Open world? Really?

[sh3riff]

I just noticed that the game is tagged as OPEN WORLD ..

I played the game years ago and it definitely wasnt OPEN WORLD ..
Really wanted to play the game at that time but this .. that the maps were very small size, time limited made me quit the game and never come back

Did something changed?

Is it really an open world? With no time limit anymore?
Or is steam trolling?

[Tresh]

There are expeditions, I assume you never made it that far. Expeditions allow you to stay in a map indefinitely with no time limit or amount of times you're allowed to faint. You can still hunt while on expedition, and complete bounties, but you can't complete quests while on expeditions.

[Mr. September]

Wikipedia's definition for "open world" is:

"An open world is a level or game designed as nonlinear, open areas with many ways to reach an objective. Some games are designed with both traditional and open-world levels. An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels, or a level with more linear challenges. Reviewers have judged the quality of an open world based on whether there are interesting ways for the player to interact with the broader level when they ignore their main objective. Some games actually use real settings to model an open world, such as New York City." (source[en.wikipedia.org])

And this is what ChatGPT said[imgur.com], which is pretty spot-on if you ask me.

There are still time limits for a majority of the content, but it only matters if you run the game at low performance or have learning issues. You shouldn't need more than 10 to 15 minutes if you are even a little competent. People who run out of time with the 50 minute limit either should practice and learn more or have crap builds to begin with. The stuff with combat that has no timer are expeditions and Guiding Lands. They also have no limit to fainting, but fainting will reduce rewards slightly.

The tag is not entirely fitting, but it's a bit of a 50% thing. When you have half or some of something, you do have some of it, so you can say you have it. It's like when a game has roguelike elements, but isn't exactly a roguelike. It will still get tagged as one because it does contain roguelike elements. At least that's what I saw so far.

TL;DR: It's somewhat an open world game. It's not the sort of open world where all zones are connected, but each map offers enough non-linearity to be considered slightly open world. Honestly, it's not that big of a deal just because you can't get to other zones by foot, since you can only have 4 people in a quest, and the ability to change zones would introduce other technical and social issues. At the very least, people would kick/leave for wanting to change or stay. The tag is somewhat accurate. Emphasis on "somewhat".

[JamesFace]

Tags are user defined, it also has souls like and mmo tags - doesnt make it true

[crunchyshbop]

like another user said, tags are added by users. if you want a more accurate term, its called open area, not open world.

[815|Shouldabeen]

When I originally played World on the PS4, I thought it was going to be an open world game, and I was pretty disappointed. Still ended up really enjoying the game. So much so that I now have it on Steam as well (cutscene skip not being in the base game is kind of stupid).

I really hope MH6 is going to be open world. I think it could really make things interesting.

[Noctoculus]

Originally posted by JamesFace:

Tags are user defined, it also has souls like and mmo tags - doesnt make it true

The intentionally "clunky" combat is very souls-like. MHW also has the Safi event that allows multiple teams of 4 to progress the battle or whatever.

[ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣]

Originally posted by Noctoculus:

Originally posted by JamesFace:

Tags are user defined, it also has souls like and mmo tags - doesnt make it true

The intentionally "clunky" combat is very souls-like. MHW also has the Safi event that allows multiple teams of 4 to progress the battle or whatever.

that doesn't make the game a souls-like or an mmo

[Noctoculus]

Originally posted by ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣:

Originally posted by Noctoculus:

The intentionally "clunky" combat is very souls-like. MHW also has the Safi event that allows multiple teams of 4 to progress the battle or whatever.

that doesn't make the game a souls-like or an mmo

In your opinion.

[ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣]

Originally posted by Noctoculus:

Originally posted by ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣:

that doesn't make the game a souls-like or an mmo

In your opinion.

well my opinion is better than yours

"A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players on the same server.[1] MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ."
the game is completely offline with optional multiplayer features, done through steam instead of dedicated servers, using peer-to-peer connections

"A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. (...) The "Soulslike" name has been adopted by a number of critics and developers. However, there have also been questions whether it is a true genre or a collection of shared mechanics. "
-shared mechanics that this game does not have btw, apart from 'big boss battle', 'dodge-rolling' and using items mid-battle such as pots to heal.
also, what part of the fighting is 'clunky'? as far as i experienced, the combat in soulsborne is a lot smoother than in MH, relying more on reacting & dodging through attacks rather than good positioning

[Noctoculus]

Originally posted by ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣:

Originally posted by Noctoculus:

In your opinion.

well my opinion is better than yours

"A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players on the same server.[1] MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ."
the game is completely offline with optional multiplayer features, done through steam instead of dedicated servers, using peer-to-peer connections

"A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. (...) The "Soulslike" name has been adopted by a number of critics and developers. However, there have also been questions whether it is a true genre or a collection of shared mechanics. "
-shared mechanics that this game does not have btw, apart from 'big boss battle', 'dodge-rolling' and using items mid-battle such as pots to heal.
also, what part of the fighting is 'clunky'? as far as i experienced, the combat in soulsborne is a lot smoother than in MH, relying more on reacting & dodging through attacks rather than good positioning

Good lord, that's the most bestest opinion I ever saw. That's worth almost 5000 regular opinions! You can take that to the bank!

[Mr. September]

Originally posted by Noctoculus:

-snip-

Firstly, the game isn't exactly a soulslike title, despite sharing similar design points. They are distinct in terms of gameplay, structure, and progression. In MHW, the primary focus is hunting monsters, crafting gear, and completing quests. Compared to that, soulslikes are more about open-ended exploration, character progression, and interconnected worlds. At the very least, your character never inherently gets stronger in MH titles, while in soulslikes, you can level up to get abilities/stats that persist even if you change your equipment. Once you take your armor and weapon off in MH titles, your character is exactly the same as it was in the very beginning.

I played enough MMO games to tell you that it's not an MMO either. At the very least, you would need to be able to have and see more than 15 other people in the same place at a time. Maybe several dozens to hundreds, considering the current technology. The game world isn't persistent and shared across a large amount of players at the same time. The zones aren't "massive", either. You don't take quests/raids and do them with, say, 20 people, like in most MMOs. Even the sieges only allow 4 players per quest. The only difference is how the progress of others give your party a bonus.

MHW is closer to any game with 4-man coop game than traditional soulslikes or MMOs. Some examples off the top of my head: Vermintide (both), Left 4 Dead, Deep Rock Galactic, Destiny 2, Dying Light games, and maybe titles like Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 if those latter two have 4 person coop as well. Sure, a lot of the games I mentioned have wildly differing moment-to-moment gameplay, but the foundation is the same. Calling MHW an MMO would be calling all those games I listed MMOs.

The most realistic classification would be "4-player coop action RPG", because that's what it is at the end of the day. You team up with other people and do stuff together; be it capturing critters, catching fish or hunting extremely dangerous monsters.

TL;DR: MHW is a quasi-openworld game with some soulslike elements. It's not an MMO, but a multiplayer coop action RPG.

[Good Night Owl]

The game has not changed, and unlike the pedantic responses you've gotten, I know what you mean. It is definitely not what most people imagine on a surface level when someone says "Open world".

To add to that, I don't really agree with it being considered an RPG. It has RPG elements in it for sure, but the focus is definitely on the action parts of it more than role play.

[FlyingTorcensoredWhale]

Originally posted by Mr. September:

I played enough MMO games to tell you that it's not an MMO either. At the very least, you would need to be able to have and see more than 15 other people in the same place at a time. Maybe several dozens to hundreds, considering the current technology. The game world isn't persistent and shared across a large amount of players at the same time. The zones aren't "massive", either. You don't take quests/raids and do them with, say, 20 people, like in most MMOs. Even the sieges only allow 4 players per quest. The only difference is how the progress of others give your party a bonus.

It's an MMO in the same vein as Guild Wars 1 is MMO.

[-=EDF=- Kouta Seto]

Originally posted by ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣:

Originally posted by Noctoculus:

In your opinion.

well my opinion is better than yours

"A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players on the same server.[1] MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ."
the game is completely offline with optional multiplayer features, done through steam instead of dedicated servers, using peer-to-peer connections

"A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. (...) The "Soulslike" name has been adopted by a number of critics and developers. However, there have also been questions whether it is a true genre or a collection of shared mechanics. "
-shared mechanics that this game does not have btw, apart from 'big boss battle', 'dodge-rolling' and using items mid-battle such as pots to heal.
also, what part of the fighting is 'clunky'? as far as i experienced, the combat in soulsborne is a lot smoother than in MH, relying more on reacting & dodging through attacks rather than good positioning

To actualy teach you:
Souls is basicaly MH-LIKE btw. MH came first, not the ♥♥♥♥ called darksouls wich per definition is EASY compared to MH games from back then where you DIDNT have the ♥♥♥♥ gadgets that we have now thanks to SE making it EASIER for a broader audience.

MMO and MH. You dont consider a game played by 16k people (at time of writing) that are ALL on the SAME server an MMO? Whatever you smoked, gimme some of that sheat pls. Might as well smoke Jagras dung, seems to have the same effect.

[ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣]

Originally posted by -=EDF=- Kouta Seto:

Originally posted by ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣:

To actualy teach you:
Souls is basicaly MH-LIKE btw. MH came first, not the ♥♥♥♥ called darksouls wich per definition is EASY compared to MH games from back then where you DIDNT have the ♥♥♥♥ gadgets that we have now thanks to SE making it EASIER for a broader audience.

MMO and MH. You dont consider a game played by 16k people (at time of writing) that are ALL on the SAME server an MMO? Whatever you smoked, gimme some of that sheat pls. Might as well smoke Jagras dung, seems to have the same effect.

what? did you misquote me? otherwise you did not read my comment at all