u/Weak-Professional428

I am aware this isn't the first post of its kind and eventually I am getting somewhat of a shitstorm but considering the reoccuring patterns of the series I guess another Rathalos is inevitable but maybe this would be a Rathalos and overall concept that could be acceptable, at least it would be for me. That said, this is a concept draft with some ideas of what I would like the next game to have suffice to say that I actually don't want another Rathalos at all.

(Also, I haven't been quite sure what flair to use, so I hope this is okay since we're not really talking about fanarts and OCs but general concepts occuring in all games in a way)

A Rathalos hatched an albino with white scales and pale rosy horns and claws and red eyes. It's a genetic mutation caused by the rider's malfunctional kinship stone after their village has been attacked and the kinship stone getting fractured but not broken in the attack. It is born without an innate element and without any skills to begin with. Deeming the monster useless the rider is considering to release the Rathalos which frankly would probably lead to its death in the wilds since it has no means to protect itself. The rider's companions (an elder and a mid aged rider) are against it since a bond is a sacred thing to them, being also riders from the destroyed village. One of them suggests the rite of kinship may help raising the Rathalos. The rider isn't happy, secretly detesting having hatched a monstie that is basically useless. They give in though. With the rite of kinship it becomes apparent over time that the albino Rathalos' weakness is actually its biggest strength, its mutation enabling it to gain the element of its attacks (as in MHS1 where the strongest element is the main element of a monstie), genes directly influencing resistances, weaknesses and strengths, overall stats directly influenced by the combination of genes given through the rite of channeling (for example a more aggressive set of genes, not only passives but also actives as well, is heightening attack while a more defensive one heightens defense, ailment builds playing directly into ailment resistances, mixing builds on Rathalos either ruining or causing a well balanced Rathalos). The rider able to witness Rathalos actually growing up and developing loosing their resentment over time, actually getting fascinated by their monstie eventually and finally building a mutual bond with them (suffice to say that poor Rathalos is trying the whole time to get the riders attention and approval). Applying genes to Rathalos can also cause changes in his appearance related to his genes like coloring, scale, fur or skin structure, appearance of fangs, horns, claws and tails, maybe even its wings (opalescent scales for example in an elemental types color or unsual long claws for Rathalos it usually wouldn't have).

The Rathalos' name is a player choice, other character's in the game referring to it as 'the Rathalos' or 'your monstie' for example depending on the situation.

(If there isn't a Rathalos chosen to be our monstie, there could be a 'quiz' to examine the nature of the rider to choose their first monstie from a roster that is part of the general roster of the game and monsties that aren't obtainable during a playthrough which would mean getting a non-roster monstie forces you to be smart with your monsties race related genes because you can't get them from other monsties again.)

Monsties are able to have accessories, for example collars, tail decorations and decorations that can be woven into their fur and maybe even a kind of warpaint, the saddle design is also changable.

For the rider there is layered armor like before but colors are freely adjustable via scaling instead of pre-set colors. Also, with layered armor the armor parts are freely swappable to create new and more personalized armor designs. Also there are layered weapons which depending on their design can have their colors changed, too.

For character design itself the option is added not just to choose gender but also to change the body appearance itself (thick, thin, lanky, short, busty, flat, etc.). Also paints and tattoos can be applied to the whole body and aren't limited to the facial area anymore. All hairstyles are available for both genders and not gender exclusive. Also, accessoiries in hairstyles can be changed colors, too. Moreso, there is an option to choose voice and pitch for the character.

The fighting system is mostly staying the same (as in MHS3) but the amount of HtH chances is dialed up again to give related genes more usefullness but the general difficulty remains and HtHs lost cause more damage for rider and monstie in exchange. (Maybe all AoEs are dodgable in general but require a certain percentage of evasion to be successfully dodged and even then there is a 50:50 chance to dodge it or get it making the evasion percentage more a requirement to be able to dodge those attacks at all (unless you're using Absolute Evasion of course).)

Of course deviants will be fightable to obtain their weapons and armor.

The rite of channeling remains the same as before (meaning as in MHS3) though with the difference that you can learn an advanced rite of channeling through the story maybe that allows you to change a monsties element (without the hassle of habitat restoration, maybe fusing its general genes with another monstie which would only then lead to the other monstie being lost forever, changing both base attack elemental type and also the elemental type for the kinship skill while the skill itself remains the same).

This is what my brain came up with and it may be quite complex but it could be done and I think we all agree that waiting longer for a game especially if it finally considers community wishes is more than okay. As said before, it's what I could imagine as a Rathalos concept and what should be changed regarding certain aspects of the game or what could make it more interesting and make it feel even more personal and relatable.

What are your thoughts on it?

I have a question, obviously.

Usually with an ailment inflicting build I would go with inflict rate up and salt in wound, naturally, but... Is there a why to make a reliable built without it?

Using inflict rate up and salt in wound takes up two slots making them non-elemental and thus costing me eventual elemental bingos related to my monsties elemental type. It's kind of annoying.

Of course debilitating lilt would be an option but for an elemental bingo it kind of only makes sense on a water type monstie.

How much of an influence are the ailment inflict rates of skills itself really?

I haven't found a solution myself yet but maybe you did?

Hello there ~

I have a question. I am planning to make a Dark Lord leech build though without using Malzeno which leads me to one question... Which dragon type monstie would be the best choice in your opinion?

The general genes I do want to have in the build are Dark Lord, naturally, as well as Night Parasites and Dragon Eater, Self-Heal and Stamina Surge. All other genes are rather flexible since they would probably depend on the chosen monstie's stats.

As mentioned I don't want to use Malzeno just because... I don't know. I already have a wyvernfell heavy Arkveld though of course having two of them wouldn't be an issue but also not really diversive.

So, back to my question... Which monstie would you choose? And if you're willing to share, what are your builds with Dark Lord?

After playing the Rudy's Side Story DCL today eventhough people have been ranting like shit about it, I have to say... I liked it. It's been endearing, it's been fun and it had the typical dose of secondhand embarassement when Navirou is showing up.

Of course there have been some minor issue and one major, the minor one actually being that the Nergigante fight was laughable easy and the major one... Well... Was it just me or did Navirou have a different voice actor? On top of not sounding like himself, he kinda also didn't really act like I remember him. Probably because they wanted to keep the general more grown up tone of the game but seriously, that's not Navirou.

People complained about the decorations, honestly? They're quite cool I think, especially the razewing decoration if you pair it with a nargacuga weapon and the rath soul armor and crit-heal.

All in all, here you have an opinion that isn't ranting and still criticizes while also mentioning something good.

By the way, the game is released since march, we have june, three to four months to get an DLC are awesome and quite early I think and who knows, there might be a lot in the future, the keyword is patience, lol.