I don't know if the quality of the remake work alone is enough to put it 10 positions above the Citadel, but i can kinda get where you're coming from. This is indeed a constant subversion of expectations in ranking form. Edit: well, Kushala could be fought in the Desert in Dos, and Basarios can appear even in dense forests (MH4's Everwoods), so him going to the Sandy Plains doesn't seem too far fetched. It might also be sort of a call back to Sandstone Basarios
Definitely my favorite base Rise map. I did get pretty lost the first time around but once you know your way around the dunes it‘s one of the most fun maps to traverse and battle in. Couple that with a banger map theme and you’ve got a map that pretty much perfects Rise‘s philosophy in locale design. Even so this feels a little high and a lot of maps I would have expected to show up still aren’t anywhere to be seen. I’m really wondering which one will claim 1st place.
I guess the map could be just a bit more gimmicky. Outside of the quicksand traps that it takes from Frontier's White Lake, i don't think there's any other special interaction that wasn't already present in the original version and also doesn't exist in other Rise maps. I don't know, maybe an area having a hill where a sand avalanche takes place every 15 minutes or so could be fun. The White Lake has that. Maybe they could have added Gasurabazura from Frontier and made a nest for him with poisonous pitfall traps that monsters can fall into. Kinda like how monsters get stuck in Nerscylla's web floors if they stagger while standing on them.
@@athos9293 That's not really taking from Frontier, it's just a breakable thing that makes a pitfall trap. Pretty basic concept. That's more of a stretch, in the other direction, than saying espenas has 0 originality. He has some but a lot of his stuff was stolen from gen 1, if we're going down the road.
Wow. Can't say I expected that, I hate this map quite a lot, always get lost on it. But I get it, objectively, it's well made and full of things to explore and see.
*Explore, not explode. If the metric was having things to explode, the Shrine Ruins would take the cake, as it's inhabited by obese exploding raccoons.
I actually never noticed that 5 was an additional battle zone to Rise’s version. Though part of that is due to me not playing 3U first. When I DID play 3U it was so much fun feeling like I knew the map. There were times when I would walk into a zone of OG Sandy Plains and recognized what place I was relative to the Rise version! I am surprised that the Rise battle theme isn’t a remix. To say that I was disappointed when listening to the OG’s battle theme on its own is an understatement. Also, putting my bet on Coral Highlands.
This map had one of the worst spiribird spreads in the game. Feels like I have to scour the entire top half of the map instead of just collecting them on my way to the destination. I wish that wasn’t a factor in my judgment but I really avoid this map because of it.
Spiribirds are just the worst... although I personally think that the Lava Caverns have the worst Spiribird placement. I have a set route that I generally take on each map for birds and endemic life, and Sandy Plains has a fairly nice and linear one that takes me to the top part of the map and ends with full health and stamina. (Although I always use the bird doubling dango, I don't know if you do or not). Lava Caverns though, the best route I've found is still so annoying and long. Lots of detours and distance between the birds.
@@epzilon3836 Ah yes you’re right. Lemme not use the mechanic that increases health and stamina by 50% in a game whose postgame content will regularly 1-3 shot you. Good for you buddy.
Okay, I knew I was forgetting something in my comment - this, exactly this. I can keep track of the birds in enough of the other 3 maps that Rise starts us in, but this map just has them spread out so far it is a chore to get them..... well, MORE of a chore I should say.
I have so much nostalgia for this map specifically the really goofy but fun event quest to hunt an enormous rust duramboros the remake of this map is amazing i spent a lot of time re-exploring the map especially the zones that appeared in mh3u
What an odd pick for the 2nd spot. While It may be in the latter half of maps for me, It does make me really happy to see sleeper picks like this. Just so I can get some perspective. It works well as a functioning desert map with actual a lot of monsters to pick from! Pukei, Rakna, Diablos, Almudron, Diaymo. So much variety to see compared to other desert maps! My main problems is just how 1. It lost a lot of the lush savanna feel the OG had for generic arid rocks and 2. The vocals of the battle/intro theme just feel too… sensual that make me uncomfortable to listen to.
Woah there, buddy. Rise Sandy Plains 2nd place!? That's a hot take if I've ever seen one. Christmas is supposed to be cold! No hot takes allowed here! (JK do what you want) You'll not find me agreeing though. I do agree that the map doesn't really have many problems, but at the same time, I don't think it does anything particularly great either. It's just kinda another basic desert map to me. I do like the Rise version more than the original version of this map, mainly due to traversal being better (although Spiribirds are a pain and bring down every Rise map's score in that category in my opinion). And the music I like too, although the vocals are actually the thing I like LEAST about it (just personal preference). No other song do I wish more that there was an (official) instrumental version of it. The vocals aren't BAD by any means, but they're just a tad bit annoying to me. Overall, indifference is the main emotion I have toward this map. It's there to check the "desert map" box for Rise, and it does perfectly fine at that. But nothing really stands out so much to justify even a top 10 ranking in my opinion. It's not revolutionary in basically any category, it's just... fine.
Finally someone talking about the vocals in this map's track! I'm probably the biggest vocals/choir lover in this comment section, I literally love to death some themes, like the 1st Gen Desert map, just because of the vocals, most of my favourite parts of Rise's remixes were the vocals, but this theme? Yeahh... not... the best... no.
Have a sandy, rocky, Christmas. LMAO just adding vocals to an existing instrumental track always bugs me... Especially if you take your first map theme, do that, and call it a day for your final boss theme of all things. This not quite doing that is nice but the vocals are still a bit out of place.
Nice to see someone else who isn't a huge fan of this map. I dislike it a fair bit myself, and I know you are more neutral, but just glad I am not the only one shocked to see it so high.
Unless we count the Citadel, I'm surprised we got 2 deserts in the list (both pretty high up in the list too), but not a snow map. Maybe 1st place? Idk, anyways this map was VERY unexpected, especially after seeing the Wildspire Waste being on the list, nice! I personally don't have anything to say about this map, it's fine, that's all.
Maybe it's nostalgia, but I think none of the Rise remakes are better than the originals. I feel like because they've been expanded, the added areas take away from the evocative nature of the old-style maps. Less is more sometimes
Huh, now this will be the first time I really have to disagree. I never experienced the original version of this map, but I really do not like it in Rise or Sunbreak. It is very easy to get lost in this map, and it is not like I only was here for a handful of hunts - spent a good chunk of hours on it, and always seemed to struggle to remember which direction was which whenever I got back to it. Honestly reminds me of the Ancient Forest a bit in that way, easy to think you took the right turn, only to get lost fast. Not to mention how many vertical drops there are in this bloody thing, and with some surfaces that either do not let you run up them or just make running up them really damn odd - somehow going sideways when all I want to do is climb up. Rise has a lot of vertical areas, yes, but often it is easy enough to traverse them between the Wirebugs and the Palamute. In this zone, I can think of so many cliffs I can just launch myself off easily that require a fair bit of work to get back up, or finding a Great Wirebug and try to adjust your elevation with it. I know this can happen with the waterfall in the Flooded Forest and the mountain at the start of the Shrine Ruins, and it is annoying, but I always felt like doing either of those took a bit more effort, while sending myself flying in the Sandy Plains happened a lot more than I would prefer. Unlike the Wildspire Wastes in the prior title, it really feels more like a standard desert map this time around. There is some sections with water, and there are traces of ruined buildings yes.... but most of it seems to be just rocks and sand. The limited shading/colors of the map certainly do not help, as pointed out by Connor, and while I know the sections near the northern part of the map have a lot more sand than stone, it really feels too similar to me. I want to say the only location that stuck out to me was that one mountain pass of sorts, with the endemic life clinging to the walls that would barrage a monster if they got close. Otherwise it feels just like another desert. Oh, and the ruins of buildings seem to only really matter to one zone where monsters can go, and even then they do not add too much to the fight. This also bothers me a bit but the "rooms" of this map feel oddly small. Some of the sections in the middle only have some higher walls of rock separating the different sections of the map, ones which barely seem tall enough to hinder some of the larger beasts (like Anjanath) or anything with wings (like Seregios). Heck, I remember fighting Steve in one room and looking down a rocky hallway to see Valstrax over there, and they never once cared enough to notice one another. For other areas when steep cliffs, groves of dense trees or cave networks can keep monsters apart, this set of borders really seemed to only exist to give the players a spot to be away from the beasts.... but didn't really make sense to me why they couldn't chase us up there. We saw some of these vary same monsters manage such leaps and navigating higher ledges in World in the Wildspire, so them to lack the ability here stood out to me, who has spent a fair chunk of time in both. For my only really minor gripe, I am not a fan of the roster for this map. Creatures like Pukei-Pukei and Anjanath worked in the Wildspire Wastes due to the fact we knew how close it was to the Ancient Forest, so them being able to head to the desert and survive felt organic. This map though.... I cannot picture either beast being happy to live in it, with how little flora there is for these two. Almudron is one of the only new beasts to be in this locale, and for how much this creature craves mud and damp zones, being in a desert like THIS feels a touch off to me - the Wildspire had that huge amount of wetland it could thrive in, but here we have only a couple small watering holes. Not even sure what brought B.O.B. or Kushala or Rajang to this area; nothing wrong with them being here technically, but seeing any of them in a desert just sticks out to me. Ugh, I am rambling, sorry, but I really just have no fond feelings for this map at all. Even putting aside my love for the prior desert map, in a vacuum this place just feels generic with little to give it personality.
@CouldveBeenKing13 I've seen a couple of people saying they get lost in this map, and I'm just wondering: How? Rise's map makes it practically impossible to get lost in my experience. Is it mainly in the underground parts? I could understand getting lost in the original version of the Sandy Plains without a map (It's happened to me before, the connections between the zones are kind of weird) but I'm kinda confused that people are apparently getting lost in the Rise version lol. I'm curious, what's so confusing about the layout? The monster roster is something that I didn't think of though that I agree is a bit weird. It always kind of annoyed me that it's treated as an abnormality when you spot Pukei-Pukei for the first time in the Wildspire in HR, but then the Guiding Lands and, more egregiously, Rise comes along and tries to convince you that Pukei is DEFINITELY a desert monster. Same thing to a lesser extent with Anjanath, although I think it's worse with Pukei because of -my own bias toward him- his colors are CLEARLY meant to match with the forest. What makes me even more annoyed about this is that in World, whenever you found a Pukei in the Wildspire, before you engage in combat with him, his colors would usually be the same as when he's scared/exhausted, showing how he's not comfortable in this environment. It's an amazing little detail that they bothered to give Pukei-Pukei in World, but as of now, they've seemed to have forgotten that Pukei isn't actually a desert monster. (My Pukei obsession is shining through right now, isn't it?) Rise had habitat weirdness in general. Kushala in the desert is weird (although it did happen in 4U as well, but exclusively as night), Bob is seemingly there just because... fire is hot and desert is hot. Rathian came to the Volcano for the first time, and Anjy followed her there. Flaming Espinas' favorite spot in the Citadel in my experience is strangely up in Lunagaron's nest. Even some of the original monsters suffered a bit from feeling out of place in certain maps. Aknosom in the Frost Islands. Lunagaron to me feels like he should just be exclusively in ice places, but he appears in the Shrine Ruins and Jungle. Heck, even Violet Mizu feels like he fits best in the Infernal Springs arena, but he can also appear in the regular and Forlorn Arenas. It seems like since Iceborne, they haven't been quite as careful in placing monsters in the most fitting maps. Heck, if the first Wilds trailer is anything to go by, Rathalos is appearing in a desert map now! (Although they also showed him flying toward the Hoarfrost Reach in an Iceborne trailer, so it's possibly still too early to say for that)
@@Andrew-hz5zc For the getting lost bit, part of that is the opening near the the first camp, where I would often jump down to get at the few spirit birds in the area, then have to remember what damn path from there leads to what future route. Once I am in the middle of the map it isn't too much of an issue - the open plains section is easy to navigate, the side paths up top are fine as well, with some minor confusion on getting out of the ruins area down deep below with all the broken buildings. It really is just the very start of the map - despite leaving that camp every time I am in the area, I can never quite recall where the paths from there lead. Weird, I know, but it always throws me for some reason. Huh, I think I realized Pukei looked a bit odd in the Wildspire, but I figured it was just the colors standing out oddly against the rock. I didn't recognize it was the monster being in that nervous state you mentioned - that is such a nice detail. Your obsession surely shines like a beacon in the night! I do agree with Rise having issues with the habitats for monsters - Tetranadon is covered in mossy camouflage but somehow lives in an arctic environment where everything is white and blue.... why? That alone was the biggest issue for me in base Rise, though I also agree with the Lunagaron problem too. That arctic wolf visually looks made for ice maps, but could see some points for it being able to migrate to nearby environments with its great temperature controlling abilities, like how we discussed Pukei popping into the Wildspire if it needed to. However, I would like to know how close any of the maps in Rise/Sunbreak even are to one another - seeing Lunagaron in the Shrine Ruins at the start of Sunbreak may be damn weird if those two areas are canonically 200 miles apart, but less odd if they are just a couple zipcodes away. As for the other monsters mentioned, I didn't even know Flaming Espinas could show up in regular maps, only fought it in the event quest. BOB bothers me due to it clearly using the fruits of some plant that we actually do not know where it grows, so we do not know what its environment range even is.... kind of an issue with regular Bishaten, now that I think about it. I am not too upset by Rathian being in the Volcano map in Rise since they do have a little bit more greenery and caverns near the edge of that map - the one map I think in the Rise that actually does a mix of biomes well, oddly enough. Aknosom I could see working in the Frost Islands if it stuck to the caves like how Viper Tobi-Kadachi does in the Hoarfrost Reach, but it is weird to see it in a snowy map like that. Iceborne had issues overall, but I would mostly state that is true for the invaders who could be anywhere that do not really seem to fit (hello Banbaro, Fulgur Anjanath and Ebony Odogaron).... and Tigrex and Velkhana. Beyond that Gammoth in the room, most of the returning monsters and new subspecies seemed to fit the locales fairly well, I would say. With Rathalos in particular, if we just see that flagship flying over random maps/areas, I could buy it due to the King of the Skies likely patrolling a large territory, if he doesn't really hunt in some of the maps, more so just crossing over them to get to where he should be.
How does this win? It doesn't waste like 2 and half zones, unlike wildspire wastes, that's how. This map having the watery bits makes sense and it didn't give the false impression of giving more of a shit about the watery zones by making a whole mechanic that never amounted to anything. Them using it as an excuse for barroty hand almodron, and being a bit more believable, just works. It's not a swamp, not in the slightest, it is a watering hole or 2 that I guess almodron will settle for. When he's not in the shrine ruins or flooded forest. Almodron is the only good truly swamp monster and he's never even in a swamp. He's just in; a foresty map with some water, a desert with even less water, and a forest with a lot of water. Give us a true swamp, put almodron in there, and give us more than like 2, or 1 and a half, monsters that feel at home in a swamp. The point about using the underground zones more, yeah that's a pretty awesome change. This map does have a decent variety for the single biome that it uses.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
I don't know if the quality of the remake work alone is enough to put it 10 positions above the Citadel, but i can kinda get where you're coming from. This is indeed a constant subversion of expectations in ranking form.
Edit: well, Kushala could be fought in the Desert in Dos, and Basarios can appear even in dense forests (MH4's Everwoods), so him going to the Sandy Plains doesn't seem too far fetched. It might also be sort of a call back to Sandstone Basarios
Guys he hasn’t ranked Frozen Seaway yet! :D
That place is stinky doo doo though.
Definitely my favorite base Rise map. I did get pretty lost the first time around but once you know your way around the dunes it‘s one of the most fun maps to traverse and battle in. Couple that with a banger map theme and you’ve got a map that pretty much perfects Rise‘s philosophy in locale design. Even so this feels a little high and a lot of maps I would have expected to show up still aren’t anywhere to be seen. I’m really wondering which one will claim 1st place.
I guess the map could be just a bit more gimmicky. Outside of the quicksand traps that it takes from Frontier's White Lake, i don't think there's any other special interaction that wasn't already present in the original version and also doesn't exist in other Rise maps. I don't know, maybe an area having a hill where a sand avalanche takes place every 15 minutes or so could be fun. The White Lake has that. Maybe they could have added Gasurabazura from Frontier and made a nest for him with poisonous pitfall traps that monsters can fall into. Kinda like how monsters get stuck in Nerscylla's web floors if they stagger while standing on them.
@@athos9293 That's not really taking from Frontier, it's just a breakable thing that makes a pitfall trap. Pretty basic concept. That's more of a stretch, in the other direction, than saying espenas has 0 originality. He has some but a lot of his stuff was stolen from gen 1, if we're going down the road.
@@jockpackage1770 *Frontier mentioned
JockPackage: *and i took that personally*
@@athos9293 No, just laughing at the cope of insisting everything is "because of the god game that is Frontier" when it's so obviously not.
@@jockpackage1770 How are you so certain? Part of the Rise team worked on Frontier before.
Wow. Can't say I expected that, I hate this map quite a lot, always get lost on it.
But I get it, objectively, it's well made and full of things to explore and see.
Which do you think is more well made and has more things to explode and see, the Citadel or the 5th gen Sandy Plains?
*Explore, not explode. If the metric was having things to explode, the Shrine Ruins would take the cake, as it's inhabited by obese exploding raccoons.
@@athos9293 fair point, the citadel is both cool and very well made.
@@athos9293 "Every map is the same to me."
-A Gunlance main, probably
@@Andrew-hz5zc Of course. No matter where they are: whenever gunlance mains look down, the clouds they see appear all the same.
I actually never noticed that 5 was an additional battle zone to Rise’s version. Though part of that is due to me not playing 3U first. When I DID play 3U it was so much fun feeling like I knew the map. There were times when I would walk into a zone of OG Sandy Plains and recognized what place I was relative to the Rise version! I am surprised that the Rise battle theme isn’t a remix. To say that I was disappointed when listening to the OG’s battle theme on its own is an understatement.
Also, putting my bet on Coral Highlands.
This map had one of the worst spiribird spreads in the game. Feels like I have to scour the entire top half of the map instead of just collecting them on my way to the destination. I wish that wasn’t a factor in my judgment but I really avoid this map because of it.
Spiribirds are just the worst... although I personally think that the Lava Caverns have the worst Spiribird placement. I have a set route that I generally take on each map for birds and endemic life, and Sandy Plains has a fairly nice and linear one that takes me to the top part of the map and ends with full health and stamina. (Although I always use the bird doubling dango, I don't know if you do or not). Lava Caverns though, the best route I've found is still so annoying and long. Lots of detours and distance between the birds.
Spirit bird user lmao
@@epzilon3836 Ah yes you’re right. Lemme not use the mechanic that increases health and stamina by 50% in a game whose postgame content will regularly 1-3 shot you. Good for you buddy.
@epzilon3836 "Eating before every hunt lmao"
Okay, I knew I was forgetting something in my comment - this, exactly this. I can keep track of the birds in enough of the other 3 maps that Rise starts us in, but this map just has them spread out so far it is a chore to get them..... well, MORE of a chore I should say.
I have so much nostalgia for this map specifically the really goofy but fun event quest to hunt an enormous rust duramboros the remake of this map is amazing i spent a lot of time re-exploring the map especially the zones that appeared in mh3u
Rise Sandy plains is probably my favourite desert map. Despite that, I don’t have much to say about it. It’s just overall very good.
What an odd pick for the 2nd spot. While It may be in the latter half of maps for me, It does make me really happy to see sleeper picks like this. Just so I can get some perspective.
It works well as a functioning desert map with actual a lot of monsters to pick from! Pukei, Rakna, Diablos, Almudron, Diaymo. So much variety to see compared to other desert maps! My main problems is just how 1. It lost a lot of the lush savanna feel the OG had for generic arid rocks and 2. The vocals of the battle/intro theme just feel too… sensual that make me uncomfortable to listen to.
Woah there, buddy. Rise Sandy Plains 2nd place!? That's a hot take if I've ever seen one. Christmas is supposed to be cold! No hot takes allowed here! (JK do what you want)
You'll not find me agreeing though. I do agree that the map doesn't really have many problems, but at the same time, I don't think it does anything particularly great either. It's just kinda another basic desert map to me. I do like the Rise version more than the original version of this map, mainly due to traversal being better (although Spiribirds are a pain and bring down every Rise map's score in that category in my opinion). And the music I like too, although the vocals are actually the thing I like LEAST about it (just personal preference). No other song do I wish more that there was an (official) instrumental version of it. The vocals aren't BAD by any means, but they're just a tad bit annoying to me.
Overall, indifference is the main emotion I have toward this map. It's there to check the "desert map" box for Rise, and it does perfectly fine at that. But nothing really stands out so much to justify even a top 10 ranking in my opinion. It's not revolutionary in basically any category, it's just... fine.
Finally someone talking about the vocals in this map's track! I'm probably the biggest vocals/choir lover in this comment section, I literally love to death some themes, like the 1st Gen Desert map, just because of the vocals, most of my favourite parts of Rise's remixes were the vocals, but this theme? Yeahh... not... the best... no.
Have a sandy, rocky, Christmas.
LMAO just adding vocals to an existing instrumental track always bugs me... Especially if you take your first map theme, do that, and call it a day for your final boss theme of all things. This not quite doing that is nice but the vocals are still a bit out of place.
Nice to see someone else who isn't a huge fan of this map. I dislike it a fair bit myself, and I know you are more neutral, but just glad I am not the only one shocked to see it so high.
LETS GOOOO most underrated map in the series easy to 5 best desert map in any game I have ever played
Yeah, this is Rise's best map for sure! Great pick.
Unless we count the Citadel, I'm surprised we got 2 deserts in the list (both pretty high up in the list too), but not a snow map. Maybe 1st place? Idk, anyways this map was VERY unexpected, especially after seeing the Wildspire Waste being on the list, nice!
I personally don't have anything to say about this map, it's fine, that's all.
Personally hoping the Hoarfrost is #1
was a big fan of the tri maps.
Maybe it's nostalgia, but I think none of the Rise remakes are better than the originals. I feel like because they've been expanded, the added areas take away from the evocative nature of the old-style maps. Less is more sometimes
Didn't expect it but it is high up for a good reason. 9 out of a 10
I just wish they remixed the original battle theme in Rise instead of giving it a new one.
Huh, now this will be the first time I really have to disagree. I never experienced the original version of this map, but I really do not like it in Rise or Sunbreak.
It is very easy to get lost in this map, and it is not like I only was here for a handful of hunts - spent a good chunk of hours on it, and always seemed to struggle to remember which direction was which whenever I got back to it. Honestly reminds me of the Ancient Forest a bit in that way, easy to think you took the right turn, only to get lost fast.
Not to mention how many vertical drops there are in this bloody thing, and with some surfaces that either do not let you run up them or just make running up them really damn odd - somehow going sideways when all I want to do is climb up. Rise has a lot of vertical areas, yes, but often it is easy enough to traverse them between the Wirebugs and the Palamute. In this zone, I can think of so many cliffs I can just launch myself off easily that require a fair bit of work to get back up, or finding a Great Wirebug and try to adjust your elevation with it. I know this can happen with the waterfall in the Flooded Forest and the mountain at the start of the Shrine Ruins, and it is annoying, but I always felt like doing either of those took a bit more effort, while sending myself flying in the Sandy Plains happened a lot more than I would prefer.
Unlike the Wildspire Wastes in the prior title, it really feels more like a standard desert map this time around. There is some sections with water, and there are traces of ruined buildings yes.... but most of it seems to be just rocks and sand. The limited shading/colors of the map certainly do not help, as pointed out by Connor, and while I know the sections near the northern part of the map have a lot more sand than stone, it really feels too similar to me. I want to say the only location that stuck out to me was that one mountain pass of sorts, with the endemic life clinging to the walls that would barrage a monster if they got close. Otherwise it feels just like another desert. Oh, and the ruins of buildings seem to only really matter to one zone where monsters can go, and even then they do not add too much to the fight.
This also bothers me a bit but the "rooms" of this map feel oddly small. Some of the sections in the middle only have some higher walls of rock separating the different sections of the map, ones which barely seem tall enough to hinder some of the larger beasts (like Anjanath) or anything with wings (like Seregios). Heck, I remember fighting Steve in one room and looking down a rocky hallway to see Valstrax over there, and they never once cared enough to notice one another. For other areas when steep cliffs, groves of dense trees or cave networks can keep monsters apart, this set of borders really seemed to only exist to give the players a spot to be away from the beasts.... but didn't really make sense to me why they couldn't chase us up there. We saw some of these vary same monsters manage such leaps and navigating higher ledges in World in the Wildspire, so them to lack the ability here stood out to me, who has spent a fair chunk of time in both.
For my only really minor gripe, I am not a fan of the roster for this map. Creatures like Pukei-Pukei and Anjanath worked in the Wildspire Wastes due to the fact we knew how close it was to the Ancient Forest, so them being able to head to the desert and survive felt organic. This map though.... I cannot picture either beast being happy to live in it, with how little flora there is for these two. Almudron is one of the only new beasts to be in this locale, and for how much this creature craves mud and damp zones, being in a desert like THIS feels a touch off to me - the Wildspire had that huge amount of wetland it could thrive in, but here we have only a couple small watering holes. Not even sure what brought B.O.B. or Kushala or Rajang to this area; nothing wrong with them being here technically, but seeing any of them in a desert just sticks out to me.
Ugh, I am rambling, sorry, but I really just have no fond feelings for this map at all. Even putting aside my love for the prior desert map, in a vacuum this place just feels generic with little to give it personality.
@CouldveBeenKing13 I've seen a couple of people saying they get lost in this map, and I'm just wondering: How? Rise's map makes it practically impossible to get lost in my experience. Is it mainly in the underground parts? I could understand getting lost in the original version of the Sandy Plains without a map (It's happened to me before, the connections between the zones are kind of weird) but I'm kinda confused that people are apparently getting lost in the Rise version lol. I'm curious, what's so confusing about the layout?
The monster roster is something that I didn't think of though that I agree is a bit weird. It always kind of annoyed me that it's treated as an abnormality when you spot Pukei-Pukei for the first time in the Wildspire in HR, but then the Guiding Lands and, more egregiously, Rise comes along and tries to convince you that Pukei is DEFINITELY a desert monster. Same thing to a lesser extent with Anjanath, although I think it's worse with Pukei because of -my own bias toward him- his colors are CLEARLY meant to match with the forest. What makes me even more annoyed about this is that in World, whenever you found a Pukei in the Wildspire, before you engage in combat with him, his colors would usually be the same as when he's scared/exhausted, showing how he's not comfortable in this environment. It's an amazing little detail that they bothered to give Pukei-Pukei in World, but as of now, they've seemed to have forgotten that Pukei isn't actually a desert monster. (My Pukei obsession is shining through right now, isn't it?)
Rise had habitat weirdness in general. Kushala in the desert is weird (although it did happen in 4U as well, but exclusively as night), Bob is seemingly there just because... fire is hot and desert is hot. Rathian came to the Volcano for the first time, and Anjy followed her there. Flaming Espinas' favorite spot in the Citadel in my experience is strangely up in Lunagaron's nest. Even some of the original monsters suffered a bit from feeling out of place in certain maps. Aknosom in the Frost Islands. Lunagaron to me feels like he should just be exclusively in ice places, but he appears in the Shrine Ruins and Jungle. Heck, even Violet Mizu feels like he fits best in the Infernal Springs arena, but he can also appear in the regular and Forlorn Arenas. It seems like since Iceborne, they haven't been quite as careful in placing monsters in the most fitting maps. Heck, if the first Wilds trailer is anything to go by, Rathalos is appearing in a desert map now! (Although they also showed him flying toward the Hoarfrost Reach in an Iceborne trailer, so it's possibly still too early to say for that)
@@Andrew-hz5zc
For the getting lost bit, part of that is the opening near the the first camp, where I would often jump down to get at the few spirit birds in the area, then have to remember what damn path from there leads to what future route. Once I am in the middle of the map it isn't too much of an issue - the open plains section is easy to navigate, the side paths up top are fine as well, with some minor confusion on getting out of the ruins area down deep below with all the broken buildings. It really is just the very start of the map - despite leaving that camp every time I am in the area, I can never quite recall where the paths from there lead. Weird, I know, but it always throws me for some reason.
Huh, I think I realized Pukei looked a bit odd in the Wildspire, but I figured it was just the colors standing out oddly against the rock. I didn't recognize it was the monster being in that nervous state you mentioned - that is such a nice detail. Your obsession surely shines like a beacon in the night!
I do agree with Rise having issues with the habitats for monsters - Tetranadon is covered in mossy camouflage but somehow lives in an arctic environment where everything is white and blue.... why? That alone was the biggest issue for me in base Rise, though I also agree with the Lunagaron problem too. That arctic wolf visually looks made for ice maps, but could see some points for it being able to migrate to nearby environments with its great temperature controlling abilities, like how we discussed Pukei popping into the Wildspire if it needed to. However, I would like to know how close any of the maps in Rise/Sunbreak even are to one another - seeing Lunagaron in the Shrine Ruins at the start of Sunbreak may be damn weird if those two areas are canonically 200 miles apart, but less odd if they are just a couple zipcodes away.
As for the other monsters mentioned, I didn't even know Flaming Espinas could show up in regular maps, only fought it in the event quest. BOB bothers me due to it clearly using the fruits of some plant that we actually do not know where it grows, so we do not know what its environment range even is.... kind of an issue with regular Bishaten, now that I think about it. I am not too upset by Rathian being in the Volcano map in Rise since they do have a little bit more greenery and caverns near the edge of that map - the one map I think in the Rise that actually does a mix of biomes well, oddly enough. Aknosom I could see working in the Frost Islands if it stuck to the caves like how Viper Tobi-Kadachi does in the Hoarfrost Reach, but it is weird to see it in a snowy map like that. Iceborne had issues overall, but I would mostly state that is true for the invaders who could be anywhere that do not really seem to fit (hello Banbaro, Fulgur Anjanath and Ebony Odogaron).... and Tigrex and Velkhana. Beyond that Gammoth in the room, most of the returning monsters and new subspecies seemed to fit the locales fairly well, I would say. With Rathalos in particular, if we just see that flagship flying over random maps/areas, I could buy it due to the King of the Skies likely patrolling a large territory, if he doesn't really hunt in some of the maps, more so just crossing over them to get to where he should be.
Wow, yesterday’s map was my least favorite desert map, todays is one of my favorites 😂
Yeah don't really agree with this one. Pretty far below Wildspire Wastes in my personal opinion
How does this win? It doesn't waste like 2 and half zones, unlike wildspire wastes, that's how. This map having the watery bits makes sense and it didn't give the false impression of giving more of a shit about the watery zones by making a whole mechanic that never amounted to anything. Them using it as an excuse for barroty hand almodron, and being a bit more believable, just works. It's not a swamp, not in the slightest, it is a watering hole or 2 that I guess almodron will settle for. When he's not in the shrine ruins or flooded forest. Almodron is the only good truly swamp monster and he's never even in a swamp. He's just in; a foresty map with some water, a desert with even less water, and a forest with a lot of water. Give us a true swamp, put almodron in there, and give us more than like 2, or 1 and a half, monsters that feel at home in a swamp.
The point about using the underground zones more, yeah that's a pretty awesome change. This map does have a decent variety for the single biome that it uses.
Damn no world maps?
? We literally had the Wildspire waste and Rotten Vale earlier in the list
We had the Wildspire 2 days ago and the Rotten Vale where were you
Uffff I havely disagreee . I think original map is better in every way. Artstyle wghise there is so mutch that was lost...
This opinion is wack. I wouldn't be going around voicing that shit if I were you chief
@yourdad5799 Fortunately your not.
Sandy Plain sucks ass 😭😭😭
Diablos please leave the desert and come to the caves ive fallen into them 7 times this hunt😭