Is this game worth the prices?

[Karradery]

I have run dry on games I have been enjoying lately. I never tried this game out due to having other games/ being busy, but I have been looking for a change. One of my favorite games is FF12 because of the guild hunts and quests, and this game gives me almost the same kind of vibe from what I have seen.

Is it tedious at all? Does the grind get super obvious to the point where you feel like you are working rather than playing?

Does the game offer enough gratification for players with each milestone achieved?

Is the game 100% soloable? (hate playing with people, or being forced too)

Does the company that runs the game hide crucial game mechanics behind pay walls as well as meta items behind dlc/ add-ons?

Thank you for the help.

[Greb]

I think so, but I'm biased because I enjoyed the game a lot, and the gameplay loop. The average person probably isn't going to play the game as much as me, but...I feel like it presents a great journey for you and the milestones you achieve, sure. There's a lot to do in the game, much to unlock, experience and overcome.

You can solo pretty much everything, it's actually often easier to do this, but there are a few Event quests and the like which are designed for group play (they can be obnoxious without one, anyway)

Iceborne is a DLC you have to pay for, the rest is purely cosmetic, don't let the £400 DLC list concern you, other than Iceborne and the Barroth statue, there's nothing there that's necessary. Capcom used these optional cosmetic DLCs to fund the actual content updates which have all been free up until this point (other than Iceborne, of course) and have since come to an end on October 1st.

The grind can be, but it's not a requirement, unless you want 100%. It took me hours to grind out some of the stuff like Treasure Hunts and obtaining all Endemic Life, and it took me literally days (even weeks) to grind out the Gold and Mini Crowns, but all of that stuff was option and didn't change a single thing in terms of gameplay once achieved...so yeah.

The only major grind is reaching the level in Master Rank, Iceborne DLC, where you can fully augment your weapons and armour, and even that'll just happen on its own in time while you do other stuff.

Also a region called the Guiding Lands, designed to be a kind of "endless, end game content" has a slang name the "Grinding Lands" for a reason, as you do have to seek out monsters and kill them to obtain random drops as part of the augmentation of equipment, but it's not as bad as some people make out - although it'll be a little annoying if you do it entirely in solo.

[mewlynx]

This game can get tedious with how much farming is required, but the process of farming is fun for a good while. That being said, whether or not it'll feel like work really depends on the player; there are definitely points when set building where I just have a giant list of things I need to acquire and it feels like a ton of work, but depending on my mood that's either a good or bad thing.

How much gratification you experience depends way too much on the personal experience, so I can't really answer this.

The vast majority of this game is soloable, but there are a few exceptions. Most notably, there are two siege style fights that are designed with a full lobby of 16 players cooperating in mind. The game doesn't gate you from trying, but it's impractical to do it solo. The only other thing to mention is the Final Fantasy crossover that has Behemoth scaled to 4 players at all times. It's still perfectly soloable, but it doesn't have solo HP scaling like any other monster would, so in that sense it isn't designed to be soloed.

The only payed DLC that actually adds anything of substance is the expansion, which adds more progression. The rest of it is just cosmetic stuff that doesn't do anything, so there isn't any pay to win. Most payed content is just stuff like stickers to send in chat, hairstyles, and gestures, so meaningless stuff you only buy if you're really into the game and don't mind shelling up some money for some cute stickers to spam.

I would say just watch some videos and understand what you're getting into, gameplay wise. I've never played Final Fantasy 12, but I've never seen anyone compare the games.

[Poyzo]

I bought it on sale and was shocked at how I have missed out over the years. This game is incredible! I always thought Monster Hunter was a Pokemon-like game where you would collect monsters or something (and you can capture them in this game too), but how little did I know!

If a new Monster Hunter comes out on PC again it will be a day-one buy for me. I love this game.

[zarse]

No.

What the ♥♥♥♥ do you call a milestone? The game is linear with the rewards. You kill thing (or capture it), you do weapons and armor. You proceed to kill harder thing.

Yes. Except Safijiva. One monster

No.

[wr4ith_bl4d3]

Is it tedious at all? Does the grind get super obvious to the point where you feel like you are working rather than playing?

Does the game offer enough gratification for players with each milestone achieved?

So I think this largely depends on the player, if you enjoy the gameplay then it doesn't feel grindy, at least to me. It's a very intrinsically focused game, the gratification comes from your familiarity with the weapons and enemies. At first you'll get hit by everything and by the end you'll be able to predict and punish monsters. If you're not a fan of games where you lose alot at the beginning then this is probably not your cup of tea.

Is the game 100% soloable? (hate playing with people, or being forced too)

Some content is designed for multiplayer, however they're optional and technically you can do them solo it will make them harder and take longer however. But to answer your question, yes you can play from intro to the credits by yourself with no problem.

Does the company that runs the game hide crucial game mechanics behind pay walls as well as meta items behind dlc/ add-ons?

So the expansion dlc Iceborne adds new moves and mechanics to the game. All other dlc/add ons are cosmetic only and don't offer any advantage in a mechanical sense.

[mewlynx]

Originally posted by Zarse:

No.
Yes. Except Safijiva. One monster

HR Kulve Taroth is a siege fight similar to Safijiva, so two monsters.

[TwoArmedMan15]

I just broke 1100 h ours on PC in this game (and probably another 500 hours on PS4...), so I definitely think it's worth the price. However, that is a matter of opinion... Also, I don't think this game is ANYTHING like FF12; the closest mainstream comparison is Dark Sous, but Monster Hunter is still different in many ways (and Monster Hunter has been around A LOT longer than the Souls games).

Part of the game is definitely grindy, but it's not a tedious grind in my opinion. The core loop of this game is fight monsters, make better gear from slain monster parts, then use better gear to hunt more powerful monsters. Rinse and repeat. You will fight the same monstyer numerous times; however, learning each monsters unique mechanics is part of the fun, and fighting the same monster in different locales can be a different experience due to how much the terrain impacts combat in Monster Hunter World.

If you're an avid Final Fantasy player, your concept of "gratification" and :milestones" is likely very different from mine, so not sure if i can answer this question... it's another opinion thing. That said, I find it very gratifying to conquer the increasingly difficult hunts.

99% of the game is reasonably soloable. Technically, the game is 100% soloable, but I say "99% reasonably soloable" because the "siege" battles (only 2 monsters but they have some of the best gear) can be extremely tedious to hunt alone. Also, a few of the late game fights can be extremely challenging to solo... but, no, you are never forced to play with others.

It's a sad world we live in when players actually have to ask, "does this game hide crucial mechanics and items behind pay walls?" However, I understand and also hate such modern gaming practices. Good news, though! This game contains no microtransactions that impact gameplay. There are quite a few cosmetic add-ons you can buy (costumes for your sidekick, emotes, and decorative "pendants" for your weapon), but everything that actually impacts gameplay (weapons, armor, monsters, consumable items, etc.) are included in the base purchase and expansion (Monster Hunter World and Iceborne).

Edit: If youd ecide to buy the game, just buy the "Master Edition" which includes the base game (Monster Hunter World) and the expansion (Iceborne). The expansion actually has more content than the base game, so 60 USD for the base game and expansion is a bargain.

[StarExile]

Yep. Even more.

[Fraskon]

First question: I would say no. You can easily spent over 500 hours and still be like "oh yeah i should try this weapon" or "this armor is nice i should get it" and many other things you can do and not get bored of. You will feel how you improve over time and enjoy it rather than feeling like you are working.

Second question: Depends really on the player. For a speedrunner a milestone can be kill Monster X in Y time, for someone else it could be get this or that weapon. Really hard to answer.

Third question: 80% of the time i played solo, because of the same reason. So yes it is absolutely soloable.

Last question: Capcom added a lot of cosmetics DLC's to MHW, but nothing is need to be bought except the DLC Iceborne (which you really should buy if you thinking of buying the game). Capcom is actually really fair if it comes to that. Comparable with Dark Souls here, skill is everything.

[Malfeasance]

Also biased, but this'll end up being my most played game at some point on PC. If you add the PS4 version I've accumulated over 1,000 hours total, more than my most played PC game.

My usual go-to check boxes to find out whether someone would like it is if they:

- Enjoy gear grinds and mat farming.
- Enjoy inventory and equipment management.
- Have a bit of a tolerance and dedication for learning the weapons because of the weighty feel to them. I usually indicate that enjoying Dark Souls tends to help, but obviously it is quite different.

I have one more monster to fight before I've beat everything. There are monsters that I absolutely hate, but they are few and far between compared to the rest of them, and I have really high hopes for 6th gen. There never was a point that the game felt like a job for me. I've taken breaks because anyone can only tolerate so much of something, but it's been almost pure joy from start to finish.

[Anima]

Originally posted by Karradery:

Is it tedious at all? Does the grind get super obvious to the point where you feel like you are working rather than playing?

This is a grind game. Everything is focused around grinding. Playing the game means grinding. Thats really all you do. People are able to put 1000+ hours into this because they love the grind. You have to love grinding or you wont enjoy the game.

[Mander]

My short answer after 2751 hours (and counting): Yes.
Long answer: heck yes, and bring friends to hunt with.
Nothing like slayerizing a monster together: the bigger they are, the bigger the reward!

[~KeNnEtH~]

This game is like learning a martial art.

You are gonna have a hell of a learning curve because you will need to learn even basic things that other games usually don't need to. There are also 14 different weapons but usually most people only specialise in 1 because each 1 plays totally differently.

At the start, it will feel very clunky and you will wonder how other people are able to move so smoothly but past the learning curve and once you have the muscle memory, you will become one of them.

This is one of those games where you (as a player) level up and not so much your in-game character leveling.

In simpler terms, if you are given a character decked out in the best gear the whole game has and just thrown into the game with no past MH game experience, you will still likely die.

So, this is that kind of game.

However, the good thing is this kind of games let you feel a better accomplishment than games that make it so that as long as you got higher numbers/stats than the opponent then you are guaranteed a win.

Also, once you played one MH game, you can transition to other MH games much easier because the moveset of the weapons, like a martial art in real life, is largely the same.

The game is definitely soloable but you can also easily play it multiplayer rather seamlessly.

Capcom has also done right ethically for this game because the amount of free content is almost half the game and all the paid DLCs are purely cosmetic except Iceborne. However, Iceborne is actually a full game on its own with content pretty much equal in amount to the base game.

So, definitely worth the price and if we consider the free content then probably worth even more.

I recommend you just give it a shot, play for an hour or 2 and if you don't like it, just refund it. Do not spend any time in the character creator. Just try the game out for no more than 2 hours and make your decision. If you end up liking it then just edit the character properly and play it. Note that name of the character cannot be changed.

[Zplayer96]

imma be real with you chief if you don't like grinding then this ain't for you

[Rizo the Hunter]

Yes totally. Worth every penny.