Chase Themes are Broken in Monster Hunter Rise - Heavy Wings

Chase themes are special tracks that play when the monster changes area.
For some reason in Rise, they do not function as they should
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[@chsi5420]

The chase music system is probably broken due to a lack of the tracking system, which the used to piggyback the chase music code onto. Whenever a monster would move across the map in world, a route would be created for the scoutflies to follow along in order to guide the player to the monster's next zone. With that guide in place, the game would check if the player was within a vicinity of both the monster and the zones that path towards the monster. With Rise the scoutfly mechanic was left out and so was the pathing code making so that the monster's music would only be tied to a field decay around the monster's center point. Just a theory.

[@raynegallaher7661]

Ouch, that might make a fix in rise hard to do. Of course, without scoutflies you can still just have their pathing code put back to fix it, but then there's the issues of wirebugs, palamutes, blast dashing, it's really hard to tell whether someone is actively chasing a monster entirely by the route they're taking with just code, as there are so many different paths one could take through the enhanced mobility of rise, and it runs into questions like how far of a spiribird/endemic life collecting detour is still going to keep the music

[@CBeavr]

hmm if that's the case then my suggestion for a potentially simple fix in rise would be that for the first 10 seconds or so right after the "fleeing state" starts for the monster, the music would play no matter what the monster does, then after that it'd check every 5 seconds if the player got closer or farther away from the monster since the last check. If you're closer, the 5 sec check loops and the music continues, if you're further, music stops.

[@chsi5420]

@@CBeavr That would make good sense.

[@genkotone7979]

I think a good alternative for this is to add a large radius around the monster. The game checks if the monster changes areas and the music will play around this very large radius. The further the hunter is from the radius, the less prominent the chase music becomes. The game also checks if the player is attempting to head towards the monster's direction, whether it be by foot or by air, then the chase bgm will still play. But if the game detects that the player is not attempting to head towards the monster for X amount of seconds, the chase bgm slowly fades away. After thought edit: My problem with Rise is that the radius is incredibly small for a map size that large. World can get away with it because the pathway is convoluted enough for the monster to not stray too far. But then again, even World has a larger fade distance than Rise's.

[@slinkuiii2426]

@@raynegallaher7661 you could just increase the range of the bgm and if that doesnt work just make it global at that point

[@lordmcsmith]

Thanks for bringing this up. I didn't even realize this game had chase music in the first place. Now I know why!

[@HeavyWings]

The official ost is on Spotify or you can buy it. Through there you can hear them all in full.

[@neurosis51]

Thanks for shining light on a under appreciated feature, I noticed the music has a calmer version for some of the tracks when the monster flees, but I didn't pay attention enough to realize all of them have it. I usually love dynamic versions of ost that rise and fall with the action, like DMC5 and Nier automata for example.

[@HeavyWings]

Yeah it's pretty cool. World also has special mount themes, which is the same as the battle theme but with an extra beat. Zinogres sounds really cool. Rise doesn't have that sadly. I wonder how else they could incorporate music in the future. An enrage theme could be cool for instance

[@Voltricity435]

@@HeavyWings i would've loved if they did mount theme-esque things when wyvern riding, not a big fan of the reg wyvern riding music

[@HeavyWings]

@@Voltricity435 yeah that would have been cool as hell. Not really a fan of the wyvern riding theme myself.

[@manueldelbono202]

@@HeavyWings especially if you consider that the track changes right before the best part begins... it's just frustrating in my opinion

[@adam9626]

Argh yes! I adore the chase themes in World and Rise. Glad it's becoming a staple, but they need to fix this quick. Frost Islands and Mizutsune chase BGMs comes to mind as a bangers that are really hard to hear in-game.

[@HeavyWings]

I have no clue how they expect us to hear Valstrax's

[@jacktheomnithere2127]

0:31 agreed. to name one, Namielle. 4.27 i hope so, too. thank you for making this. i never realized the importance of chase themes in Rise until i stumbled into this. never even noticed we still had chase themes.

[@clockwork204]

Yeah, it's such a shame since Rise has some banger chase themes. I always try to get close to a monster when it flees in the Sandy Plains. The cliffs help slow down the monster so I can listen to the chase theme longer. :D It just disappears way too fast if the monster gets some distance away from you. They should let it play some extra seconds more after you get out of range, then maybe slide the timeout when you start to get nearer.

[@teero121]

Magnamalo's chase theme is so good. What a shame what we barely get to hear it in the actual game. I didn't even know about his chase theme for the longest time.

[@CBeavr]

this and the fact that when you mount a monster the music is replaced with the generic "wyvern riding" theme is what irks me sometimes about this game's sound design

[@HeavyWings]

Yeah the mount themes in World were really cool. Miss them

[@genkotone7979]

Zinogre's banger of a mount theme, anyone?

[@roymain8090]

@@HeavyWings i personally never liked world's/iceborne chase themes since to me they are just the main theme with random drums thrown into the melody.

[@prinnydude5864]

​@@roymain8090I too found them repetitive, but i thought it was a bit more unique than the wyvern riding theme all times. It breaks the flow sometimes.

[@ListlessWither]

I presume this is less of an oversight but an actual design decision I thibk maybe they thought that due to the smaller maps and high amount of unique monster themes clashing they should just get rid of it. Also shoutout to Being chased themes and also to Bazel's chase theme.

[@HeavyWings]

But they haven't gotten rid of them. The themes are there in the game. If you have the ost you'll see these tracks are like 50 seconds long. In the case of Crimson Glow Valstrax it's weirder because he was released post launch. So they composed a whole chase theme for him despite the fact you only hear a few seconds of it because he flies so fast

[@ListlessWither]

@@HeavyWings I don't think they intended to get rid of them but that they wanted to change them in accordance to the different games. Is weird that they put so much effort into but its not like they can just not, if they did it once they have to do them all. A nice way to implement them would be make them mixes of the mount and chase them so they can be used while wyvern riding.

[@HeavyWings]

@@ListlessWither yeah I guess. If this was the intention, I would still like them to change it to the way it was in World

[@MistaFinni]

Holy! That Magnamalo chase theme is awesome

[@tehnygaming]

I didn't even realize this. Also good video.

[@Timberpelt]

THIS exactly!!! I was so miffed to find that the music just stops. I absolutely love monster hunter's osts, and have music as the only audio that is 100% on any of my hunts. Fun fact! There is also a REVERSE chase theme in world that i know of!!! I think it kicks in whenever you lure the monster while its enraged? Ive never even heard it because luring is a niche thing that isnt really necessary in world like in other games

[@Nasa1423]

If I had to guess I'd say it's because of the way monsters aggro to the player in both games... World has "stealth" mechanics and as such if you or the monster leave the fight area the monster will remember the player and will be on the lookout for them, this is indicated by a exclamation mark next to the monster's icon on the map in addition to the map having a white outline indicating that the monster is in "wary" state during which the monster will attack the player immediately once spotted, that's when the chase music kicks in and it doesn't stop until the monster calms down or goes to sleep... Take for example a monster like Kulu-Ya-Ku who won't attack the player unless it gets attacked first, when he changes areas he'll be in "wary" state and will attack the player the moment he sees them, give him some time to calm down however and when you go the area he'll be back to normal and won't attack you, that takes time however (around 2mins I believe) so even if you take your time healing, gathering or sharpening your weapon the chase music will still be playing and Kulu will be aggro'd to you still... Rise doesn't have that instead monsters de-aggro almost immediately as soon as they enter a new area, so if you take time to do any of the aforementioned things like healing, sharpening... etc that will guarentee the chase theme ending because the monster will have already been de-aggro'd by the point you reach them, you can tell by the fact that sometimes when you chase a monster to another area in Rise they'll act like y'all weren't fighting five seconds ago and will even initiate the fight with a roar, something that monsters only do when the fight starts.

[@RookieStreams]

A simple fix for this in my opinion would be to simply take the coordinates when the monsters goal changes to flee. And it's destination coordinates and draw a line and fill that line with the aura instead of solely around the monster. Give it like 3 seconds or something so if you're in that area for 3 seconds the chase music fades in. This wouldn't be chasing music 100% of the time and in certain circumstances I.E. flying away might not yield expected results but it means you'd also have it fi you chose to chase the flying monster across the mountains then you could have it however if you take the longer route and walk around the mountain you do not. This is just one example and obviously there are definitely other ways to do it but this I feel like would be the best for giving it the highest chance of ensuring you only hear the music when actively chasing the monster as it should be.

[@Hambs23]

They don't have speakers in Kamura, so the Baloon Band can only be heard right above a monster. Also, how would one keep track of Valstrax's chase theme like this? Does it even have one?

[@bazelgeuse2474]

Chase music in rise depends on the distance you are from the monster. If it flees to far, the volume goes down, and don't go back up that's it. The reason could be because whenever a monster you are not hunting come to fight and then goes away, if its Bgm has the priority (like Bazel's or Magna's) it would keep on playing for some times in priority to your monster's if this one is leaving too. That's just theory tho

[@taberu3149]

just to clearify. if your not fast enough to "Chase" the monster while its fleeing the music will go with the monster. thats the point of the chase themes in rise. you cannot expect that the theme will play while you leaved the monster go. you gotta be fast as him chasing him so the chase theme has a reason to sound.

[@LloydTheZephyrian]

I think it's more about how even if you DO chase, they might move too fast and cause you to lose the theme.

[@r.k845]

No it’s just that the devs didn’t think it through. Stop defending poor game design.

[@K.A.Zillagoji]

4:32 you're so right.

[@maskedmenreiki]

Does it have anything to do with line-of-sight/proximity?

[@HeavyWings]

Yeah I think its proximity. They need to increase the range

[@l_X-MEN_l]

Sadly, after playing Sunbreak demo, it seems they didn't change anything about how the chase theme works.

[@DulcetCatharsis]

I hope somebody either has made or will make a mod to fix this in rise/sunbreak

[@brieferfiber2976]

Literally never realised this existed. Hope it's fixed for sunbreak!

[@dichromatic9337]

I play with very high volume, I don't think it's that the chase music abruptly ends, but that it has varying intensity based on how close you are actually 'chasing' the monster, with the only problem being that if it does fade out entirely due to distance, it doesn't ramp back up as you get back within range. A very big missed opportunity to get the blood flowing as you finally catch back up to a monster that made a break for the edge of the map.

[@nothereneverhere640]

Am I crazy or does Ibushi have a chase theme? Thought I heard a different tune when fighting him.

[@kwagmeijer26]

Rise one makes more sense to me, goes away when the monster gets far enough away.

[@moneymoneymoney6777]

Someone sort of indirectly made a mod of this called "Monster Hunter World BGM Music Pack" on Nexus Mods, though it's not perfect

[@biga6664]

Yes this always bugged me off big time with rise!!!! I always chase the monsters as fast as I can to hear the themes for longer!!!

[@MonMoon2]

may be a lil late on this, but i dont think its "bugged" in a sense by coding. how it seems to work, is that for some reason the BGM is tied to monster distance like you said later on . When the monster starts running long distances, it fades out by (or sometimes before) the time it reaches the next area. World had this to but when the monster was some distance away it would only lower the volume to a minimal degree, but you can still hear it. If you can anticipate when a monster is leaving (like when it limps away, or speedy enough via Palamute) to it the music plays the whole time your near, but as soon as you distance yourself it fades away until it cuts off. Idk why this was decided. but a similar fix was introduced in Iceborne from World, that being the mount themes. They were so unbearably quiet in Base world and when Iceborne came out that upped the volume on them by a great margin where they were much more noticeable.

[@Aesieda]

I kind of liked how it was pre-World, when a monster fled, the music would stop completely and it was nothing but you and the sound of the environment/zone you were in. In World, even when a monster flees, the music is still playing in the background even though it changes to the chase variant, but still music nonetheless, so it kind of changed the overall vibe/atmosphere that the older MH games had when a monster ran away. I feel like Rise was trying to accomplish a middle-ground approach, but it definitely feels like they could improve it, since they made some long chase themes that barely get used.

[@HeavyWings]

That's a good point you bring up about the older games that I didn't really think about actually. The silence was alright. But I think now that seamless maps are a thing, chase themes were the right decision going forward. And I don't think they should play all the time when the monster flees, like if you don't go after it for like, 30 seconds, the game should understand that you're not pursuing it and phase out the track so it's silent. But in Rise, if you're not right behind the monsters heels, you straight up won't hear it. I am not entirely sure how they expected us to hear Valstrax's chase theme for instance.

[@Aesieda]

@@HeavyWings I think they should have chase themes but make them around 20-30 seconds at most regardless of how far away the monster is, so you'll always hear the chase theme, but also not have music playing in the background the entire time as well and go back to the ambience of the maps.

[@kingofflames738]

Maybe instead of chase themes they should make unique jingles for whenever a monster flees.

[@HeavyWings]

@@kingofflames738 Nah keep the chase themes, just fix them!

[@ImperiousRex720]

Should tell this to Capcom

[@crypticloki4458]

The perfect rush whiff kinda hurt to watch

[@Nasgatemk2]

To be fair, is it really chasing in Rise? Even without Palamute, it's super easy to beat a monster to its destination.

[@Gokuroro]

Nice catch!

[@HeavyWings]

Thanks king

[@ekx5120]

OH FUCK YES FINALLY

[@YourOrdinaryNecromancer234]

Mh rise is a great game but rise’s chase theme is kind of broken, i cant belive why capcom stopped chase scenes from rise

[@HeavyWings]

I wish it could be fixed

[@YourOrdinaryNecromancer234]

@@HeavyWings maybe, an update should have fixed it

[@loading2463]

magnamalo chase theme should've been his main theme

[@Eclipsio]

Monster Hunter

[@HeavyWings]

So true!

[@alexanderthegreat6682]

Exactly! I recently heard a snippet of the Chameleos chase theme but it would only ever play right before he aggroed to me when I reached the zone

[@an0bserver2000]

really disappointed they never got around to fixing this lmao

[@elenaschmidt9476]

to be fair the chase themes would bug out frequently in iceborne too when you used tailriders

[@HeavyWings]

Makes sense how I didn't know this because I never used tailriders.

[@jscarampi]

@@HeavyWings in 3300 hours i played iceborne, i never had that bug, and i always used tailriders, so saying "frequently" sounds like a huge strech

[@emulemolotov]

bump

[@twary1911]

tbh I personally disliked how the chase themes were handled in world. I liked when the music stopped when the monster fled in older games, the silence gave us an opportunity to relax after the fight. But the chase theme in world just made me anxious tbh, instead of me taking a breather, I keep hearing this theme that urges me to continue moving. And the worst part is when it bugged and you're stuck trying to find the monster because of the confusing map layout lol.

[@kayrius]

from watching videos, i found out i'd rather stick with MHW...

[@eiriksundby]

This has been bothering me