Why I won't be buying this game - The Controls

[Sephrinx]

The controls for this game are by far the worst controls I have ever had the misfortune of suffering through. I tried both Mouse+Keyboard as well as using a controller. It's awful. Unplayable.
If you can make the controls for this game not take 14 fingers and 3 thumbs to play, the game might be good.

I find myself having to use MY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CHIN to move the right joystick on the controller to aim my character since there is no way to lock on or keep track of a target in combat.

There is no way to animation cancel. Once you are in an attack you are locked in until you finish the 3.5 second "Swing my sword" animation and you get hit by the incoming attack. Feels terrible and clunky.

Overall the combat feels entirely unresponsive. I never at any point, with any weapon, felt like I had any sort of control of my character or knew what was going on at all.

The keybinds seem to randomly change themselves for no reason arbitrarily as well. Sometimes when I want to scroll through my inventory to a different item, the only options I have are Ammunition??? I don't understand this game at all.

This game could be really fun, if it weren't for the absolute tragedy that is the controls. This isn't a problem that can be fixed by re binding keys either. What even is the purpose of "Focus Mode?" Just let me toggle lock on towards a target so I can actually swing my weapon at them. There is a massive lack of agency on with the player. It feels like I am at the absolute mercy of the computer randomly doing stuff.

This game doesn't make sense. Please fix the controls and the combat. That is the entire main gameplay of this game. It should be phenomenal, not rage inducing. I alt F4 last night because my Tab button wouldn't mount the stupid mount, again - the controls are SO BAD and unresponsive.

I play at maximum settings at 140fps, it's not a lag or performance issue.

Fix the games controls.

[CodeLuffix]

The only problem I have with controls is that it still shows the damn controller key binds when i'm using mouse and keyboard.... For example. I want to rebind for long sword sheath which is R + Space, but in the options it displays as RB + X or something. Most ridiculous key-bind menu.

[Sachunsky]

"There is no way to animation cancel. Once you are in an attack you are locked in until you finish the 3.5 second "Swing my sword" animation and you get hit by the incoming attack. Feels terrible and clunky."

This is how it's always been and how it's designed to be. Take your time and learn attack patterns of monsters so you can time your attacks. If you do that you won't be stuck in an animation when the attack comes. It takes some practice but, yes, this is how all Monster Hunter games are supposed to be played. If you can't get around that then this is not a game you will be enjoying. If you can get your head around it you will feel great when slowly getting better at reading a monsters attacks and being able to evade almost all of them while still dealing massive amounts of damage. Respectfully, don't cry about it and get better. :D

Also, if your weapon of choices feels to slow: Maybe try using another weapon. Sword & Shield is a great options for newcomers of the franchise. Fast attacks, lots of freedom when it comes to evading out of combos and a big skill sealing. "easy to learn, hard to master" as they say.

And yes, the controls can be a bit overwhelming at the start but that gets better. Give it some time. Or are you under the illusion you will be a pro at this game from day 1?

[A Suspicious Crayon]

While i do understand the frustration of the Controls, if you give it some more time you will find that the controls are not actually as terrible as you thought they are, i played Monster Hunter Worlds after a friend of mine gifted it to me, at first i felt the same as you did, that the controls are awful, but with a bit of time they became fairly natural to me.

Monster hunter isn't about Easy to learn hard to master, the learning curve doesn't start at 0 it's not holding your hand all the way, it has always been a game that is fairly niche but with a loyal and dedicated fanbase, but it also has been a fairly difficult to learn game, it is infact designed that way.

The game is about hunting monsters, every monster has different behaviour, different attacks, different resistances and elements, the game is about learning that and using it against the monster. If you run in without any knowledge just bashing buttons you won't make it far. The game isn't for people that demand zero effort and hand holding all the way, never has been, never will.

Give it some time and you will find the controls to be quite easy.

[DAOWAce]

I still have a negative review for World because of numerous things, but also the control scheme.

They still never added the ability to freely rebind anything on gamepad (only swap certain buttons). Wilds is no different.

The controls are very alien, but once you get used to it, you'll find it's far easier to control than you initially thought.

Also it's Monster Hunter, the original "commitment" game. If you input an attack, you commit to that attack, period. Half the skill in MH is knowing when to attack. It's gotten a bit easier and faster over the generations, but this is still a core part of the game.

There's no lock-on, there's never been lock-on. You don't really need ultra precision because the enemies are all much bigger than a human. But, if you're coming into this from other character action games like God of War, DMC or even Dark Souls, well, you have to abolish that mindset.

Focus mode is, uh, well, it's a thing. A new thing. I don't like it as it seems to trivialize aiming, which was a major part of skill in the game, especially for slow weapons like Greatsword. Being able to just 180 mid combo is beyond silly.

World is one of my favorite games, and the first Monster Hunter game so many people finally got to play (myself included).

Step back, rethink and compromise; you'll find a new love in the genre. (though I'd still recommend World over Wilds)

[Voldok]

Originally posted by niaerniopawrjnko:

Originally posted by Hells Malice:

Monster Hunter is iconic for its mediocre combat system so I would never expect them to fix it.

The entire draw is that it feels like a crappy PSP game designed for a dpad.

That is the perfect description of it. I remember trying my hardest to enjoy MHW but it always felt like I was fighting the controls rather than the monsters. And what really bothers me is how monster hunter fans are always trying to gaslight people into believing the controls are good and people who complain just need to "git gud".

poor people being "look-on" dependant in 3d combat

[Popcorn]

Originally posted by niaerniopawrjnko:

Originally posted by Hells Malice:

Monster Hunter is iconic for its mediocre combat system so I would never expect them to fix it.

The entire draw is that it feels like a crappy PSP game designed for a dpad.

That is the perfect description of it. I remember trying my hardest to enjoy MHW but it always felt like I was fighting the controls rather than the monsters. And what really bothers me is how monster hunter fans are always trying to gaslight people into believing the controls are good and people who complain just need to "git gud".

Not all games play the same.
Thats what makes some games more unique than others.

Are the controls perfect? No
Are you required to adapt to the controls? Definitely.

[DysMem]

Originally posted by February:

As someone who's suffered through many Asian-developed games with TRULY disastrous controls, and as someone who's played MH: World before, I can tell you, these controls are just fine.

What I mean is, you will suffer through them the very first time, but they aren't restrictive and you can set them up how you want and you will get used to them - that was my exact experience with World.

Asian developers are so set in their old-age ways of doing things - and Monster Hunter as a series is a good example of that with all their convoluted-as-phuck Interface in all the previous titles - that that's just something you have to muddle through if you want to play this game, because they sure as phuck won't change it up and make it more accessible for you, it is you who has to adapt to them - that's how all old people are.

They are highly restrictive. I can't shift+M1 for whatever, let's say a charged attack... We get M1 or nothing. But they also clearly list the controller defaults with a three-button combo right next to the options. At least we get the option to blank inputs. Very few ports actually have reasonable M&K support anyways - one of the many reasons I stopped buying AAA games with certain exceptions. I don't think this is a big ask if somebody like Battlestate Games can have a multi-function layered movement system with advanced contextual features integrated.

There's also the weird slingshot stuff - Mouse3 to fire? What is this insanity? And if you're playing a ranged class it becomes obscenely disorienting, god forbid you have to sprint.

The devs could just allow for a system similar to autoexecs in Source games. That would open up a lot of options for players who want to play on M&K. But I don't expect to see this. World had all the same problems, and I foresee that they don't intend to remediate the issue. Not worth a $70 pricetag if they aren't going to properly support the machines it's supposed to be released on. It's just lazy - this is something that a junior dev could have spun up in a week.

[MythicalKiba]

Everyone who says use controller ignores accessibility issues...some people are missing a thumb or similar rsi related issues and cannot use a controller.

[Velber]

its the same as world, just with a focus mode and a few more combo chances...though i only used dual blades during the beta, but i doubt they made the controls for the others that much different

[Velber]

Originally posted by MythicalKiba:

Everyone who says use controller ignores accessibility issues...some people are missing a thumb or similar rsi related issues and cannot use a controller.

using a keyboard requires thumbs too tho...unless its specially made, course the same could be done with a controller really...

[Keldric Usugi]

Originally posted by MythicalKiba:

Everyone who says use controller ignores accessibility issues...some people are missing a thumb or similar rsi related issues and cannot use a controller.

They make accessibility controllers. Monster Hunter as a franchise isn't one to coddle players, so the most accessibility it's going to give you is arachnophobia mode.

[RobeRonin]

I have no idea what they where thinking with focus mode it is literally everything we hated about the clutch claw turned up to 11 and made way more required in the game play lol i also found it made a huge difference what weapon you used for example its simple over powered on duel blades and not fun the focus mode strike was literally the airel launch attack from rise and GU that you can just spam and create wound s and then be immortal while you slide down its back hitting it in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ long animation that can break a lot! im not joking when i say who ever was the head developer on wilds needs to be fired !

[NoiosoBear]

Originally posted by DCG909:

Valid, but focus mode is something you enter, use and then exit right away, not?
That's how I've been using it the first go around.

Depends on the weapon. Unless it's change in some way for release, IG has you in focus mode 80-90% of the time to maintain optimal damage. Really hate how focus mode feels on IG atm.

[NeoX]

well i agree Monster Hunter should be played with a controller and not all controller fit the users needs. Just for this game i got myself a trustmaster-controller and aligned the analog-sticks parallel like on a PS-controller, but with the xbox button layout and such. I can understand these who hase issues with the non-sync aligned analog-sticks on a classic xbox controller layout, after playing the hell out of MHW on PS4 (and later on PC again).

Anyone else got a new controller/input device just for this game(series) ?

[NoiosoBear]

Been playing since MH4U, and have been maining the IG since MHGU. I absolutely hate how focus mode feels while playing it. Most of my issues stem from the fact that I'm one of the 7-8 players that use target lock, as I kept using it even in MHWI and MHRS. With how high the uptime is in focus mode for optimal DPS, target lock isn't really feasible atm. Focus mode really feels more intrusive than clutch claw combat for me.

With thousands of hours invested into the franchise, I'm not changing my playstyle to manually aiming. So either IG needs to be more viable without focus mode, or I'll be a waste of space when joining quests. In general I think it functions extremely well with weapons like the Greatsword though.

Minor gripe, but I also hated not auto-sheathing whenever I went to run, due to having focus mode toggled. It was just annoying.