Monster Hunter World!!!!!

I love Rui, he’s good people and he knows his stuff.

I watched other Charge Blade “tutorials”, so to speak, but the one I linked to was by far my favorite, and the one that explained all the concepts best IMO.

On that note, I did the USJ quest where you have to slay 3 Great Jagras at once, and with the Charged Blade it was awesome. There was this one time that I did this one super-amped elemental discharge that hit all three at once. I wish I had recorded it because it was amazing.

Ooh, I liked the USJ quest - it made a long sword that was the perfect level for me at that point, and a nice set of Palico equipment, and the Great Jagras are great to practice learning to use new weapons on!

Pro-tip - don’t learn charge blade against a Kushala. What a freaking annoying monster.

So I’ve finished 6 or 7 hunts now, I think, and I’m starting to wonder if this one’s just not my cup of tea (absolutely no insult to the game itself meant, to be clear, it seems great at what it does).

I’m curious, what keeps you folks playing? I’m trying to figure out if I’m missing something/haven’t seen something that I’d potentially find compelling, or if I’m just not the target audience here.

The challenge. It gets a lot more interesting when you reach High Rank quests. It’s still too fast & easy compared with the classic MH games, but I can live with that for such a nice update and PC port.

If you stick with it and the going gets rough, I recommend learning the Lance. Its defense, reach, flexibility, and mobility really opened up MH for me when I was new.

Getting good. Or rather, optimizing gear and tactics. I’ve never before played a game where the skill difference between me as a noob and me as a seasoned hunter was as dramatic as in Mhw. I went from needing upwards of 40 minutes for some hunts, relying on weapons with blocking capabilities, to blitzing targets down in less than 3 minutes, using flashy counter moves like the long swords signature move.

Plus, hunting down jewels was fun too, with loot box mechanic after every hunt.

This was my first Monster Hunter game and I wasn’t hooked until the Anja fight (Pink T-Rex guy). All the fights from that point on kept getting more and more interesting. Also, if you have only done 6-7 fights I can almost guarantee you that you have not seen what your weapon of choice is truly capable of. Once you learn all the ins and outs of your weapon of choice, getting very awesome staggers, cuts and kills with well executed strikes is very satisfying.

Thanks folks. If it’s principally about getting better with the weapons, learning the combos, and learning the timing,that’s not likely to ever click with me. I’m not much of an action gamer and have never derived much enjoyment from learning a system like that. That said, I’ll stick with it through the Anja fight (which I think is two missions away) just to be sure.

I’m not really an action gamer either, but the RPGish progression was good for me. Granted, it’s through gear, but that’s OK. You haven’t really been exposed to it yet, but take a look online at all the builds you can come up with via jewels and the various armor pieces. For instance, did you know you can play healer in that drinking potions will heal you and your allies and things like that? So maybe you go Hunting Horn or even Insect Glaive with a healing kinsect, equip some support skills, and suddenly you’re a Paladin or Battle Priest or Skald or whatever you want to call yourself.

While I’m not much of an action gamer, the fact that I was also progressing through learning how to better handle a particular weapon ended up feeling great. From starting out clumsily bumbling around with an Insect Glaive to being a leaping and whirling monster rodeo master (okay, master is overstating it, but I wasn’t nearly as incompetent!) was awesome.

People already said most of the “hooks” of the game, but in the specific case of Monster Hunter World, I just love the ambience. When you go in the Ancient Forest and you see all kinds of creatures going around, and then you spot a Pukei-Pukei in the distance. Or when you’re fighting a Barroth and suddenly a Jyuratodus jumps on the Barroth like a Boa constrictor. Or when you stop to get some mushrooms and just stay there for a while, listening to the sounds of the forest. Or when you see a Kala-Ya-Ku go to an Aptonoth nest to get some yummy eggs for itself. Or when you see the Coral Highlands for the first time!

What a fantastic game it is.

Thanks, that’s more along the lines of what I was hoping to read. When I originally wishlisted this I was, frankly, looking for an action RPG - not an action game. At present, it definitely feels more like the latter than the former. I’ve been tinkering with the ranged weapons, especially the bow, specifically to get away from the combo-heavy gameplay aspect. There are still chain attacks there, of course, but they’re straightforward. But yeah, if that was all there was to it, I’d pretty much file it to “not interested” and move on.

But I don’t even know what jewels are, so I clearly haven’t hit some critical point yet. That said, this is starting to drag a bit and I’ve only got so much gaming time - how long do I need to hang in there to see some of this?

You’re not wrong. Part of the reason I keep coming back and trying to like it (beyond a sense of potential) is that the world itself is pretty fantastic.

The more you play, the more the game opens up, and the more variety you’ll see. I suggest that you try to play at least until you get to the Coral Highlands. If you don’t fall in love with the game by the time you fight a Legiana, then it’s probably not your thing. ;)

I have to agree. When I’m trying to hunt a large monster it can be seriously annoying that these stupid small guys are getting in the way, but then I played Dauntless which is basically “what if Monster Hunter deleted all the extra stuff” and it was incredibly boring and stale. Annoying as it is to get knocked off of carving by some trash monster, their presence makes the zones feel alive in a way other similar games don’t match.

Anyone manage to take down Behemoth? Seems pretty difficult in a team let alone to solo.

Charge Blade is indeed awesome, but I decided to try the Switch Axe (probably my favorite weapon in previous MH) in Monster Hunter World and not only I’m loving it, as it fits my playstyle much better. Hunting with it has been safer, faster, and more fun. At least for now.

I love this game. ;)

Nooo… I went charge blade cause of this thread. No talking about switch axe being better (especially the ‘safer’ bit - I’ve reached a point in the game where I’m getting mauled. Lunastra, multiple tempered Beteleguses or whatever… aiiieeee).

As for what keeps my playing: I was a big MMO junkie. MHW distills the entirety of MMOs down to its most basic components - the game loop of fight and get better gear and fight bigger stuff. I hate “grinding” in games, yet thus far I don’t really feel the grind. Even though I absolutely am.

Haha, don’t mind me. I played with the Charge Blade yesterday again, and I’m planning on trying the Insect Glaive again tonight. Since you mentioned MMOs, I am what people call in MMO lingo an “altoholic”. In the case of Monster Hunter World, that translates to different weapons, and while I’m learning the ins and outs of each one, I’ll switch my favorites like crazy. ;)

But the thing is: Charge Blade is still awesome, but getting its flow right takes a good while. The big (perhaps only) benefit of the Switch Axe over the Charge Blade is how simple it is to use. Switch Axe combos are straightforward, it’s the easiest weapon to do “infinite combos” with, its “special attack” is really easy to land, it’s reasonably fast to sheathe so you can reposition easily - it’s a good weapon to use when you don’t want the mental overload other weapons like the Charge Blade or the Insect Glaive might have (until you get used enough to them).

So yeah, perhaps tonight my favorite will be the Insect Glaive! And then not. After a while, I’ll settle on which one is my “main” (probably the Charge Blade :D), but I’ll still use the others, as any good altoholic would do. ;)

As a fellow altoholic, that’s why I’m so easily swayed by anyone spouting how awesome their weapon is. I found the solution though - I upgraded all my current armor, and now I’m broke. Can’t make any new weapons! TAKE THAT MHW!

Ok, PSA: Bow is easy mode in MHW. Seriously. This thing is way OP. ;)

I still think the Swag Axe is more fun, but Bow seems a great option when you’re hunting for specific parts, or when you want to be done quickly and without pain.