Why do I keep praising Monster Hunter World, despite it realistically being just an above average game?

Heck
Heck
Sep 2, 2018 · 5 min read

Simply reading out pros and cons of a game with this much success would immediately turn anybody into a skeptical player (specifically as a new player who has never played any of the previous monster hunters). There are so many flaws in the game design that would immediately make you question why many reviews rate it as highly as they do… Yet here we are, almost 8 months after the Ps4 release and a month after the PC release and the game stands as one of the major successes of 2018. To the point where it’s in the conversation for game of the year (it realistically shouldn’t win it, but not bringing it up in the discussion would be doing a disservice to the game and its fanbase).

Much of the games praise comes using previous monster hunter games as a template. By following this train of thought, Monster Hunter world is just an upgrade in practically every conceivable aspect. Game play is more fluid, crafting is no longer a guessing game, quests are better layed out and structured, clues such as footprints are much more reasonable, etc. Everything aside from *maybe* monster variety has been improved upon to be much more accessible for a wider audience without dumbing down.

However, removing the idea that this is the continuation of a series of games and judging it on its own, a lot of the flaws become much more apparent. The menus are very non intuitive, the tutorials are weirdly placed, the default controls with keyboard and mouse are atrocious (can be remapped to actually be a viable way of playing but requires a lot of testing to find a decent enough setup), it’s very repetitive, the rewards are random, the grinding nature of said random rewards, doing multi player hunts cuts money rewards despite the monster being adjusted to be harder with more players, and the piss poor story with unbelievably forgettable dialog. These are not mild issues, they can seriously ruin an amazing game in an instant, yet they haven’t. You as a player do not allow these issues to ruin your experience. You embrace them as a learning curve because the game play itself is that damn good.

Monster hunter allows you to play however you want to play with whatever weapon you choose. No classes at all. Just you, a weapon, bunch of items and your handy notes. Do you want to fling a giant greatsword around but be very team based and supportive? There are so many items that can do that for you. Want to have a weapon that buffs but deal massive damage? Hunting horn coming your way. Fast and unrelenting attacking? Dual blades have you covered. Fairly new to the whole thing and need something not punishing? Sword and shield or longsword have your back. Fan of ranged but don’t like reload mechanics? Bow to the rescue. You are given a base version of every weapon at the start of the game and you get to decide which you prefer. No restrictions based on class, nobody forcing you to stick to any weapon just because you used it a lot. You can change to a different weapon before and after every hunt. The game does a fantastic job of giving you the tools you need, planting you in a map and then getting out of the way and letting you go about your game play in your own way.

The way the map works also is a great way to give people a good experience yet giving enough freedom of movement to not feel like you’re just doing a linear quest. The game plants you on a sandbox map big enough to run around but not big enough to ever need a loading screen in between it. Once you’ve started the quest, you finish it or it finishes you. Everytime you investigate a monsters tracks and clues you get closer to understanding where the monster spawns till eventually you max out and everytime you load into the map you know exactly where the monster is.

The game is just fun to play. I’ve spent about 80 hours on the game, much of it is very repetitive but I want to keep going. I want to keep killing the Nergigante, the Rathalos and especially the Diablos because screw him and his digging move that always seems to target me and not the rest of my party. Coming off of a game like Destiny 2 where the grinding got very tedious very fast, I wasn’t in a mindset to give a grinding game much game time. Especially because working full time wouldn’t allow me to enjoy long sessions of uninterrupted game play, but because of the forgettable story being just that, I could stop and pick back up at any point and not need to immerse myself into it. I can just start the game, kill a Legiana or 2, stop the game and go do something else.

We must also address the graphics in the game. It’s not the best graphics we’ve ever seen but the scenarios are varied enough and the world has so much detail in it, but above all else, it’s the visual spectacle that really catches you. These maps are alive, monsters move around their own way and are doing their own thing. Smaller creatures respond to your movements. Get too close and some run away, others will try and attack you because they see you as an invader. Multiple monsters spawn on the same map and they occasionally fight each other in attempts to control a specific area. Hell in your own quest you’re not constricted to just killing the monster specified by your given quest. You can kill the entire map before you get onto the one your quest is about. That’s up to you (considering you complete the quest within the 30-50 minute quest timer) and you even have an expedition option where you’re dropped on a map with no time limit and no quest, so you can just run around and collect resources or slaw monsters without a timer and at your own pace. Everything comes together to make you feel like a badass at every stage.

Simply put, this game is just fantastic. It isn’t worth more than maybe a 7/10, but when you’re in the moment, killing your 900th big monster, the game feels like a 12/10. That is no easy task to achieve, especially when your entire game revolves around 1 single concept. Fight big things. All the time. And I bloody love every second of it.

PS: The handler can fuck right off.

Heck
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