Hello everyone; thought I would break into a new title that has come out onto consoles a while back, and finally launched on the PC! That game is, Monster Hunter World or (MHW) if you are searching quickly on Google and YouTube. Now, a lot of people have experience with the Monster Hunter franchise and as such, they are already way more informed than I am regarding its gameplay and mechanics.
I, however, am not, I am fresh blood, I am the newest victim to the Monster Hunter franchise and as such, I have spent currently forty-one hours binging on its gameplay now for me to even achieve that I definitely needed to be interested in the game after picking it up and for the most part I really am very interested in the game. It has everything I personally enjoy in a game that is captivating gameplay that lures me in with its design both visually and mechanically, the provocative story-line that keeps me wondering more about how the game continues to develop, and the overall experience of the game itself is amazing; being able to play with my friends from all over the world.
At the very start of the game, I was fascinated by the detail in the cutscenes; and how they even went as far as to add a character creation so your friends can see your character online when you’re exploring. What really caught me off guard was what’s called a Palico; basically, a walking talking cat you have as your partner in adventures. Yeah, okay the female character you are with often refers to herself and your relationship as a partner. But let’s face it, the cat you will spend most of your time during the game with, and because of that working on leveling him up and all his items is very needed for story progression if you are going at it by yourself.
This brings me to the biggest issue I have experienced during gameplay and that is the stable connection; every so often since the games launch your connection during gameplay will be lost either during a quest or event or just sitting around Astera is the hub lobby for the game. More often than not, however, it happens during gameplay and just when you are fighting a really powerful monster with a group of friends trying to farm material pieces to make the armor or weapons you want. You are then suddenly by yourself fighting a really incredible beast that is hard to vanquish and if it’s during a quest you don’t get to keep any of the materials you were able to get up to that point.
That makes playing online truly challenging because you never know when, or how you will be struck with connection issues; so hopefully Capcom and Steam will work together to fix this issue soon so we can all get back to ruining the delicate ecosystem of the Island you are living on. The other big issue with the gameplay is keyboard layouts; the game is not very tutorial friendly when it comes to teaching the player the controls. Yes, it can be argued that you can learn combat controls, that part is easy. However learning the controls to talk to people, and interact in special quests is not.
I wasn’t even able to learn the Ballistic and how to reload it until I found myself in an arena quest and pressed every key on my keyboard; by default as well the game is set to gamepad but gives also keyboard instructions for certain things; which then becomes very confusing as you try to sort through this hot mess of key bindings and controls. I still haven’t found a quick method to talk to players in the game; I have to manually open the menu, go to chat, and then follow up by typing out what I want to say which is really hard in combat. But let’s also not forget that microphones are defaulted to on in Monster Hunter World (MHW) and so we do occasionally run into a player who is busily typing away or playing loud music on the other end. However, that problem is easy to solve as they do have a player mute function in the menu.
With the rambles of the hot mess out of the way let’s talk about the core mechanics, which is the hunting of the monsters. The game focuses heavily on slaying creatures from across the Island you live on and crafting new equipment from their remains. Kill a dragon? Let’s make armor out of it! Kill a Dinosaur? Let’s make another weapon out of it! In the early game however, you spend your time slaying weaker creatures focusing your time on making decent armor to protect yourself, once you have done that it’s time to take on bigger monsters to make armor and weapons from them in a very gritty sort of progression.
There is no real level for your character to measure your progression; it all becomes dependent on your ability to kill the big scary creatures and make equipment from their remains, which is easier said than done. It is also why partying online makes the game a bit easier because players with better gear can join you and help make your life easier which is how I progressed through the game so far.
Combat in the game is equally as simple as you tend to focus more on learning the attack patterns of creatures and healing when you aren’t the target of the creature’s aggression. So ducking and rolling seem to be the player’s go-to in tougher fights if they have to fight the bigger creatures alone. Master the pattern and you can slay any creature with ease and not even have to get online help. However, getting help online is a primary function of the game and becomes a lot more enjoyable even when playing with strangers unless they are blasting John Denver into your ear at 4 AM while you are trying to relax on your killing spree.
As a newcomer to the game, I must say I am really taken back by the level of detail in the design and creatures of the world; my only real complaint is the menu and control setup for the Keyboard, and even playing during combat the controls feel sluggish and unresponsive both from my perspective and watching my friend play on his copy of the game. I did however really enjoy the musical score for the game as well and despite all its issues in a lot of ways I feel the game is pretty solid.
Most of the issues I think can be ironed out in time; as to my knowledge, this is Capcoms first Monster Hunter title on the PC so a lot of these issues are to be expected as they venture out into more platforms other than the console.
Will I keep obsessively playing Monster Hunter World as time goes on? Probably, I find it to be a great time killer and I am obsessive enough to try and get all the armor before I quit for a long time.
Do I recommend you pick up a copy of Monster Hunter World and join in on the online shenanigans; sure just know what you are getting yourself into.
The game has a steep learning curve for newcomers such as myself but it’s still worth it, but if you are a person who isn’t too keen on learning difficult controls to play a game or you work for PETA then maybe Monster Hunter World isn’t for you.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!