Monster Hunter: Rise is already shaping up to be one of the best releases of 2021. The game was received positively by fans and critics alike. It provides a great point for new fans to get into the franchise while having enough depth for veteran hunters.
Nothing is perfect, though. Every game has a few little details or goofs that take a lot of playtime to notice. But once you do see them, they just won't leave. Monster Hunter: Rise is no exception. Players that have already zoomed through to the endgame will definitely know each of these tiny slip-ups or annoyances.
10 Palamutes Don't Listen
Palamutes are a great addition to Monster Hunter. They can dish out damage as well as use a variety of supportive scrolls. Riding a Palamute is the fastest way to traverse the map, bar none - but it doesn't always work, does it?
The Palamute AI gets distracted very easily. They won't always come when the player holds A or whistles. It's likely they're on the other side of the area, fighting a Kelbi. Sometimes they get stuck on ledges or steps. Other times, they opt to dig through the ground when running would be faster.
9 The Game Lied About Solo Hub Quests
When Gathering Hub quests are first made available, characters warn the player of taking them on solo. The game even says that going in without a party is an option only if you're "some kind of masochist". It all implies going into a hub quest alone is some kind of huge challenge, but it isn't.
The truth is, doing a hub quest solo is not much different than fighting the same monster in a village quest. The only change is that the large monsters have a bit more HP. Their attacks hit the same and they give the same rewards. This is only true for low-rank quests. High-rank monsters have even more HP and do more damage.
8 No Invasive Monsters
Invasive monsters have been a reoccurring theme in the last few Monster Hunter installments. These are monsters that crash hunts already in progress to cause trouble. In World, this role was filled by Bazelgeuse, and later Deviljho. In Rise, there are no monsters that function like this. Lore-wise, Rajang is an invasive species, but it works like any other hunt.
Deviljho was massively popular in World. Many think that its exclusion from Rise is a blatant oversight. Rumors about Bazelgeuse as DLC have been swirling for a while, but nothing is confirmed. These monsters are so well-loved by the fans that it's likely that they'll be added in an update eventually.
7 Some Monsters Share Animations
A lot of animating had to be done with the number of monsters in the game. Each monster has its own identity for the most part, but sometimes animations or moves get re-used. For instance, Lagombi and Arzuros share a lunging animation since they're both ursine monsters.
Tetranadon is one of the most noticeable cases. It uses the same animation for three of its Turf Wars - against Arzuros, Volvidon, and Lagombi. Re-using animations is pretty typical for game devs looking to decrease workload. That doesn't make it less annoying to anyone who notices it.
6 Where's The Great Jagras?
Monster Hunter: World introduced Jagras, small, iguana-like creatures. They organize in packs lead by a massive alpha male, the Great Jagras. The Jagras came back for Monster Hunter: Rise. Perplexingly, the Great Jagras didn't come with them.
The Jagras' ingame description doesn't even mention the alpha. So what happened? Perhaps the Great Jagras got cut because three "Great" versions of small monsters are in Rise already. A similar problem comes with the Jaggi - Jaggi and Jaggia are in, but no Great Jaggi. It's possible these monsters could return in a free title update, but they can't be too high on the priority list.
5 Magnamalo Scutes Are Hard To Get
Most Magnamalo weapons and armor require Magnamalo Scutes. The game says they're found by breaking Magnamalo's back. Magnamalo is a quadripedal monster, so its back is hard to reach without aerial attacks or knocking it down. But getting the scutes isn't as easy as it seems.
Magnamalo sticks out some spikes when sufficiently angered. Only in this state can its back be broken. This is frustrating because Magnamalo can die before becoming enraged, taking the scutes with it. It also drops scutes from captures, but they're among the rarer drops.
4 Everyone Uses Nargacuga Weapons
The Monster Hunter franchise is known for huge breadths of weapons. There's a pretty big selection for every weapon type at every level of play. But those who have been playing online might have noticed that Nargacuga weapons seem to dominate.
That's because Nargacuga weapons have crazy levels of Sharpness. Most of them have large bars of white, while many other endgame weapons don't have white at all. This makes them the best for cutting tails, and they don't need a lot of mid-hunt polish. By no means are they the only viable weapons, but they slot into pretty much any build.
3 Hip-Checks Still Suck
Veteran hunters will shudder at the mention of a hip-check. A lot of monsters share this side-swiping attack (think Peach's side-B in Smash Brothers), but Plesioth made it infamous. Its hip-check in Monster Hunter Freedom 2 had a horrible, disjointed hitbox. It was possible to get hit while standing behind Plesioth. The move hasn't been that bad in a long time, but it's still here, and it's still annoying.
In Rise, hip-checks retain a hitbox that's larger than it seems, and they come out fast. The Great Wroggi has one of the most irritating ones. Almost every time it spits poison, it'll follow it up with a hip-check. That makes it easy to predict, but getting clipped is a frustratingly frequent occurrence.
2 Strong Monsters Don't Make Strong Mounts
Wyvern riding is one of the most exciting new features in Rise. Whenever the hunter gets a hold of a monster, they can expect to do some serious damage, to their own mount or to another. However, not all mounts are created equal. Some of the game's strongest monsters are pretty lousy in wyvern riding.
Very slow monsters like Basarios don't make the best mounts. Their attacks take ages to wind up. Funnily enough, one of the strongest mounts is the Great Izuchi, the very first large monster. Its strong attack, a spinning tail whip, has a huge hitbox and comes out pretty quickly.
1 Oops! No Final Boss!
Thunder Serpent Narwa, the final boss of Hub Quests, is one of Rise's most controversial points among fans. It doesn't have anything to do with her fight - it's about what comes after. Narwa is defeated and falls down a pit to what seems like her doom. Everyone celebrates, but not all is what it seems. The Elder Dragons are still resonating with Hinoa and Minoto, meaning they're still alive - and Narwa is pregnant. And then? Nothing.
The real final boss isn't in the game as of this writing. It's confirmed to be in a title update, but the date is not determined. It was likely cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic stopping development for a while. There's more than enough to do in the postgame already, but many players are left twiddling their thumbs waiting for the real resolution.