where I stopped: right after beating xeno'jiiva. sort of straightforward... but I haven't done anything past that as of the time of this review. I'll come back for sure, though maybe not until I buy iceborne
+the overall changes to the feel of combat and esp the movesets of the weapons are much appreciated. the added fluidity makes aggressive (well, sloppy aggressive) play more viable, and from the few weapons I've used the updates are well-thought out for how they affect playstyles
+I have divided opinions on the changes to the quest progression but I really do appreciate that high rank is fully incorporated into the storyline. the game is very smart about how it gently nudges you towards building your equipment to match whatever the current main quests demand as well
+investigations are an absolute godsend for the grind, they're extremely handy. combined with the lucky vouchers, it makes building armor sets and weapon lines feel like less of a chore
+there's still a nice chunk of people playing this online on ps4, and it seems very easy to hop into a session or respond to an SOS call. it's still best to play with friends, but jumping in with random people isn't bad at all
+incredibly animation on the monsters... not new to this game, but it really shines here I think. the hitboxes are also much more reasonable than previous games, and rolling between a monster's legs never gets old here
+as I've played p3rd high rank, it's become increasingly apparent to me how annoying non-target large monsters are in a hunt. here monsters will properly fight each other and can deal some massive damage; leading your target hunt to another monster that can soften it up for you is a legit mechanic here, and nets you nice research points as well
+I really appreciate all of the QoL tweaks they made here, specifically with how items work. there's no way they could lock you down when using items since you can't run to a different area to take a break, so I appreciate them making that change. removing pickaxes/nets is a relief as well as making whetstone infinite: those items were easy to come by past the intro of the other games already, so having to manage them was more of a formality than anything in previous games
+vigorwasps are a great mechanic imo. I don't mind just getting free heals in the older games ofc, but making the heals items that you have to actually reach in the field gives a nice risk/reward bent to it
+the difficulty scaling for quests based on the amount of players was desperately needed imo, soloing guild quests in older games felt great but I also like knowing I can jump into a random quest solo and my damage output will be appropriate for the difficulty. this is esp true now that patches have added a two-player autobalancing option instead of just solo/multi balancing
-the camera is horrid, especially when locked-on. the monster movement is simply too dynamic and the lock-on is too choppy to use
-compounding the above, whenever you're stuck in a tight space with a monster the game becomes very frustrating. the game has the capability to zoom out the action when a turf war happens... why can't it do it in normal battle as well? I would rather my character be small then have to sit with my shield up indefinitely while I wait to find an angle where the camera isn't stuck inside the monster
-the reason for these tight spaces is ofc the level design, which can be very very confusing at first thanks to how big each of the areas are and how many tiny pathways, hallways, and dead ends there are. the worst offender is ancient forest for sure; as the starting area they probably should have made the layout cleaner, as I got lost there many many times even late into the game (I couldn't even find the camp at the top of the area until a tailrider led me there)
-there's a lot of random running around that I'm not really a fan of, especially early on when you don't have a good grasp on where monsters spawn and your research level isn't high enough to instantly spot them on the map. feels like typical open-world padding... esp since it's built into the main story. why not just tell me what monster I'm going to need to fight instead of making me go on an expedition, run into a cutscene trigger, and then get the quest to deal with the monster
-the multiplayer is unbearable when trying to do the story missions. my gf and I attempted this for a bit and got tired fast, as you have to first enter the quest individually, each play until you hit the cutscene trigger, return from quest, and then post the quest again so you can both join (or one person uses an SOS request and the other person leaves and hops into their game). way too much of a pain
-scoutflies are useful when they work but are far too persnickety. it's very frustrating for them to disappear when small monsters aggro you (esp since it takes a while for the state to wear off even after you run away), as it can be near-impossible to tell where to go without them.
-I lauded the animation earlier but there's definitely some odd characteristics here and there with how the monsters move and attack. even in offline monsters will occasionally jerk around or suddenly feel like they're moving at double speed for no reason. there's also some other odd things, like barroth's mud just appearing next to it when it shakes it off instead of having an animation of flying off and adhering to the ground like in the older games
I think I had a worse time than I should've with this game thanks to how long I convinced myself to play longsword. I think sunk cost fallacy kept me going far past the point where I should've stopped, and I ended up having to switch to gunlance at the back quarter of the game after already beating nergigante when I realized that I'm so much worse at this game playing a dodge-heavy weapon like that. I'm really grateful this game exists to help ease new players in, as I would have struggled tremendously hopping into the old ones without the knowledge I gained here. on the other hand, there's a lot of growing pains here from the switch to a new engine, and it's a detriment to the experience in some ways. still, it's a next-gen monster hunter, and it's so cheap now too; I definitely think I made the right choice by picking this up at a whim
+the overall changes to the feel of combat and esp the movesets of the weapons are much appreciated. the added fluidity makes aggressive (well, sloppy aggressive) play more viable, and from the few weapons I've used the updates are well-thought out for how they affect playstyles
+I have divided opinions on the changes to the quest progression but I really do appreciate that high rank is fully incorporated into the storyline. the game is very smart about how it gently nudges you towards building your equipment to match whatever the current main quests demand as well
+investigations are an absolute godsend for the grind, they're extremely handy. combined with the lucky vouchers, it makes building armor sets and weapon lines feel like less of a chore
+there's still a nice chunk of people playing this online on ps4, and it seems very easy to hop into a session or respond to an SOS call. it's still best to play with friends, but jumping in with random people isn't bad at all
+incredibly animation on the monsters... not new to this game, but it really shines here I think. the hitboxes are also much more reasonable than previous games, and rolling between a monster's legs never gets old here
+as I've played p3rd high rank, it's become increasingly apparent to me how annoying non-target large monsters are in a hunt. here monsters will properly fight each other and can deal some massive damage; leading your target hunt to another monster that can soften it up for you is a legit mechanic here, and nets you nice research points as well
+I really appreciate all of the QoL tweaks they made here, specifically with how items work. there's no way they could lock you down when using items since you can't run to a different area to take a break, so I appreciate them making that change. removing pickaxes/nets is a relief as well as making whetstone infinite: those items were easy to come by past the intro of the other games already, so having to manage them was more of a formality than anything in previous games
+vigorwasps are a great mechanic imo. I don't mind just getting free heals in the older games ofc, but making the heals items that you have to actually reach in the field gives a nice risk/reward bent to it
+the difficulty scaling for quests based on the amount of players was desperately needed imo, soloing guild quests in older games felt great but I also like knowing I can jump into a random quest solo and my damage output will be appropriate for the difficulty. this is esp true now that patches have added a two-player autobalancing option instead of just solo/multi balancing
-the camera is horrid, especially when locked-on. the monster movement is simply too dynamic and the lock-on is too choppy to use
-compounding the above, whenever you're stuck in a tight space with a monster the game becomes very frustrating. the game has the capability to zoom out the action when a turf war happens... why can't it do it in normal battle as well? I would rather my character be small then have to sit with my shield up indefinitely while I wait to find an angle where the camera isn't stuck inside the monster
-the reason for these tight spaces is ofc the level design, which can be very very confusing at first thanks to how big each of the areas are and how many tiny pathways, hallways, and dead ends there are. the worst offender is ancient forest for sure; as the starting area they probably should have made the layout cleaner, as I got lost there many many times even late into the game (I couldn't even find the camp at the top of the area until a tailrider led me there)
-there's a lot of random running around that I'm not really a fan of, especially early on when you don't have a good grasp on where monsters spawn and your research level isn't high enough to instantly spot them on the map. feels like typical open-world padding... esp since it's built into the main story. why not just tell me what monster I'm going to need to fight instead of making me go on an expedition, run into a cutscene trigger, and then get the quest to deal with the monster
-the multiplayer is unbearable when trying to do the story missions. my gf and I attempted this for a bit and got tired fast, as you have to first enter the quest individually, each play until you hit the cutscene trigger, return from quest, and then post the quest again so you can both join (or one person uses an SOS request and the other person leaves and hops into their game). way too much of a pain
-scoutflies are useful when they work but are far too persnickety. it's very frustrating for them to disappear when small monsters aggro you (esp since it takes a while for the state to wear off even after you run away), as it can be near-impossible to tell where to go without them.
-I lauded the animation earlier but there's definitely some odd characteristics here and there with how the monsters move and attack. even in offline monsters will occasionally jerk around or suddenly feel like they're moving at double speed for no reason. there's also some other odd things, like barroth's mud just appearing next to it when it shakes it off instead of having an animation of flying off and adhering to the ground like in the older games
I think I had a worse time than I should've with this game thanks to how long I convinced myself to play longsword. I think sunk cost fallacy kept me going far past the point where I should've stopped, and I ended up having to switch to gunlance at the back quarter of the game after already beating nergigante when I realized that I'm so much worse at this game playing a dodge-heavy weapon like that. I'm really grateful this game exists to help ease new players in, as I would have struggled tremendously hopping into the old ones without the knowledge I gained here. on the other hand, there's a lot of growing pains here from the switch to a new engine, and it's a detriment to the experience in some ways. still, it's a next-gen monster hunter, and it's so cheap now too; I definitely think I made the right choice by picking this up at a whim