Sorry that I haven't been very active in this thread, I've been thinking about this game non-stop since before release and now that I have it, I've been playing it non-stop (well, kind of ... relative to my usual gaming habits, at least ). 

This game is really great. I can't believe that I've logged 16 hours in already and I'm only at village star 3, because I've been taking it slow and enjoying it so much. 

I'll post a more in-depth critique later as I no doubt have and will have criticisms, but for now I'm pleasantly surprised by how much this is meeting my insanely-unrealistic  expectations. 

If anyone wants to play add me on Switch: 4123-1847-5415 

I also play slowly, mostly solo in village quests with a lot of expeditions. And enjoying it very much as well.

Seeing your sig:

Now that I played the game I recognize the elements. The bunny dango, Magnamalo and Bombadgy, the wirebug. Hinoa and Minoto, Yomogi the chef and Buddy Handler Iori. And my three pets. Nice!

OK, I just made an expedition to the shrine ruins, just to test the transportation of the wyvern egg. As you said, I cannot use the Palamute, which is a pity. But both wirebug and climbing walls covered with ivy works though. The climbing looks extremely awkward with the character holding the egg against it's body with one hand and climbing with the other, but I cannot deny the results. Both the wall at the wyvern nest and the wall before the camp are covered in ivy, so you can climb both. Faster way down or up is via wirebug, but if you calculate the height of your jumps wrong you break the egg. Climbing is slower and much more secure. So scaling the walls you actually can take the path the bird flies, which I did. I had to wait though, as Aknosom decided to land just at the next part of the path just as I was about to get there, so I had to wait until he decided to go, to avoid attacks which could break the egg. You deliver the egg at the blue supply box in the camp, just interact with it. I got 350 account points, which translate 1:1 to both money and Kamura points at the end of the quest. I also saw, that you can get a side quest to deliver transport items, which the wyvern egg is an example of.

So for another challenge without fighting you can try and deliver that. I recommend eating up enough rations to have full stamina, as you want to run as much as possible, as the egg slows you down a lot.

Just unlocked Switch skills. Damn this game just keeps bringing back all the cool stuff that World left out!

Right with you there, this is the kind of game that really gets its hooks into you and takes up a lot of time and mindspace, which for me at least is great.

I've now slain Aknosom, (gonna build his full armor set) and Tetranodon, tonight I'm gonna hit up the Flooded Forest to kill Royal Ludroth and Wroggi. As a veteran of MH Tri, I'm really looking forward to seeing both Flooded Forest and Sandy Plains reimagined not just in better graphics but with Rise's newfound freedom and verticality.

I still haven't died yet, the game is definitely a lot easier than older games like 3 and 4, but that's no bad thing in my opinion.

Also, wtvern riding is freaking awesome. In my fight with Aknosom, Arzuros turned up and was knocked into a mountable state by the stronger monster, so I mounted the bear and tore into Aknosom, it was epic. This is also great for getting materials as it makes tons of shinies drop.

We have different perspectives :)

I have kids and got a lot of gaming done this weekend, from my perspective and that was about 5 hours. :)

Just yesterday after work I made expedition tours to get a first impression of both areas and uncover my map.

In the flooded forest Tri where was a cave with a lake in it. On one wall was at the left side climbable ivy to reach a path on top of the wall, which connected two different areas. This cave looks like it is just lifted from Tri here. Given, as you cannot swim or dive in Rise, the lake is turned into shallow water you can walk through, but it is still filled with Ludroth. the surroundings are different and new though. And ah yes, the camp area is familiar too, although now with the wirebug you can go find stuff above your tent.

The camp area in Sandy Plains looks familiar too, but I am not sure if from Tri or 4. Other than that it seems mostly new (well, there is a big sand plain with Delex swimming in it, but that is just sand). Sandy Plains has a lot of verticality. I just wanted to jump from a rock to the earth, but I didn't noticed a deep chasm between the two and landed right deep into a cave area underneath all of it. Lot's of climabable walls. A nice touch in Sandy Plains is, that some areas are sunbleached and feel extremely like desert, but some deeper valleys with more shadow show actually a bit of green and Kelbi instead of the Desert monsters. These details that show some interest in the nature of the world is one thing I like so much about Monster Hunter. It doesn't feel like just a world made for a game, but a world with wildlife that has grown naturally. Evolution just lead to a lot of big beasts and humans adapted to that.

Well, I now the proud owner of a beautiful full set of Aknosom armour. Monster Hunter definitely still has that addictive loop of hunting to craft and crafting to hunt.

Yeah I just played Flooded Forest for the first time and it was really cool seeing the familiar landmarks reimagined into an open map. And yeah, Sandy Plains is originally from Tri just like Flooded Forest; Rise intentionally goes for a lot of third generation (Tri/Portable 3rd) nostalgia.

I also love that the maps feel less like video game levels and more like believable, natural environments. That's always been a real strength of the series and I'm glad it's very much present here.

Regarding the aksonom armour, I have all parts except one crystal thingie (and my pets ar fully Asksonomized) for a full armour set. Since I'm still in the first area (shrine ruins) can you find it there or do I have to wait until I explore further?

(I'm guessing this part is something the Aksonom does not drop but you have to mine for it)

Malachite Ore is found in the crystal deposits in the Flooded Forest map, at least that's where I got mine and the only place so far I've encountered it.