I remember Archie showing an interest in how Monster Hunter veterans would perceive the revamped World, and seeing as Robio is on a long hiatus, that only leaves me.  I'll be adding to these impressions as I go, so far I've only done a few of the earliest quests and have only fought one larger monster, the Jagras.

First things first, graphical fidelity in this game is unprecedented for the Monster Hunter series.  Seriously it's so sharp it sears my eyes.  The World suffix relates to how the stages you fight in are no longer divided in seperate, smaller arena like areas, but are one interconnected whole.  This is both very cool and rather annoying as it allows the devs to incorporate much more maze like level design, meaning it's harder to memorize everything.  There is also a side effect that it's possible to be battling a large monster in a passageway between larger area's where movement is much more restricted.  It still works, but it's nicer to have a bit more room to move around in.

Not only are the stages larger and more complex in terms of level design, the same can be said about the level of detailing.  There is a lush look to the whole game, but I disagree with the devs in that this means every item of interest needs to be highlighted by your tracking flies as you pass it by.  It breaks the immersion when every other piece of scenery starts glowing when you approach it.

And this brings me to the second big change in World: accessability.  The game still requires a lot of your time, but a lot of the 'friction' has been removed.  It's still early days, but for now I still long for the more purist experience of old.  Some examples: you track down monsters by finding tracks, which results in your tracking flies picking up the scent of larger monsters, after which they guide you to it's current position.  I understand how the devs deemed this neccessairy due to larger, more complex stages, but I feel it is detrimental to the need to learn the lay of the land like you did in earlier games.  It's the difference of driving somewhere with a map or with the GPS enabled.  You're just not as aware of your surroundings.  The need to hit them with a paintball to keep track of them has also been thrown out, the flies keep tracking it, and  you'll even get an icon on your map indicating the monster's current position.  There's less friction, but also less skill involved.

Another immediatly apparent difference to older games is also the opening scene of the game.  There are many more cutscenes to wade through, making the whole thing more action-ey and cinematic.  It's clearly a play for the mainstream market.  I didn't mind it, but it wasn't what I was expecting.


Controls and menu's are still more or less untouched, but crafting gear and weapons has seen a major change: you can level weapons down and get the monster parts you used on them back.  I do not approve.  It robs the leveling system of its sense of commitment.  Nothing is final.  It changes the forging and upgrading that is the main manner of progression within the game to something more resembling a skill tree.  Interchangable.

So far all the rest has been sufficiently monster hunter-y.  Everything is bigger and bolder, meaning there's a larger learning curve for returning players, but the core gameplay is still very much in tact.  I'm wielding a Switch Axe, a weapon first introduced in MH4, and will probably swap it in and out for the trusty Hammer and a sprinkling of Hunting Horn for multiplayer.  So far I'm enjoying it massively, but despite the game's play for accessability, I find it's larger level of scale to make the whole even more bewildring.  I guess it'll just take some adapting.

Posted by SupremeAC Sat, 07 Apr 2018 19:46:36 (comments: 152)
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Tue, 17 Apr 2018 19:05:05
Of course. Only system I have that would play it.
 
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 19:48:58

Yep!

 
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 19:55:11

Unless you are avoiding them due to spoilers, there’s a few articles out there about upcoming and already added Free DLC additional Monsters. Along with them, of course, new Armor Sets and weapons too! This games gonna have loooong legs!  Grinning

 
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 21:18:09
I saw some of that stuff about the free update. I'm still so underwater as far as everything in this game that I can read all I want next looking to forget it all by the time I get to it. There is a ton packed into this game. It is quite girthy.
 
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 21:42:55
I assume that by the time the PC version comes out it'll be the 'G' version of the game. It'd be the nice thing to do to patch the console versions up to 'G' status then as well.

I'll be double dipping on PC for co-op play with friends though, so I don't care if they uograde the console plebs. Nyaa
 
Tue, 24 Apr 2018 02:59:57

All righty, I've made it into the Rotten Vale so I think I've spent enough time that I can offer some half-intelligent impressions.

Overall the changes are for the good. The hunter-gatherer portion of the game is so much better than it's ever been. It's easy to find stuff, and you don't have to prep too much beforehand when all you want to do is catch some bugs and mine some more. The search flies making finding monsters a touch easier, and at the end of the day it's just the difference between memorizing the monsters' territories verses just being able to track them. And I love the new environments. They are a little tougher to explore, but you're also rewarded for taking the time to properly explore things. Getting to build new camps, finding more little cat dudes, etc. And the environments are amazing so why wouldn't you want to explore them. The Coral Heights? It's an underwater level without the water!!!! Fucking brilliant!!!

That said I definitely have some gripes. First, so far I've seen only one new monster that I thought was at all creative, the white bat thing - Paoloma I think it was called??  Maybe the catfish monster too, but he doesn't really do anything too interesting. Aside from that, lots of retreads here. The main town is awful. It's a sight to behold, but at the end of the day it's way too big. The could have made it half the size and it would have filled its need nicely. Just seems silly to run around so much to get basic crap done. Also not a fan of the way you have to set up investigations, instead of just redoing quests in order to hunt particular monsters. Again, seems unnecessary.

And while it's too early to say, overall the game seems a lot easier than previous installments. I'm sure part of it is due to better controls and my own increasing familiarity with the game, but it really feels like they made everything less tough. Up until this point I really haven't been putting too much thought into pre-battle prep and I've yet to fail a quest. I've died once or twice in battle, but that's it.

Anyway, loving it. Glad I picked it up, and I"m not stopping anytime soon. And maybe at some point I'll pick up PSN plus again so I can play it online.

 
Tue, 24 Apr 2018 08:33:57

You have already overtaken me by a large margin.  I just defeated my first Anjanath.  Hrm

I too feel that the game is easier, although so far I've assumed it was just because of how much experience I already have.  Not sure if it's the game's fault.

 
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 00:19:26

Nice impressions there Robio.

I’m looking forward to when you guys get to take on tempered Elder Dragons, especially Kirin, Devil’jho, tempered Devil’jho, and this recent new Elder Dragon Kulve Taroth.

 
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 02:40:10

Going to be a while before I get there. I just swapped out the bow for a great/buster sword and never used one before. Should be interesting to see if I can do anything with it.

 
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 05:24:21
Finally I have had my first real challenge of the game thanks to the Legiana, kind of a nice dragon monster. The battle took me into almost the final five minutes of the mission, I had used up all of my potions, and had probably less than 10% of my health when I dealt him the final blow. I could probably have done much better if I had a ranged weapon, because the damn thing does not like to stay on the ground for too long. Oh, and it took me a really long time to get to where he was, so I could probably have done it in closer to 30 minutes then the 45 that it took. Anyway, it was a great fight. Very brutal. I never fainted, but I was very close to it for much of the fight.

Also, I wanted to mention just how really well done the weather and time of day effects are in the game. I had probably done the Ancient Forest 15 or 20 so times and was getting pretty familiar with it, but one mission dropped me in there in the middle of a heavy rainstorm at night. The combination of those two things made the entire level feel completely foreign to me. It was a very cool change of pace.
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