What are your thoughts on Focus Mode for those who played the beta?

[neon_rabbit]

It reminds me of the tenderizing mechanic from Monster Hunter: World, which I personally found to be a chore—something you had to go through just to properly engage in the hunt unless you wanted it to drag on for 30+ minutes.

On Capcom's page, the mechanic is demonstrated on a pretty small monster.

Back in World, the Clutch Claw and tenderizing felt extremely clunky. Even after mastering it, I found myself not even aiming at the monster anymore because of how buggy it was—it was way more optimal to just fire it at the ground near the target.

Monsters in Monster Hunter are big, fast, and have a lot of moving parts, which makes precise mechanics like this tricky.

For those who played the beta, how does it feel to execute? How janky is it, and does it disrupt the flow of combat?

[Cuchilain]

Originally posted by Wookiee:

Originally posted by Cooperal:

Honestly I think it is an underwhelming addition. Find the glowy part, use the attack that is specifically meant for glowy parts, get big damage.

Their isn't a whole lot of player agency to it, at least not on the surface. Metaphorically speaking it looks like you are being asked to put a triangle block through a triangle-shaped hole.

I might be underselling a little bit. You can choose to swap weapon before doing it, or it might be worth leaving it to someone who is better equipped for getting big gains out of it if you are playing harder content cooperatively. Either way I do not consider it substantial enough to qualify it as some innovative spin. I am sure it is a stub of an idea that will be built upon in an expansion.

you are missing out on quite a lot of damage if you go for popping them instantly, but i do have to say some weapons might get more yield if they pop em often.

For general idea, wounded spots take extra damage until popped, so letting them stay will in most cases yield more damage.

There is clear strategy here. Dont bust them right off, because of extra dmg, but you can bust them with purpose to interrupt rages and stagger or knockdown cuddle buddies.

So my opinion to the post, the focus is great. It can be used to aim regular combos without using the RB attack to break wounds. I can still play without it just fine, but it can otherwise be used to correct and turn your combos to maintain hits on cuddle buds.

I have seen people angry about it. . . but just dont ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ use it if you dont like it. Same with clutch claw. I rarely used it, because by the time it was in Iceborne i didnt need it and i found it too hard to integrate into my hunt. If you have time to try the beta, give it a shot. I tried a lot of weapons and stuff and i can say this is what RISE should have been. RISE was a backslide into an arcade style childs game.

[BEEP!]

I like it a whole lot more than Clutch-Claw and tenderizing.

In Wilds it actually makes sense hurt monster, monster now has gaps in it's armor you attack the weaknesses in the armor and it doesn't just full stop the monster with that strange flinching that stopped the whole fight in it's tracks.

Now I no longer feel like I completely ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up the timing with something like the Greatsword were like 70% of my attacks are misses and I have a lot of down time ,because now I can move in between my combos now, it's just really nice.

But I can completely understand why some people won't like it because they'l feel like there forced to use it.

Even now my console buddy that tried MH World and didn't like the combat actually like the combat in Wilds he felt like he had actual control over his attacks.

Overall I like it just from the control alone it makes me feel a lot cooler with the stuff I can pull of and it's super easy to use at any time as well.

[NoiosoBear]

Feels incredibly disruptive on IG, since optimal gameplay has you using it like 80% of the time.

I plan to straight up ignore the mechanic most of the time, hate how it felt in the beta.

[Nihrahk]

I don't mind it, as it is a cool addition. I won't use it that much, but gonna pop it up whenever I feel it necessary, such as looking for wounds that are out of my sight.

[Palicai]

Focus mode brings 0 negative aspects o the game, and i mean ZERO.

So yeah, its good. Better than Clutch Claw i'd say, as that felt mandatory in the game, while Focus is just an added bonus for people who wanna use it, its 100% not needed to finish fights.

I do wish they fix the aiming with left stick, i belive Rurikhan was the one who made a video, and i 100% agree with him, its weird some weapons can aim with left stick while in focus, and others cant. Probably a mishap from the devs, as with mouse you can aim ALL attacks, with ALL weapons.

[SoftpilLoW]

It seems to solve the problem of GS SS charging attack miss, but I often forget to use it. lol

[DJDiceZ]

Strange, a bit awkward at times. Interesting. Especially the finishers.
The best way i can describe it is "more cool than fun, but at least it's cool".
I don't have a problem with it and it's still better than clutch claw, but it's a bit clunky sometimes.

[Aldroen]

I hate anything that requires direct aiming with a controller.

I could of course use K+M but it just does not feel right for MH.

[NoiosoBear]

Originally posted by Aldroen:

I hate anything that requires direct aiming with a controller.

I could of course lay K+M but it just does not feel right for MH.

Same. Auto lock forever, not going to use focus mode much.

[pasta]

Its boring

[Soji]

it's really bad, not clutch claw bad, but just about as bad as it can be without porting that mechanic over into this game. It's just as overcentralizing as CC, some weapons benefit far more from it than others and ultimately it's still another mechanic that disrupts the flow of combat to try and perform.

[SpidersInABirthdayCake]

I can actually aim my Longsword at specific parts (looking at you tail).

[Drogash]

i think wilds will be the easest Monster Hunter game because of focus mode, is just broken you will never miss again unless u are just really bad

[sade]

Didn't like it but not mind it either, atleast to me it doesn't feel as mandatory chore like the claw was but most likely wont be paying attention to it

[Chaos]

Crazy OP lol.
Now you can turn and aim on a dime everywhere with your weapon now.
Your facing and position be damned.

Not sure if it should be in MH tho.