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    Monster Hunter: World

    Game » consists of 4 releases. Released Jan 26, 2018

    The fifth primary title in the Monster Hunter franchise features much larger maps, seamless transitions between zones in the map and four-player online co-op. It allows players from Japan and western countries to play together for the first time in the series.

    How I became a Monster Hunter and loved it

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    Humanity

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    Edited By Humanity
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    Monster Hunter always appeared to me like a game for crazy people. I was mostly exposed to it through Jason's various tales and none of it ever added up. Insane animation priority, no lock-on, timed missions, bosses with no life bars, combat that looks like you’re hitting a tree trunk with a wiffle bat, taking a knee to sharpen your weapon in mid fight.. what IS this game? At the same time I was always drawn to it for the insane amount of weapon variety and customization. The loop seemed like something right up my alley - kill monsters for parts and make unique looking gear from them. That sounds rad. But I was always scared of this eccentric Japanese behemoth from the handheld world. When the game landed on Game Pass I decided to take the plunge, the worst that could happen is I would lose a bit of time and move on. I’m really glad I took the plunge.

    Monster Hunter World is dense and very Japanese. This is a game that despite its massive tutorialization at every step, still requires a whole lot of homework on your part if you’re a newcomer like I was. It’s hard to tell what is intentionally obscured and what is a result of this series evolving over a decade and the existing fanbase simply knowing how the pieces fit together. The entire “campaign” of Monster Hunter World is one long tutorial that slowly introduces you to various aspects of the game until after the final “boss” is felled you get to start playing for real. After about 30 hours I was beginning to feel comfortable in this world, but it took a lot of effort up front to get that far. Some things take forever to unlock while other elements are glossed over fairly quickly. For the entire first half you’re fighting monsters in what is known as “low rank” and the moment you advance the story to “high rank” all that armor you crafted instantly becomes obsolete. This is probably something obvious to series veterans, but I was a little shocked at how much time I wasted grinding some monsters when I really should have been plowing forward instead. It’s these little “I wish I knew this coming in” tidbits that can really trip you up early on as you learn how everything fits together.

    The most important and most intricate aspect of MH:W is obviously the combat. The game is essentially a series of boss encounters in a beautifully hand-crafted open world that serves as your arena. You take on “hunts” and then track down the monster in the world and either slay it or capture it. Of course crafting is a huge part of Monster Hunter so along the way you’ll be collecting all manner of ore, bugs, honey etc., but when it comes down to it, you’re here to fight. Theres well over a dozen weapons to choose from and they all have very unique movesets and systems to master. I would say that the game is evenly split between learning your weapon, and learning the monsters. Most of the weapons in MH:W require a level of commitment both in mastering the moveset and animation priority. Wind up attacks can be intensely long and I spent a great many hunts getting knocked around because I was stuck in an attack while a monster was charging right at me. This is why knowing your beasts is essential. Every monster has very specific moves and tells that with time you will learn to recognize and in turn exploit as openings for your most devastating attacks. It’s a delicate balance of knowing when to advance, when to retreat, and how to dance around these towering beasts with a sword thats twice as tall as you are.

    Learning what buttons to press isn’t as easy as you might think. To the games credit the training area offers a fairly competent rundown of each weapon, showcasing its most basic functions and combos. Digging deeper into your journal you can find useful tips and tricks on their basic usage and there are even small clips that let you know the basic tenets of their usage. Even so.. There are a lot of hidden mechanics that simply aren’t made very clear. Since I heard so much about this crazy Charge Blade contraption I decided to dive into the deep end and attempt to master it. Initially I decided to try learning on my own, practicing the different moves against a wooden pole and seeing how it all worked. I thought I had a handle on things and then decided to check some YouTube videos to see if there were any tricks I had missed. I believe I spent the next several days watching and re-watching 20 minute long in-depth tutorials on how to properly use this thing - and then it took another 20 hours of hunting monsters to feel like I somewhat have a handle on what I should be doing and when I should be doing it - and there are 13 more weapons to choose from! All offer their own varied levels of complexity, meters, charges, stances.. It’s mind boggling.

    I could go on about the strange controls, the camera, the way you spend a lot of these hunts clipping into a monster and slashing it’s ankles.. Monster Hunter World is dense, and replete with gameplay. After you finally finish the campaign which takes quite a while if you’re inexperienced like I was, you can pick up a new weapon and spend the next dozen or so hours learning how to use it and going down it’s many upgrade paths. You can grind monsters for parts to craft that perfect armor set or simply collect them all. There is so, so much to do here. What really won me over though is the humor and positive vibes this game exudes. Everyone is in a constant go-get-em high. Your cute Palico companion is always making faces, and acting silly. There is a pig you can pet in the base.. Not only is the game vibrant graphically but it’s just fun to be in that world of goofballs. If you’re looking for a big time sink then I can definitely recommend Monster Hunter. You will have to watch a fair bit of YouTube tutorials but once you start getting it, the experience is very rewarding.

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    cikame

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    I had a bit of a weird experience with MH:W, like many it was my first in the series and i had constant questions about everything i was doing, i tried all the weapons in the training area and settled on the dual daggers which i ended up using throughout, every time i tried anything else it was objectively worse, i settled into the routine doing just enough to unlock armour sets so i'd have an advantage against certain monsters, but despite having a monster guide in the game it doesn't have the elemental details you need so you've got Google open in the background constantly, it doesn't tell you where to find certain rare materials you need to craft said armour so you've got Google in the background constantly, then you fight a monster on the back of another monster, which runs away, then the game ends...
    After listening to Jason and Maximilian talk about MH forever i thought the game was going to have an intimidating amount of depth, and maybe it does, but i don't really consider "you can do this again but harder" to be meaningful content, i asked my friend right after:
    "Hey, i think i just reached the end of MH, was that really it?"
    "Now you can grind all the monsters again for materials!"
    "Oh..."
    "Are you going to get Iceborne?"
    "... nah i think i'm good".
    It feels like that weird PS2 game everyone talks about that doesn't blow you away but is worth seeing once, i'm glad i played it, but i had WAY different expectations about it going in.

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    Humanity

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    #2  Edited By Humanity

    @cikame:

    Oh boy yah I have plenty of thoughts about that.

    The depth definitely stems from the overwhelming amount of lists you have running in the back of your head. What materials you need, what raw resources you need, what are your current challenges or whatever those "collect 10 honey" things are called. Gathering clues, gathering research, doing side activities for rewards but it's not always clear what the reward will be. Once you get in the game is fairly straightforward - wack the monster till it's dead. Even the legendary charge blade, after the steep climb of understanding how it works, actually boils down to about one combo to charge it and then spamming your big SAED super-slam whenever possible (in my case missing 65% of the time).

    Even the combat seems to kind of rely on being complicated but for all the wrong reasons. As I wrote above I'm not sure how much of it is intentional and how much is it a result of Japanese games being weird about controls and also having to port this to a real console - but the combat controls are just a mess at times. To insert phials I have to hold block and press B ok thats fine, but then to charge the shield I have to execute this three swing hit and then in the middle of the final hits animation I cancel it out with a block? Why? Charging the sword is even more weirdly complicated.. I mean none of it is some hardcore frame perfect input magic but it feels like your fingers are clawing around the gamepad like an octopus at times.

    I don't mean this in a bad way but it is a very mindless kind of game. You fight the monster, it drops rare parts, ahh dang I didn't get that one part I needed to craft my new sword. Ok time to fight this monster all over again and hit it's front paws hoping you break them and get the claw+ this time around. At this point in time, during long stretches of staying at home because of COVID etc I didn't really mind it. I hate RNG and generally I would get sometimes tired of not getting something I needed because a dice roll didn't happen because at some point you don't want to fight that same monster again, but generally it was pretty fun for me.

    That said - just like yourself - I've had my fill and I can't really imagine taking on Iceborne. I doubt I will even take on Tempered monsters that will eventually unlock when I find them. The campaign was fun enough for me but beyond that you need a very specific mentality to keep pushing forward.

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    cikame

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    Because of its grindable nature it ended up being a podcast game for me, and it was good at that, but only for 39 hours which went by really fast.
    I think if they made the combat more traditional or less cumbersome it would risk being pretty boring, so i understand that, but it's why i stuck with the daggers and having the ability to turn while attacking with its B attack, that alleviated a lot of frustration.
    I feel like 5-10 hours of my playtime were spent obtaining materials so that i could upgrade myself in preparation for parts of the game that don't exist, the campaigns purpose is to prepare players for the post game, an artificial increase in difficulty and the reward of crafting better stuff, i would have been a lot more content with the game if the campaign had two more play areas and a more conclusive ending.

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    Colonel_Pockets

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    @humanity: What videos would you recommend watching for Monster Hunter? I bought it back in March, but kinda dropped off. I want to give it another shot properly. Also great write up by the way.

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    Humanity

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    @humanity: What videos would you recommend watching for Monster Hunter? I bought it back in March, but kinda dropped off. I want to give it another shot properly. Also great write up by the way.

    All the videos from Arekkz Gaming are really well produced, informative and don't have the typical youTube cringe to them. It's how I learned to play the Charge Blade and a bunch of other small stuff.

    LINK TO VIDEO

    I've now put at least 20 more hours into the game and I dunno it continues to be a fine distraction. After completing the entire main campaign solo I've now started to take part in a lot of multiplayer hunts and thats is a whole different experience and very often a more messy one. It's especially fun for a big weapon user like myself as you're always waiting for an opening to use your slow wind-up power move and with a bunch of other people those opportunities open up a lot more.

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    Colonel_Pockets

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    @humanity: Awesome! Thank you. Hopefully this is what gets me to click with the game.

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    #9  Edited By Humanity

    UPDATE:

    Since the writing of the blog I have put in what may-be 50-60 more hours into the game. I've explored the end game grind of the original and have actually gone on to purchase the Iceborne expansion, making this the first game I spent money on after playing it on Game Pass.

    After about 120 hours sunk into Monster Hunter I have to say that this is easily one of the best games to come out this entire console generation. To clarify - tastes vary of course - but Monster Hunter has so much content with so much customization that it puts games like Destiny to shame in many regards. The number of monsters and variety of weapons and armor you can craft from them is astounding. The number of weapons alone, all with incredibly unique movesets and systems to manage, is already enough to make some of these live service games blush. There are weekly events on constant rotation, challenging monsters for the more advanced players and group hunts when you need backup from your friends. Thanks to scaling and monster behavior solo play is often a drastically different experience from a multiplayer encounter. You'd think 4 humans against one AI monster would be an unfair gangup but there are times when it is easier to face these beasts one on one rather than dive into the erratic mess of group hunting where the monster acts unpredictably.

    Overall I'm just really impressed with how much there is here. Last night I took a break from doing the Iceborne content to check out my "room" in the DLC introduced based of Seliana. There are rugs to customize, chandeliers, pets, paintings.. Granted, a good deal of this cosmetic stuff is paid DLC but there are still plenty of free or earnable items and it all seems so unnecessary but also so much fun. Iceborne also offered the perfect getaway from what was slowly becoming a less than fun post-game grind. Sure fighting the monsters is fun by itself, but also doing so with the hopes of getting rare jewels that drop very infrequently was becoming less appealing by the hunt. Iceborne opens up a whole new map, a new hunter class with it's own set of armor, weapons and challenges - and of course a bunch of new monsters. It even remixes a bunch of existing ones with completely new looks and abilities. Each time I login it feels like there is something to work towards. I'm not an especially amazing player and I've been able to steadily make my way through a lot of early hurdles so I believe anyone can probably do it. I don't see myself ever taking on Fatalis, the newly added supreme monster of all monsters, but I'm having a ton of fun simply upgrading my armor and weapons from the regular enemies the game throws at me.

    I think for anyone that wasn't sure and has access to Game Pass this is a phenomenal game to try. There is an incredibly steep learning curve but once you get over that initial hump and get acclimated to the new world I think there is a ton of depth to explore and quite literally hundreds of hours of fun to be had.

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    FacelessVixen

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    Welcome to the club.

    Freedom Unite was the one that I put the most time into, but going from that to World on PC and getting both the technical upgrades, streamlining of the series' mechanics, and some modding here and there, is all pretty amazing when you've been with the series for a bit.

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    djredbat

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    @humanity: You should give Fatalis a shot and Alatreon to if you haven't even if you can't beat them there worth seeing and are by far the best fights in the game and a true test of the hundreds of hours of training you had with the other monsters. The amount of content and monsters they have added for free is amazing. Some of the best stuff you should check out if you haven't already are the siege monsters Safi Jiva and Kulve Taroth, the Witcher content with the Ancient Leshen and the quest were you play as Geralt, The Behemoth from FF, and both Raging Brachydios and Furious Rajang. I have 3,643hrs of playtime and not a little tired of it can't wait for the Halloween event in a couple days.

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    slax

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    @humanity: As a fellow charge blade user, this is my favorite guide for CB after the Iceborne updates:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9volqmWGWUY

    It definitely covers some stuff you already know, but the new Savage Axe mode for CB is for many Iceborne monsters (since they in generally are moving more and far quicker) easier to fight with than the base games SAED style.

    This was the first Monster Hunter game that stuck with me back on release. I'm very excited for Monster Hunter Rise since it is looking to blend a lot of the best parts of World with the older handheld releases and also has dog companions. Yeah...mostly the dogs.

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    Efesell

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    I remember starting and the Charge Blade was the only weapon that made any sense for me as to how it functioned and I later saw a poll or something that indicated it was a very rare weapon relatively and always wondered what this said about me.

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    Ulfhedinn

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    Bought it, grinded some monsters during campaign just to see everything I did go to waste when the world and monsters scaled just as you wrote.

    Even tho I did continue with the story that kinda broke me and I stopped playing not long after.

    I'm getting the monster hunting itch again but I'm not sure if I have time to dedicate now.

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    Humanity

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    @ulfhedinn: Yah this very much happens again when you get to Iceborne and encounter Master Class armor. The weapons not so much - I mean they get a boost but I was able to make do with my "endgame" weapon for the first several hunts. Armor though doubles in resistance making High Rank monsters kind of a joke when you come back - but thats part of the power fantasy I suppose. Struggling at first only to come back later and completely wipe the floor with monsters that were giving you grief. Also I think simply learning the movesets and anticipating attacks is a huge part of it. You do feel yourself get better at just doing the dance instead of relying solely on better stats and thats very cool.

    @efesell: I think they are all complicated in their own way but the charge blade is easier to use but more difficult to learn the routine so to speak. About 90% of the time all I'm doing is a slash and then charge slash then dodge. When I'm full I load the phials, wait for an opening and discharge them with the big SAED attack. That in itself is easy enough. Learning the inputs of charging your shield, charging your sword, transforming into your axe, keeping on eye on your phials etc etc is like a little dance in your head as you dance around the monster. Mostly though I just like having a shield.

    @slax: I was actually watching that video just the other day to see if maybe I can pickup on some tips for better Savage Axe use. As a fellow CB user - when you guard point do you hold down block and then tap Triangle/Y just before enemy impact or do you wait and press both at just the last second? I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that if you hold down block and tap attack for the Morph it doesn't count as a real guard point but I'm too much of a sissy do it otherwise.

    @djredbat:I will probably give them a shot when I do get there but monsters that can one-shot you with a single blast aren't all that fun for me since I'm not speed-runner good or anything. Iceborne while fun is already a little taxing on me because the monsters are so much more aggressive and everything takes just so much longer to kill. Of course for ME.. because I watch some YouTube videos to see maybe what opening I'm missing or how to better tackle something and I see those guys beating Arch Tempered whatever in 4 minutes. Speedrunners a whole different breed but still it's like wow..

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    Humanity

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    @dudeglove: Yah I fell into the same dilemma as Jason. I started on Xbox and would love to play on PC but I had put so much time into the already that I don't want to start from th beginning. I probably could cheat engine my way through it but once you open those doors I dunno if I could go back.

    As for the defender set I didnt realize for half the game that it was meant as a means to speed you through the main game. In a way it destroys the experience if youre not going to go for Iceborne and it definitely instilled a lot of bad habits me in early on as I shrugged off nearly all damage and toppled monsters that should have been a challenge at that point in the game. It also doesn't help that the Defender Charge Blade is the best in it's class which means I spent the entire first leg of the game using only one weapon when the whole allure of the series is making these different sets etc. It's even pulled me through a good chunk of Iceborne as well.

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    slax

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    @humanity: I may be wrong, but my understanding is that a guard point is a guard point. I'd have to do more testing but I think that holding your shield out like you and I like to do, is certainly safer, but hitting them at the same time the timing is almost instant so it's easier to do on reaction.

    That's my experience at least, but when learning a monster holding out the shield will certainly save you if you miss time your guard point.

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    plan6

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    #19  Edited By plan6

    I have 500 hours on PS4 and I keep trying to slog through on the PC. I love Monster Hunter with all my heart, but I can't be asked to farm any more death dragon fangs from that stupid haunted dragon.

    Also, guard points are just frames during an attack animation(or any animation really) that count as blocking with your shield. The most notorious of these being sharpening a lance, which naturally has you face your shield forward. They might give you some extra stability, but you can still eat shit if the shield isn't strong enough to block the attack.

    FYI: I do not believe the sword and shield has any guard points. It is more the gunlance, charge blade and lance.

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    Humanity

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    @slax: I'm specifically waiting for the Code Red event to roll around again starting Thursday because I've heard the Devil May Cry Charge Blade will make you glow all over when you successfully guard point an attack which is a great way to learn the timing better.

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    Ulfhedinn

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    Well gave it a go again yesterday just to discover I've forgot almost everything about the game. Recipes, moveset, monsters attacks and patterns.

    Got pummeled by Bazelgeuse so hard I decided to call it quits.
    I'm starting fresh and this time it will be different!

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