I think a large reason for the malaise over the game is low rank not "difficulty."

[Mister Magician]

This clearly is not a monster hunter game until 4-1, which is the end of low rank and the end of the "aaa experience" story section. The fact that basic monster hunter things get flooded onto you the moment you escape (not beat, escape) low rank shows that even the developers don't think 1-1 to 4-1 is a monster hunter experience.

I can't tell you one person that didn't skip that part of the game or rush through it. Even the people defending it vociferously in the forums either rushed through it or quit before low rank was over just to troll the forums and "own the chuds."

Half of the game was skipped by the playerbase, which meant so many people only had half a game's worth of content to enjoy. Actually, LESS than half because high rank is so barebones it's clear 90% of the budget (and that includes any otherwise qa / optimization money) went into low rank's cutscene / walking simultator sections.

I really thing people wouldn't be complaining about the difficulty if there was more meat on the bone here. Ultimately, the "difficulty" complaints seem to be misspoken criticisms on how fast you can get to the point where the game no longer has anything to provide a non-speedrunner, not opining that the game would somehow be better if everything was less fun and took longer.

Could you imagine if the experience was dragged out even longer than it was without any of the quality of life? Could you imagine if you could not just burn through the terrible parts of the game (low rank)? Now THAT would be a circus.

[Gaidax]

"Not a true Scotsman" the thread.

[Mister Magician]

Originally posted by Gaidax:

"Not a true Scotsman" the thread.

Sir, what are you even trying to say here?

[lolschrauber]

I still think it's quite easy in general. Except for Gore and Arkveld, none of the monsters pose a real threat imho. In over 100 hours of playtime I failed 1 quest and that was due to randoms carting thrice.

[Gaidax]

Originally posted by Mister Magician:

Originally posted by Gaidax:

"Not a true Scotsman" the thread.

Sir, what are you even trying to say here?

Your purity tests are your own personal and subjective opinion that does not reflect the reality.

[RyChu05]

Originally posted by lolschrauber:

I still think it's quite easy in general. Except for Gore and Arkveld, none of the monsters pose a real threat imho. In over 100 hours of playtime I failed 1 quest and that was due to randoms carting thrice.

Its the "veteran" effect IMO. everything feels easy but I dont blame the game, more because of the thousands of hours on previous games, soloing everything, plus the skills transmit from game to game.

[Iggi]

Let's break this down shall we:

• Strong opinion, but some speculation lacks evidence.
  
• Claims like "devs don’t see 1-1 to 4-1 as MH" are interpretations, not facts.
  
• Assumptions about player behavior (e.g., "half the game was skipped") need data to back up.
  
• Budget allocation guess ("90% went to low rank") is pure speculation.
  
• Core argument—low rank is weak/padded, high rank lacks content—is reasonable.
  
• Would be stronger with actual player stats, dev comments, or surveys.

I'd like to thank you for playing, come back when you have actual evidence, better luck next time.

[Rust Vendor]

Just be like me I don't upgrade my armor and weapons until they don't work anymore and I start getting one shot then I remember that there's like 8 levels of armor to buy. Wait, this is about some other BS and how MH isn't like the jank of yesteryear, yeah who cares.

[Mister Magician]

Originally posted by lolschrauber:

I still think it's quite easy in general. Except for Gore and Arkveld, none of the monsters pose a real threat imho. In over 100 hours of playtime I failed 1 quest and that was due to randoms carting thrice.

Except other games were similar, but there was more to do there. Can you honestly say things taking longer or requiring multiple tries would make things better?

There's very little content, that the content is less abrasive outside of the story doesn't make it worse.

All the "game too easy lol" rhetoric is going to do is make capcom keep all the parts of wilds that are abrasive (characters, story, little content) and change the parts that were streamlined.

Do you REALLY think people are going to put up with characters and story and lack of things to do AND have to hit their heads on a wall over and over because of difficulty?

The ONLY reason the game's reception is lukewarm versus strictly negative is because the abrasive parts are easily ignored or rushed through.