Monster Hunter Wilds

• Genre: Action.
• Spoiler Free Review: I guess it is, but who cares. Here is a spoiler. The story is terrible and the characters are worse.
• Time Played: 32 Hours.
• Too Short/Long: Time is probably right for where I am in the game. 
• Soundtrack: Not that Monster Hunter has always been a contender for sweet music, but I felt it lacked even more than usual in this one. The only time I even remember music playing was the final battle of the main story and it was so damn loud and bombastic, rather than epic and moving.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Eh... I don't wanna say disappointed, but... I guess I am.
• Why I played: I've played most Monster Hunter games, maybe not every version of every monster hunter game, and I never went back for the extra stuff in Iceborne or Sunbreak, but generally speaking I am a fan of the series.
• Did I cry: No, in fact I don't think this game manage to make me feel any significant emotion.
• Jank: Damn does it have some jank when it comes to the UI. Not every Monster Hunter has had the same menus, but this one definitely made the most changes and I'd dare say exclusively for the worse.
• Difficulty: I think the difficulty is about what you'd expect for a Monster Hunter game. Some of the more general aspects of it are easier, since you can get right back into the fights right away, it can feel like less of a slog. By the same measure, the discrepancy in which you take damage is insane. I just feel like I should be able to tank a hit or two without having to heal between each hit.
• Recommend to others: I mean I guess if you like Monster Hunter you'll like this, but I'd sooner recommend Rise or World to a new player who didn't just want to play the so-called "Latest and Greatest". Monster Hunter Stories 2 is still the best Monster Hunter game overall though.

I'm so tired of Monster Hunter Wilds, I don't even want to write this. I'm not necessarily "fully done" Monster Hunter Wilds. I usually aim for more or less 100%ing a game. Or rather completing the bulk of the primary content. I'm conceding a bit prior to finishing the "High Rank" stuff. But I did get the credit roll, and for all intense and purposes I "beat the game". Some people specifically refer to high-rank as "post-game" too, further establishing that the game is finished.

It's not typical of me to stop playing a game at this point though. It's just that as we go into this weekened and I look at what I want to spend it doing, I realize I have a literal zero interest in playing Monster Hunter Wilds. I don't even necessarily have another game lined up, and so I may spend the weekend sampling things until something really catches my interest. I just know I don't want to play Wilds. Which is unfortunate. It's not a bad game. It can be really fun, and there are aspects of it I really appreciate. I appreciate there is a little bit more customization than normal. I appreciate how some of the weapons function in ways that didn't really interest me before. I like the wounds and wound attacks.

Structurally though, I find the game to be a mess. I liked the mount in Rise, riding your Canyne companion was fun. You could drift the dog! The Seikret while cool in it's own right, is not nearly as cool as the dog. And not just aesthetically, that's a matter of preference, just the way it handles. While I can appreciate the auto-ride in some cases, it made the game so much less about exploring the maps and finding little secrets and shortcuts, but generally complaint the bird doesn't do nearly as much as the dog. It doesn't jump, drift, or battle. It carries an extra weapon - which is nice though. As an insect glaive user, it's not the best weapon for smaller monster, or heavily armored monsters, so switching to something a bit more grounded or heavy hitting if needed is a nice little bonus. If you have a full party, it means you can truly take advantage of optimizing for a fight.

Unfortunately I didn't get that much of an opportunity to play this one with other people, and maybe that's where my saltiness stems from in some aspects. I got to play a little bit with a couple friends a couple times, but it was mostly redoing smaller missions. I was pretty excited for Monster Hunter Wilds, because I don't usually play games online and I knew of a whole bunch of people getting it immediately. Half the people I know got it plowed through everything by day 2, which I just could not do, and even some other friends who were about where I was, couldn't spend much time playing together. Some of it just comes to poor scheduling and timing, I'm sure, but I was looking forward to maybe getting to play with people a bit more.

But that definitely didn't ruin it for me. The story is god-awful. I hate most of the cast, and every time I saw a cutscene or interacted with a character I wanted to play the game less. Navigating through menus and just trying to do anything is such a pain in the ass. Certain aspects of the multiplayer can only be configured through a character who isn't around half the time, or, when you're doing the story, may not give you the option to change your multiplayer lobby, so the only other way to change your lobby is to leave the game and return. So many different menus require you to go to a specific location to access the menu. So few things are static and simple that it just makes for a terrible user experience.

Despite that, when you are actually playing the game, normally, it's largely as fun as any other Monster Hunter. But it lacks gimmicks or anything to really mix up the battles, and that's no fun either. Most Monster Hunter games, especially Worlds and Rise had gimmick battles, and Wilds just does not. It has a couple little chase sequences, but I'm pretty sure those play out the same whether you touch the controls or not - ultimately ending up in a normal battle. The best they do, and something I'll give credit for at least, is mix up the monster variety a bit better than most prior monster hunter games. I didn't feel like I was just fighting 6 variations of the same dinosaur.