Monster Hunter: Riders (mobage)

[manafusion]

Anyone playing this? Just released today on the JP store. It's turn-based RPG.

https://mobile.capcom.com/mh-r/

[manafusion]

Right, played enough to grasp the system before emergency maint.

Battle System
Move order turn-based combat. Everyone on the field gets a speed check which results in who gets to move first, second, etc. This then becomes that turn's move order. Currently, there's no difference in the move order but I'd imagine that there'll be speed modifier skills that'll shake things up for the next turn.

Attacks are split into regular attack, two monster skills and two hunter/rider's skills. Each skill has their own SP cost and element type. SP is basically MP in most other RPGs except they replenish 30 every start of turn irregardless of what you decide to do the last turn. There're 6 elements and non-elemental as one of them. I didn't get to fully check this but all I remember is that there's Fire and Lightning.


Riders and Monster
Gacha only draws the hunters/riders. Each has their own "equipment" (read: cosmetic) but expect to see similar gears for bronzes. Leveling hunters/riders requires ores and money and you pay a certain amount to level up. There's no EXP values involved, just levels. The first few levels will unlock the second hunter/rider skill and all subsequent few levels will unlock passive bonuses. You can raise the level cap by using hunter/rider gems and can be done a set number of times.

Monsters require mission clearing to gather their eggs. There's also event-limited monsters. You can equip an egg onto a hunter/rider but be warned that you cannot remove them to put them onto another hunter/rider. You have to release them to the wild. Leveling requires monster feed and money. The same as hunters/riders, there's no EXP involved, just levels. Monsters generally start with both their skills unlocked so as far as I've gone through with the levels, there's only passive bonuses unlocked. Also, I'm not 100% certain but, since monster gems exist, they should also be able to have their level cap raised.

[GDB]

I'm giving it a try; currently in reroll hell. That being said, as much as I want to like this, it feels like trash.

[You]

Heard it was terrible.

[Wandering Swordwoman]

Heard it was terrible.

Why so?

[manafusion]

Finished playing what is essentially most of the game right now. So, final thoughts....

Gacha is horrible. 12000 yen for 4.4k gems where you need 1k per ten-pull. 5% chance to get a 5* rider. There's a step up but it doesn't offer any rate-up for the featured 5* riders. You get 4*/5* monsters for step up... if you feel that it's good. I managed to get a 5* rider for each of the three ten-pulls I did but it felt more like luck than anything else. 4* pull rate is about 20%, in case you're wondering. Also, 22 gems if you clear the quest the first time and do the optional objectives is really small since you need at least 50 quests to get a ten-pull.

Rarity determines stat value. This applies to both. Riders for the base, monsters for the % boost. What this means is that if you do not have a single 5* Rider, you're pretty screwed (not that you won't). Did I also say that you need that Rider to be an attacker for the best stats to help you through combat? No? Well, there you go. Monsters, you can get up to 4* from doing the egg-snatching quests that're open at any time. 5* monsters pretty much requires you to either pull the 3rd step-up and get lucky or do the monster event to get them.

Debuffs are all chance-based. So, you're playing roulette to apply any of the debuffs. On top of that, all type-debuffs (bomb/poison/etc) will overwrite the old one. Bomb is just bad, it requires a full 3 turns of enemy action before it does something. Poison is overall a better debuff since it lasts 5 turns and is a source of consistent damage. Stun is alright for that one turn skip but you need to land it in the first place. There's also status debuffs (Atk Down, Def Down) but again, chance-based.

Power move (using the crystal in the middle once it's filled up) can only be done once a wave to double? the effectiveness of the selected attack. In short, it's never useful when you're breezing through and is minorly useful when hitting an enemy like Rathalos with insane HP value.

Skills are actually different from what I thought. Skills are actually sorted this way: one for monster's attack, one for rider's actions and two for monster's optional actions. Also, there're some skills locked behind limit breaking. And pretty high up too. Don't expect your 5* riders/monsters to even reach it. 4*s are doable. But needs you to progress with the hard mode battles first (since the new player quests gives a butt-load of 4* limit break gems as you progress).


Verdict: Meh/10. Not really too into it nor am I against it outside the shitty gacha rates for the cost it's asking for.

[Rue]

Ahw, that's cute...Riders get to wear their parents skin as well as serve them as their mount!

[Wandering Swordwoman]

Glad that I'm not excited when it was announced. Pretty weird turning MH into a gacha game.