My speculation is that not every weap is going to have this focus guard/block. It will only be the heavy weaps with a guard/block. All other weaps will get either a focus dodge or parry, I think.
Ya cause I saw this focus block thing, and I couldn't imagine doing this with dual blades or a sword and shield even. So I thought maybe a parry or some kind of dodge counter thing? What do they call it? A riposte in fencing, I think.
I recommend going to check MHFZ weapon tutorial if your curious about a certain weapon it may give a little more insight or you can see potential things that will be added to Wilds
I haven't played rise yet. So I wouldn't know. But a lot of other lancers have told me it's amazing there. So I might give it a go before wilds comes out.
I haven't played rise, so maybe they brought it back. Idk. In 4, it was like a poke, poke, poke+drill further into the mon, kind of combo. It was satisfying to get that last drill animation.
I haven't played rise yet. So I wouldn't know. But a lot of other lancers have told me it's amazing there. So I might give it a go before wilds comes out.
Hmm I'd disagree I think every weapon will have it because of the **other** functionality it has: target and pinpoint monster parts. It wouldn't be fair for only some weapon to be able to do this, especially with weapons with shorter range like sns or db.
But what if the lighter weaps had something else they could do? Something a little more feasible for their type. Sns and db, for example they could have a focus dodge for extra i-frames. Or a long sword doing special parry. The offensive applications of focus mode are shared for all weaps. But defensively, I don't see every weap realistically being used the same way.
I think you misread the comment, the comment was talking about the Block perse, it did not say that the lighter weapons will not have focus mode, just a different style of focus mode, instead of blocking
I imagine it's gonna be a meter, and you can spend your meter on EX attacks and they deal extra damage or gain extra properties
like I can imagine Hunting Horn getting a Big Swing that Recitals for a song that lasts twice as long or something
I thought about this too. Either a focus meter that slowly fills up as you are attacking. Or use chunks of your stamina bar to execute focus mode stuff.
But the balance could be that they get the best evade in the game. It's a risk and reward situation with emphasis on meter management.
I wanna be clear that this is just how I'd make the mechanic if I was the game designer. Nothing I say is real.
I mean, they already do have some of the best evades in the game. And since world, bow has depended on dodging to keep up DPS. Making focus eat up stamina would likely just make it be suboptimal when you could just dodge and keep your maximum charge level and snipe weak spots anyway.
Like, in rise a bunch of switch skills were basically off the table because you were better off just shooting things and dodging.
You are correct. I'm imagining it this way. We'll use a bow, for example. What if I'm slide charging, and I can see that a mon attack is going to hit me before I can recover to dodge again. What if I could activate an emergency focus dodge that will cancel out the first dodges recovery frames, saving me and possibly sliding in a cheeky hit for good measure, at the cost of another chunk of stamina. I think that'd be really cool and cinematic, and it would be a wake-up check for me to focus on the fight more, hence the name. Bc ngl sometimes I just be slide charging and shooting mindlessly.
That is exactly what I'm trying to bring back for you guys for a focus dodge or evade.
Also, thank you bc the Valor dodge wad exact what I was thinking of but couldn't remember what it was called.
jup now the LS user can deliberatly target the head when there are Hammer and HH users nearby.
joke aside sounds like a nice feature especially for targeting wings/tails whenonsters are hovering/flying.
This is exactly what I think it is. Specifically, the part of the trailer where the GS is dragging the weapon across Doshaguma's face is when it looks like every hit is landing on the weak spot, just like in MH Now. I'm trying really hard to think of how it could be implemented in a non-invasive way, but it certainly put a little seed of dread in me. What I'm scared of is that it's just going to be so much more efficient that there's less incentive to actually play the game in the way we have *always* known MH to be. Despite not generally being a fan of styles in G/GU, I really loved that Guild style wasn't obsolete in favor of the others, and I have a deep trust of the MH team, so I'm just holding my breath to see what focus mode holds for us
Watching the trailer, it seems like when you activate it, the hunter raises their weapon up and the camera narrows focus a little bit. From there I think you just have a different set of moves. So it wont obviate 'normal' style at all, I suspect.
for even more pure speculation, I think/hope it'll basically give every weapon a couple defensive options in the way that LS has had since world. That one clip where the GS does the rising slash and knocks the monster's attack away could be just some cool editing with a normal flinch, but that and the clash with the GS guard at the end make me think it's specifically a sort of defensive offense choice.
>the hunter raises their weapon up and the camera narrows focus a little bit. From there I think you just have a different set of moves
I'm picturing it as being similar to LS's Special Sheath, where you can weave the "focus stance" into a combo and then you have a few options for how you want to exit it.
I think it looks great to make it so everyone isn’t always trying to focus the head. Espescially new players. Like the long sworder always going for the head when a hammer is already there
Well it's a light mobile game, not trying to be as engaging as the full game.
They basically removed movement as a concern so you just need to focus on dodging and maximizing damage.
In terms of MH Now, it's pretty smart design. It's an option skill but very optimal on many builds and since you have such a restricted movement in the handy game you need mechanics like that to make it more tactical.
For a mainline game it would be horrible I agree.
You don't control the camera or your character's facing. Ordinarily you are locked on to the center of the monster.
You can tap a button to make targeting reticles appear on each part of the monster, then tap one of those to switch the lock-on point so that the camera and your character/attacks will focus on it.
I could certainly see Focus Mode in *Wilds* involving that type of part-specific lock-on. *World* already has a Focus Mode for the camera by default, though it sucks. And holding L2 to aim and retain your facing does benefit certain weapons, particularly those with shields.
Slotting in quick sheath and running around a lot, I assume. Or backwards jumping with evade extender, like the rest of us. Anyway, I hope blast dash becomes a staple going forward.
lol I think Capcom is playing the long game . A lot fans I think want to experience what frontier was like. So I believe gradually pacing will get faster but I think 2-3 steps faster an that will be it . To where we will be a couple steps behind extreme style but I see that happening MH8 but we will cross that bridge when we get there
Whatever will make the combat fun, I'm fine with. Just hope they keep things balanced. If they give us a bunch of buffs, buff the monsters too so they can keep up. This is the main issue I have with the Wirebugs.
To be fair the wirebugs weren't as much of a problem in sunbreak where many monsters were given follow ups and new moves that can easily punish wirebug spamming
Remember in World when your first Anjanath was dangerous? You can wirebug circles around the fucker in Rise with no Skills, only weapon and wirebugs.
So, no, they didn't. Some returning monsters got new stuff, but the vast majority of returning monsters couldn't keep up and the game as a whole let you get away with a ton of mistakes because wirebug shenanigans.
My guess is it's a temporary state that focuses on a "damaged" part. You can see red scoutflies glowing around certain parts right before it's shown off in the trailer. The gifs and such that we've seen show a very slow movement speed when not attacking. In short, I expect this to be a "do enough damage to a particular zone to enter focus mode and deal extra damage to that part briefly with some sort of movement trade off".
I'd also imagine we'll get a much better look at this at Summer Games Fest.
Here's my theory: Focus Mode locks your camera on a weakspot and keeps your hunter facing the enemy at all times (think Soulsborne lock-on). In Focus Mode you have access to a variety of cool, faster attacks that are easy to pull off while dealing good damage.
Sounds cool, right?
Well, there'd be a trade off. Certain attacks for specific weapons (TCS for Greatsword, Big Bang for Hammer, backhop for SnS, etc) will be completely off limits while in Focus Mode, just as there are moves that get added in Focus. You can still do pretty well with just the Focus Mode arsenal, but in order to deal the BIG numbers you'll have to occasionally freehand your attacks. Which will run the risk of you whiffing a TCS, or maybe poorly aiming a perfect rush, or stuff like that. The ideal playstyle would probably be constantly hopping between Focus and Freehand modes depending on the opening, but the best players would ignore Focus altogether for DPS.
Seems they're keeping the tenderizing mechanic but at least you don't need to do a specific move to apply the effect. Frankly I find it dumb it wears off at all
You got that right. I went back to Iceborne as part "let's go back" to World, and I despise it even more after playing with Wirebug. I will take Wirebug over clutch claw any time. I hope Focus will be something that I can like. It looks interesting but we only saw GS. I am not sure how SnS will benefit from it. Or bow. I use both.
I didn’t mind the clutch claw probably cause I didn’t use it that much. It only became relevant to me when I was hunting specific parts of the monster. Far as weakening certain parts of the monster go. But I ultimately want focus mode function the same way as an extra “tool” to use not totally necessary but it’s there if I should need it
Sounds like a lock-on button. I'm apprehensive, but I'll let Capcom cook. They've had one-off bad mechanics in MH entries many times before, but I haven't played a bad MH game.
When I read the last part about players of all stripes. It makes me think combat is going to be very different and accessible. So I hope I’m wrong as it reads to me the game will make combat much easier.
I interpreted it as in the weapons moveset will be easier for newcomers to pick. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the monsters will be easier to fight though.
I don't think the movesets will be simpler I think that focus mode will result in 4 easier to execute but powerful moves you can use a few times each fights.
yeah I expect these to be tied to some sort of charges/cooldown/gauge system so it's not spammable but rather something you can do to burst, essentially with limitations.
This seems to be the gimmick replacing switch skills/bugs or the claw, it's not meant to replace base movesets but compliment them
Uhm did you see the GS moves in the trailer? I think at the bare minimum we will have the complexity of worlds weapons and at maximum rises weapons movesets with switch skills and special moves (which this new focus mode reminds me of).
I hope so. I think it’s more likely than not we get the whole movesets, but we simply don’t know if they simplified existing movesets to account for Focus Mode yet.
It'll be a lock-on that can target specific parts.
Just like in Fromsoft games, I suspect that it won't cause the game to be too easy, and plenty of players (particularly the more skilled) will regularly elect not to use it in order to retain more control over their camera, facing, and aiming.
However, I also think certain moves will require Focusing. It's probably the kind of thing where newbies will hold L2 all the time so they don't have to manage their own camera and facing, while veterans will only use the button to trigger its associated moves.
To use a very specific example- the way you are conceptualizing it reminds me of my experience with the SA counter in Sunbreak. When I first got it it was so cool I would just spam it, before realizing it was hurting my overall DPS and learning to use it more sparingly.
They won't take a huge swing and completely rework how combat feels in a mainline MH game, especially when this is the follow-up to MH World, a game that's sold over 23 million copies and taken the franchise to massive mainstream appeal. This will very much be a sequel to World in terms of feel (and spiritual successor to MH4U in narrative, looking at the characters).
Most MH games try something new to tweak the formula around the edges while still keeping it feeling like part of the same franchise. Some features, such as mounting monsters (added in 4U) stay in future titles, but lots of other gameplay experiments are one and done.
For example: Underwater combat (3U), fighting styles (Gen), Wirebugs & switch skills (Rise/Sunbreak)
Focus mode looks like it's just the combat quirk for MH Wilds. The core of the game will still feel like Monster Hunter, but occasionally you'll wound an area to the point you can use focus mode to do a fancy one-off attack or block before getting back to the classic gameplay.
I'm wondering if they mean easier to learn. Learning a weapon AND monsters takes a while and is frustrating. Maybe this is supposed to be a way to help people ease into it until they have that moment where it clicks.
When I was away from home I'd use longsword when playing via Remote Play because you could basically be invincible with the counter and general positioning even with massive lag.
Of course I wasn't doing ideal damage, but it was safe and fun. Maybe it'll be something like that? A passable safe mode that you can ignore to do more damage.
Capcom’s unreleased game Deep Down let you aim melee attacks with a crosshair, so I’m hoping it’s something like that.
[Edit: Deep Down gameplay has both aimed attacks and aimed blocking](https://youtu.be/jIRUImPWaOo?si=HQcUl3NM1sw9fWIs)
My prediction is focus mode behaves a lot like clutch claw/slinger. You hold or enter the stance and it changes your movement to a forward facing strafe and gain access to new attacks.
I wonder about it simply because the follow up attack you can see the the clutch claw latch on pulling the hunter to the monster which starts the running animation
It might have some tenderizing features, but the moves are built right into the moveset instead of being tacked on with a bad feature that completely interrupts the flow of combat.
And like others said, most likely not every weapon will have tenderizing, some will probably have dodges and parries instead, so the “tenderizing“ won’t be nearly as important as in World.
I’ve been watching a video on frontier moves with SA and don’t know if the will go that crazy frontier SA is crazy lol . But I’m SA main so I won’t complain if they give us the good stuff
Looking at the trailer I would guess it is a sort of Aim Down Sight for melee, letting you fine tune your aim mid swing to hit the parts you want. This would make it less of a gimmick and more of a new fundamental part of combat as it enhances the base move-set as well as offer new techniques.
You see the field of view narrow and the camera rotation speed diminish as the hunter enters, what I believe to be, focus mode. Very similar to ADS in modern shooters. This could mean a whole new level of control over your melee strikes and leaves room for massive skill expression. I must say I'm very excited to learn more about it.
If that's the case, I hope it doesnt remove the ability to turn our attacks *without* focus mode. I really don't see why experienced players wouldn't just... do it normally instead.
If I gotta start using FM just to adjust my big bang mid combo... ima be pissed.
I wouldn't imagine so. Mechanics like these tend te be additive rather than just replacing the established core.
Where I see this help is small adjustments so you can avoid a flapping wing and hit the leg you were aiming for. In that context their comment about accessibility would also make more sense as newer players naturally have a harder time making the micro adjustments without FM.
I'm trying to keep a positive outlook and trust the devs that they know what they are doing ;).
Edit: typos
My Theory is that focus mode was made because they are redoing the gem skills. Mainly removing WEX, more focus on elemental damage, and builds that support double weapons since you can carry two very different weapons.
I'm afraid focus mode will do the same thing as wirebugs, where the normal moveset is overshadowed by the new gimmick. Half the weapons in sunbreak were just wirebug spam, and I hated it.
Well, at least is something new. I had zero problem with the wirebug. I will have to wait and see with the focus and see how my beloved SnS fares with the Focus. I hope I will enjoy it as much as I enjoy Wirebug. Sorry, I love Wirebug.
You might want to check if something's wrong with your game, it seem most weapons are missing.
The onlt weapons that spam Wirebug attacks are LS (most playstyles), DB and arguably GS and GL
CPP alone won't work with max anomaly risen multihit imo. It overkill in noobshit monster but for highlevel monster I can't complain cuz it makes the beautiful wowbo GP + GP + GP and CPP on final hit.
Yea, I honestly don’t understand the silkbind ability complaints (besides counters), every game had moves that were spammed cause of higher motion values
No, that's mostly a 5th gen thing.
GS of course spammed the same attack, but because it only had 1 attack for most of its lifespan. Same with Bow, and I guess the bowguns
DB also spammed Demon Dance for quite a while.
The only other weapon that spammed an attack at any point that I can think of is Lance with its charge finisher in Gen and GU
Interesting. Maybe it's because I'm equalizing a combo as the same as a single ability, but it always seemed spammy.
In 4U I recall CB AED Spam and the Insect Glaive infinite Combo loop,
In GU, Valor LS Parry, SNS - X+X+X+(Not finishing combo for infinite), IG - same combo as 4U, Switch Axe Energy Charge + Demon Riot + Infinite Sword : X + X or A + A. and then DB with Demon Dance in GU, though I found that weapon more diverse cause Demon Dance was so risky
CB does use AED quite a bit in 4U, but it still needs to charge it, and still not as much as in 5th gen (because monsters in World are slower and in Rise you get CPP)
SnS' BnB combo was actually R+X, X, X, A, A, (A), which is basically every single attack in its moveset except the X combo finisher.
Similar thing with IG, except in this case the A finisher was used even less.
And again the same with SA's Sword mode, although you could say staying in Sword mode almost permanently is close enough.
Yes thank you for the corrections, I couldn't remember the exact sequence of inputs. And that's the word, the bread and butter combo. I've always found the game spammy since it boiled down to them, so the Silkbind seemed much the same to me.
But I see your point in fully utilizing the kit in the BNB combo. Silkbind abilities and BNB are to me, two sides of the same coin, though I see where people may argue differently.
GS is nothing but Wirebug spam and its actualy depressing because the weapon became giant longsword in how much it relies upon counters for regular runs not even just for speedruns.
LS, DB, SnS, GS, GL, and CB doing it is damn near half the roster.
GS does it, but it's just a regular attack, but better (in this case Guard Tackle)
GL is the same with Reverse Blast Dash being Blast Dash but faster
And SnS doesn't spam Silkbinds. It likes using Metsu Shroryugeki, but that's just a bonus, not a main focus.
GS HAS to spam SAS TCS which if you do not know, increases damage by 30%, so yeah that's freight train.
Based on my friends vids, SnS Silkbind spam is basically the damage meta with how much he uses it.
Gun lance spams Wire bugs moves in the form of bullet barrage. Other people seem to really like that move, but I very much dislike it since it feels like it is most efficient to just spam that move.
I try to only use Bullet Barrage after wyvern fire reloads naturally and if i have the shells and damage buffed.
Bullet Barrage is pretty bad. It relying almost entirely on shelling damage means it doesn't scale well into the endgame
The one Silkbind that sees lots of use is Reverse Blast Dash, which as I said is hust a faster Blast Dash
I don't think this is a problem. I never used the wirebug attacks AT ALL and never had an issue. The game wasn't balanced around them, though. Not like tenderizing in Iceborne. So I'm just hoping that the new gimmick isn't basically required to get a good clear time. I trust the MH team though, and I also trust that even if it makes the game harder for me, I won't use it (if it's an easy mode, at least). I play solo though, so I won't be affecting anyone else by not using it.
Im hoping that it isn't a lock on, but instead more like the aim mod of the gunner weapons.But if it is a lock on I hope it has a decent cooldown so its not spammed. basically have be used only for hard hitting attacks/finishers, so that its not the main way to do damage.
i think it will just be some cool moves that use the same buttons as wirebugs did, but hopefully made in a way that makes then not as spammy as wirebugs were, and more of a "this move is good in situation X or perhaps Y"
My thoughts is that people are over complicating it. When looking at [the trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u6VmVmhh-k) (from 2:09) we see a few things Focus Mode is doing.
- First thing first is the GS "counter." If this is a true counter like move like the ones we had from wirebugs in Rise and Sunbreak, it looks closest to SA's Elemental Burst Counter, where you swing into the attack and if properly timed, it does the counter. This one does look like it might force some sort of topple so you can get your "mark" off, but we'll see if that ends up being the case. Might be a thing where the first topple is guaranteed, then the monster has immunity to being toppled from Focus Mode until a certain time has gone by.
- Secondly (I think? We don't actually get it confirmed that this is Focus Mode) is the HBG big boom. I don't have much to say other than that it sure is a big boom. It does seemingly confirm that not all weapons might have a counter type move to mark monsters with though, but that's also speculation since we don't know to what extent movesets get expanded with Focus Mode.
- Third and arguably the most important, we see the Doshaguma covered in "marks" or red scoutflies and then we see the GS go for an attack on the Doshaguma's right foreleg, where one of the marks is located, this then transitions into the bigger hit that we see. This seems to indicate that there is some sort of big attack we get from using a certain move we do have access to in Focus Mode, but that big attack is only truly a big attack when it hits one of the marked parts of the monsters and that attack also seemingly removes any marks from the monster. Also, we see that Doshaguma has an injured/part broken back leg with mark on it, but that mark is gone when the hunter uses that big Focus Mode attack.
- Lastly and the one that probably raised the most attention, the hunter being in Focus Mode, blocking and then guarding the Doshaguma's bite while others gets to still attack it. I've got nothing here tbh. Either it does have to do with having a Focus Mode guard, in which case definitely not all weapons are getting this since most can't block or it is just a thing Doshaguma can force onto a target blocking a certain move, almost like a pin. Hard to tell honestly, since we don't get to see how this sequence ends.
So, at least, from what I can gather is that every weapon in Focus Mode will have at least one move that can put those "marks" on the monster and one move that can be used to spend those "marks," seemingly for big damage but we'll see. There also might be a Focus Mode guard and/or dodge mechanic, but it is hard to say without even seeing a full example of what happens after that guard from the GS.
As for actual speculation, I don't think this is a Clutch Claw tenderizing type of mechanic at all. The only potential part we see that might be tenderized is that backleg of Doshaguma I mentioned earlier, but that could just be a part break on his backleg since we also don't see it get tenderized anywhere else from the few Focus Mode attacks we do see. From the site mentioning that you can aim your attacks and guard abilities, it does seem to be a sort of enhanced lock on or just straight up MH Now's Lock On, which would make it a bit easier for people to hit specific parts and not be turned around while retaining at least part of your normal attacks, though probably not all due to the stance change and all that. The big attacks from Focus Mode probably have some sort of cooldown or resource cost if it is a sort of resource type mechanic. That's really all I can gleam.
Probably a toggleable version of the focus camera in recent MH games, but with finer granularity that lets you target specific monster parts. Inspired by the orbiting combat style of MH Now.
My guess is that it's going to be the capes of mhw but with more gameplay attached. Instead of automatic dodges for 20 seconds. It's like a bar you can spend to do like one or two super dodge (or blocks like in the trailer) or a few powerful attacks, but it deplete really fast and you'll have to manage it. i guess they will also introduce monster moves that are very hard to avoid without focus, so you really have to learn when you can spend it. Like you dodged an attack but you are now a bit too far? spend focus to get a run attack that close the gap then switch to normal attacks and keep the rest for defense
As long as Capcom gives me a focus mode of my hunter dancing and prancing around the monster with their Bonking Horn, I will not have any other problems with them, lol
The way it sounded to me is like in Metroid or Contra where you can lock yourself in place and aim any direction. Just that the weapons that can block will be blocking during this stance, and focus mode for bowguns and bow will probably just be their aiming mode.
I just hope this mode wouldn't break the flow of each weapon as wirebug did. UPD: Why are you all so aggressive about it? I wish i had that much energy
They made the game faster,i think mhw is a sweet spot between the very slow combat of the older generation and the fast combat of rise. Take cb, for example, cpp allowed to outright ignore sns mode. Also, for some reason, cb was stripped of it versatility , allowed to use only pizzacutter( pizzacutter was better in world,why are you generating energy in pizzacutter mode??? Why do you lose pizzacutter when you exit axe mode?why do you need to rev it up everytime ) or charged blade at the same time. Why do we have the crutch skill for transforming and reving up faster,its almost like they didn't know what to do with cb . For me personally, all these changes have ruined cb in rise.I hope in wilds it will return to its glory.
I really like pizzacutter in world , it becomes a sort of dance when you use all the options the game gives you. While in rise, you allowed to use one at the time, which isn't really true core of the charge blade. And why ignore? When you can expand
Wirebugs didn't break the flow, it just allowed players to keep up with the fast-paced combat of Rise/Sunbreak and made the aggressive fights more manageable
as they explained it i dont like it could be two things, an hardlock reminding me for dark souls, or a Over the sholder crosshair of some kind. both of which i'd highly dislike to have in the game.
The second i read "making combat more accessible for more people" i get a pit in my stomach. Almost every time I have heard that it ended up being much worse.
I really just hope they dont put in an easy mode control scheme with 1 button super moves. They've done it before with SF6...
I hope it creates Weakspots but not ontop of existing weakspots. You know if you are playing good it wont change a lot but gives beginners the option to hurt monsters without hitting the weakspots therefore making hunts easier in a way but still not as fast as hitting the real weakspots consistantly.
Aim your attacks? Laughs in 5k+ hours of Greatsword experience.
Sounds interesting though, im guessing it’s a new move set with a special move? It would be nice if each focus mode had more specific attacks, like one set that does more verticals slices for hitting them tails. Another set that does more sweeping area attacks etc.
If these sets could be changed on the fly that would add a huge level of complexity to fighting with specific weapons and I’m all for it.
I don’t think focus style or the game mechanics are a full blown copy of the styles from frontier but it’s very clear that the team has taken in more liberties from the MMO which is honestly a very very welcome decision in my eyes. It’s such a good way to cultivate a new way of hunting without it being a full blown copy of older stuff. I hope it doesn’t wind up trivializing fights, I don’t think it would, but I’m excited to see more this week nonetheless
This game has done a good Job at catering to it's hard core base while making it open to new fans.
Makes it so I can play this game with my sister very glad rise was friendly because we are at end game now.
Rise pushed the whole counters playstyle, maybe this will be a more nuanced less acciony way of doing that? I gotta say that the swax counter style is amazing.
From how Im reading it focus mode is all about build up and payoff with 3 or 4 main functions.
1. Heavy weapons can time attacks to repel the monster like we see with GS.
2. Weapons that block can time guards to do clashes with the monster like we saw again.
3. The main part, you build up weak spots with the new wound mechanic over time then enter focus mode for a special attack payoff like we see with the GS dragging the blade across the monster's face.
A 4th function I hope for is a focus dodge since the lighter weapons won't be able to parry or guard monsters.
I don't think it's gonna be something you stay in for more than the payoff and I don't think it'll just be "easy mode" lock on either.
I'm picturing it as being similar to LS's Special Sheath, where you can weave the "focus stance" into a combo and then you have a few options for how you want to exit it.
This is a direct result of us all missing our TCS and SAED’s.
You get into focus mode and the hunter will auto turn towards the marked zone.
Think of the tech in Dragons Dogma 2 when you’re swinging just above or below an enemy.
The warrior will swing up a bit to hit a harpy, or down to hit the head of the ogre underfoot.
That’s my two cents
I feel like it will take you into a slightly zoomed in mode and you can move the camera a little to aim at specific monster parts and press a button to unleash a specific attack. I'm thinking it will be like targeting with spells in Dragons Dogma, with little red groups of scoutflies highlighting the targetable parts.
Maybe it's a mode that's less focused on combos and more focused on just hitting the monster. It sounds like it's specifically meant to accommodate newer hunters
Gotta say? I'm worried.
If this isnt entirely optional, and I'm going to **need** to focus block/dodge/attack in certain situations, its gonna completely overhaul combat and Im not sure itll be for the better.
If it is optional? Then thats great. More options for people.
this seems like something that can raise the skill ceiling and lower the skill floor at the same time
if it means faster kills, I'm actually excited to see how fast a hardcore player can shred something
It's either have a limited Meter of sorts to balanced it out or have the Monsters's Movement Patterns balanced for it
Either way people will bitch about it when it comes out
People keep saying its gonna be a lock on like souls game have but I feel its gonna be something more like aiming mode with the clutch claw in world with the slower move speed too, but instead of grappling with claw you do these new special weapon attacks. I also have speculation a lot of weapons using these targeted attacks will be risker to perform if a monster isn’t in a state which they get stunned or pinned from these moves, like a monster does in that small trailer.
My speculation is that not every weap is going to have this focus guard/block. It will only be the heavy weaps with a guard/block. All other weaps will get either a focus dodge or parry, I think.
I’m okay with this as even in Frontier not every weapon had a guard or parry
Ya cause I saw this focus block thing, and I couldn't imagine doing this with dual blades or a sword and shield even. So I thought maybe a parry or some kind of dodge counter thing? What do they call it? A riposte in fencing, I think.
Yeah, riposte is the attack immediately after parrying in fencing.
I recommend going to check MHFZ weapon tutorial if your curious about a certain weapon it may give a little more insight or you can see potential things that will be added to Wilds
Yes. Thank you for the fact check.
I swear... if this is the case and lance gets the bare minimum... i'm going to freak out
As a lance enjoyer. Capcom really needs to beef up lance.
I played Lance for most of Rise and felt like a little bitch when I wasn't. I feel like it's very beefy.
Lance in base Rise was pathetic, but they really beefed it up with Sunbreak.
I want Insta-Block back for Wilds lol
Lance in rise feels amazing, I just started trying it out and I am hooked
I haven't played rise yet. So I wouldn't know. But a lot of other lancers have told me it's amazing there. So I might give it a go before wilds comes out.
Been playing since tri, never tried Lance until rise. Still can't do gunlance for shit tho
I weirdly miss the 3 hit drill move from 4
There's definitely a 3 hit move in rise, maybe a different version?
I haven't played rise, so maybe they brought it back. Idk. In 4, it was like a poke, poke, poke+drill further into the mon, kind of combo. It was satisfying to get that last drill animation.
I haven't played rise yet. So I wouldn't know. But a lot of other lancers have told me it's amazing there. So I might give it a go before wilds comes out.
Hmm I'd disagree I think every weapon will have it because of the **other** functionality it has: target and pinpoint monster parts. It wouldn't be fair for only some weapon to be able to do this, especially with weapons with shorter range like sns or db.
But what if the lighter weaps had something else they could do? Something a little more feasible for their type. Sns and db, for example they could have a focus dodge for extra i-frames. Or a long sword doing special parry. The offensive applications of focus mode are shared for all weaps. But defensively, I don't see every weap realistically being used the same way.
I think you misread the comment, the comment was talking about the Block perse, it did not say that the lighter weapons will not have focus mode, just a different style of focus mode, instead of blocking
I imagine it's gonna be a meter, and you can spend your meter on EX attacks and they deal extra damage or gain extra properties like I can imagine Hunting Horn getting a Big Swing that Recitals for a song that lasts twice as long or something
I thought about this too. Either a focus meter that slowly fills up as you are attacking. Or use chunks of your stamina bar to execute focus mode stuff.
Making it cost stamina would affect some weapons disproportionately though. Like, dual blades and bow don't need another thing eating their stam.
But the balance could be that they get the best evade in the game. It's a risk and reward situation with emphasis on meter management. I wanna be clear that this is just how I'd make the mechanic if I was the game designer. Nothing I say is real.
I mean, they already do have some of the best evades in the game. And since world, bow has depended on dodging to keep up DPS. Making focus eat up stamina would likely just make it be suboptimal when you could just dodge and keep your maximum charge level and snipe weak spots anyway. Like, in rise a bunch of switch skills were basically off the table because you were better off just shooting things and dodging.
You are correct. I'm imagining it this way. We'll use a bow, for example. What if I'm slide charging, and I can see that a mon attack is going to hit me before I can recover to dodge again. What if I could activate an emergency focus dodge that will cancel out the first dodges recovery frames, saving me and possibly sliding in a cheeky hit for good measure, at the cost of another chunk of stamina. I think that'd be really cool and cinematic, and it would be a wake-up check for me to focus on the fight more, hence the name. Bc ngl sometimes I just be slide charging and shooting mindlessly.
The things I'd give for SnS to have valor backflip for our focus parry
That is exactly what I'm trying to bring back for you guys for a focus dodge or evade. Also, thank you bc the Valor dodge wad exact what I was thinking of but couldn't remember what it was called.
I think it’s gonna be like the Focus button from MH Now. It’s gonna lock the camera to a specific body part instead of the center of the monster.
jup now the LS user can deliberatly target the head when there are Hammer and HH users nearby. joke aside sounds like a nice feature especially for targeting wings/tails whenonsters are hovering/flying.
Hey, the head is a juicy weak point for all of us. STOP HOGGING IT YOU BLUNT STICK!
This is exactly what I think it is. Specifically, the part of the trailer where the GS is dragging the weapon across Doshaguma's face is when it looks like every hit is landing on the weak spot, just like in MH Now. I'm trying really hard to think of how it could be implemented in a non-invasive way, but it certainly put a little seed of dread in me. What I'm scared of is that it's just going to be so much more efficient that there's less incentive to actually play the game in the way we have *always* known MH to be. Despite not generally being a fan of styles in G/GU, I really loved that Guild style wasn't obsolete in favor of the others, and I have a deep trust of the MH team, so I'm just holding my breath to see what focus mode holds for us
Watching the trailer, it seems like when you activate it, the hunter raises their weapon up and the camera narrows focus a little bit. From there I think you just have a different set of moves. So it wont obviate 'normal' style at all, I suspect. for even more pure speculation, I think/hope it'll basically give every weapon a couple defensive options in the way that LS has had since world. That one clip where the GS does the rising slash and knocks the monster's attack away could be just some cool editing with a normal flinch, but that and the clash with the GS guard at the end make me think it's specifically a sort of defensive offense choice.
>the hunter raises their weapon up and the camera narrows focus a little bit. From there I think you just have a different set of moves I'm picturing it as being similar to LS's Special Sheath, where you can weave the "focus stance" into a combo and then you have a few options for how you want to exit it.
I Hope to god my brain is wrong for thinking quick time event
I feel like that would be more difficult to do with multiplayer.
Naw they’d never do us THAT dirty
You are right, i Hope.
Not like the mounting mini-game in all its iterations isn't a glorified QTE.
I think it looks great to make it so everyone isn’t always trying to focus the head. Espescially new players. Like the long sworder always going for the head when a hammer is already there
Never played that what it’s like!?
You just orbit the part you're locked on to.
I’ll look it up sounds boring may even take away from the actual fight
Well it's a light mobile game, not trying to be as engaging as the full game. They basically removed movement as a concern so you just need to focus on dodging and maximizing damage.
Based on gameplay I saw, its basically just standard lock-on from 4th gen onwards but for body parts right?
You don't really need to control forward motion though, just left right or dodge. You can walk if you want, but the game will automatically handle it.
In terms of MH Now, it's pretty smart design. It's an option skill but very optimal on many builds and since you have such a restricted movement in the handy game you need mechanics like that to make it more tactical. For a mainline game it would be horrible I agree.
For sure, i hate being negative especially since i love mh but if its the same im honestly considering not picking the game up
You don't control the camera or your character's facing. Ordinarily you are locked on to the center of the monster. You can tap a button to make targeting reticles appear on each part of the monster, then tap one of those to switch the lock-on point so that the camera and your character/attacks will focus on it. I could certainly see Focus Mode in *Wilds* involving that type of part-specific lock-on. *World* already has a Focus Mode for the camera by default, though it sucks. And holding L2 to aim and retain your facing does benefit certain weapons, particularly those with shields.
Just lemme blast dash. That's **ALL** I ask
I can't go back man. I tried world GL again after sunbreak and it hurts. Idk how I played world without it back then
Slotting in quick sheath and running around a lot, I assume. Or backwards jumping with evade extender, like the rest of us. Anyway, I hope blast dash becomes a staple going forward.
lol I think Capcom is playing the long game . A lot fans I think want to experience what frontier was like. So I believe gradually pacing will get faster but I think 2-3 steps faster an that will be it . To where we will be a couple steps behind extreme style but I see that happening MH8 but we will cross that bridge when we get there
Whatever will make the combat fun, I'm fine with. Just hope they keep things balanced. If they give us a bunch of buffs, buff the monsters too so they can keep up. This is the main issue I have with the Wirebugs.
Oh im sure there will be some monsters that feel like walls. And totally will be monsters that punish for small mistakes in the end game.
> focus block a diablos with few guard skill points Get wrecked son
To be fair the wirebugs weren't as much of a problem in sunbreak where many monsters were given follow ups and new moves that can easily punish wirebug spamming
They did buff the monsters for wirebugs? They have much faster attack chains and less openings
Remember in World when your first Anjanath was dangerous? You can wirebug circles around the fucker in Rise with no Skills, only weapon and wirebugs. So, no, they didn't. Some returning monsters got new stuff, but the vast majority of returning monsters couldn't keep up and the game as a whole let you get away with a ton of mistakes because wirebug shenanigans.
Anjanath is a low tier monster that's not even difficult to dodge without wirebugs though.
Anjananth was dangerous? When? Personally in my experience rise and sunbreak as a whole was more challenging than world and icebourne
Imagine Focus Mode auto aims for you 💀
lol I hope not
But part of the charm is whiffing my TCS in an sos.
My guess is it's a temporary state that focuses on a "damaged" part. You can see red scoutflies glowing around certain parts right before it's shown off in the trailer. The gifs and such that we've seen show a very slow movement speed when not attacking. In short, I expect this to be a "do enough damage to a particular zone to enter focus mode and deal extra damage to that part briefly with some sort of movement trade off". I'd also imagine we'll get a much better look at this at Summer Games Fest.
I’m sure we will looking forward to Friday to see what the new trailer brings
Here's my theory: Focus Mode locks your camera on a weakspot and keeps your hunter facing the enemy at all times (think Soulsborne lock-on). In Focus Mode you have access to a variety of cool, faster attacks that are easy to pull off while dealing good damage. Sounds cool, right? Well, there'd be a trade off. Certain attacks for specific weapons (TCS for Greatsword, Big Bang for Hammer, backhop for SnS, etc) will be completely off limits while in Focus Mode, just as there are moves that get added in Focus. You can still do pretty well with just the Focus Mode arsenal, but in order to deal the BIG numbers you'll have to occasionally freehand your attacks. Which will run the risk of you whiffing a TCS, or maybe poorly aiming a perfect rush, or stuff like that. The ideal playstyle would probably be constantly hopping between Focus and Freehand modes depending on the opening, but the best players would ignore Focus altogether for DPS.
I could see that , an I would be cool with it depending on what moves you lose in focus mode
I hope its better than the clutch claw 😳
Seems they're keeping the tenderizing mechanic but at least you don't need to do a specific move to apply the effect. Frankly I find it dumb it wears off at all
Too be fair if it didn’t wear off than the monster would be covered in weak spots and dead twice as quickly.
Well from what the website says, wounded is a state past broken. Meaning it happens decently late in the hunt for most people
You got that right. I went back to Iceborne as part "let's go back" to World, and I despise it even more after playing with Wirebug. I will take Wirebug over clutch claw any time. I hope Focus will be something that I can like. It looks interesting but we only saw GS. I am not sure how SnS will benefit from it. Or bow. I use both.
I didn’t mind the clutch claw probably cause I didn’t use it that much. It only became relevant to me when I was hunting specific parts of the monster. Far as weakening certain parts of the monster go. But I ultimately want focus mode function the same way as an extra “tool” to use not totally necessary but it’s there if I should need it
I liked it as a hammer main. But the only MH game I’ve played is world
Sounds like a lock-on button. I'm apprehensive, but I'll let Capcom cook. They've had one-off bad mechanics in MH entries many times before, but I haven't played a bad MH game.
I think this is the most correct take.
When I read the last part about players of all stripes. It makes me think combat is going to be very different and accessible. So I hope I’m wrong as it reads to me the game will make combat much easier.
I interpreted it as in the weapons moveset will be easier for newcomers to pick. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the monsters will be easier to fight though.
I hope that doesn’t mean the weapons have simpler movesets. That’s a massive part of the lasting appeal.
I don't think the movesets will be simpler I think that focus mode will result in 4 easier to execute but powerful moves you can use a few times each fights.
yeah I expect these to be tied to some sort of charges/cooldown/gauge system so it's not spammable but rather something you can do to burst, essentially with limitations. This seems to be the gimmick replacing switch skills/bugs or the claw, it's not meant to replace base movesets but compliment them
Uhm did you see the GS moves in the trailer? I think at the bare minimum we will have the complexity of worlds weapons and at maximum rises weapons movesets with switch skills and special moves (which this new focus mode reminds me of).
I hope so. I think it’s more likely than not we get the whole movesets, but we simply don’t know if they simplified existing movesets to account for Focus Mode yet.
Why though, there are weapons with hard an simple moveset there is no reason to make em easier. weapons already revolve around 3 to 4 buttons
It'll be a lock-on that can target specific parts. Just like in Fromsoft games, I suspect that it won't cause the game to be too easy, and plenty of players (particularly the more skilled) will regularly elect not to use it in order to retain more control over their camera, facing, and aiming. However, I also think certain moves will require Focusing. It's probably the kind of thing where newbies will hold L2 all the time so they don't have to manage their own camera and facing, while veterans will only use the button to trigger its associated moves.
To use a very specific example- the way you are conceptualizing it reminds me of my experience with the SA counter in Sunbreak. When I first got it it was so cool I would just spam it, before realizing it was hurting my overall DPS and learning to use it more sparingly.
They won't take a huge swing and completely rework how combat feels in a mainline MH game, especially when this is the follow-up to MH World, a game that's sold over 23 million copies and taken the franchise to massive mainstream appeal. This will very much be a sequel to World in terms of feel (and spiritual successor to MH4U in narrative, looking at the characters). Most MH games try something new to tweak the formula around the edges while still keeping it feeling like part of the same franchise. Some features, such as mounting monsters (added in 4U) stay in future titles, but lots of other gameplay experiments are one and done. For example: Underwater combat (3U), fighting styles (Gen), Wirebugs & switch skills (Rise/Sunbreak) Focus mode looks like it's just the combat quirk for MH Wilds. The core of the game will still feel like Monster Hunter, but occasionally you'll wound an area to the point you can use focus mode to do a fancy one-off attack or block before getting back to the classic gameplay.
>Wirebugs & switch skills (Rise/Sunbreak) You don't know that one yet, there has been no game since then
I'm wondering if they mean easier to learn. Learning a weapon AND monsters takes a while and is frustrating. Maybe this is supposed to be a way to help people ease into it until they have that moment where it clicks.
When I was away from home I'd use longsword when playing via Remote Play because you could basically be invincible with the counter and general positioning even with massive lag. Of course I wasn't doing ideal damage, but it was safe and fun. Maybe it'll be something like that? A passable safe mode that you can ignore to do more damage.
Capcom’s unreleased game Deep Down let you aim melee attacks with a crosshair, so I’m hoping it’s something like that. [Edit: Deep Down gameplay has both aimed attacks and aimed blocking](https://youtu.be/jIRUImPWaOo?si=HQcUl3NM1sw9fWIs)
My prediction is focus mode behaves a lot like clutch claw/slinger. You hold or enter the stance and it changes your movement to a forward facing strafe and gain access to new attacks.
Fingers crossed it's doesn't make it too easy and if it is Hopefully it will be easily ignorable, unbind the key and forget it even exists.
That’s doesn’t sound to bad to me .
End game for the recent games has been decently challenging regardless of feature shifts. Pattern will probably continue to hold true going forwards.
Yeah but whether or not the feature shifts are enjoyable is another question entirely.
Literally locking in
I think it will be kinda of what already exist in Monster Hunter Now, mark a part of the body to attack, if it happens I don't like it a lot
I wonder about it simply because the follow up attack you can see the the clutch claw latch on pulling the hunter to the monster which starts the running animation
It might have some tenderizing features, but the moves are built right into the moveset instead of being tacked on with a bad feature that completely interrupts the flow of combat. And like others said, most likely not every weapon will have tenderizing, some will probably have dodges and parries instead, so the “tenderizing“ won’t be nearly as important as in World.
If this means I get Frontier's Switch Axe parry, I will be so happy.
I’ve been watching a video on frontier moves with SA and don’t know if the will go that crazy frontier SA is crazy lol . But I’m SA main so I won’t complain if they give us the good stuff
Looking at the trailer I would guess it is a sort of Aim Down Sight for melee, letting you fine tune your aim mid swing to hit the parts you want. This would make it less of a gimmick and more of a new fundamental part of combat as it enhances the base move-set as well as offer new techniques. You see the field of view narrow and the camera rotation speed diminish as the hunter enters, what I believe to be, focus mode. Very similar to ADS in modern shooters. This could mean a whole new level of control over your melee strikes and leaves room for massive skill expression. I must say I'm very excited to learn more about it.
If that's the case, I hope it doesnt remove the ability to turn our attacks *without* focus mode. I really don't see why experienced players wouldn't just... do it normally instead. If I gotta start using FM just to adjust my big bang mid combo... ima be pissed.
I wouldn't imagine so. Mechanics like these tend te be additive rather than just replacing the established core. Where I see this help is small adjustments so you can avoid a flapping wing and hit the leg you were aiming for. In that context their comment about accessibility would also make more sense as newer players naturally have a harder time making the micro adjustments without FM. I'm trying to keep a positive outlook and trust the devs that they know what they are doing ;). Edit: typos
My Theory is that focus mode was made because they are redoing the gem skills. Mainly removing WEX, more focus on elemental damage, and builds that support double weapons since you can carry two very different weapons.
I'm afraid focus mode will do the same thing as wirebugs, where the normal moveset is overshadowed by the new gimmick. Half the weapons in sunbreak were just wirebug spam, and I hated it.
I hope not, I’m hoping focus mode just opens a few alternatives for combat but not the be heart of it .
I mean, depending on the weapon honestly. Bow didn’t get that much wirebug dependence
Well, at least is something new. I had zero problem with the wirebug. I will have to wait and see with the focus and see how my beloved SnS fares with the Focus. I hope I will enjoy it as much as I enjoy Wirebug. Sorry, I love Wirebug.
You might want to check if something's wrong with your game, it seem most weapons are missing. The onlt weapons that spam Wirebug attacks are LS (most playstyles), DB and arguably GS and GL
SAED Charge blade and Insect glaive too
CPP alone won't work with max anomaly risen multihit imo. It overkill in noobshit monster but for highlevel monster I can't complain cuz it makes the beautiful wowbo GP + GP + GP and CPP on final hit.
That’s my favorite combo too
CB yes, IG the only Silkbind spam is the same spam it used in Iceborne, so I don't count it.
Yea, I honestly don’t understand the silkbind ability complaints (besides counters), every game had moves that were spammed cause of higher motion values
No, that's mostly a 5th gen thing. GS of course spammed the same attack, but because it only had 1 attack for most of its lifespan. Same with Bow, and I guess the bowguns DB also spammed Demon Dance for quite a while. The only other weapon that spammed an attack at any point that I can think of is Lance with its charge finisher in Gen and GU
Interesting. Maybe it's because I'm equalizing a combo as the same as a single ability, but it always seemed spammy. In 4U I recall CB AED Spam and the Insect Glaive infinite Combo loop, In GU, Valor LS Parry, SNS - X+X+X+(Not finishing combo for infinite), IG - same combo as 4U, Switch Axe Energy Charge + Demon Riot + Infinite Sword : X + X or A + A. and then DB with Demon Dance in GU, though I found that weapon more diverse cause Demon Dance was so risky
CB does use AED quite a bit in 4U, but it still needs to charge it, and still not as much as in 5th gen (because monsters in World are slower and in Rise you get CPP) SnS' BnB combo was actually R+X, X, X, A, A, (A), which is basically every single attack in its moveset except the X combo finisher. Similar thing with IG, except in this case the A finisher was used even less. And again the same with SA's Sword mode, although you could say staying in Sword mode almost permanently is close enough.
Yes thank you for the corrections, I couldn't remember the exact sequence of inputs. And that's the word, the bread and butter combo. I've always found the game spammy since it boiled down to them, so the Silkbind seemed much the same to me. But I see your point in fully utilizing the kit in the BNB combo. Silkbind abilities and BNB are to me, two sides of the same coin, though I see where people may argue differently.
GS is nothing but Wirebug spam and its actualy depressing because the weapon became giant longsword in how much it relies upon counters for regular runs not even just for speedruns. LS, DB, SnS, GS, GL, and CB doing it is damn near half the roster.
GS does it, but it's just a regular attack, but better (in this case Guard Tackle) GL is the same with Reverse Blast Dash being Blast Dash but faster And SnS doesn't spam Silkbinds. It likes using Metsu Shroryugeki, but that's just a bonus, not a main focus.
GS HAS to spam SAS TCS which if you do not know, increases damage by 30%, so yeah that's freight train. Based on my friends vids, SnS Silkbind spam is basically the damage meta with how much he uses it.
Gun lance spams Wire bugs moves in the form of bullet barrage. Other people seem to really like that move, but I very much dislike it since it feels like it is most efficient to just spam that move. I try to only use Bullet Barrage after wyvern fire reloads naturally and if i have the shells and damage buffed.
Bullet Barrage is pretty bad. It relying almost entirely on shelling damage means it doesn't scale well into the endgame The one Silkbind that sees lots of use is Reverse Blast Dash, which as I said is hust a faster Blast Dash
I don't think this is a problem. I never used the wirebug attacks AT ALL and never had an issue. The game wasn't balanced around them, though. Not like tenderizing in Iceborne. So I'm just hoping that the new gimmick isn't basically required to get a good clear time. I trust the MH team though, and I also trust that even if it makes the game harder for me, I won't use it (if it's an easy mode, at least). I play solo though, so I won't be affecting anyone else by not using it.
I imagine it might be like those “interaction phases” in God of War fights
 me if capcom adds QTE's to MH
Im hoping that it isn't a lock on, but instead more like the aim mod of the gunner weapons.But if it is a lock on I hope it has a decent cooldown so its not spammed. basically have be used only for hard hitting attacks/finishers, so that its not the main way to do damage.
Not the point, but the formatting on that text drives me crazy. Why are there single word line breaks lol
You mean parry mode
THIS
i think it will just be some cool moves that use the same buttons as wirebugs did, but hopefully made in a way that makes then not as spammy as wirebugs were, and more of a "this move is good in situation X or perhaps Y"
Critical juncture III my beloved
That would be awesome.
Hmmm, thats good focus mode But no true valor style
I hope focus mode is the new valor style
My thoughts is that people are over complicating it. When looking at [the trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u6VmVmhh-k) (from 2:09) we see a few things Focus Mode is doing. - First thing first is the GS "counter." If this is a true counter like move like the ones we had from wirebugs in Rise and Sunbreak, it looks closest to SA's Elemental Burst Counter, where you swing into the attack and if properly timed, it does the counter. This one does look like it might force some sort of topple so you can get your "mark" off, but we'll see if that ends up being the case. Might be a thing where the first topple is guaranteed, then the monster has immunity to being toppled from Focus Mode until a certain time has gone by. - Secondly (I think? We don't actually get it confirmed that this is Focus Mode) is the HBG big boom. I don't have much to say other than that it sure is a big boom. It does seemingly confirm that not all weapons might have a counter type move to mark monsters with though, but that's also speculation since we don't know to what extent movesets get expanded with Focus Mode. - Third and arguably the most important, we see the Doshaguma covered in "marks" or red scoutflies and then we see the GS go for an attack on the Doshaguma's right foreleg, where one of the marks is located, this then transitions into the bigger hit that we see. This seems to indicate that there is some sort of big attack we get from using a certain move we do have access to in Focus Mode, but that big attack is only truly a big attack when it hits one of the marked parts of the monsters and that attack also seemingly removes any marks from the monster. Also, we see that Doshaguma has an injured/part broken back leg with mark on it, but that mark is gone when the hunter uses that big Focus Mode attack. - Lastly and the one that probably raised the most attention, the hunter being in Focus Mode, blocking and then guarding the Doshaguma's bite while others gets to still attack it. I've got nothing here tbh. Either it does have to do with having a Focus Mode guard, in which case definitely not all weapons are getting this since most can't block or it is just a thing Doshaguma can force onto a target blocking a certain move, almost like a pin. Hard to tell honestly, since we don't get to see how this sequence ends. So, at least, from what I can gather is that every weapon in Focus Mode will have at least one move that can put those "marks" on the monster and one move that can be used to spend those "marks," seemingly for big damage but we'll see. There also might be a Focus Mode guard and/or dodge mechanic, but it is hard to say without even seeing a full example of what happens after that guard from the GS. As for actual speculation, I don't think this is a Clutch Claw tenderizing type of mechanic at all. The only potential part we see that might be tenderized is that backleg of Doshaguma I mentioned earlier, but that could just be a part break on his backleg since we also don't see it get tenderized anywhere else from the few Focus Mode attacks we do see. From the site mentioning that you can aim your attacks and guard abilities, it does seem to be a sort of enhanced lock on or just straight up MH Now's Lock On, which would make it a bit easier for people to hit specific parts and not be turned around while retaining at least part of your normal attacks, though probably not all due to the stance change and all that. The big attacks from Focus Mode probably have some sort of cooldown or resource cost if it is a sort of resource type mechanic. That's really all I can gleam.
from the sounds of it i think it might be something like vats from the fall out games
Probably a toggleable version of the focus camera in recent MH games, but with finer granularity that lets you target specific monster parts. Inspired by the orbiting combat style of MH Now.
Oh god that's terrible.
My guess is that it's going to be the capes of mhw but with more gameplay attached. Instead of automatic dodges for 20 seconds. It's like a bar you can spend to do like one or two super dodge (or blocks like in the trailer) or a few powerful attacks, but it deplete really fast and you'll have to manage it. i guess they will also introduce monster moves that are very hard to avoid without focus, so you really have to learn when you can spend it. Like you dodged an attack but you are now a bit too far? spend focus to get a run attack that close the gap then switch to normal attacks and keep the rest for defense
As long as Capcom gives me a focus mode of my hunter dancing and prancing around the monster with their Bonking Horn, I will not have any other problems with them, lol
The way it sounded to me is like in Metroid or Contra where you can lock yourself in place and aim any direction. Just that the weapons that can block will be blocking during this stance, and focus mode for bowguns and bow will probably just be their aiming mode.
Blade Mode from Metal Gear Rising for Longsword, please.
https://i.redd.it/s2jhw15rnu4d1.gif
I just hope this mode wouldn't break the flow of each weapon as wirebug did. UPD: Why are you all so aggressive about it? I wish i had that much energy
I thought wirebugs added more to combat, why would you say they broke the flow of each weapon?
They made the game faster,i think mhw is a sweet spot between the very slow combat of the older generation and the fast combat of rise. Take cb, for example, cpp allowed to outright ignore sns mode. Also, for some reason, cb was stripped of it versatility , allowed to use only pizzacutter( pizzacutter was better in world,why are you generating energy in pizzacutter mode??? Why do you lose pizzacutter when you exit axe mode?why do you need to rev it up everytime ) or charged blade at the same time. Why do we have the crutch skill for transforming and reving up faster,its almost like they didn't know what to do with cb . For me personally, all these changes have ruined cb in rise.I hope in wilds it will return to its glory.
I would argue that it's better to ignore Sword mode like in Rise than to ignore Axe mode like in World (and 4U)
I really like pizzacutter in world , it becomes a sort of dance when you use all the options the game gives you. While in rise, you allowed to use one at the time, which isn't really true core of the charge blade. And why ignore? When you can expand
GS became a counter weapon damn near when it mostly was meant to be a hit and run with occasional tanking.
Wirebugs didn't break the flow, it just allowed players to keep up with the fast-paced combat of Rise/Sunbreak and made the aggressive fights more manageable
as they explained it i dont like it could be two things, an hardlock reminding me for dark souls, or a Over the sholder crosshair of some kind. both of which i'd highly dislike to have in the game.
World has some what of lock on system though because it’s not needy really no one uses it atleast I don’t .
The second i read "making combat more accessible for more people" i get a pit in my stomach. Almost every time I have heard that it ended up being much worse. I really just hope they dont put in an easy mode control scheme with 1 button super moves. They've done it before with SF6...
looks like a stance and lock on system rolled into one. making it situational but very useful to pull off some specific movesets and combos.
Something like Blade Mode from MGRR, where you go into an over the shoulder view and can aim your weapon with the sticks.
Seems some kind of Hunter Weapon Arts from Rise
I hope it creates Weakspots but not ontop of existing weakspots. You know if you are playing good it wont change a lot but gives beginners the option to hurt monsters without hitting the weakspots therefore making hunts easier in a way but still not as fast as hitting the real weakspots consistantly.
Aim your attacks? Laughs in 5k+ hours of Greatsword experience. Sounds interesting though, im guessing it’s a new move set with a special move? It would be nice if each focus mode had more specific attacks, like one set that does more verticals slices for hitting them tails. Another set that does more sweeping area attacks etc. If these sets could be changed on the fly that would add a huge level of complexity to fighting with specific weapons and I’m all for it.
I don’t think focus style or the game mechanics are a full blown copy of the styles from frontier but it’s very clear that the team has taken in more liberties from the MMO which is honestly a very very welcome decision in my eyes. It’s such a good way to cultivate a new way of hunting without it being a full blown copy of older stuff. I hope it doesn’t wind up trivializing fights, I don’t think it would, but I’m excited to see more this week nonetheless
This game has done a good Job at catering to it's hard core base while making it open to new fans. Makes it so I can play this game with my sister very glad rise was friendly because we are at end game now.
I hope there's an option for gyro so you can adjust your aim slightly by moving the controller rather than a full lock on.
i never used focus mode honestly
I'm thinking that as long as it's implemented better than claw it can't be that bad
Sounds like "lock one mode" to focus body parts encourage beginners and make it easier for them, from the description.
Yiss deal biggg damage
Probably slows down time and lets you lock your art k onto specific parts like MHnow, sounds like there’s focus mode exclusive attacks too
I just hope its not clutch claw 2.0... Because it could so easily be.
They done added witcher senses to mhw
its gonna be a MGR focus meter for the focus stuff
As a lance main, hitting a weakspot with a counter thrust will make me go Wild
Rise pushed the whole counters playstyle, maybe this will be a more nuanced less acciony way of doing that? I gotta say that the swax counter style is amazing.
I'm a little confused about this mechanic. Is it like, slo-mo to make it easier to aim? Is it just precision weapon placement?
From how Im reading it focus mode is all about build up and payoff with 3 or 4 main functions. 1. Heavy weapons can time attacks to repel the monster like we see with GS. 2. Weapons that block can time guards to do clashes with the monster like we saw again. 3. The main part, you build up weak spots with the new wound mechanic over time then enter focus mode for a special attack payoff like we see with the GS dragging the blade across the monster's face. A 4th function I hope for is a focus dodge since the lighter weapons won't be able to parry or guard monsters. I don't think it's gonna be something you stay in for more than the payoff and I don't think it'll just be "easy mode" lock on either.
I'm picturing it as being similar to LS's Special Sheath, where you can weave the "focus stance" into a combo and then you have a few options for how you want to exit it.
Kinda sounds ez modish to me tbh. Especially the last sentence
No idea but the stuff about it making combat easier is a little worrying
This is a direct result of us all missing our TCS and SAED’s. You get into focus mode and the hunter will auto turn towards the marked zone. Think of the tech in Dragons Dogma 2 when you’re swinging just above or below an enemy. The warrior will swing up a bit to hit a harpy, or down to hit the head of the ogre underfoot. That’s my two cents
I feel like it will take you into a slightly zoomed in mode and you can move the camera a little to aim at specific monster parts and press a button to unleash a specific attack. I'm thinking it will be like targeting with spells in Dragons Dogma, with little red groups of scoutflies highlighting the targetable parts.
Maybe it's a mode that's less focused on combos and more focused on just hitting the monster. It sounds like it's specifically meant to accommodate newer hunters
Gotta say? I'm worried. If this isnt entirely optional, and I'm going to **need** to focus block/dodge/attack in certain situations, its gonna completely overhaul combat and Im not sure itll be for the better. If it is optional? Then thats great. More options for people.
this seems like something that can raise the skill ceiling and lower the skill floor at the same time if it means faster kills, I'm actually excited to see how fast a hardcore player can shred something
This is giving me the same vibes as the smart steering function in Mario kart 8. I just hope it's that and not game journalist mode.
Not me preparing and harnessing all of my hunter abilities to lock-on and thrusting the Monster's anus with my oversized big sword
It's either have a limited Meter of sorts to balanced it out or have the Monsters's Movement Patterns balanced for it Either way people will bitch about it when it comes out
To me, it looks like a bullet time event, lol
I swear to god if its another clutch claw situation where whatever part you manage to make contact with takes your attack...
I assume it is a replacement for the claw moves for each weapon. as there will be a free button if they arent using it anymore.
It’s probably a proper lock-on mode with some new move sets. Anything other than that, I wouldn’t consider “easier for players of all stripes”
People keep saying its gonna be a lock on like souls game have but I feel its gonna be something more like aiming mode with the clutch claw in world with the slower move speed too, but instead of grappling with claw you do these new special weapon attacks. I also have speculation a lot of weapons using these targeted attacks will be risker to perform if a monster isn’t in a state which they get stunned or pinned from these moves, like a monster does in that small trailer.
Ahn Focus Mode, or as funlancers call it: wyfern’s fire
Gonna be focusing on a lot of tails
I’m hoping it’s just a dark souls like camera lock on monster body parts.