Gaming Thoughts - Monster Hunter World

So with our review of the newest Monster Hunter yesterday we thought to bring you the thoughts of multiple others on the team. So without further ado, here's what the rest of the team thought about Capcom's latest venture.

Marc L.

Monster Hunter Worlds has its ups and downs. I have been playing the monster hunter series since the PSP days and have always been a huge fan. When I saw the changes to worlds I was skeptical… but seeing as how it was a present from my brother I had nothing to lose.

I have to say I was impressed overall I did enjoy the game and some of the new mechanics the hunts were fun and the open world had its advantages. The tracking system was a neat addition that I also found to be quite fun helping you learn more about the beasts and basically have an auto lockon at a certain point of having hunted the monster way to many times.

Though I did overall enjoy the game I do have some issues with it as well. The first major issue that many major monster hunter fans have had so far is simply, the game is too easy.  Whether it’s because more content is to be released, or they wanted to release something for the more casual gamers there isn’t enough of a challenge that the old monster hunters use to give. Primarily the lack of a G-Rank, when we use to play we would often rush through content with barebones armor and weapons to simply hit g-rank where “the real monster hunter begins” when rathalos could 1 shot you with his breath if you weren’t well equipped, or how Mike Tyson (Brachyodos) would 1 punch you in the face cross map. 

The 2nd biggest issue I have had is the way we upgrade our weapons. I don’t care much for the change of requiring an upgrade tree for the items, instead of the way we craft armors. I have all the material here is my weapon. Great. My last complaint is the lack of end game, as well as total monsters. I was told  worlds has a total of 32 monsters to hunt, compared to its predecessor that had over 80 hunts on release. I do feel the multiplayer has some work to do. The amount of hits it takes to break horns or chop tails in multiplayer compared to regular feels off, almost as if, if you don’t chop or break 1 you won’t get either before the monster dies.

The game had some great tweaks as well I enjoyed the way they added optional quests to not be a part of the storyline, the idea of how squads works and the possibility of dropping an S.O.S. or even joining one yourself. I enjoyed the cooking system, and how the maps work together. I do with the Scout Flies would be more useful at times, when I feel they are giving me a roundabout way to the monster, but I digress. The combat system has got to be my favorite part of Worlds, it feels smooth and clean. A strange thing to me is that I feel the game is more playable in parties of 1, 2 or 4 but never 3 man. 2 Palicos are more useful than a 3rd person I find.

Although it looks like I bashed it more than praised it I still give worlds a solid 8/10 I simply hope for more content in the future to make up for the lack of things to do currently and maybe add more of a challenge for the vets to take on.

Chris H.

Monster Hunter World is definitively the best version of any Monster Hunter game to date, with improvements across the board in most every aspect. Accessibility is at its peak for new players, and veterans can jump in and expect to have a new learning curve, playing with all the ways you can interact with the world and monsters. The weapons are all at their greatest form in one way or another, implementing a lot of what went well in Generations and cutting the fat away. Old collecting quests have been cut down, and are no longer mandatory for game completion, as well as having extra collection rewards added just for essentially playing the game. The only true gripe I find with the game is the weapon upgrade system. In some ways it's a much better system overall, but the lack of unique weapon models does hinder a bit of the enjoyment that can be had in crafting them. In all most of the weapons are merely the base variant with scales or feather stacked onto them. But in the end that's superficial, and the rest of the game hits the mark for me and will do so for most new hunters and all of old.

Robert

Multiplayer is wildly broken and succeeds in being as anti-community as is possible in a pseudo-MMORPG. Constant server disconnects/failures to connect and what is perhaps the worst matchmaking in history push Hunters to solo and fire an SOS in the hopes someone MIGHT show up, while trying to join a game with friends is frustratingly obscene. On the other hand, smashing a T-Rex (Anjanath) in the face with your shield is wildly therapeutic, even if the mounting aspects are far, far less enjoyable than those found in Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. Though the fact you can skin nearly any beast you come across and turn it into a fashion-backward look is excellent; I just wish there were more looks.

If I wanted to look like any one of the enemies from Sabin’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I’d simply sit in my house wearing the random Amazon boxes adorned with the bags of air that they ship with. PLEASE give us the opportunity to transmute armor so you can get the benefits without looking like a horrible failure from Project Runway… Piss-poor multiplayer and the even worse fashion aside, Monster Hunter World is a wonderful adventure where you hunt down massive monsters in gorgeous locations.

Nick

It looks pretty. I was impressed with how easily I was slain by a low level creature in my second hunt. Many giggles were had as my body was launched limply off of the cart. Still, my favorite Monster Hunter World moment was watching Chris and a group of random people taking on one large dragon-like creature while a large bird-like creature got involved shortly before a smaller purple raptor-like creature joined in the fun. It was mayhem. Good times by all

Pierre-Yves

When it comes to the Monster Hunter series my experience is a lot more limited than Richard, Marc or Chris. I mean I've watched Marc sink countless hours into it over the years especially with 3 Ultimate between the WiiU and 3DS but myself? I started on 4 with my New 3DS XL.

Throwing all of that out the window though and I've been having a blast with Worlds. Solo or with others in either Richard or Marc's squads, quietly playing or chatting away with others online, I found it easy to slide into this newest entry.

It's accessible. Yes there's a learning curve but elements such as the scout flies make it easy. Fetch quests are more of bonus side missions for extra armor upgrades. The variety of weapons and armor are there and allow for a good versatility. More than that is while yes it's easy to fall behind others who are always on everything can be done at your pace whether you have time for one mission or several dozen.

It's fun and I'm glad to have picked it up after taking Marc's copy for a spin.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Capcom
Publisher(s):
Capcom
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Purchased Individually

Article by Chalgyr's Game Room

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Monster Hunter World - PS4 Review

Hey ho hunterino! You’re moving on from Moga, Dundorma and Bherna and heading to the New World to continue your hunting exploits, are you? Don’t forget to bring back a souvenir! But not Dung. That wouldn’t be cool.

The Monster Hunter Franchise is a series I’ve put more time into than planning for my future. With an average of 400 hours per game since 3U, and with my first being “Monster Hunter” for PS2, I’ve been hunting for quite some time, and I feel confident in saying that Monster Hunter World really outdid itself. Whether it be the ease for new players to get into, the ‘honed’ weapon movesets, the gorgeous environments, or the quality of life improvements, Monster Hunter World has something for veterans and newbies alike.

The basic premise of Monster Hunter in general is pretty simple: there are large creatures threatening people, and you need to take them out. While the franchise has never really been a particularly plot focused game in the past, it has been progressing to actually giving out a storyline. In the case of Monster Hunter World, this story is about you, the new hand picked hunter heading off to the ‘New World’, where elder dragons (the beefiest of monsters) apparently migrate to every decade or so. It is your job, along with your trusty(?) handler to solve the mystery of what’s going on. Of course you’ll also bee smacking large monsters upside the face and turning them into pants.

I recall a while back someone described Monster Hunter as basically “all the grinding of an MMO with none of the MMO”, and honestly? They used to be right. While it’s still somewhat true, a lot of the most annoying or infuriating parts of the series have been trimmed out, or refined. So let’s jump in and give all you rookie hunters a breakdown of what’s going on in the world of Monster Hunter!

Essentially, you’ll be taking quests in your town hub, and then leaving to go search for and beat up one of the local critters that happen to be causing havoc for you and your crew. In your hub town, there are a lot of new aspects that veteran hunters may be pleased to find as well. You’ve got plenty of item boxes scattered about the hub station, which you can use to prepare your equipment and items before heading out to battle.

New to world, there is a research station, which will give you more info on monsters the more you research them by either finding their traces or fighting them. The research station basically adds a mini Kiranico to the game, which is super helpful for learning monster weaknesses and drops without having to go Google them. The melder is back for your gems and decorations, except there are two differences this time around. First, the decorations are basically one off skills, since the entire skill system has been revamped, and second (and most important), the melder can make you items. Yes, plates and gems count.

Yes, I’m serious.

No more farming G rank Alatreon for two hours a day hoping for that Azure Dragonsphire you need. Although the Skyswayers are a different story. Generally, these rare parts can be “traded” with the melder for the special tickets you get from the limited bounties, whereas as common materials can be interchanged. So what are these limited bounties then? Well, they’re basically what the fetch quests have turned into. No more annoying “collect me four choice mushrooms!”. Instead, they’re now continuous requests that you can take multiple of, and turn them in for armor spheres and resource points.

The rookie hunters are probably antsy to know what you do in the field by now, so let’s go on a little tour! Once you’ve accepted your quest, or left on your freeplay expedition, you get sent to one of the base camps you’ve set up in the area you’re active in. Base camps can be created by finding an available location while out exploring, and then providing some materials to make the camp back at base. Whether it be a quest or exploration, you can track monsters by finding their traces, and your scoutflies will eventually hone in on the scent and guide you to the monster, even displaying its location on the map, and if your tracking reaches max level, it will even display the monster status on the map, such as if it’s capturable or hungry!

The more you fight a monster, the more you get a transient bonus that starts your scoutfly tracking level higher, and also a research bonus that increases the points awarded for discovering tracks. So how do you beat up these monsters? Well, you have your choice between a myriad of different weapons to choose from. You’ve got your heavy weapons, like the greatsword and hammer, the light weapons like the dual blades and sword and shield, and your ranged weapons like the bows and bowguns. All these weapons, and more, have been refined since Monster Hunter Generations, and even include elements of the different styles that were introduced. I should make this readily apparent, but there are no levels, exp, or turn based systems at play in Monster Hunter, or at least not the main games.

This is all “live action combat”, where different button inputs will give you different moves or a dodge roll, and don’t expect a lot of invincibility time from your roll (read: hardly any). Each weapon has its own usefulness and method of use, so I can’t really give you any tips per se, but check out GaijinHunter’s videos if you need some more in depth tips and tricks (provided I’m allowed to say that in here). Personally I prefer smacking something upside the face or hacking its tail off, so I use a Switch Axe as my primary, although I also dabble with whatever else I have lying around too. Made a whole lot easier since you can change gear at the base camps now, and also eat in mission, in case you’ve forgotten. Totally the best addition in my opinion.

After you’ve killed or captured your prey, you’ll receive monster parts as rewards, which you can use to create new armour and weapons to hunt bigger and burlier creatures. Rinse and repeat, basically. Some changes from previous instalments are the introduction of the tools/capes. Basically, you have a capture net, whetstone, and fishing rod that are always a permanent part of your items, even without needing them in your limited space item pouch. Also, the whetstone is infinite use and you can sharpen without sheathing, which is awesome. The fishing rod isn’t particularly useful though, since you can throw the capture net at fish to catch them. Or use it to set off bombs, which I found out by accident.

While Monster Hunter World is a serious improvement on a lot of the old games, there are a lot of rough spots in it, so I’ll take this section to go through some of the things I liked to see, and some of the things I think could’ve been better, at least from a veteran hunter perspective. First up, the item pouch no longer also holds your monster carves, so you don’t need to constantly have free space for your carves when you could be stocking more nullberries or potions.

The new weapon trees are a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, you can actually see the upgrade tree now, which is beautiful, and you can “regress” a weapon to get materials back. On the other hand, the diversity in available weapons feels severely lacking. Basically, if you want an elemental weapon, you’ve only really got two choices as a maximum, sometimes only one, like with the water weapons that are only Jyuriatodas, at least as far as I’ve seen. Also, the weapon appearances are kind of disappointing, as most weapons look really similar to each other. After finishing a quest, you can stay in the area to immediately start an exploration, and you can also transition into quests since the handler follows you around, which cuts down the load times.

Skills attached to armour/decorations/charms are now “one-offs”, and most will stack, whereas they used to generally be single skills, but require a certain amount of points to activate. It makes making a mixed set easier, if you’re one of those unstylish plebians, but a lot of the skills that used to be “whole”, like awakening, are now split into parts. The refined weapon movesets are absolutely great, and I keep finding new combos to play with that you couldn’t string together in previous games. Personal favourite is continuously swapping between S.Axe modes for a continuous roundhouse swing. So beautiful. A lot of the weapons have seen significant improvement.

For a bit of a negative side, it feels like there are too few quests, and that most of the development went into the new areas, and the investigations, instead of more traditional quests, which I was a little disappointed to see, but the addition of bonus rewards for investigations make armour set/weapon farming a lot more manageable. The balancing between multiplayer and solo play is what I can only described as “horridly skewed”. Whenever you’re in a public room, the up to other 15 people in the room have full access to any quest you post unless the party limit is reached or they don’t meet the storyline/hunter rank requirements. This is great if you’re looking for drop-ins, but my problem is the fact that monsters get scaled to what feels like a three person party of average hunters.

A lot of the time I found myself starting a quest, only to have a single hunter join in, which raises monster stats, as apposed to them simply being more aggressive like in some previous games. Now, while I can take these harder monsters fine, the hunters joining me generally couldn’t. Like, at all. I had one chump join me for an Anjanath hunt who didn’t know he could roll to put out fireblight (and blastblight, for that matter), and he never once drank a potion that I could see. Cue him dying three times and having my quest fail.

This also happened during my attempt to farm a Nergigante armour set, which was infuriating. Just be aware that teammates aren’t always going to be helpful for you. And if your teammates bail out of the quest? You’re still stuck with a harder creature. Which brings me to a point I’d like to make: please be aware of online etiquette when hunting with others. It goes a long way to ensuring future Rookies will enjoy their experience. I’m looking at you bow/bowgun users and Longsword users. I even ran a longsword for a long time previously, and I’m getting fed up with some you. There may not be “friendly fire”, but you can still flinch other players. Please be aware of your positioning. That being said, the 16 player rooms are great for drop-ins, which never used to be possible before, and with the new SOS flare, people in different rooms can join your quests if you fire the flare off, making the community a lot bigger part of the game this time around.

One of the cool aspects they’ve revamped the Elder Dragons with is a “last stand” mode when they’re almost dead, which is basically a super rage mode, coupled with the new elderseal status which is supposed to help with that, or something? It’s still debated as I’m writing this, although it does add an interesting new element to the game. The only last real complaint I’ve got is that it seems you get stunned a lot more frequently than is anywhere reasonable. Like, at all. My current record is a whopping 17 times in a 7 minute hunt, and there weren’t even any enemies around that gave thunderblight. I can assure you that little is as infuriating as getting hit by a miniscule damage attack only to be stunned, and then have a Teostra Supernova you while you can’t move for an assured cart. Speaking of Teostra, whoever decided what its last stand would do in its nest wins the douchebag lifetime achievement award, although as long as it isn’t in its nest it’s fine.

Apart from a few setbacks and aspects I felt could have been a lot better, Monster Hunter World sports some amazing graphics that had me admiring the views, before getting thrown off a large cliff by a wyvern mind you, but the view was stunning as I fell as well. The monsters are super nice looking as well, and the dynamic weather and night/day systems in each of the areas were really something I enjoyed seeing as well. Fighting a Barroth in a sandstorm just felt so right for some reason. It’s not like the music will let you down either, the soundtrack is really amazing. Especially the new arena theme, it gets a top score from my rating.

Basically whether it be new hunters or old hunters, there’s something here for everyone to enjoy. With a stellar soundtrack, beautiful environments and creatures, a plethora of easily accessible weapons, a variety of creatures to fight, there’s a lot of good times to be had by all.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Capcom
Publisher(s):
Capcom
Genre(s):
Action
Adventure
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
PC

Source:
Purchased

Article by Richard

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