Monster Hunter...Enlighten Me

[HereticBD]

Okay, so what's the deal with this series? "Monster Hunter World" hits Game Pass on the 18th, and despite watching some reviews, I still don't really understand what it is. All the reviews pretty much boil down to:

"You fight monsters and upgrade gear. 9/10"

Is it accessible for anyone? Is there anything that might turn off a particular gamer? What is this game? I'm gonna give it a shot anyways, but I'd just like to know what it's all about. I've never seen a game that has so many positive reviews that say nothing. It's like they don't even know how to describe it.

From what I gather, it's just a big ass dungeon crawler action RPG, but what is it that makes it unique?

 

[Dead Spirit of MMA]

That review is pretty accurate. Honestly, that's the game, which makes it love it or hate it with maybe some short-term room in between.

I'd say it's mainly for people who enjoy trying all of the different weapons, collecting armour sets, and autistically tweaking different builds for different purposes, which is not entirely necessary for completing the game. The story is completely by-the-numbers. It shines as a chaotic co-op game in which you group up and fight big monsters.

You'll fight the same monsters over and over, which is not to say that the enemies lack variety, but it's grind heavy. That's why I think those who will get the most out of it are those who will find incentive in tweaking gear sets, trying/crafting all weapons, and so on. If that kind of thing doesn't keep you going, and you're the kind of guy who will generally stick with one weapon or armour set for most of a game, it might not be for you, at least if we're talking about replayability or doing anything outside of the story.

Even though you're still mostly doing the same thing over and over, the weapons do feel quite different and I had the most fun with it when I switched to a support/healer build. It changed the game for me and brought the pace even higher with all of the usual support multi-tasking. I'd definitely recommend switching it up every so often because combat can get a bit samey after a while with the same weapon.

The game is essentially a series of missions in which you have to find and kill a certain monster in a certain amount of time/lives. That goes for the story as well as all of the missions you can take on for yourself. You can occasionally get missions to capture monsters but it all mostly plays the same way. Meanwhile you collect materials to craft health potions, traps, and so on, as well as skin monsters and mine ore to create weapons and armour.

It's all pretty accessable. Even the gear stats and skills aren't really number crunching. That stuff is kind of introduced and expanded upon as you go anyway. It's entirely possible to make a vanity build and still do well once you have practice with the game.

Overall I like the game and got a lot out of it. I think it has pretty good short-term general appeal and makes a good pick up and play action game. Long-term appeal depends on how much of a weapon/armour collector you are and how much enjoyment you can get out of the fights. Definitely worth a try if you like the idea of teaming up with people to chase down and kill dinosaur-like monsters.

I should also say that the game is way better when playing multiplayer, even with randoms. It loses a lot of the chaos if you play solo.

 

[Kaybee]

Would you consider Monster Hunter World to be similar to Dragon's Dogma, or are there very few RPG elements in the game?

Basically, if I were to pick it up can I expect months to disappear as if I were to pick up Witcher 3 or a similar open world RPG?

 

[GSP_37]

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker HD collection has some ending missions where you fight giant Monster Hunter monsters. One is in arena, one is in open deserted island field. Pretty hard if you don't have the right weapon or enough ammo.

 

[WhiteMousse]

I need some peeps to play with because my friends just don't play it anymore.

It really is just that simple. Kill a creature, use its bones and parts to make weapons. Go kill a bigger creature with the new weapon, get better parts to make better weapons which will allow you to kill bigger creatures which will GHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[SaiWa]

I need some peeps to play with because my friends just don't play it anymore.

It really is just that simple. Kill a creature, use its bones and parts to make weapons. Go kill a bigger creature with the new weapon, get better parts to make better weapons which will allow you to kill bigger creatures which will GHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

This basically...

A heavy RPG element of building gear and weapons for your class to go kill bigger and tougher monsters to continually to get more and better weapons/gear.

It's a shoot n loot but you slash instead of shoot (unless you use the bow/guns)...

It's fun but it gets stale and old eventually if you don't have friends who want to play with you.

 

[method115]

I got the game played like 24 hours and never went back. It was fun but I just got burnt out quickly.

 

[tru3f4n]

Would you consider Monster Hunter World to be similar to Dragon's Dogma, or are there very few RPG elements in the game?

Basically, if I were to pick it up can I expect months to disappear as if I were to pick up Witcher 3 or a similar open world RPG?

Monster Hunter is more closer to a Dark Souls game then to Dragon's Dogma

 

[deadshot138]

I’m 1200 hours in but most of that is post game loot grinding. There are no micro transactions in this game. If you want that RNG decoration or weapon from the raid monster, you have to work for it.

 

[Dead Spirit of MMA]

Would you consider Monster Hunter World to be similar to Dragon's Dogma, or are there very few RPG elements in the game?

Basically, if I were to pick it up can I expect months to disappear as if I were to pick up Witcher 3 or a similar open world RPG?

Story wise, there's not much at all. The story is pretty crap, really. And you're just doing the same stuff you do on the side missions for the most part.

It's also not really an open world game in that sense. You have a hub world where you have your blacksmith and all that. Basically a small village type thing. Then there are a few levels which make up their own little worlds. They're not linked together and they're not huge, but they have decent verticality. They're big enough to give you room to track and chase down monsters in but small enough to memorise. You spend a lot of time in the same places. NPC interaction is very basic and you'll typically just be talking to the blacksmith and a few quest givers. The story just kind of feels like a long tutorial.

The RPG elements are really just the gear stuff. You'll get a piece of armour that will do something like spread your self-healing to nearby players by some small percentage, but that ability will have something like 5 tiers which you level up by equipping more gear with that same ability (and you don't keep it if you take that gear off). Equip two pieces of gear with that same effect and the healing percentage will be improved. That kind of thing. Been a good few months since I've played so I'm a bit rusty, but I think there are 5 tiers per ability and some pieces of gear will improve an ability by more than 1 point/tier. There's decent value in playing around with builds by mixing and matching gear abilities and stats. Weapons can be infused with a lot of different things and the gear generally looks pretty cool because its made from the monsters you killed and it looks like it, so you'll have weapons that have feathers, jaw bones and so on baked into their design.

You also don't really level your character. Character level affects which missions you can take but there are no stats involved. There aren't any talent trees or that kind of thing. That all comes from gear, and there are no level requirements for that stuff, only materials.

I think tru3f4n is right in saying that it's closer to Dark Souls than Dragon's Dogma. It's like a version of Dark Souls where you barely fight any mobs and don't progress through levels. It's all about tracking that monster and killing it. I think it appeals to people who like to fight DS bosses over and over with other people because they enjoy the action and chaos of it.

Monster Hunter: World strips a lot of the usual RPG stuff quite bare and focusses a lot on action and gear acquirement.

 

[Drain Bamage]

That review is pretty accurate. Honestly, that's the game, which makes it love it or hate it with maybe some short-term room in between.

I'd say it's mainly for people who enjoy trying all of the different weapons, collecting armour sets, and autistically tweaking different builds for different purposes, which is not entirely necessary for completing the game. The story is completely by-the-numbers. It shines as a chaotic co-op game in which you group up and fight big monsters.

You'll fight the same monsters over and over, which is not to say that the enemies lack variety, but it's grind heavy. That's why I think those who will get the most out of it are those who will find incentive in tweaking gear sets, trying/crafting all weapons, and so on. If that kind of thing doesn't keep you going, and you're the kind of guy who will generally stick with one weapon or armour set for most of a game, it might not be for you, at least if we're talking about replayability or doing anything outside of the story.

Even though you're still mostly doing the same thing over and over, the weapons do feel quite different and I had the most fun with it when I switched to a support/healer build. It changed the game for me and brought the pace even higher with all of the usual support multi-tasking. I'd definitely recommend switching it up every so often because combat can get a bit samey after a while with the same weapon.

The game is essentially a series of missions in which you have to find and kill a certain monster in a certain amount of time/lives. That goes for the story as well as all of the missions you can take on for yourself. You can occasionally get missions to capture monsters but it all mostly plays the same way. Meanwhile you collect materials to craft health potions, traps, and so on, as well as skin monsters and mine ore to create weapons and armour.

It's all pretty accessable. Even the gear stats and skills aren't really number crunching. That stuff is kind of introduced and expanded upon as you go anyway. It's entirely possible to make a vanity build and still do well once you have practice with the game.

Overall I like the game and got a lot out of it. I think it has pretty good short-term general appeal and makes a good pick up and play action game. Long-term appeal depends on how much of a weapon/armour collector you are and how much enjoyment you can get out of the fights. Definitely worth a try if you like the idea of teaming up with people to chase down and kill dinosaur-like monsters.

I should also say that the game is way better when playing multiplayer, even with randoms. It loses a lot of the chaos if you play solo.

This actually sounds cool to me. I am a Diablo/Borderlands fan. Is the loot system at all like Diablo?

And how much content is there in the game?

 

[Dead Spirit of MMA]

This actually sounds cool to me. I am a Diablo/Borderlands fan. Is the loot system at all like Diablo?

And how much content is there in the game?

There aren't any drops of full weapons and armour, just parts. Some of those parts are rare and you'll have to kill the same monster a few times to get it. There are some nice touches like having to attack the head to get fangs to drop and stuff like that. Higher level weapons play the same as lower level weapons but might have things like poison attached to them and more damage. There's no randomisation in what weapons you get, though. You'll be planning ahead and hunting for specific materials to make specific things. Also no concerns about bag space and things like that. A really nice thing is that they allow you to make, save, and rename a load of loadout slots so you have a lot of room to experiment with. I can't remember the exact number but it's a decent number or slots.

The game is kind of bare in terms of story content. World content isn't bad but you'll become familiar with it all very quickly. There's a decent selection of monsters but they're mostly all dinosaur type things. The worlds are more like large mission levels than worlds. There's only a few of them and you can run from one side to the other in a matter of minutes if you know where you're going.

You start with a basic weapon of every type and each weapon plays differently. There aren't any stat requirements for weapons so you're free to craft what you want so long as you have the money and materials. The content is really in the weapons and armour you can craft. There's not really a reason to craft everything but there's enough of that stuff there if you're the collecting type. There's a pretty good number of armour sets, though they do double some up later in the game. I'd say there's a good level of content as far as weapons and armour go though. I'm not sure how it is across all platforms but there are also events to get skins of characters like Ryu and Dante, as well as special weapons.

You also have a cat sidekick with weapons and armour you can make, but a lot less than is available to you. Still nice to be able to customise them. Every time you takedown and skin a new monster, you'll be shown new armour sets you can make for yourself and your cat. The cat is there to help if you have less than two real players with you.

Personally, I got a lot of playtime out of it, but I can understand that it might be too repetitive for some people. It's absolutely worth a try though. I think there's some decent "That was pretty cool" short-term enjoyment moments. Once you've seen it all it's really about that gear grinding.

 

[HereticBD]

There aren't any drops of full weapons and armour, just parts. Some of those parts are rare and you'll have to kill the same monster a few times to get it. There are some nice touches like having to attack the head to get fangs to drop and stuff like that. Higher level weapons play the same as lower level weapons but might have things like poison attached to them and more damage. There's no randomisation in what weapons you get, though. You'll be planning ahead and hunting for specific materials to make specific things. Also no concerns about bag space and things like that. A really nice thing is that they allow you to make, save, and rename a load of loadout slots so you have a lot of room to experiment with. I can't remember the exact number but it's a decent number or slots.

The game is kind of bare in terms of story content. World content isn't bad but you'll become familiar with it all very quickly. There's a decent selection of monsters but they're mostly all dinosaur type things. The worlds are more like large mission levels than worlds. There's only a few of them and you can run from one side to the other in a matter of minutes if you know where you're going.

You start with a basic weapon of every type and each weapon plays differently. There aren't any stat requirements for weapons so you're free to craft what you want so long as you have the money and materials. The content is really in the weapons and armour you can craft. There's not really a reason to craft everything but there's enough of that stuff there if you're the collecting type. There's a pretty good number of armour sets, though they do double some up later in the game. I'd say there's a good level of content as far as weapons and armour go though. I'm not sure how it is across all platforms but there are also events to get skins of characters like Ryu and Dante, as well as special weapons.

You also have a cat sidekick with weapons and armour you can make, but a lot less than is available to you. Still nice to be able to customise them. Every time you takedown and skin a new monster, you'll be shown new armour sets you can make for yourself and your cat. The cat is there to help if you have less than two real players with you.

Personally, I got a lot of playtime out of it, but I can understand that it might be too repetitive for some people. It's absolutely worth a try though. I think there's some decent "That was pretty cool" short-term enjoyment moments. Once you've seen it all it's really about that gear grinding.

Appreciate the detailed responses. From what I gather, this is essentially what I imagined then. A big ass 3D dungeon crawler(not unlike Borderlands) with more strategic third person action combat(ala Dark Souls), with loot and customization being the ultimate hook. Is that the long and short of it? If so, I think it's up my alley.

Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

One other thing that critics seem to a little split on. Some say it's meant to be played in multiplayer, but others say solo is the way to go unless you're really struggling. Any opinion on that?

 

[Dead Spirit of MMA]

My opinion is that multiplayer is absolutely the way to go even if you find the game easy. It's just more chaotic and fun. I don't think it holds up anywhere near as well in single player.

The game isn't really that difficult but I think the best way to enjoy it while it lasts is with other people, even randoms. I put a lot of time into playing support with randoms and enjoyed that just as much as playing with IRL friends.

Solo play is best when you're just farming certain plants and taking your time exploring. There are definitely reasons to make use of it but multiplayer during the actual hunts is the way to go.

You may get a problem with better geared players helping new players, which makes it too easy, but hopefully the game will be overrun with new players.

Also, I only played on PS4 so I'm not sure how it holds up on other platforms, but I played for a few hundred hours with people all over the world (lots of Japanese) and I only ever saw it lag once. It was just one guy lagging a tiny bit while running ahead of me. Pretty amazing that I can recall that single moment but it stood out as the only instance of noticeable lag I ever saw.

 

[HereticBD]

Tried it out. Didn't have much time to truly sink my teeth into it, but it's intriguing. The combat was a system shock coming off of "Arkham Knight", that's for sure...

"Why don't I automatically face the enemy after I hit them!?!?!?"

Just a wee bit of an adjustment, LOL. It's pretty fun though. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, so I went with the slow ass Katana as my main weapon, and I'm coming around to it. It's slow, but once you get the timing down, it's pretty satisfying. I'm still getting used to the controls though. I'm hitting LB instead of RB to sprint(or is it the other way around...hmm), so I'm wasting a lot of items that pop up in my radial menu, but I'll get used to that in time. The character customization is pretty in depth, and any game that shows your creation in the cut scenes is always a plus from me.

Not much more to say really. I beat the first big tutorial boss monster, and that's where I left it. Got a bit of an introduction to the the crafting, but nothing I can really comment on at the moment. Eh', it's pretty good so far. The graphics are really nice, and I can feel the gameplay loop they're spinning, which seems like it could get addictive. I'll have play a lot more to really get a handle on it, but so far so good.

 

[tru3f4n]

My opinion is that multiplayer is absolutely the way to go even if you find the game easy. It's just more chaotic and fun. I don't think it holds up anywhere near as well in single player.

The game isn't really that difficult but I think the best way to enjoy it while it lasts is with other people, even randoms.

multiplayer is a pain especially when trying to kill tempered elder dragons and you fail because the randoms keep on getting carted. The whole tempered kirin quest was a complete nightmare due to its ability to oneshot you and the health multiplier when teaming up.

 

[Dizzy]

Yeah, I played for over 100 hours and never once joined a multiplayer game. Sounds like some of the monsters that were added after I stopped playing almost necessitated it though.

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

I’ve bought this game, the day before it came out on Game Pass (which I have a months free membership of).



Anyway, I sunk a lot of hours into Freedom Unite and from what it seems, combat is easier, though navigating the forest is an absolute fucking pain.

My bread and butter in MHFU was a full Indra Lance set with Darkness, but basic lance and the Light Bowgun, I’ve been enjoying myself most with LBG with spread shots (a change from MHFU where I considered that type of ammo to be useless).

I’m going to wait a month or so before I purchase live for a year, and in that time, I am hoping to have completed a big bulk of the missions and have at least one good paralysis lance set and one good Light Bowgun set.

Is there a way to buy traps and Tranq Bombs in this game? I’ve found the smithy but that shop is nowhere to be seen...

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

multiplayer is a pain especially when trying to kill tempered elder dragons and you fail because the randoms keep on getting carted. The whole tempered kirin quest was a complete nightmare due to its ability to oneshot you and the health multiplier when teaming up.

Is Guts in MHW?

 

[HereticBD]

I’ve bought this game, the day before it came out on Game Pass (which I have a months free membership of).

LOL, I saw it on sale and thought, "Damn, people are gonna buy that not knowing it's coming to Game Pass in a few days."

They really need to do a better job at promoting upcoming Game Pass games, like they do with GWG. They put more effort into telling you what's leaving the service, than they do for games that are coming to it. Just a monthly heads up would suffice.