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Forums - Gaming Discussion - THE best looking game on the Switch: Monster Hunter Rise Review

I’m a huge Monster Hunter fan with over a thousand hours in the series, but as timing would have it, I never got to review any games in the series back in season one.  Well here we are, and I’m around to review Capcom’s latest entry in the series: Monster Hunter Rise.

Full written review can be read here: http://zyro-eg.com/2021/04/08/monster-hunter-rise-review/ 



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ClassicGamingWizzz said:

How is the framerate?

I mean, not that I'm trying to force you to watch it, but I talked about it in the review lol

When you're in the endgame and partying up, most of your time in combat is in the 20s, but it drops even during solo fights in many places, too.



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Good review.

Personally, I don't consider Rise among the very best looking Switch games; to me that tier belongs more to games like Luigi's Mansion 3 or Mario Odyssey. Rise does look good though, just a little too blocky/flat in some areas of the environment to be a contender for the very top shelf in my opinion.

ClassicGamingWizzz said:

How is the framerate?

According to Digital Foundry's measurements, it runs smoother than MH World did on base consoles.



ClassicGamingWizzz said:

How is the framerate?

For me it has been a solid 30 fps 95% of the time.  However I cannot speak for full group hunts, as I have been playing solo.  As soon as I finish all the Village Rank hunts (on the last tier now), I will takle the hub and dabble more with the online.  I did do a few hub hunts early on, and had no issues.



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curl-6 said:

Good review.

Personally, I don't consider Rise among the very best looking Switch games; to me that tier belongs more to games like Luigi's Mansion 3 or Mario Odyssey. Rise does look good though, just a little too blocky/flat in some areas of the environment to be a contender for the very top shelf in my opinion.

ClassicGamingWizzz said:

How is the framerate?

According to Digital Foundry's measurements, it runs smoother than MH World did on base consoles.

This is where we're going to have some disagreements lol... But civil discourse is always welcome!

Super Mario Odyssey is out of the question to me as a competitor: it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny at all.  And it shouldn't: it targets 60fps.  It relies heavily on artstyle and animation which leads to your second one.

While I also talked about Luigi's Mansion in my video about using an mClassic, Luigi's Mansion 3 WAS the best looking game on the Switch until Rise.  Luigi's Mansion looks damned good, but not only doesn't even come close to the amount of on-screen action, but it also doesn't even touch the amount of alpha effects in use in Rise.  Then, to top that off, Luigi's Mansion 3 relies on a static camera, isometric views, and half-frame rendering to keep its framerate up.  A lot of people don't notice stuff like this, but I do.  You can record and closely inspect footage, and you'll see it "ghosting" from the half frame rendering.  Rise runs natively, while doing quite literally dozens upon dozens more things on-screen at once, all with alpha effects.  This also leads into that last part...

When it comes to end-game hunts, I don't think Digital Foundry gave everyone a good representation.  I checked that video out a day or two ago after I uploaded my review for today, and while I didn't watch it minute-for-minute, he did not in any way show what most MH players will do in the endgame: hunt in full parties.  It's a TOTALLY different ballgame with four people popping off hard on a monster while the monster is flailing about, and I guarantee when/if you see this, not only will you notice the framerate starts to dip, but you'll probably recognize why this is the best looking game on the Switch lol

Shiken said:
ClassicGamingWizzz said:

How is the framerate?

For me it has been a solid 30 fps 95% of the time.  However I cannot speak for full group hunts, as I have been playing solo.  As soon as I finish all the Village Rank hunts (on the last tier now), I will takle the hub and dabble more with the online.  I did do a few hub hunts early on, and had no issues.

Yea, solo'ing is very different.  When you hit those hub quests online in the endgame high rank stuff when everyone's starting to whoop out solid builds, things are happening at a level that makes solo'ing seem relatively "boring".  It's what keeps the game surviving so long, and is why Capcom will be undoubtedly bringing harder monster tiers/variants as well as more monsters.  It's what kept World going for so long once they brought Arch Tempered elder dragons around!



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ZyroXZ2 said:
curl-6 said:

Good review.

Personally, I don't consider Rise among the very best looking Switch games; to me that tier belongs more to games like Luigi's Mansion 3 or Mario Odyssey. Rise does look good though, just a little too blocky/flat in some areas of the environment to be a contender for the very top shelf in my opinion.

According to Digital Foundry's measurements, it runs smoother than MH World did on base consoles.

This is where we're going to have some disagreements lol... But civil discourse is always welcome!

Super Mario Odyssey is out of the question to me as a competitor: it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny at all.  And it shouldn't: it targets 60fps.  It relies heavily on artstyle and animation which leads to your second one.

While I also talked about Luigi's Mansion in my video about using an mClassic, Luigi's Mansion 3 WAS the best looking game on the Switch until Rise.  Luigi's Mansion looks damned good, but not only doesn't even come close to the amount of on-screen action, but it also doesn't even touch the amount of alpha effects in use in Rise.  Then, to top that off, Luigi's Mansion 3 relies on a static camera, isometric views, and half-frame rendering to keep its framerate up.  A lot of people don't notice stuff like this, but I do.  You can record and closely inspect footage, and you'll see it "ghosting" from the half frame rendering.  Rise runs natively, while doing quite literally dozens upon dozens more things on-screen at once, all with alpha effects.  This also leads into that last part...

When it comes to end-game hunts, I don't think Digital Foundry gave everyone a good representation.  I checked that video out a day or two ago after I uploaded my review for today, and while I didn't watch it minute-for-minute, he did not in any way show what most MH players will do in the endgame: hunt in full parties.  It's a TOTALLY different ballgame with four people popping off hard on a monster while the monster is flailing about, and I guarantee when/if you see this, not only will you notice the framerate starts to dip, but you'll probably recognize why this is the best looking game on the Switch lol

Games like Luigi's Mansion 3 do indeed rely more on things like highly stylized visuals which MH Rise doesn't have the luxury of, but I still feel they just didn't have as many rough spots.

Rise does look nice, especially stuff like the monsters, fur shading, and particle effects, I just feel like the environments were a little too low-poly or lacking fine detail in places. While I get that this was a necessary sacrifice to get a large and seamless open map running with this level of graphics on a mobile device from 2017, I still feel like games that don't have to make such sacrifices end up looking prettier as a result.

On the more aesthetically realistic side of things, games like Alien Isolation, Outlast II, FAST RMX, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter look better on Switch in my book; again, I realize these games generally have the luxury of not having to render as many characters, particles, or open areas as Rise, but I'm talking solely about looks rather than complexity.



An amazing game indeed. Great review.



curl-6 said:
ZyroXZ2 said:

This is where we're going to have some disagreements lol... But civil discourse is always welcome!

Super Mario Odyssey is out of the question to me as a competitor: it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny at all.  And it shouldn't: it targets 60fps.  It relies heavily on artstyle and animation which leads to your second one.

While I also talked about Luigi's Mansion in my video about using an mClassic, Luigi's Mansion 3 WAS the best looking game on the Switch until Rise.  Luigi's Mansion looks damned good, but not only doesn't even come close to the amount of on-screen action, but it also doesn't even touch the amount of alpha effects in use in Rise.  Then, to top that off, Luigi's Mansion 3 relies on a static camera, isometric views, and half-frame rendering to keep its framerate up.  A lot of people don't notice stuff like this, but I do.  You can record and closely inspect footage, and you'll see it "ghosting" from the half frame rendering.  Rise runs natively, while doing quite literally dozens upon dozens more things on-screen at once, all with alpha effects.  This also leads into that last part...

When it comes to end-game hunts, I don't think Digital Foundry gave everyone a good representation.  I checked that video out a day or two ago after I uploaded my review for today, and while I didn't watch it minute-for-minute, he did not in any way show what most MH players will do in the endgame: hunt in full parties.  It's a TOTALLY different ballgame with four people popping off hard on a monster while the monster is flailing about, and I guarantee when/if you see this, not only will you notice the framerate starts to dip, but you'll probably recognize why this is the best looking game on the Switch lol

Games like Luigi's Mansion 3 do indeed rely more on things like highly stylized visuals which MH Rise doesn't have the luxury of, but I still feel they just didn't have as many rough spots.

Rise does look nice, especially stuff like the monsters, fur shading, and particle effects, I just feel like the environments were a little too low-poly or lacking fine detail in places. While I get that this was a necessary sacrifice to get a large and seamless open map running with this level of graphics on a mobile device from 2017, I still feel like games that don't have to make such sacrifices end up looking prettier as a result.

On the more aesthetically realistic side of things, games like Alien Isolation, Outlast II, FAST RMX, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter look better on Switch in my book; again, I realize these games generally have the luxury of not having to render as many characters, particles, or open areas as Rise, but I'm talking solely about looks rather than complexity.

While it would require a whole video and full discourse for us to hash this out, I did quickly export some footage from an endgame Rajang fight and post it to Twitter for you and the other guy to see (they don't know I did this just for you, haha!).

It isn't just aesthetics, and as I did say in my review (again, not forcing you to watch it, BUUUT) that close inspection starts to show where it falls apart, but the overall tech that's happening at once.  There's no prettier game on the Switch pulling all these things off at once.  They put maximum effort into this game at levels unseen by any other game on the platform, and I've played just about every Switch exclusive!

Some part of me knew someone would disagree, as aesthetically speaking, even TLoZ:Link's Awakening is graphically "superior".  But it clearly doesn't do anything nearly as "large scale" as this.  I put this in quotes because if we start including the other consoles, then this is pretty small scale, actually lol

EDIT: Okay, this forum didn't embed the video from the tweet like I thought I would, but if you click the "pic" part of it, it'll take you to the tweet with the video I just posted for ya, hahaha



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ZyroXZ2 said:
curl-6 said:

Games like Luigi's Mansion 3 do indeed rely more on things like highly stylized visuals which MH Rise doesn't have the luxury of, but I still feel they just didn't have as many rough spots.

Rise does look nice, especially stuff like the monsters, fur shading, and particle effects, I just feel like the environments were a little too low-poly or lacking fine detail in places. While I get that this was a necessary sacrifice to get a large and seamless open map running with this level of graphics on a mobile device from 2017, I still feel like games that don't have to make such sacrifices end up looking prettier as a result.

On the more aesthetically realistic side of things, games like Alien Isolation, Outlast II, FAST RMX, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter look better on Switch in my book; again, I realize these games generally have the luxury of not having to render as many characters, particles, or open areas as Rise, but I'm talking solely about looks rather than complexity.

While it would require a whole video and full discourse for us to hash this out, I did quickly export some footage from an endgame Rajang fight and post it to Twitter for you and the other guy to see (they don't know I did this just for you, haha!).

It isn't just aesthetics, and as I did say in my review (again, not forcing you to watch it, BUUUT) that close inspection starts to show where it falls apart, but the overall tech that's happening at once.  There's no prettier game on the Switch pulling all these things off at once.  They put maximum effort into this game at levels unseen by any other game on the platform, and I've played just about every Switch exclusive!

Some part of me knew someone would disagree, as aesthetically speaking, even TLoZ:Link's Awakening is graphically "superior".  But it clearly doesn't do anything nearly as "large scale" as this.  I put this in quotes because if we start including the other consoles, then this is pretty small scale, actually lol

EDIT: Okay, this forum didn't embed the video from the tweet like I thought I would, but if you click the "pic" part of it, it'll take you to the tweet with the video I just posted for ya, hahaha

Its monsters and weapon effects, and the amount of chaos happening on screen at once sometimes is indeed very impressive we agree.

When I assess graphics though I'm just personally more about the whole picture rather than what it took to get there, so to me I'd rank a more polished game with less going on over a more demanding but less polished presentation. I guess that's just me though.

At the end of the day, its definitely a strong showing for Capcom, their RE Engine, and the Switch. I just feel a few of the sacrifices necessary to get there keep it just shy of the very prettiest Switch games to date.



curl-6 said:
ZyroXZ2 said:

While it would require a whole video and full discourse for us to hash this out, I did quickly export some footage from an endgame Rajang fight and post it to Twitter for you and the other guy to see (they don't know I did this just for you, haha!).

It isn't just aesthetics, and as I did say in my review (again, not forcing you to watch it, BUUUT) that close inspection starts to show where it falls apart, but the overall tech that's happening at once.  There's no prettier game on the Switch pulling all these things off at once.  They put maximum effort into this game at levels unseen by any other game on the platform, and I've played just about every Switch exclusive!

Some part of me knew someone would disagree, as aesthetically speaking, even TLoZ:Link's Awakening is graphically "superior".  But it clearly doesn't do anything nearly as "large scale" as this.  I put this in quotes because if we start including the other consoles, then this is pretty small scale, actually lol

EDIT: Okay, this forum didn't embed the video from the tweet like I thought I would, but if you click the "pic" part of it, it'll take you to the tweet with the video I just posted for ya, hahaha

Its monsters and weapon effects, and the amount of chaos happening on screen at once sometimes is indeed very impressive we agree.

When I assess graphics though I'm just personally more about the whole picture rather than what it took to get there, so to me I'd rank a more polished game with less going on over a more demanding but less polished presentation. I guess that's just me though.

At the end of the day, its definitely a strong showing for Capcom, their RE Engine, and the Switch. I just feel a few of the sacrifices necessary to get there keep it just shy of the very prettiest Switch games to date.

While having the fur, lighting effects, and screen-space reflections at the level they do?  This is an incredible level of polish, don't make me dig through my footage for some water fights, lol... I'm wondering if your definition of "polish" is more along the lines of sterility/serenity in a scene.  SM3DW, while graphically good, is also very sterile, or "clean" as some people might put it.  Is that what you mean by "polished"?  For me, polish is a state, ergo, polished graphics is the fact that they have fur, lighting effects, alpha affects, four people, and four dogs, all running together without having to pull anything to make it work on very weak hardware.  I think polish is a state of completeness, a definition of "we took the time to make it all work and put it all together", or in other words, polish it.  Cyberpunk 2077 while graphically VERY impressive (I played it on a PC maxed out) needs a lot of polish.

I DO think you're mixing aesthetics up with graphics, though.  While I actually lump them all together in the "presentation" category along with story and music myself, generally aesthetics and graphics are two different things.  It's THE reason Nintendo fans are so adamant that Nintendo games still look better than "other" games that are often graphically superior across the board.  I think your preference is a sterile scene, something that focuses on the art style and conveys a sense of design direction by the artists as opposed to the more technical aspects.  As a reference point for this: Ratchet and Clank is a very strong combination of aesthetics and graphics.  My bet is if you agree on Ratchet and Clank, then you are definitely more inclined towards the visual appearance as opposed to the entirety of the scene (as in, alpha effects, on-screen action, etc.).



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