Exploring the New World

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of the Sword and Shield Tribune.

This is your guide Vilcor and we will be talking about, or rather, I will be talking about Monster Hunter: World. A new game from our friends at Capcom in the Monster Hunter series.

Now, you see, I have been a long time fan of Monster Hunter and I was both very hyped and a bit scared about this new game. A lot was boasted about this game from it’s makers and I have been let down hard by games in the past with this kind of hype. I can safely say that my fears were not needed. In my honest opinion, this game is a big hit.

I have put many, MANY hours into this game already and I plan to put many more. The story of the game so far has been quite enjoyable, not like some in the past that were almost non-existent. The environment is beautiful and alive. The music is pleasant. My time with this game has been one for the better. I haven’t played a game this extensively in a while. (That is up for speculation.)

There is a lot about this game I could drone on and on about but I will summarize as best I can. I will start with weapons. Now, in previous games, I always stuck with close range weapons. Sword and Shield, Insect Glaive in MH4U, Switch Axe in generations. In most other rpgs, I like to stick to range, archers and mages and such. Monster Hunters ranged weapons always felt a bit stiff in the previous games, so I always shied away from them.

This isn’t so in World. I have been playing with a bow almost exclusively. MHW rebalance on weapons have made it much more fluid. Hell, its rebalance has made much of the weapon lineup more fluid and mobile. I find it so exciting doing those last second dodges to escape a big hit. Not that I always do them. I often end up dodging right into the monsters path when I panic.

Now, a thing I have heard is that the game has become too easy because of this mobility. Quite frankly, I can’t see it. Sure, if you’re just starting out fighting a Great Jagras, it’ll be easy pickings. The Great Jagras is basically just the tutorial type boss. Not that fast at all. Now let’s take a Tobi-Kadachi. It has quick attacks that have a long reach and even a few AoE attacks that still catch me off guard. It’s almost like they made the beginning monsters easy for those new to the game and made the later monsters quicker and harder for long time fans of the game and those that stuck with it. Who would have imagined, right?

Anyways, one of the fears I had is that they would have made the game too streamlined for the casual crowd. I am glad this wasn’t the case. The stuff they did streamline was much of the things that seemed like a chore. Collection quests that actually made it as a quest are much more manageable and the others were made into bounties that can be completed during other quests. The Insect glaive and kinsect system have been reworked to where you don’t need to make a completely new weapon anytime you mess up. They are two separate entities that you can switch between now to your heart's content.

Now I know some of you aren’t familiar with most of the weapons in this game and that’s alright. If you stick with me here, I plan to do reviews of each weapon separately once I have had a chance to mess around with them a bit. Not sure if I’ll do these on the side or make them a regularly scheduled thing as well.

Overall, I give Monster Hunter: World a must buy and a 4.5 out of 5 rating. A great game for new and old fans alike. Now, I am going to go play more with my controller that just broke this morning. Nothing will stop me! If any of you wanna join me, I am on Xbox and my gamertag is Vilcor88. I made a squad, which is sort of like a guild, that is named the Towerfall Dragoons... tm. Until next time!