spits muck and water, seldom emerges from the water. Great.

Shots to the head don't seem overly effective, neither do shots to the tail, thanks to the mud. This mud is really getting the better of me, there must be some way to deal with this.

Eventually it leads me back up stream and I get to use the benefits of a Wiggli Litchi, this wonderful larva that gives you a stamina usage reduction buff. This helps me speed up my trickle of damage and I chase it back down stream after a long fight and another trip into the mud.

It finally ends 20 some minutes later. Considering I saw an investigation I could attempt to down a different critter in less than 15 minutes, I must still be doing something terribly wrong.

Back to the training ground and I give this "Dragon Piercer" a try. A few repeated hunts later and I got the hang of it. I sped up my Barroth kill by a whole 8 mins as this piercing shot was able to strip nearly all the mud from its body in a few shots.

(Little did I know I at this point I was still not using the bow to its full potential.)


This game seems like a lot of fun. Maybe if my Tax rebate is good enough I'll get me a PS4


After the training against a few old hunts I'm feeling pretty confident in myself and it seems Greenthumb has the perfect trial for me to test that newfound confidence.

He has a clever little gadget for me, a ghillie cloak, and the promise that more hunters can get one so long as I clear out a particular nuisance, a Tobi Kadachi. No other info for me on what to expect other than it is close to our new base in the forest.

Sunshine and I head out and it doesn't take more than a minute of walking to find some feathers and tracks. The scoutflies quickly pick up the trail and they lead me on a merry run through the forest. I pass a Big Lizard on my way and he doesn't care at all.

Eventually the trail leads me into a small nest. The Tobi jumps around from tree to tree and gets the drop on me. Darned thing sure is fast.

Tobi Kadachi - Quadrupedal lizard, large wide tail, lots of feathery scales that produces and stores static electricity very well, skin flaps like a flying squirrel.

I retreat to a better position as being surrounded by trees that it can climb and jump around do not work well for me. It follows me down a little bit to some ramps I used to reach this area and some fairly flat ground. Seems as good as anything I guess.

This critter might not have much reach but it has tons of speed and a lunging attack that can cover a small gap incredibly quick and a pounce that can cover a large one just as fast. Fighting this thing is an absolute nightmare. The only saving grace is that its large tail is also a weak point. Huzzah!

Every now and then it'll make some shaking motions and gather energy. After enough of those it eventually looks like it became fully charged up. It doesn't get any faster but everything it does hurts me more. Wonderful.

I must have aggravated it enough that it decides to find some other area to go to. I follow, hesitantly, and gather some healing items on the way. I catch up to it and shoot it a bit and it falls over, I line up a Dragon Piercer and get lukewarm results. It isn't that big so it doesn't have much to pierce through. It recovers shortly after the shot goes off. Won't be doing that again.

It climbs up a tree, gets charged up again. I must be back far enough to be out of reach.

It leaps, I wake up back in camp with Nightshade smacking me in the face. What the hell was that, an electric tail lash!?!?!

Good lord, I'm avoiding that thing for sure next time. I catch back up to it a minute later. It's still charged up, time to be careful.

The next 10 minutes go by rather quickly as I spend most of it terrified of getting hit with an electric tail. Thankfully it limps back to its nest, I get in front of it, drop a shock trap, and a few tranq bombs later it is knocked out and on a trip back to Astera.

That was fun and terrifying. First time I was knocked out in a fight and a critter proved to be truly dangerous offensively.


I've decided to switch back to my first character for purely aesthetic reasons. You can read the little tangent below if you like. I'll still provide the same information about the fights since I crafted a bunch of bows for this former insect glaive wielder to use.

Tangent about armor:
I love the varied looks of the armor and you can tell that the people designing all of the various pieces of gear did an overall amazing job.

That said, what I find tasteful in armor designs, especially for females, has changed over the years. Comparing most of the armor sets that my male and female character had access to revealed that I didn't quite care for how skimpy some of them were made for the females.

I get that some people like that sort of thing for armor and the line for me between 'classy' and 'trashy' can sometimes be quite narrow. The biggest thing that got me was so many sets had exposed inner thighs. I probably wouldn't have minded so much but there are quite a few times in the game when a character needs to crawl head first through a gap.

The last armor set I saw that made me realize I would probably be happier playing my first character was the Kirin armor set. The bonuses are decent for dealing with lightning damage and I capture enemies a lot so the set bonus is extremely handy but the character was basically wearing a kirin-cloth bikini.

If you like that sort of stuff, that's cool with me, but I'm not particularly a fan of it. My wife enjoys watching me play so I like to make sure the character looks nice and classy.

Some of you are probably wondering if I've ever seen a classy outfit for a female character in an RPG. My favorite example is from Bravely Default. The Red Mage job for the females has a nice dress. Armor in Dragon's Dogma didn't really care if you were male or female except for a few pieces of female only armor that could be completely ignored in the game.

Tangent over, go ahead and message me if you want to continue that sort of conversation.

Rest up after the trashing the Tobi gave me and I wake up to a horn, time for a meeting.

Old Man decides that it is time to try and capture Zorah Magdaros. We know where it'll be heading through and it is an area that is easy to fortify for an attempted capture. A truly crazy idea really.

Homeboy warns him that before we can do that the neighborhood nuisance should be taken care of as it could trash the whole town while we are gone. Old Man looks at me and says that taking care of the Anjanath is my job. That big angry lizard that kicked the Big Lizard around like a plaything, yeah, that's right.

Meeting over, get to work.

Homeboy warns me to take precautions, bring plenty of supplies, and use everything I've learned. Sounds like the game is really taking off the training wheels now.

First I check my notes and see that it is weak to water. I use some leftover Jyuratodos parts to craft one and purchase arrow coatings that it can use.

I max out on potions, high potions, anitidotes, honey, and herbs. I check my armor decide to use my bone armor for the slight fire resist and upgrade it to improve my defense.

Time to go hunting.

Sunshine and I drop off at the first base camp and start searching from there. It takes a few minutes to find the tracks, which ended up closer to the other camp, and begin gathering scent for the scoutflies.

Off they go and a minute later I find the Anjanath killing off its lunch. I grab a few scatternuts sitting around, lure him under a hanging boulder and break the vines when he gets under it.

The boulder crashes down, dust flies everywhere, and the carcass of the Big Lizard is thrown at me as the Anjanath decides it needs an appetizer first.

An Anjanath is basically a T-Rex that can breath fire.

This beast dogs my every step and the only time I can get some good shots on it are when my Palico bothers him enough to distract him. Learning his tells is difficult since I spent so much time just making sure I was getting the heck away.

High potions and Vigorwasp Spray carries the first battle. I remained out of range of the fire breath sweep attack so I'm not sure how bad it is.

I chase him to the next area. Just as I catch up a darned Rathalos drops in and gets in a turf war with the Anjanath. I flick the Anjanath a few times as the Rathalos launches a fireball right into his side. The Anjanath runs like a beaten animal. I quickly follow him as I have no intention of getting eaten by an even bigger ornerier lizard.

The next area has a slightly raised area in the center, a hanging boulder to drop on him and a bunch of herbivores that are too dumb to run. I miss dropping the boulder on him, use all my arrow coatings without getting a status effect to actually occur, and chew up another few potions. Still alive and kicking though. I give chase once more as he runs off.

The next area is the side of a steep hill with paratoads around. Paratoads emit a paralyzing cloud when struck, which I'm able to utilize twice in the fight. Throwing that much damage down uninterrupted felt amazing. I get tail slapped and kicked a few times but my supply of high potions holds out. The Anjanath limps off and I give chase.

I flick it a few more times in the trip back to its nest. Cramped, tight quarters. Anjanath gets mad and starts to hold fire in its mouth, ready to spew. I get launched from a solid hit. I stand up, roll down the narrow corridor to escape another hit and drink a potion. A few more shots to the face before the flames from a full -throated straight fire blast envelope me.

I wake up back in camp. OK, lesson learned. NEVER stand in front of an Anjanath with a fire breath ready. I craft some new potions and grab a trap and tranq bombs from my stash.

I get back to the nest, it has recovered a bit from the fight so I beat up the Anjanath some more, taking caution to stay close and to her sides as much as I can.

It gets tired and stops to catch its breath, I throw down the shock trap under her, it takes and I throw the bombs to put her to sleep.

Victory!

Time to put on some burn cream and catch some rest. That is one mean beast.


Before I can even get to bed, Old Man tells me that we need to head to our camp in the giant ravine that Zorah will be passing through. Homeboy tells me to pack for extreme heat, this is a walking volcano we are trying to capture after all.

Sunshine and I fly out to the camp and we begin preparations. More accurately, I watch everyone prepare while I make sure my gear is ready to go. I guess it's time to wait.

I nod off for a bit and wake up to see everyone waiting anxiously. Stand up, stretch, and the scoutflies fly off towards the ravine floor.

That's not good.

Zorah emerges, sending rocks flying hither and yon effortlessly. Who agreed that we should try and stop a walking volcano? Everyone did? Great.

Troops get to task aiming and loading cannons as I man a ballista. Nice range but I'm just plinking away at this thing. I head to a cannon and start loading it with Nightshade. Slight adjustment to aim. Fire!

Much better impact. Why are the troops waving at me? I run over and see that they fully loaded the cannon but they haven't aimed or fired. What the heck guys!?!

Aim and fire. Head to the other, aim and fire again. I head back to my first ballista, reload, and fire again. Zorah reels every now and again from the relentless fire but it begins to tear down the wall we erected to hold it back.

We weaken Zorah a little and fire binders to hold subdue it a little. We continue firing but it proves pointless as the wall is torn down and the binders slip out.

Next line readies to hold it back as the hunters hop on wingdrakes to get dropped on top of Zorah. A quick flight when we receive orders to destroy something called magma cores.

Oh, that giant chunk of red and orange glowing rock. Got it. Dragon Piercer racks up some quick damage but it still takes a minute to break one core. In that time I notice a rather nasty explosion effect it does. Definitely stay away from that.

Tracking down the next core proves a little difficult as I have to find it on the body of a moving giant. The next I find partially inside the critter. I whittle it down and just after I break it I hear a strange roar.

That wasn't Zorah.

Old Man yells for us to get topside and repel the invader before it rips out the binders that we shot into Zorah. I hurry out, jump down onto the open area it is pacing.

It stares at me for one second before leaping at me, one clawed arm raised. I roll just before it impacts the area I once occupied. The flying stone and loud crash makes me think that would have ended badly should I have remained there.

This critter is nothing but bony spikes, armor plates, and unbridled anger. Why do I feel like I'm more than a little out of my league.

Some other hunters show up to help out, thank goodness. Sadly they are just as unsure how to approach this beast as I am.

After a minute of dodging, firing a series of weak shots when I can find an opening, and taking grazing attacks that still hit as hard as a solid Anjanath blow; the Old Man's veteran hunter shows up.

The Huntsman seems like he has fought this guy more than a few times and evades blows before shearing off spikes in a solid blow. The Huntsman takes a blow and reels back when the beast flies off as the binders slip free.

Zorah rears up, breaks the next wall, and we get off.

The capture failed, but at least we are all alive. What the heck was that strange beast anyways.

Oh well. Time to get some rest before chasing after him. I'm fairly sure my bruises have bruises now.


Wake up to Sunshine poking me telling me we should head out to the ravine and scout it out since Zorah busted up some of it real good.

She promises it will be easy, no crazy volcano monsters or fire breathing wyverns.

OK, let's go.

The ravine is abuzz with hunters looking around and the different support groups scavenging what they could of what is left in decent enough shape.

Sunshine finds a small trail leading up into a newly made fissure. We jog up the path and find the most interesting area. Coral growing everywhere but we are high enough up that we can't see much else. Sunshine gets ahead of me while I look for something I saw move in my periphery.

A large flying critter of some sort and it doesn't look happy to see us. I run for Sunshine but before I can reach her the monster breaks the pillars we are standing on.

We both tumble down to the ground far below.

I wake up in the remains of some ship with some lady sitting on a throne staring at me. Wait, didn't some engineer back in camp mention the old Third Fleet airship that wrecked around here years ago.

Well, she lets me know whats going on and where we are, the Coral Highlands. She also says it would be a good idea to look for traces of Zorah. Why is that a good idea, because she says it is and she never has bad ideas.

*facepalm* Wonderful.

I go chat with Sunshine and we decide to head out and look for a camp for Astera to use for hunters. Seems like a good thing to do considering we are in uncharted territory.


Outside the boat and just down from the little balcony is a small base camp. It doesn't get much use considering the people on the boat are all researchers and scholars.

The camp is rather high up but because of the flora of the area I can't really see much. Time to jump down and explore.

Familiar fauna, some really unfamiliar ones, some small predators that pester me enough they get shot and drove off, and some slightly familiar tracks.

The tracks lead to a critter that resembles the egg stealing Ya-Ku from earlier. This one doesn't use any rocks but possesses a pair of potent photophores capable of stunning things in front of it.

It stuns me and a bunch of critters and runs off. I'll get back to him later.

I continue down a path and up a ramp of coral. I get to some wingdrake gathering area where some large balloon like critter is harassing them in the distance. I'll get back to you as well.

Climb up some vines, hoping to get a better view. Not so much, but it leads to another set of vines leading higher.

Up we go.

Well the view from here is great but no detail. Guess I'll continue on.

Strange gashes. Examine. A footprint. Examine.

Big shadow growing larger. RUN!

A large critter with an uncanny resemblance to the one that caused Sunshine and I to fall into this area. REVENGE!

A large tail, ice attacks, very mobile. Running across the ice patches is no good either. I cause a few breaks but nothing major.

The message pops up that the Legiana is leaving the area. Darn coward.

Fine, I'll get back to you to.

New base, 20 feet to the right and through a tunnel. Figures.

Sunshine meets me there. I guess that was easy enough.

Time to head back to the wrecked airship.


Homeboy caught up to us and brought a friend, the old airship engineer that was left behind when this thing took off.

Seems they have this grand plan of getting this wreck flying again and they need the air sack from a certain critter nearby.

Did the reason this thing got knocked out of the air ever get addressed?

No.

Shouldn't we solve that problem first then?

No.

OK, what is it you need again, a Paoluma needs killed?

Let's go Sunshine, these people make no sense.

A quick flight to the new base and I begin the hunt for a Paoluma, whatever that might be. Process of elimination would suggest that balloon critter.

It doesn't take long to find tracks and it leads me to the wingdrake gathering area. Well, let's deal with this thing.

Paoluma: an inflatable bat with a beaver tail. *snicker* Poor thing.

It is rather maneuverable as it uses a combination of air puffs and the tail to sling its inflated body around. It is rather mobile for its hilarious appearance.

Stay too far off and it will shoot air at you. It does a little damage but it knocks you over, creating an opening. Even if you avoid it it leaves a little cyclone behind that will disorient you if you run into it, also creating an opening.

What does it do when it has an opening. A full body slam attack that looks hilarious but will one-shot you if you don't have a bunch of defense.

It doesn't pose much of a threat and I easily chase it back to its nest and finish it off.

Well, time to head back and get the wrecked airship flying again.

Liberty's Edge

The truth about the game.

Honest Trailer

Great stuff. I think I’ll pick this up and give it a go.


It has been a crazy week so I haven't had a chance to post back here until now.

I'm much further in the game than my posts indicate but I digress.

Back to our adventure...

I get back to the ship and in short order the crew gets the balloons rigged up and inflated. The genius does a last check with me to ensure I'm ready to descend into the Rotten Vale (as ready as I'll ever be) and off we go.

The first look at this horrendous place makes me wish I was back in any other area other than here. Carcasses, rotting meat, scavengers, and gas clouds that surely can't be healthy.

We find an area to drop into but it is rather crowded with scavengers. This is when Sunshine takes it upon herself to do something crazy; jumping down from our relatively safe lift to the ground below to toss me some explosive slinger ammo. I quickly load and fire the blast pods at the scavengers and they vacate the area.

Sunshine, could you try to not put yourself in an extremely dangerous position without saying something first?

Sunshine: "Let's go partner."

I'll take that as a "no."

Well, time to explore.

Dead things dropping from the sky; check. Giant sets of ribs that serve as walls, still covered with some flesh; check. Dripping fluid the color of human waste; check.

Alright, why are we here again? Oh yeah, trying to find the walking volcano.

Nothing up here except some strange ruts and a clump of tarred bones. Let's take a look.

A giant monster bursts from a pile of bones and some falling debris seals me in the makeshift arena.

Large and long, covered in bones, very slow except when rolling. When rolling though it is very unsteady and prone to falling over.

Well, it tries to turn me into a paste, and rather enjoying where all my appendages are, I sidestep and put a cluster of shots into his side. It falls over after wobbling for a second.

Dragon Piercer time, two of those and most of the bone armor has been sheared off. So wait, this whole thing is like a tar-covered monster that uses the refuse of this area to generate armor. Creepy but resourceful.

Fighting this poor thing is almost a joke as it only hit me when I let it get way too close and it slapped me with the nub of a tail it had left. It retreats, smashes through a wall and my mission changes to killing it.

Fine, time to put down the bone-covered monstrosity. I chase it back to its nest and it burrows into the ground.

Wait, it vanished, what the heck!

BOOM! Up comes the monster, a Radobaan, covered in even more bony armor than before. It starts to do a spinning attack by laying on its side and spinning . Not entirely effective but it can't be knocked over like rolling.

Eventually the beast falls from repeated Dragon Piercers and shots to the face. Quickly carve it up and back to looking for a base.

Down we go and it doesn't take much to find the base located off the side of the Radobaan rolling tracks. (That critter is why the walking lanes are so wide)

Well, that was fun. Time to go see what the higher ups want to do next.


Another crazy week at work that saps most of my energy.

I'll leave some of my thoughts since I don't think I have the concentration left for much else.

It has been awhile since I fought a Great Jagras, but even a Tempered one is a freaking pushover.

Kulu-Ya Ku, I love these guys. During an egg stealing quest I had to get to herbivore eggs. Grabbed an egg, ran past the rather upset critters and got it back. Went back for another.

Round the corner and a Kulu-Ya Ku is already in the nest. He looks at me as I approach. I walk up right next to him and grab an egg. He grabs an egg. We walk off our separate ways.

Pukei-Pukei, easy to take down but a tempered one actually does a decent amount of damage if you aren't watching for the poison spit.

Anjanath, easy kill now, even tempered ones. Severing the tail with Dragon Piercers is easy to do but removes a good weak point.

Tobi. I still use some caution fighting a Tobi to avoid a few nasty attacks. I've learned to press the attack when it climbs trees thought, it is easy to knock off and score a ton of damage on.

Barroth. Grab some Watermoss to take the mud off of him and this guy is a pushover against anything.

Odogaron. I respect this beast. It is extremely vicious and still causes me just a little trouble. Respect.

Nergigante. I view him as a good test of skill for bow users that engage him in a straight up fight. He was the first fight I had to get some specific gear for. Took me about 4 tries to finally beat.

Legiana. I had to kill more than a few of these to finally get a Gem to craft an awesome Ice bow. Frustrating to fight depending on where it decides to engage at. Exercise some thought in deciding where to fight it at.

The other elders, not nearly as bad as Nergi.

The final boss. I was proud of that fight. I went into it not knowing what was going to happen and fought it very cautiously without any feints. Funny thing is, this beastie loves dropping gems for me to use, but almost refuses to give me horns.

I'm in the Hunter Rank grind so I'm just finding projects to do before I get new Assignments.

I've made a powerful bow of every element, but I'm thinking of crafting an end tier bow of every Tree just to take up some time. My armor is set for now. I've got a good offensive heavy set and a defensive set.

One boasts plenty of attack and affinity, while the other sacrifices affinity and a little attack for max Earplugs, Stun Immunity, and 2/3 levels of Tremor Resist. I could always swap some decorations around for Paralysis Immunity or near immunity to Vaal's miasma.

I think I'm pretty well kitted out for the time being though I'm still wondering what insane hunts they are planning to throw my way later on.


Have to admit this game sounds like a huge amount of fun and the stuff I've seen on the fights looks awesome


Well, if anyone wants some help or company, send me a private message and I'll provide my Playstation Network ID thing.


Time to continue the story, at least as well as I can remember it.
-----------

Back at the Research Center, they let us know that the Rotten Vale is very deep and they have found a way to drop us deeper down.

OK, I'm game, I guess.

Off we fly the airship-turned-wreck-turned-airship towards the zone.

Wait, so this is the zone that you tried to fly into and went down last time!

Great, so what did this monster look like?

Like that great big one flying towards us right now.

LEGIANA! REVENGE!

We turn the tub around and let the Legiana eat its fill of the little wingdrakes.

Little does it know that it is having its last meal.

Lets go Sunshine.

Fully stocked and ready to go.

I bet it lives some place high up, lets start at the base in the higher area, out the tunnel and to the left.

Tracks, gashes in the rocks. Now I'm on the trail.

A little bit further on and I see it descend in a neighboring area. Jump down the cliff and put a few arrows into its wings.

It screeches at me and the fight begins.

Quick, nimble, and no good weak spots other than the head. Oh well, time to cripple this beast.

It is very quick and dodges around frequently, causing arrows to miss unless I'm up close.

Tail is very devastating and allows it to unleash powerful ice attacks.

This is when I accidentally discovered how to properly use the bow without high level gear and multiple skills.

Rather than charge up for a big attack over and over and consume time and stamina, just rapid fire by pulling the trigger over and over.

Break a wing, it falters, shoot the head. It recovers, screams, and flies off. Chase it up the cliff and it decides to fight me on some small platforms between plateaus.

Bad area for me, small area, difficult to avoid tail swimgs and frost patches or attacks. I consume more than a few mega potions but eventually wound it bad enough to make it fly off up some more.

Using some wedge beetles, I swing across some gaps and climb up to its resting area.

Much nicer area, wide enough to run around a bit and no obstructions.

A few minutes more and I stand triumphant.


Alright, the way is clear. Time to go deeper into the Rotten Vale in search for the gigantic Zorah Magdaros.

Hey! Smart scientist people! Zorah is a freaking walking volcano, why the heck haven't we found a giant wake of destruction where it has passed through?

Nothing?!?!?!

Whatever. Let's go Sunshine, maybe we can find something.

Down to a new base in the Vale. Follow the scoutflies down a ledge to a chunk of magma. Definitely from Zorah, but how the heck did it get down here?

The flies pick up another scent and continue down deeper, on we go Sunshine.

Another huge chunk of magma is up ahead and Sunshine runs ahead.

Sunshine, could you not run off so fast, there is bound to be something around here that wants to eat you?

*ROAR* A big red beastie jumps out and and starts eyeing his next meal.

Great, what did I just say!

An old friend drives it off, and by the looks of it, by firing dung pods at it, and I get Sunshine back to base.

She implores me to make sure our friend it alright. "Only if you stay here and away from the hungry beasties."

Out I go to track the angry red critter. Not sure what it is but it sure looked ready to eat.

Doesn't take much to find him.

Odogaron, agile, red and angry with a wide flat tail (vertical) covered in... is that stone?

OK, he'll probably try to smack me with that, and claw me to pieces, and bite me.

Great, so everything on him is a weapon.

This is when I find out that bleeding is a condition, and it sucks, and everything you do while bleeding makes you lose health. Two ways to stop it, eat some jerky or stop moving long enough to patch it up.

Well, that was one faint.

Beat him up pretty good after I learned to fear the claws. The bite attacks aren't too bad but they are quick. Tail smacks are painful, but no bleed, thank god.

I get him to run back to the nest after a few encounters.

Wake it up with a Dragon Piercer, now I made it mad?!?

Dodge enough times to run out of stamina, try to fire a shot, and it gets me clawed again.

Then it hops up a wall and dives at me. Faint number two.

OK, lets stop playing around. Grab some explosives and head back out.

It is sleeping. I place the two bombs and blow it to the afterlife.

Done. Not fancy, no pride, but it is dead.

Carve it up. Tough -------.

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