Finished the main campaign after 25 hours, at 30 hours currently having done some high rank quests. Took my sweet time doing everything, games are to be savoured not rushed through after all. A lot has been written about MHWilds and I have plenty to say myself, stick with me because my conclusion may surprise you. Before we get there though...
This game is piss easy. Playing solo, never failed a mission, only carted once (due to a dumb mistimed heal), zero incentive to make use of various tools like shock traps etc. There wasn't a single boss that gave me a true sense of danger like I got in World, not a single one that made me feel like I was in a fight for my life, against all odds. My Dual Blades steamrolled through everything. Now, I expect/hope some of the post game will bring the heat but as of right now the game has been a cake-walk.
The game is ugly as sin (most of the time). It has nothing to do with it not being vibrant and colourful or it's choice of art style. Ugly, low quality textures, characters, a game covered in a muddy patina. Broken HDR that doesn't seem to improve no matter how much you tinker with it (and unfortunately just makes the game look worse if you turn it off altogether) and some of the *worst* clipping I've ever seen in my many years of hardcore gaming, see exhibit A:
It is - objectively! - a mess all around. I think I saw a post here saying the cutscenes are how the game should have looked, that is spot on but even then the visuals wouldn't be anything to write home about. I've seen other posts ridiculing the idea that this looks like a PS4 game. Well, let me take it a step further, there are *PS3* games that look better than this, go look up screenshots of GoW3 or any of the Uncharted games. Yes, they are different games but the fact remains, if you can't see that then something is severely wrong with your eyesight.
Nobody plays MH for the story, I trust we can all agree on that. Even so, this is one of the most boring, trite, vapid, milquetoast narratives I've ever experienced, filled with throwaway, inconsequential characters (except Gemma, she's a keeper). World wasn't high art but it was still better than this and the thing is I believe MH *could* have a truly engaging and creative narrative, CAPCOM just doesn't seem interested in putting the resources towards it (or towards other stuff evidently).
I could go on about the fussy, unintuitive UI, baffling quality-of-life omissions (item pouch full, grab item, message covering my entire god damn screen pops up, cannot turn this off) or how it's missing that sense of adventure in organically tracking your prey, planning your hunt etc. But I'll stop here with all my criticisms because the truth is this: I really fucking love this game.
Moments in time: I'm battling an Alpha Doshaguma on sand dunes at night, it rising up fearsomely, saliva dripping, dynamically kicking up sand covering it's massive body. I'm chasing down a Rey Dau during a storm and engage, it charging up a blast, the particle effects searing my retina in a cavalcade of light and energy. I'm scaling vines in a forest next to a waterfall, up into a Rathalos nest, it's roars mighty, breathing fire and brimstone as I deftly dodge and weave wounding it's body, severing it's venomous tail. When I'm doing all these things all that other stuff just melts away, I'm enraptured by the spectacle, I'm invigorated by the action, there is nothing else quite like it.
So I'm ultimately left with a feeling that this could have, *should* have been a masterpiece. This is CAPCOM's biggest franchise and as we recently learned the sales of Wilds set a new record for the company. They have the talent and resources to make every single element of this game sing and it's a shame they didn't go that far. But I love it, it's a videogame-ass videogame, it makes me happy, it does the things I want a game to do, take me to another world and give me endless *fun* while I'm there.
I'll finish by saying what I wrote in my first couple of hours turned out to be true in my 30th. The "next-gen" feeling really comes from the animations and physics that brings these Wilds to life, the excellent boss designs keeping me in a constant state of amusement or wonder, their lush movements hypnotic. This movement extends to your own arsenal too of course. I've now switched to sword and shield for a change and I'm loving the fluidity and dynamism, think I'll be using this for the next couple of dozen hours.
I'd completely understand people preferring World to Wilds, if I really sit down and compare both, judging each for it's time I do believe I give the edge to World too. What would be harder to accept is someone liking previous MonHun games and NOT liking Wilds because for all it's myriad faults the fact is while numerous games have tried to imitate the formula there is still nothing quite like Monster Hunter, it's a world unto it's own.
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