If you hated the FOMO in World. It's back in more full force here with for a while (until Raging Brachydios and even then arguably until Fatalis) some of the best gear of the game being only available in a limited time event that would come around bi-monthly.
The Clutch Claw absolutely destroys any fun of this game. It's poorly implemented into so many weapons feeling more intrusive and like a slowing down of the combo than an extension of it. The fact monsters aggression has been turned up too from World only makes it more infuriating when you latch onto a monster (something that is mandatory as hitzones were turned to absolute dogshit and Weakness Exploit was made practically useless without Tenderizing) to soften their hide only for it to do some fuckhead attack that drains all your health in one hit. Speaking of one hit moves. FUCK NOVAS. Whoever is the motherfucker obsessed with every Elder Dragon having some insane nova attack needs to fuck off.
Slinger burst is cool since it actually feels like an extension of your combos and in the case of Great Sword actually allows you to move faster to the True Charged Slash. It should have been all alongside with the wall bang that the clutch claw was used for instead of the shitty tenderizing mechanic.
Endgame is a bit better than World's with the Guiding Lands; an area of constantly spawning monsters for you to fight to level up sections based on all the different biomes you traveled through in the game. Cool idea with a very mixed execution. Originally it took ages to level up areas and if you leveled one up it would make others go down. It was gradually fixed through updates adding more QOL changes (more areas to split points apart to level them up, being able to level some down that you don't go to as much, being able to make monsters fuck off) that made the grind more bearable.
Seeing old Monsters return and reworked so well was a huge joy as well, love World's take on Glavenus and Yian Garuga. Easily the best fights in the game that aren't post launch monsters.
Post launch DLC monsters in this game were definitely a step up from World as well. My personal highlights being Raging Brachydios (with its baller new theme, easily one of the best in the whole franchise) and the absolute motherfucker supreme herald of destruction that was Fatalis. The most brutal and violent battle in the whole game (that wasn't dumb nonsense like Behemoth and Extremoth) that makes you feel like an absolute huge dick motherfucker when you finally take him down. Especially if you decide to go solo from the start like my dumbass did. One of the best fights in the game and a fantastic rework of arguably the most polarizing battle in the series.
Now despite that breadth of positivity let me just say that while Iceborne may not be the worst Monster Hunter game, not even the most frustrating one, but when a game has so many annoying mechanics that it becomes almost as unfun as Monster Hunter 1 at times there's a fucking problem. Weapon designs still suck in this one btw. Or at least did for a while. Insulting that Stiggy Zinogre got shitty slap on designs.
Hope a lot of the cool monsters introduced and returning monsters that were fully reworked in this and World make it to Rise so they're in a game without shitty mechanics that ruin any potential fun they could have been.
The Clutch Claw absolutely destroys any fun of this game. It's poorly implemented into so many weapons feeling more intrusive and like a slowing down of the combo than an extension of it. The fact monsters aggression has been turned up too from World only makes it more infuriating when you latch onto a monster (something that is mandatory as hitzones were turned to absolute dogshit and Weakness Exploit was made practically useless without Tenderizing) to soften their hide only for it to do some fuckhead attack that drains all your health in one hit. Speaking of one hit moves. FUCK NOVAS. Whoever is the motherfucker obsessed with every Elder Dragon having some insane nova attack needs to fuck off.
Slinger burst is cool since it actually feels like an extension of your combos and in the case of Great Sword actually allows you to move faster to the True Charged Slash. It should have been all alongside with the wall bang that the clutch claw was used for instead of the shitty tenderizing mechanic.
Endgame is a bit better than World's with the Guiding Lands; an area of constantly spawning monsters for you to fight to level up sections based on all the different biomes you traveled through in the game. Cool idea with a very mixed execution. Originally it took ages to level up areas and if you leveled one up it would make others go down. It was gradually fixed through updates adding more QOL changes (more areas to split points apart to level them up, being able to level some down that you don't go to as much, being able to make monsters fuck off) that made the grind more bearable.
Seeing old Monsters return and reworked so well was a huge joy as well, love World's take on Glavenus and Yian Garuga. Easily the best fights in the game that aren't post launch monsters.
Post launch DLC monsters in this game were definitely a step up from World as well. My personal highlights being Raging Brachydios (with its baller new theme, easily one of the best in the whole franchise) and the absolute motherfucker supreme herald of destruction that was Fatalis. The most brutal and violent battle in the whole game (that wasn't dumb nonsense like Behemoth and Extremoth) that makes you feel like an absolute huge dick motherfucker when you finally take him down. Especially if you decide to go solo from the start like my dumbass did. One of the best fights in the game and a fantastic rework of arguably the most polarizing battle in the series.
Now despite that breadth of positivity let me just say that while Iceborne may not be the worst Monster Hunter game, not even the most frustrating one, but when a game has so many annoying mechanics that it becomes almost as unfun as Monster Hunter 1 at times there's a fucking problem. Weapon designs still suck in this one btw. Or at least did for a while. Insulting that Stiggy Zinogre got shitty slap on designs.
Hope a lot of the cool monsters introduced and returning monsters that were fully reworked in this and World make it to Rise so they're in a game without shitty mechanics that ruin any potential fun they could have been.