Monster Hunter World: Initial Impressions (Monday Musings 29)

I was feverishly getting through the quests as quickly as possible to obtain the Palico Watcher armor and weapon (cross-over from Horizon: Zero Dawn) as the event will be over on February 8th. The Aloy set for your hunter will be available later. The date has been unannounced. So I apologize for being a day late for this Monday Musings 29.

The great news is that the core experience of Monster Hunter: World is exactly like the past games in terms of combat mechanics, and all the hunting accoutrements such as traps, throwing knives, bombs and such. You are thrown directly into the action on your first mission, as you fight your first monster. 

I was surprised that during the first mission, they didn't include tutorial elements like they did in the past, such as healing, sharpening your weapons, and cooking well-done steaks. I was expecting the handler (your human partner) to walk you through like previous games did. I really don't think this will prevent the game from being more stream-lined. As there are a lot of newcomers to the series, this lack of tutorial appears to be an oversight. 

I'm glad to see that the first low-rank missions are challenging, especially when you face these monsters for the first time. That being said, I barely upgraded my armor except for getting the bone set, as that was easily acquired by doing the story missions, and didn't require any grinding as I rushed through to get the Palico Watcher armor. So I don't know if these missions would be vastly easier if I upgraded.

Indeed, my biggest fear was that World will be easy like Monster Hunter Portable 3rd to make it more accessible to newcomers. In Portable, I fainted only once the entire main story, and I could've done a no-faint playthrough my very first walkthrough, if I didn't get too overconfident with the last mission. So I was happy to have fainted quite a few times on my way to getting the Palico Watcher armor set.

Once I was able to open the Horizon: Zero Dawn event, I had to grind for the complete Watcher set and weapon. Interestingly, it wasn't as much grind as the past games. I couldn't get the requisite electro-sac, as sacs tend to be rare, but as you level up your knowledge of the monster, you tend to get the rare item the next mission. You level up by getting points from tracking, killing and capturing the monster. You then talk to the Ecological Expert to "present your findings". This makes sense story-wise because once you know your monsters, you know where to carve to get the rare items. I thought this was a very nice touch.

Niki, my Monster Hunter, in-game screenshot

I was happy with the character creation as it was relatively easy to make attractive characters like the past Monster Hunter games, but I was sad that the Palico customization wasn't as customizable so you couldn't place spots, tabby markings, and other patterns where you want them to. So my Palico didn't quite look like my cat Niki.

I was sad to see that my favorite monsters such as Arzuros, Barrioth, Lagombi, Nargacuga, Zinogre, and of course my favorite Yian Kut-Ku will not make an appearance. I'm hoping that there'll be a DLC of these classic monsters taking place in the Old World. As the game takes place in the New World, perhaps the DLC story would be your hunter going back home to see family and friends, but they're being attacked by these classic Old World monsters.

I can see that the developers wanted totally new monsters to make the game fresh for veterans, but this game will be the first for many, so I don't know why they didn't include the most fun monsters from the past. After all, they included the usual Rathalos and his variants. In fact, considering the past games, I got frankly tired of Rathalos since there were so many re-skins of the same monster.

Kulu-Ya-Ku

Kulu-Ya-Ku appears to be the new Yian Kut-Ku, but he's not nearly as fun or goofy.

I groaned when I saw the Elder Dragon mission, especially as this mission is the one that I must unlock before the HZD event. The past games' set-pieces for these supposedly grandiose battles were boring and tedious for me. However, this was the first Monster Hunter where I had a lot of fun, with surprising elements. In fact, I was upset that we couldn't replay this mission.

The other games do have story, but the story in World seems to be better incorporated. Each main mission you do is tied directly with the story and includes cutscenes and dialogue before and after each mission. The story is very similar to Generations which surprised me, as I would think they'd come up with a completely different plot.

Despite not featuring my favorite monsters and having the same plot-line (thus far) as Generations (I'm sure it will have different twists), the environment is a living, breathing world unlike the segmented areas of past games. Because the world is so lush and full, I look forward to being in the world, as opposed to being sick and tired of the dynamic-less world of past games.

Indeed, the areas of past Monster Hunters were so static that I had to take breaks between monsters because I got tired of seeing the same scenery over and over again. The areas of the past games tend to be barren and sparse given the lack of power of the past consoles and handhelds. World takes place in the same various areas, but the difference is that there's so much vegetation, verticality, and many things tucked into nooks and crannies to explore, that it doesn't get boring visually. As a result, I think World may become my favorite Monster Hunter. 

For all Monster Hunter fans this is a must-have, and such an easy recommendation. If you're a newcomer and you appreciate combat that is deliberate, deep and strategic, against very well-animated monsters with specific attack patterns and personalities, and you love immersing yourself in lush, gorgeous environments, I also highly recommend the game. 

The How of Happiness Review