Monster Hunter: World

Called back to World to wait until Wilds.
So here's a full review
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandparents
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☑ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

Context
I only MHW play single-player because I'm an adult woman who just wants to enjoy her me-time.
Pros
+ The game loop is unique and satisfying.
+ The amount of craft that goes into every detail of this game is impressive and enjoyable. I particularly love the attention to the sound design! Every monster has different roars and sounds and stuff. Rad!
+ I also love the level design.
+ It might seem complicated, but actually it is not hard to learn it one little piece at a time while progressing at whatever pace is comfortable for you.
+ I named my Palico after my cat who later passed away, so having Shadow help me in every hunt is a joy.
Cons
- This might happen:
"Awesome! I just need one Big Boy Gem to build the armor I want!!"
*kills 4 Big Boys which takes at least an hour and a half*
*No Big Boy Gem T_T*

Now that this game has gotten a resurgence, here's a PSA.
There's something called the Defender's Set in the beginning of the game. Now MH does nothing to explain it but it is basically endgame quality gear blueprint given to everyone in the forge from the beginning of the game. It's basically a means for players to speedrun their way through the game to reach Iceborne, the expansion. Literally speedrunning because the weapons do so much damage that it negates every reason to interact with basically every mechanic in the game. Monster weaknesses, equipment types, literally any reason to pop open the hunter guide, look at what a monster is weak to, where its weakness is, and what elements might help. All of this is useless with the Defender Set.
Farming materials to make the next tier of gear, progressively getting stronger and basically interacting with the ladder of equipment or crafting as a whole is negated as well.
If you want to play Monster Hunter with all its features, don't use the Defender Set. Because in the end the game is about the journey, not the destination. Learning how to be a monster hunter, and how to hunt well for your class is exceptionally fun in this game.
But by all means if you want to breeze through this game, blowing past the entire base game just to reach the expansion where you'll most definitely get your ass kicked because you don't know the mechanics of the game, go ahead. In the end you're either learning the game in the beginning, or learning the game in the end. Benefits of learning the game in the beginning is that you have more content. Negatives of learning the game later is that you just wasted the base game away for no reason.

Monster Hunter World is one of the greatest games to ever exist. It really is hard to overstate my praises of this game. There is nothing quite like it. I will attempt to cover the various aspects of this game that make it the perfect game for me, but to quickly summarize: meticulous worldbuilding, fantasy-zoology, the back-and-forth nature of the fights themselves, weapon specialization and skill expression, and the overall feeling of the “hunt” combine together to create an experience that is truly unmatched by any I’ve ever had in all my years of playing games.
1) Wordbuilding
Monster Hunter as a series has always done worldbuilding in what I consider to be the only correct way to do it in a video game: you must experience the world to understand it. This is exemplified in looking at monster behaviors and their interactions with the world. Monsters behave as real animals in this game, oftentimes ignoring you if they do not perceive you as a threat to their territory and engaging in activities that reveal more about the nature of their biology and their fights. Watching Nergigante preen his spikes by violently rubbing them on the ground or Velkhana strut about knowing she is the ruler of the Hoarfrost Reach does more to relay to the player what they can expect of their fights and personalities than any amount of explaining can do. The monsters and their respective environments tell you a lot about how they fight and their places in the food chain well before you fight them.
2) Fantasy-Zoology
Branching off of the monster behavior topic, this series hits a particular niche I have yet to find a good alternative to, something I like to call “Fantasy-Zoology”. While many games in the action-RPG and Medieval (in terms of weaponry) genre lean fully into either realism or fantasy, this game creates a world that is decidedly fantastical but implores you to accept the rules of its world through self-imposed limitations. There are the occasional god-like monsters to be sure – Kirin summoning lightening from the sky or Kushala spitting tornados come to mind – but in relation to the heights of fantasy other games might reach even these feel grounded. The world is one in which the natural history of the planet is that of monsters, and many aspects of these beasts reflect those of animals in our own world. You don’t need to wonder how Namielle spits water and electricity at the same time, you see it in the jellyfish-shape of her wings and the bioluminescence in her veins that reflects those of animals in our own world. The monster live and behave by the very instincts animals in our own world do, carving out their own territories and niches and competing for resources even outside the watchful eye of the player characters. It is a world that is lived in, and it scratches an itch that a child who grew up obsessed with dinosaurs and natural history spends a life-time trying to rekindle.
3) The Fights
I came primarily into this series from a background in Dark Souls and other FromSoftware games. After coming off the initial high those games offer, I found it difficult to find a series that pushes the 3rd-person action RPG genre to the same heights. Boss fights in those games are about observation and execution, not simply attaining the highest stats possible. Spending time learning the enemy movesets in-and-out, mastering your own moveset, and responding in turn with a bit of personal flavor on the battle gives way to a unique combat experience that is tough but very satisfying to master. Monster Hunter expands on that in ways even I never anticipated. Every fight is a dance, one that is meticulously designed so that you must use the knowledge you’ve gained from the previous two points, i.e. observing the monster’s behavior and place in the natural environment to determine how you must approach each battle. You are rewarding for identifying Diablos’ weakness to Screamer Pods when it is underground, for identifying Rathalos’ tail sitting closely to the ground when it flies allowing for a quick cut into a dunk, and for noticing that Deviljho cannot resist the urge to fight other monsters that come into its territory. You can make use of environmental hazards, traps, consumable buffs, and even the divisive clutch claw to turn every disadvantage into an advantage, and this is even more pronounced when you have a full team of hunters with various skillsets and specializations. All of this allows for a level of personal expression that takes an already fantastic fight into a phenomenal experience.
4) Weapon Specialization and Skill Expression
Speaking of skill expression, Monster Hunter uses the Golden Rule of good game design: less is more. It understands there is beauty in simplicity. Fourteen weapons may not seem like much, but in using a similar design philosophy to fighting games, each one provides such a unique and deep experience that picking up a new weapon feels like picking up a new game. Using mobile weapons like Dual Blades or Sword and Shield allows one to dip in-and-out of battle, utilizing i-frames to dive through monster attacks rather than away, providing an experience similar to that of Dark Souls. Conversely, some weapons like Greatsword and Lance require you to stand your ground, identifying safe-zones in monster attacks and positioning yourself for an incredibly satisfying punish. There are ranged weapons for the run-and-gunners out there, weapons that fly, and weapons that have the mechanical complexity to their combos that fighting game enthusiasts will enjoy. In short, there is something for everyone in this game, and it’s difficult to play it “wrong” when there are so many “right” options.
5) The Hunt
The mark of a great game is something I like to call the “Experience”. This is a combination of the mechanics, the story, the music, the tone, the art design and everything else that goes into a game to create the “experience” or “feel” of a game. Going back to Dark Souls, I fell in love with that series because of the experience of being a lone soldier in a dying world. The games relish themselves in the feelings of the morose and the macabre, and you can feel the sad state of the crumbling kingdoms and fallen knights around you as you struggle to not simply be another Hollow in the great web of failure the world is spun from. The game feels oppressive in every aspect from its mechanics to its music. And while this is not a review focused on gushing about Dark Souls, it is necessary to understand this concept to understand why Monster Hunter’s actual “hunting experience” is so damn good. Every point I’ve talked about thus far as well as those more artistic ones that I have not (namely color scheme and music) all work together to create an experience of a “hunt” that no other game series can match. I understand many veterans believe the “hunt” feeling of the game has been lost from previous titles, as pre-quest preparation is not as big a focus in this game, but I believe the overall experience is alive, well, and thriving in this game. When you observe a monster’s features, relate it to real world animals, use that to infer something about its natural place in the world, watch it interact with its environment and other monsters to see how it fights, then put your own knowledge and skillset with your chosen weapon into battle against that monster, using all the tools and resources you’ve gathered from your time in the wild, all of that feels like a true “hunt”. You are the hunter, this is your prey, and the more time you spend studying it and its environment the more success you will have.
In conclusion, I’ve spent 1000 hours playing this game over the past two years and I’ll spend 1000 more engaging with its colorful cast of crazy crocodilian carnivores just to experience the joy of the hunt. I hope to see all you hunters out there and in the Wilds when next we meet.
Happy Hunting!
Mad Lord Flynn

"Spending time with your cat! and I guess hunting monsters."
is my first game in the franchise. I always heard that it was a franchise known for grind like crazy without a job, but that this game was the exception, and that's true. Out of the approximately 50 hours it took me to finish the game, I only grinded one monster because not all my weapons were effective against the fire kitty. Taking this context into account, let's begin with the not-so-serious review that arrives about 6 years late!
Graphics and Aesthetics
Visuals: For a game from 2018, it looks pretty good. There are contemporary games with better visuals, but Monster Hunter World holds its own, and in my opinion, it has aged well. You won't see the pores on the handler, but it looks good.
Art Style: The art style is very immersive and distinctive, giving the game its own unique personality.
Gameplay
Hunting Mechanics: You feel like a true hunter, stalking and utilizing your environment to track and slay any monster that dares to look at you the wrong way. However, you always feel the threat posed by many species of monsters (especially towards the end), like the bomber plane with legs that ruined more than one of my hunts.
Multiplayer: Honestly, I never used it because I prefer enjoying these types of games solo. But I had to mention it because it exists, although I have no idea how active it still is. I only shot off a multiplayer flare once in the entire game to get an achievement, but no one showed up ☹
Story
Narrative: A story that could be described as 'linear,' but it's quite engaging. I appreciate how the New World (the continent) itself is part of the narrative. Nothing from the OTHER WORLD (get it? hehe), but it gets the job done.
Open World: You can go on expeditions without specific objectives, just to explore and hunt anything that moves without time limits. It's quite fun and immersive just to enjoy the environment and the wild battles that turn a peaceful stroll into a race for your life if you weren't well-equipped (that pickle gave me a scare the first time it attacked).
Progression and Gameplay Loop
Progression System: Here comes the finely tuned gameplay loop of this gaming masterpiece. Pay attention: kill monsters to get/improve weapons and armor to kill stronger monsters and obtain even stronger weapons and armor to hunt even stronger monsters... I think you get the idea. It's incredible how addictive and well-crafted this system is.
Rewards: If it wasn't clear from the previous point that I'm a fake human... well, there are many more rewards to talk about, like jewels, but it's better for everyone to discover those on their own.
Challenges and Difficulties
Difficulty Level: A progressively challenging curve that's quite accessible to anyone. There are certain monsters that present a sudden spike in difficulty (still traumatized by Nergigante), but overall, the hunts are challenging yet fair, making you feel that if you fail, it's because you didn't prepare well enough or because your cat has better reflexes than you (or maybe that's just me).
PDF Tutorials: I didn't know what to call this point, but I mention it just to say that the tutorials seem designed to disrupt the gameplay rhythm, as some overload you with information even for the most basic things. It can be a bit annoying at first, but it's a minor inconvenience to survive to enjoy this amazing game.
Sound and Music
Soundtrack: Very memorable and immersive. Just listen to the theme of my nightmare generator, Nergigante.
Sound Effects: Equally good as the previous point, although not mandatory, it's recommended to play with headphones.
Conclusion
One of the best games I've played this year; it's absolutely worth it!
P.S.: Anyone who doesn't take their cat on adventures deserves jail time. The cat is the most important; monster hunting is secondary.
Rating: 9/10 - you can't pet your cat"

300 hours doing story mode, 200 doing fire cat 1000 doing black thing, worth the money i think, i mean, better then doing something good in life.

One of my friends introduced me to a game that included arm wrestling and I only started playing to beat them via button mashing. After 3 days of recovery... I played again for the actual gameplay. And I think I've found the virtual form of crack.
I have been awake for too long on too many nights playing this game. My eyes have literal dark circles and bags.
My SO is worried about me.
I can't stop grinding.
I can't stop thinking about this game at work.
I can't go to sleep without dreaming about killing another monster to make into new gear.
My friends compete now in regards to progression.
I don't know what reality is anymore.
Help me. (: