Monster Hunter: World - PC, PS4, XB - Iceborne expansion due 6/9 - Gameplay trailer released

Confirmed on their twitter

twitter.com/monsterhunter/status/1016351273145249792

I've finally gotten around to sitting down properly with this on PS4 and I'm not really convinced I like it so far.
The quest monsters even at the start of the game seem to just take so strawberry floating long to take down. That's made even worse by the combat feeling so incredibly clunky, whilst switching between items is a chore and not intuitive at all. It's like they implemented way more controls and items than a console could realistically handle and only then realised they didn't have anywhere near enough buttons.

Lagamorph wrote:The quest monsters even at the start of the game seem to just take so strawberry floating long to take down

Lagamorph wrote:combat feeling so incredibly clunky

Lagamorph wrote:switching between items is a chore and not intuitive at all

Lagamorph wrote:It's like they implemented way more controls and items than a console could realistically handle and only then realised they didn't have anywhere near enough buttons.

I'd suggest starting with an earlier game, like Freedom on the PSP. That's back before they added a load of stuff to the series so you should find these problems mostly disappear.

First Time Monster Hunter Player Bingo.

Actual advice Laga:

It might help to think of hunting monsters as like boss fights - they are intentionally long as part of the experience. The gameplay is a test of consistency and endurance. In World the quests are actually significantly shorter on average than with previous games in the series to try and be more accessible (this was the case in 4 too, but I think even more so in World), but you still need to go in with the mindset that you're fighting bosses.

The "clunky" combat complaint is a common one even though it has been made a lot more fluid in World. Your weapon choice makes a huge difference here. What weapon are you using? I would very much suggest going to the training area and trying them all out to find a weapon that clicks - for me I play all monster hunter games as an almost exclusive bowgunner, which is a very different experience! A very common trap new players fall into is going for the Great Sword because it looks radical, but it's actually a hard weapon to use that relies on lots of patience waiting for the right opportunity to deliver some huge hits. You might need to go for a weapon that is more forgiving.

If you've played Dark Souls there are parallels with combat in that - you have to be methodical and collected. Attacks have wind-ups and can't always be cancelled, and I think that gives people a feeling of "clunkiness", but it's actually pretty integral to the gameplay.

Item switching again has been improved in World as you now have the option of using a quick select wheel. This is kind of easy to miss I guess, so I'd suggest taking a moment to configure it in a way that works for you.

In general it is a complex game and there is a learning curve to the controls themselves, but I'd encourage you to give it a fair go and try to push through the initial pain.

Seeing that Dragoon Jump almost floored me. Can't believe stuff I've dreamed about this game having is actually happening now.

I'm using the Dual Blades at the moment, seemed like the easiest weapon to be starting out with since it didn't need you to pull back, line up, wait for a perfect opening then make a super slow attack. The main issue is the almost tank control approach to the combat.

Did a "Capture monster" quest today and the capture system is absolute bobbins. "You can capture it when the monster is limping" isn't really very descriptive, especially since they start limping when they're running off to their nest.
The game then warns you that when they get to their nest they're going to heal and need weakening again, but that's actually a lie since they either don't heal or heal so slowly that attempting to weaken them again just kills them and fails the quest. It's one thing for a game to not explain a system to you at all/very well, but it's another for it to just outright lie.

I suggest giving the bow a try as well. Very different to most of the other weapons, and highly enjoyable.

Lagamorph wrote:I'm using the Dual Blades at the moment, seemed like the easiest weapon to be starting out with since it didn't need you to pull back, line up, wait for a perfect opening then make a super slow attack. The main issue is the almost tank control approach to the combat.

Sword and shield is probably the best beginner class.

Lagamorph wrote:Did a "Capture monster" quest today and the capture system is absolute bobbins. "You can capture it when the monster is limping" isn't really very descriptive, especially since they start limping when they're running off to their nest.

It literally means you can capture the monster when it's limping, which you can.

Lagamorph wrote:The game then warns you that when they get to their nest they're going to heal and need weakening again, but that's actually a lie since they either don't heal or heal so slowly that attempting to weaken them again just kills them and fails the quest. It's one thing for a game to not explain a system to you at all/very well, but it's another for it to just outright lie.

The monsters slowly heal when they go to their nest.. It's not an outright lie at all Just put a trap right next to it, wake it up then throw a train bomb when it immediately gets trapped and you're sorted.

Also don't worry because unless you're going for 100% (you probably shouldn't) you can pretty safely ignore capturing as a mechanic. Hunts are more fun

At any point do the weapons start lasting longer than 10-15 seconds before you have to break off from a fight to sharpen then again?

I've tried and tried, but after sinking 10 hours into this I think I'm ready to dump it. There are just too many issues for me to even muster the enjoyment to finish the story, such as it is.

• Combat is too slow, too clunky and too random whatever weapon you choose, though admittedly this is down to personal taste more than anything.
• The controls are a shambles. There are too many things and nowhere near enough buttons for them on a controller which in turn leads to some baffling control design decisions,
  
  • Your items in the bottom right can be cycled through the D-Pad or by holding down L1 and pressing buttons, which is fine, but the prompt indicates that pressing Square will use your item. This isn't actually true however if your weapon is drawn. Pressing Square will not use the item, it'll just put your weapon away. You then have to press Square AGAIN to actually use the item.
  • If your weapon is drawn you can't pick things up because some genius decided that "Pick Up" would share a button with "Attack"
  • If your weapon is drawn you can't run, since "Put away weapon" and "Run" are both the same button
• The enforced 60 second return to base at the end of a hunt is just completely unnecessary and more often than not a hindrance. Sometimes it's not enough time to gather up everything in the vicinity, or sometimes you might just want to hang around a bit longer to gather items/supplies. It's made even worse by the fact that you don't actually get 60 seconds, you get 50 at best since you spend the first 10 seconds being forced to watch a monster in a clipping war with the ground. Sure you can move around in that time but the camera won't give a gooseberry fool where your character is.
• You have to break away from combat FAR too often to sharpen your weapons. Maybe some of the larger weapons don't have this issue as badly and have larger sharpness meters, but both the Dual Blades and the Sword & Shield definitely do. This is made worse by the fact that if you get interrupted during sharpening, then nothing happens with your sharpness. You should get at least partial sharpness from being interrupted halfway through, but you don't. Hell, I even finished sharpening earlier today, but because I was interrupted in the bafflingly unnecessary second where the character just holds up the weapon to appreciate their handiwork, no sharpening at all.
• The lock on system is a mess and seems to just lock on to whatever random monster it feels like at the time rather than defaulting to the one nearest to you. You can't simply "Unlock" if there's more than one monster in the vicinity either, you have to just keep clicking R3 to cycle through the targets until getting to the end.

I've given the game more than a fair chance but there's just too much jank for me and it's not worth my time when there's at least dozen better games in my backlog I could be playing.

Mafro wrote:First Time Monster Hunter Player Bingo.

Weapons with green and blue sharpness will last longer.

I think you can change the item selection buttons?

You're not meant to be able to full-on run when you have your weapon out.

60 seconds is more than enough time to carve a monster and you can skip the kill camera animation by pressing start.

Dual Blades and Sword & shield lose sharpness faster than the other weapons because you're able to attack faster with them compared to other weapons.

You can change the lock on options so it only locks on to large monsters, not the cannon fodder.

Sounds like the game isn't for you.

Lagamorph wrote:I've tried and tried, but after sinking 10 hours into this I think I'm ready to dump it. There are just too many issues for me to even muster the enjoyment to finish the story, such as it is.

• Combat is too slow, too clunky and too random whatever weapon you choose, though admittedly this is down to personal taste more than anything.
• The controls are a shambles. There are too many things and nowhere near enough buttons for them on a controller which in turn leads to some baffling control design decisions,
  
  • Your items in the bottom right can be cycled through the D-Pad or by holding down L1 and pressing buttons, which is fine, but the prompt indicates that pressing Square will use your item. This isn't actually true however if your weapon is drawn. Pressing Square will not use the item, it'll just put your weapon away. You then have to press Square AGAIN to actually use the item.
  • If your weapon is drawn you can't pick things up because some genius decided that "Pick Up" would share a button with "Attack"
  • If your weapon is drawn you can't run, since "Put away weapon" and "Run" are both the same button
• The enforced 60 second return to base at the end of a hunt is just completely unnecessary and more often than not a hindrance. Sometimes it's not enough time to gather up everything in the vicinity, or sometimes you might just want to hang around a bit longer to gather items/supplies. It's made even worse by the fact that you don't actually get 60 seconds, you get 50 at best since you spend the first 10 seconds being forced to watch a monster in a clipping war with the ground. Sure you can move around in that time but the camera won't give a gooseberry fool where your character is.
• You have to break away from combat FAR too often to sharpen your weapons. Maybe some of the larger weapons don't have this issue as badly and have larger sharpness meters, but both the Dual Blades and the Sword & Shield definitely do. This is made worse by the fact that if you get interrupted during sharpening, then nothing happens with your sharpness. You should get at least partial sharpness from being interrupted halfway through, but you don't. Hell, I even finished sharpening earlier today, but because I was interrupted in the bafflingly unnecessary second where the character just holds up the weapon to appreciate their handiwork, no sharpening at all.
• The lock on system is a mess and seems to just lock on to whatever random monster it feels like at the time rather than defaulting to the one nearest to you. You can't simply "Unlock" if there's more than one monster in the vicinity either, you have to just keep clicking R3 to cycle through the targets until getting to the end.

I've given the game more than a fair chance but there's just too much jank for me and it's not worth my time when there's at least dozen better games in my backlog I could be playing.

Lagamorph wrote:

• Combat is too slow, too clunky and too random whatever weapon you choose, though admittedly this is down to personal taste more than anything.

Call it slow and clunky if you must, but random? It's very much not random. Combat is very well done in MH, it's one of the big draws for its consistent challenge. If you get hit its almost always your fault.

Lagamorph wrote:

• The controls are a shambles. There are too many things and nowhere near enough buttons for them on a controller which in turn leads to some baffling control design decisions,
  
  • Your items in the bottom right can be cycled through the D-Pad or by holding down L1 and pressing buttons, which is fine, but the prompt indicates that pressing Square will use your item. This isn't actually true however if your weapon is drawn. Pressing Square will not use the item, it'll just put your weapon away. You then have to press Square AGAIN to actually use the item.
  • If your weapon is drawn you can't pick things up because some genius decided that "Pick Up" would share a button with "Attack"
  • If your weapon is drawn you can't run, since "Put away weapon" and "Run" are both the same button

These are game mechanics, not control design issues. There is always a risk to healing or using items, you have to know when is safe to draw or sheathe your weapon. If you really want to use items while your weapon is drawn, use sword and shield - that's one of its unique abilities, and why sword and shield can be used for a great support build in multiplayer.

If you could always use items with your weapon drawn the game would be broken.

Lagamorph wrote:

• You have to break away from combat FAR too often to sharpen your weapons. Maybe some of the larger weapons don't have this issue as badly and have larger sharpness meters, but both the Dual Blades and the Sword & Shield definitely do. This is made worse by the fact that if you get interrupted during sharpening, then nothing happens with your sharpness. You should get at least partial sharpness from being interrupted halfway through, but you don't. Hell, I even finished sharpening earlier today, but because I was interrupted in the bafflingly unnecessary second where the character just holds up the weapon to appreciate their handiwork, no sharpening at all.

Again, this is game balancing. There are weapons and skills that will reduce the need to sharpen, and different weapons will need a varying amount of sharpening. Dual blades and sword and shield are right up there because they are high speed and frequently hitting weapons.

Lagamorph wrote:

• The lock on system is a mess and seems to just lock on to whatever random monster it feels like at the time rather than defaulting to the one nearest to you. You can't simply "Unlock" if there's more than one monster in the vicinity either, you have to just keep clicking R3 to cycle through the targets until getting to the end.

Personally I would recommend not using lock on at all. It got added as no lock on was a common complaint for new players, but I find it more of a hindrance than help, especially as the parts of the monster you're targeting will change.

I think unfortunately the game isn't for you, but I'll still defend it against the complaints! At its core monster hunter gameplay is about learning attack patterns and judging windows for attacks, dodges or item use, and the controls and mechanics reflect this.

I would say once again, try the bow as a main before completely giving up. It's a lot of fun and I would say a bit easier as you're more mobile and don't necessarily have to get so close to monsters so can use items more. As soon as I switched from the hammers (Those are good too) to the bows, I had a much better time.

Start with the bow I used it for 80% of my time with the game and it makes a huge difference.

I've put in a lot of time with the game and while I love it... a lot of that is down to how far it has come from the other games in the series. They were so awkward and frustrating. This game is a huge leap forward but it's still far from perfect.

I've not played it for ages but will drop back in for new monsters (new not just re skins).

Oddly bow hasn't really clicked with me the couple of times I've tried it in World, although it's probably just that I'm not all read-up on the mechanics (last time I used it with any regularity was in FU so I guess it's come a long way since then)

Recently discovered how to supercharge your sword with CB which I didn't even realise was a thing, been having some good fun with it. I've had quite a long break from it so now I'm just trying to slog through to the Kirin urgent so that I can unlock the augmentation stuff, still need to do the proper Lunastra quest as well. Definitely needs a decent expansion soon though, need a bit more monster variety, even if it's just some interesting subspecies rather than fully new monsters.

twitter.com/monsterhunter/status/1072132009529503744

Worlds will collide with the next big Monster Hunter: World collaboration – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt! Step into the shoes of Geralt of Rivia and leverage his expert monster hunting skills as you take on a unique quest line in Monster Hunter: World. Free title update coming to #MHWorld in early 2019.

The was Nargacuga at the end of the trailer! Hyyyyyype

That means Tigrex is likely too.