#moons play

Despite the streamlining of a lot of elements, it didn't get rid of some of the more annoying stuff about the games in my eyes: the menus and the mechanics bloat. There's a billion things to do, most of which feel like half baked filler. I like games that allow you to dick around, and dicking around is precious to open world titles, but the stuff that's offered in MonHun feels a bit pointless...? One of my gold standard open world games is MGSV, and in that game you also have a lot of stuff to use and lots of places to visit, but visiting a place just makes you engage with the core gameplay (sneaking) and the tools offered allow you to personalize the way you go about. While theres filler stuff (like collecting the animals, finding diamonds, beating your scores at the shooting range...) most of it directly benefits the core gameplay by making you practice the tools you need on the field, or letting you customize your experience with unlocks or giving you the money to get more unlocks. MonHun's dicking around especially in Wilds where the gameplay is so simple is comparatively weak. In World, I enjoyed fishing and catching stuff, finding hidden spots on the map and whatnot because traveling the map was fun, but I never engaged in stuff like pawswap or taking photos. In Wilds, I don't even wanna go fish or hang out, because it feels so empty. As for the menus, I struggle with them a lot, the UX just feels miserable and they still as always have a gazillion options...

Another key aspect of MonHun: well. the Mons you are Hun'ing. Wilds is so far great with this. I love World which introduced my favorite more "grounded" art direction so far but its original designs, while great, were all "lizard" or "dragon". Wilds went batshit with its rosted having octopi, monkeys, weird snakeling things, etc. The new designs are incredible and while I still don't like how the older monsters look, there's a few in there I do enjoy. The animations and models are great and makes me almost wish the gameplay was slower so we could look at them more. I play greatsword near exclusively, so I gotta send my love to the two octopi, not only are the designs splendid but getting to run around chopping their legs off one by one is incredibly fun

Regarding the story - I don't play these games for the plot but thought this one was decent. Not a fan of the Hunter being given more agency, I'd have preferred being a background blank slate instead of a CharacterTM because that forces on your PC a personality you can't chose (also I hate that they're voice now, give me back the grunts and simlish). The adventuring around meeting the villages part was fun because I always love that in fantasy but it felt a bit shallow because of how quick the maps are to traverse and how connected they are - the smaller size overall gives the feeling of a theme park more than a real world in a way World didn't. Still, the main story wasn't cringe so points to that. I'm gonna be awaiting the expansion and future sieges to see what they do with that.

Environments themselves are fun. It's hard to one up the biomes World had because, namesake oblige, they went insane on that one, but they still managed to make up cool looking and creative stuff. It's a shame the seikret mechanic trivializes everything about the map, I might stop using it to start doing more on foot to get to know them better instead of using autopilot.

Combat I can't judge much cuz I only play one weapon. I feel the wounds system is a great replacement for the clutch claw, the enviromental traps are still there and a blast to use, and focus mode is a lifesaver for some weapons. I don't care that it makes stuff "too easy", it's just fun. I do find we're reaching maximal amounts of buttons used though - I didn't pick up my old main, Insect glaive, because I could not comprehend where the buttons would even be placed given the amount of new shit added taking up every part of my controller. I wish that build crafting was more impactful, so far the stuff I've seen lacked the specialization and bonus/malus aspect I saw in earlier games that made preparation so important.

The lack of prep is one of my biggest grievances. My top wish for a new MonHun was one where you'd /feel/ like a hunter in wild fantasy lands in that it'd force you to prepare in depth for tackling the environment as much as the monsters. While the worldbuilding in Wilds is amazing in what they made up and in how it interacts with the biology of the creatures encountered, it's even lesser than World was in terms of favoring the non-combat aspects of the gameplay and that's a big bummer on my end.

So far, i've been having fun even if less than World and I do believe the game is NOT worth the price tag it's at. Where Wilds is huge is that it FINALLY allows crossplay, and even if the gameplay was mid (its not, its pretty good, not peak but its still a good game) playing this stuff with friends is awesome. I am excited to finish the HR stuff and get to actually super challenging group content to take advantage of that. The game might get better with continued updates and eventual expansion...we shall see!