How hard is MHW really?

[D-Jak]

I am wondering about the difficulty of this game. Starting day one last year on PC, I just played 6 hours and every fight was a real challenge. After killing the Barroth, I stopped. It was too intense for my taste, controls too clunky (I thought) and I just couldnt get into it. My second run a few months later only lasted for 3h, after a Pukei Pukei gave me some trouble and I just felt that I should be able to dominate it but couldnt.

Then fast forward to a few weeks back. After seeing a clip on youtube, I started again. And it just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clicked. I couldnt believe how fun this game actually is when you know what you are doing. Honestly, this is probably one of the best games I ever played. Definitely in my top 3 so far.

I am wondering about the difficulty of this game after watching clips and reading articles. A lot of people seem to rate this super difficult. I am not a complete noob, but I just beat Teostra on my first try and I think I will finish the game tonight (campaign).

Some people compare this to Dark Souls. I tried DS3 when it came out and I couldn't beat the FIRST boss. Generally, I suck at most games and play single player for my pleasure only. I don't know if I just "got gud" in this game, but even considering this, I rarely had a roadblock. I kill 95% of the monsters on first try. Only "roadblocks" I had so far were Pink Rathian (4 tries, but after upping gear on the first try) and Diablos (3 tries). Even Nergigante only took me 2 tries.

Also, I am not sure whether it's because of my weapon: so far I main Dual Blades, but tried the Bow, CB and GS. I just like the DB most, I like the agility, but I have read that DB are the easiest weapon.

So now I am wondering how you guys experience this game. Do you think it's easy? Hard? How do you compare it to the difficulty of DS?

Cheers and happy hunting.

[󠀡󠀡]

Honestly it's more fun than Dark Souls in my opinion.

You can find friends/make groups, but it's harder if you're lower HR. I'm remaking a new hunter to redo things before Iceborne and no one answers SOS hardly.

Once you find your weapon you're good at and you learn the monster fighting patterns it's pretty easy and basically GG.

As far as the controls if you're using keyboard and mouse yes they're awful. Use a controller, specifically an XBOX one if you have it/can get one.

It can still be like DS later on when you fight Arch Tempered monsters or if you're lower HR fighting certain monsters and don't stop to farm up armor or if you struggle in fights. Sometimes I still want to stop playing when I get frustrated if I'm dying a lot, but I've learned to stop, go farm what I can, upgrade and move on.

Biggest complaint is I wish we could upgrade our tree to get flash bugs quicker than how long it takes to be able to do that. :/

[TVMAN]

Having it 'click' for you is that makes all the difference, as you've noticed OP. I think most of the difficulty comes from reaching that level in the first place, because once you actually get into the game, then you can start understanding what you're doing wrong whenever you cart and improve based on that.

I thought the game was really hard when i first started out, and could actually feel the difference as i learned the monsters and improved.

[puntifragolaesselunga]

only AT elder ♥♥♥♥♥ in solo are "hard"
rest is ez pz lemon squez

[Popcorn]

Originally posted by Bonobo:

only AT elder ♥♥♥♥♥ in solo are "hard"
rest is ez pz lemon squez

Really? Its usually easier cuz theres no other distractions (except for ur palico...LOOKING AT U BEAN! WTF R U DOING WHEN IM STUNNED?!?! (I kno i can leave him behind, but i have a love/hate relationship with him))

[Zelph]

High rank was never that hard to begin with. Outside of endgame hunts, world is pretty easy overall. Easiest monster hunter yet, but that doesn't mean its an easy game as a whole.

Generally the dark souls comparison comes from the bosses. But that is somewhat flawed, as dark souls bosses hit harder, but don't have nearly as much health. End game stuff is better, because you can very well die in 3 or 4 hits, but they take 10+ minutes outside of optimized runs.

[Aigle1705]

on my first char i started with longsword, wanted that cool looking giant ass katana.
even tho i had good range n could cut tails n stuff the weapon was too forced into 1 direction.
you couldnt just turn around within the combo or even stop it after the 2nd hit.

so i switched to hammer at some point. one of my first hammer was the legi ices one. so guess i used longsword for quiet a while. yet i realy fell in luv with the hammer finished the campain with it n its still my main hr90~

due to even quest n items i got into some of the other weapons latly.
SnS thx to the witcher quest. realy luv that you can turn around in between every singl hit.
greatsword thx to that steampunk blade. feels way to good smashing lower rank stuff in 3-4 combos.

bout the game play well, i wouldnt nessearily compare it to souls.
not because of the difficulty but because of the complexity. in souls it doesnt matter what you use against which boss. here theres so much stuff you can counter just by wearing the correct gear.
think of val hazard without any miasma protection. thats like fighting jhorm with out stormruler or ancient wyvern without the plunch atk.
not that it doesnt work. its just infinetly harder :D

bout the difficulty.
there are some creatures i struggled real hard along the run.
my first challange was the anjanath that thing took real long. on my sec slot this one was pretty much 1st try.
vaal was another one.
doara for example i still hate. :D

i think the switch to hammer helped me alot gettin over fear n defensive play.
as hammer me go face. no matter what. so yea you learn to stand your ground even if vaal hazard likes to lazorbeam all time long.

to me this one id quiet harder than souls stuff.
thing is souls there is just 1 giant hit box, it doesnt matter where you hit.
in MHW you have to go for certain bodyparts even depending on the weapon youre using.
cause rebouncing from a hit realy sucks n deals way less dmg. :D
1 reason why to me the surge is a way better comparism.
you can hit different zones, cut parts, n have ya pachinco aka drone :D

[lexilogo]

The thing is about MH versus Dark Souls is that the forms of difficulty are totally different.

Dark Souls' difficulty (excluding stuff like PvP, though this also applies to that) comes from moving carefully through the punishing levels, and in boss fights timing your rolls correctly. It doesn't matter how much you know about the game's lore or how good you are at exploration, falling from heights or getting wumbo comboed by a boss kills you just as easily as anyone else.

Monster Hunter's difficulty comes from knowing your weapon, and knowing the opposing monster. There's a far higher game knowledge requirement, but that knowledge helps you cut away at some of the difficulty if your execution isn't perfect.


It's just an example of the execution vs game knowledge forms of difficulty. It's why Monster Hunter is SO, SO much easier if you have someone giving you advice and explaining how things work, compared to Dark Souls where everything's pretty cut and dry, it's just cutting and drying you.

[LVIS 神 GAMING]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1886610246

[Vandals[UK]]

Certain weapon is easy against certain monster.

Generally speaking, as a DualBlade user, you first nemesis would be HR29 dual Tempered Bazelgeuse. Next one after that would be HR49 Tempered Kirin.

How hard is MHW?
How about it gets to the point where a single mistake, monster can one shot you? This is where Arch Tempered Elder and Behemoth comes in.

[tag545]

difficulty is about average but jumps to extreme when you dont learn the mechanics and treat it like the standard action game.

this is an old series that predates souls and stayed a nitche title until now. it doesnt really hammer in its mechanics and treats the player as if this is years back where you are expected to sit down and read the manual before even inserting the disk / cartridge. now you get 1 or 2 mentions of a core mechanic in combat and a training room to practice in and thats about it when it comes to help.

world is fairly easy by MH standards. one reason is the quality of life improvements but another reason is the lack of a final difficulty spike (including post master rank). for endgame tempered monsters and AT monsters dont fully count as a difficulty spike since they are mostly just number changes excluding a few at monsters. in previous titles new moves, mechanics, and more aggressive ai post final rank up werent exceptions to the rule but the norm with monsters like apex rajang reaching meme status.

however in world the endgame is more of a test than a difficulty spike. can you beat high rank teostra without getting hit? if yes good then neither tempered or AT will pose much of a threat outside of one new move for at teo. otherwise there is nothing new to learn, you are taking the same test again but with a higher cut off to get a passing grade.

[I predict the past]

AT Nergigante and Extreme Behemoth - hard
The rest - a joke

[★ Rizal ★]

with ♥♥♥♥♥♥ random armor , mindless button mashing , not knowing the basic mechanic everything will take forever

[Tom2182]

At early stage of MHW it is really ez (easy - moderate) meant for beginneer/new to the franchise. After the vanilla story is where it gets difficult with Arched tempered monsters that are fast and one shot u and are very fast u have to be near perfect to defeat it or have a defensive loadout.
overall I wouldnt say that it is "hard" but more of the realm of "unfair" due to the AT system giving monster Light attack crazy dmg and also some move like Nergi 's Smackdown move that can oneshot and give u 1 s to respond , additionally he can spam it . That is just one of the ATs . Other than that the game , I feel give u a more satisfying feeling when u do something great when compared to DS and it is more fun to co op

[Popcorn]

Originally posted by lexilogo:

The thing is about MH versus Dark Souls is that the forms of difficulty are totally different.

Dark Souls' difficulty (excluding stuff like PvP, though this also applies to that) comes from moving carefully through the punishing levels, and in boss fights timing your rolls correctly. It doesn't matter how much you know about the game's lore or how good you are at exploration, falling from heights or getting wumbo comboed by a boss kills you just as easily as anyone else.

Monster Hunter's difficulty comes from knowing your weapon, and knowing the opposing monster. There's a far higher game knowledge requirement, but that knowledge helps you cut away at some of the difficulty if your execution isn't perfect.


It's just an example of the execution vs game knowledge forms of difficulty. It's why Monster Hunter is SO, SO much easier if you have someone giving you advice and explaining how things work, compared to Dark Souls where everything's pretty cut and dry, it's just cutting and drying you.

I mean, if MHW wasnt so hyped up, im pretty sure there wouldntve been any guides. Plus in the older gen, there was barely any guides AT ALL (as in youtube videos) so newcomers should be a little thankful that they DID hype it for ppl to be creating guides

[HeavyPricePaid]

I think it is challenging and the monsters are just annoying enough that I will keep coming back for the kill and not quit. The thing is you have to get used to the frames and know how to move around even though it feels clunky at times. Just started on PC but still grinding on Xbox though.