Capcom is back with his saga of hunting in a delivery that starts the fifth generation redefining completely what we knew to date. World becomes, on its own merits, the best episode of the franchise. A total title
Monster Hunter World analysis, the consolidation of a style
There is something special about Monster Hunter World that sets it apart from previous installments in the series. They are already more than 12 years since the saga arrived in Europe, and after having seen this massive Capcom franchise evolve, which adds more than 40 million units worldwide , the truth is that the birth of this fifth generation implanted a change in the way the hunter communicates with the monster, an essential metalanguage to fulfill the main task that the developers had in mind when they set out to develop the title four years ago: conquer all kinds of audiences.
This was a double-edged sword, because Monster Hunter is a complex franchise, both to enter and continue to be linked to it; never provided facilities to understand their mechanics, never aposto for striking interfaces in the visual, nor a narrative that caught from the first minute. However, that something that makes fans lose the notion of time is impregnated here with more softness and delicacy than ever , resulting in a total video game. Let's get to know Monster Hunter World thoroughly.
The emergence of the franchise
There are certain reminiscences between Capcom and the summit saga of From Sotware, Dark Souls, for the tension that is palpable in the environment every time we face a mission. Their systems of combat keep similarities, but far from wanting to make analogies between both franchises, where perhaps the greatest common point is the difficulty , it is de rigueur to bring out the imperative need to be aware of the pattern of movements of monsters, of any from them. The fight for our own survival is essential, because this time the artificial intelligence is more cunning than in the deliveries of Nintendo 3DS and PSP, where the technical capabilities of this hardware prevented that cluster of polygons felt really alive: Monster Hunter Wolrd is as a live documentary.
Cure, dodge, sharpen weapon, attack, combine combos, run and start again. So on. But to get here first we have a pretty well done presentation, where as the main novelty we have a staging of a JRPG, which shows a conflict and, of course, we are chosen to be part of salvation of that problem. We belong to the fifth fleet of hunters and arrive at Astera , which is currently in danger before the irruption of the old dragons once every hundred years.
Before getting into such a complicated task and saving humanity from these untamed creatures, we will have to improve our skills, our Hunter Range ( CR ) which implies improving our weapons, armor and skills as in any other RPG, only here the evolution is constant and progressive according to our previous hunts: everything counts . Kaname Fujioka and Yuya Tokuda have once again assumed the responsibility of being directors of the title, and as they told us in our interview months ago, the possibilities of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 go beyond the technical . This is something that is appreciated from the first moment we jump to the Primal Forest, the first big map of the title.
If Astera is the base of operations, the place where all the elements of a conventional menu are located, the rest of the maps are the place to go for everything else: farmeo , fights, online, training, expedition ... The first missions they are basic, but behind them are the messages, the delivery missions of Hierba or things like that; All the appetizers on the menu have been eliminated and the main course is directly supported by an effort to show interest in the plot section.
Paving the way
Monster Hunter World gives us more of the hand in some aspects, but in others it gives us more freedom to roam freely . As we said, the Primordial Forest is a perfect definition of what the title means: a project of enormous magnitudes , at all levels. Both this and the other scenarios are very vertical environments , extremely complex in their drawing; with shortcuts, intricacies, hillsides, hills, aquatic areas, mud, forests. This mixture of ecosystems in the same environment makes - and requires - always be well prepared to leave the mission alive. It is no longer good to go only with protection from the cold in environments set in the tundra; Now we have to go with supplies of all kinds because you never know what you will find.The sensation of discovery and surprise is constant , thus increasing the aforementioned sensation of tension.
Of the commented facilities we can not fail to mention something that is appreciated as it is the automation of combination of items. If we find Grass, we can activate it automatically in Potion; as we can also activate that if we have Potion and Honey it becomes a Megapoción without we have to stop running. It is comfortable, it is agile and it is the player's decision; the most purists can deactivate it if they want. In any case, we see it wrong to fall back on the failure to explain properly the tasks of the Botanical Laboratory - essential to cultivate essential healing objects, essential in the final stretch of the game to avoid having to make long expeditions - or the operation of the Cantina, from which the preparation prior to an important hunt is born if we want to go with a surplus of resistance and life.Everything can be discovered in a self-taught way with written tutorials well explained, it is true, but those users who come new, who have never touched a Monster Hunter, may find themselves somewhat lost.
It is not as exaggerated as in the titles of third and fourth generation of Nintendo 3DS, which seemed to be designed for those who came from PSP, forgetting to give basic notions and prioritizing elementary tasks that soon served; but once again the didactic task is still not supported by a teaching work by the CPU.
Other facilities to highlight are the Lafarillos , the given name of a kind of fireflies that guide us when we have located the position of the monster objective of the mission. Far from wanting to consider its incorporation as an error, by guiding the player as if it were a GPS the location of the dam, we believe that it has been introduced correctly, because its presence can be ignored and, in case of wanting to ignore these Lafarillos , we will know better the fastest routes to develop in the maps, which we insist are extremely large and full of secrets, without any loading time between areas.
The zonal division is maintained , but it is something that affects only the position of the battle. This deserves an explanation: even if there are no loading times, there is a separation between the zones. If we find the Rathalos with which we are fighting in zone 16, the confrontation will be constantly happening at that point on the map until the monster decides to leave, at which point the soundtrack does the rest -which we will talk about later because it makes a fundamental role in the environmental narrative - and that is when we will return to that task of insistent search for his whereabouts.
To facilitate the loss of action, the Lafarillos are born, which justify their existence due to the magnitude of the scenario. There is one thing that does not change and it is time to complete a mission 50 minutes. In the past, the scenarios were smaller, making it easier for us to run into the enemy. It is a matter of proportion: if Capcom wanted that in 50 minutes the action remained intact despite the gigantic number of square meters of each stage, the movement and the displacement had to be speeded up . And what if they have done it. The interface also adds a section in the upper right part of the screen where all available combos are shown with a weapon, easy to chain according to what blows and awaken the true power of a class.
Monster Hunter World is very vertical not only because of the recurring slopes but because the maps are a layer overlay . Although it may be indicated that we have the monster right where we are located, it may be on the upper "floor", or on the one above the upper one; same with the underground zones. For this, in the position of the monster -which can be marked with a thumbtack to activate the Lafarillos if we have advanced in the collection of his trail- an arrow will appear indicating the number of meters upwards or downwards of his position. There are times that if the monster is flying and elusive, finding it is a real puzzle
We recommend therefore not stop collecting feathers, fingerprints and all kinds of clues that improve the tracking task of the monster, because if it is not likely to sound the bell that time has ended and the mission has failed. In short, it has been solved quite successfully congeniar the 50 minutes of departure with the design of it, more agile than before, faster and automating some tedious tasks . To quote, now there is no limit of stones to sharpen, they are infinite; and the paintballs have disappeared: the Lafarillos are the inheritance of the paintballs.
Another point to note is how useful the time spent in each game feels. Of the 65 hours that we have devoted to the title for the writing of this analysis, practically all of them have been to progress in the game . Monster Hunter World is more thought than previous episodes to long sessions , something logical considering that we are on desktop consoles, but unlike other role titles in which some tasks are repeated constantly only changing the scenario, the sequence here it leaves the A> B> C to intermingle the order that, at the end of the day, continues giving the same result only with greater freshness and meaning.
It is a grateful title with the player because he rewards all his actions . If you ascend from RC you unlock new weapons, new armor, more missions or trades in Astera; not only seems but it is true that there are new things to do with each hour of play that passes, giving lessons of the importance that has even the most banal. Have you found a bug that you do not know what it is for? Save it, it will serve you . When you have several hours you always have a drawing in your head about what you are going to do next: you start a mission knowing that the reward will allow you to finish an armor, or improve a saber, so that when you turn on the console you know in part what you you will find,with the incentive that unexpected things can happen on the road.
The value of the unexpected and high tension
The technical capacity of the hardware in which Monster Hunter World has been developed allows completely extraordinary situations to occur, where in a fight against a Barroth in the mud a Rathalos or a Jyuratodus (or both) appear from nowhere and begin to bite among them, radically changing the course of the game by making the scenario participant with its ecosystem of modifications that brings the presence of a monster of these dimensions. The great variety of ecosystemsit forces us to study how it affects the game. It is not the same to face a Devil when it is developed by the sand that when we manage to descend to castled areas, causing their weak points to be evident due to having less room for maneuver.
Artificial intelligence is surprisingly clever because it learns from our movements, it is dynamic . Unlike in the past, when it came to static creatures with predetermined movement patterns that could end up with collisions with the wall and other mistakes of lack of memory in the programming, here we see how the monster can perceive our way of fighting and making our weaknesses an advantage. Without wishing to enter into any type of plot spoiler , comment that in the final stretch , when as in any Monster Hunter game comes the time to face the fight against a Rathalos , that flying wyvern flagship of the franchise knew to detect our movement patterns (Katana bearers basing attacks on speed) and prioritized physical movements above the fire spit, a task more conducive to long-distance attackers such as a carrier of Crossbow.
And at the same time it is also the player's task to play with that same card and find the weaknesses of the monster. This is especially necessary when missions arrive where completely new monsters appear like the Odogaron or the Radobaan - of which there is no type of guide in forums or in Internet on how to hurt them or what type of equipment is more convenient for their hunting - We're not going to tell you anything so as not to ruin your surprise- and that's when you have to do a deliberate and deliberate reading before drawing your saber. Attack from behind? Start cutting the tail? All these questions are a constant, making what was discussed at the beginning of the metalanguage analysis that takes place between the monster and the hunter is a fact: there is a confrontation not only physical but also mental .
The tension does not disappear, and that is a risk to assume that not all types of public are willing to face and manage.
Forge and extra content: hundreds of hours ahead
The forge has gained in complexity, showing different improvement trees for each weapon depending on whether we choose from bone, iron, steel or the materials available in each class. Same with the armors, only the branches of those growth trees vary depending on the race of the monster. If you have a lot of material from Kulu-Ya-Ku, you can improve by contributing, for example, resistance to electricity, since, oblivious to the values of sharpening, affinity and attack, weapons have their own related or weak elements. The complexity and depth of the team are many, although we do not think it is something overly complex seeing how some current JRPGs are spent.
We can not forget the comrade , an essential pillar in any expedition or mission to help us cure at key moments, or even to sleep the enemy if we have developed enough. His team is simpler and with fewer requirements, but equally necessary if we make all the pieces of his armor belong to the same monster.
In addition, when we finish the story a division between Low Rank and High Rank is established in the materials . Although there are no ' Encargos' , which are the missions that advance the story, the ' Optional' are extremely complicated (from 6 stars) and give rewards that allow us to continue to evolve our team, with rarities much higher than in the first stage, new masters, new bonuses ... We could say that Monster Hunter World really starts once we finish the main adventure, a moment where we must make the decision of whether to continue or not reaching for a title with this depth, because if we thought that we had touched the ceiling in power or at the level of our enemies, in reality the game has not done more than Begin to show your most demanding side . About saying that from this point playing alone can be a martyrdom because it can be complicated. The number of hours for a single player can be counted by hundreds.
Multiplayer: to infinity and beyond
**That is why we are going to comment here on what we think about the multiplayer mode, from which we hope that from the launch of the title this next January 26, there will be no connection problems if there is a very high volume of players. In this week of preparation of the review we have been able to play between 15% and 20% of the missions in online mode; essentially the first ones. Whenever we start the game we will be asked if we want to join an existing one or create a customized one that can either be private or with parameters such as only people with a certain level can join the room. It is comfortable and works very well, but unfortunately these days there have been few people playing - eminently journalists - and from a certain RC the rooms were deserted, so we had to act like lone, self-taught wolves.
The number of connection drops has been non-existent , a guarantee because there is no lag or hitbox affected : the hits occur as they are reflected on the screen; neither fantasy nor lag, everything in order. Playing with friends is not only suitable for the most complex missions, it is also fun, cooperative in the strict sense of the word because each one assumes a role, plus the casualties always count for all - a maximum of three and never more than three -, showing the fact that victories are for all and defeats are for all.
Audiovisual impact
For reasons known to everyone Monster Hunter has never been a leading saga at a technical level. Although both in PSP and especially the last two installments of Nintendo 3DS it was difficult to understand how this graphic result had been achieved, it is now that we can see the potential of Ryozo Tsujimoto's team . The graphic engine , without being top in what we have been generating, is one of the best samples we have seen of a natural world due to its great variety of scenarios, tonal graduality in the colors chosen both outdoors and indoors or in the way the light hits the objects that are displayed on the screen.
They are details like the day-night cycle (and its effect on nature) which has ended up convincing us, betting on reflections in the water, sweat, dust particles, fire, ash ... It is very dynamic, with physics that do not reach the level of Breath of the Wild but that do influence a game. Expect to find breakages of large boulders, precipitations of stones and ambushes that derive in huge waterfalls ... An audiovisual show.
We made this analysis with a PlayStation 4 Pro on a 4K TV without HDR , so we were able to choose between the three available modes of 'Graphic Options' : prioritize the frame rate, prioritize the resolution and prioritize the graphics. The first one, which is the one we have dedicated about 45 hours of the total, is the ideal if we want everything to flow. The game moves at around 60 FPS at all times, but what seems to us more important is that the falls are non-existent for many elements that are shown on the screen; It is solid as a rock.
The way to prioritize graphics sacrifices the image rate somewhat and offers a bit more antialiasing, greater drawing distance and better interprets the shadows. It even generates shadows in places where in FPS mode they do not exist. In the graphics mode we have played for about ten hours, but the result is not so comfortable - this is logically dependent on each one - as Monster Hunter is a type of game where we are constantly moving the camera.
Finally, the resolution mode is a mixture between both but raising the resolution. The difference is small, especially noticeable indoors, where details such as the wheel of the forge looks with less saw teeth. For the rest, the differences are not such as to sacrifice one of the above cited for a very simple reason, and that is that you do not need to improve the resolution because the standard is very high. Regarding the camera , the default position has lowered its place slightly, now with a plane closer to the shoulder and with more coverage, but less height. It is not as comfortable as we would have liked, but the fix fulfills its function. It is, we insist, an improvable point.
And we finish with the soundtrack. Hideki Kosoi , director of sound, spoke with MeriStation to say that the sound is part of the game, of what is to come: " The melodies should have a strong impact on the player because sometimes the theme is first heard before the monster appears . " And so it is. That little environmental narrativethat occurs when you stop listening to a topic or simply listen to the silence of the environment favor the feeling of immersion. There is not a single topic that can describe better than the moan of a monster when it is giving its last throes, or the danger that occurs when we have unexpected visitors. There are many recognizable instruments and many sound bases used to create new melodies, all with a very particular style and well interpreted, orchestrated.
conclusion
Monster Hunter World is in the saga what many in their day to make the leap to three dimensions, to change the way to understand and interpret them. Here everything is maintained, but everything also changes. It is a gateway for millions of players who either did not dare or were overwhelmed, but who ultimately were not attracted by the potential of what can also be a phenomenon in the West. Religion in Japan, this delivery puts all the points on the i's; does not stitch without thread. The customization of weapons and armor reaches very high levels, being as deep as the player wants. However, it is in the playable that we find more differences. All weapons have their new abilities, but it is not so complicated to get used to them when perceiving all the movements with more agility, more speed. The hunters used to feel slow and heavy, but now they are fast, as much as the title flows.
The increase in the size of the scenarios, in some surprisingly large cases, has been balanced with a greater agility to work through them, always vertical and with different layers. Variety of ecosystems in the same environment; an artificial intelligence put to the test of bombs that maintains a constant pulse to see who ends up winning the mental battle and not only the physical one; audiovisual surprisingly equipped with production values typical of a Triple A, the team of Ryozo Tsujimoto can be satisfied with the product that is now on sale. The only downside is the lack of didactic, the feeling that it is easy to get lost in some things, or that the camera does not feel as comfortable as before, now betting on a closer and closer plane. Everything depends on the preferences of each player.
The multiplayer, fluid and solid, is the ideal complement -for some main- of a videogame whose single-player mode contains hundreds of hours of entertainment, a challenging and challenging experience that invites self-learning. With the promise of continuing to grow and add content in the long term, Monster Hunter World is outstanding.
The best
Redefine everything we knew about the saga and make it evolve
At playable level reaches a balance between accessibility and depth
The size and design of the scenarios
Portento at audiovisual level: soundtrack and realism
Artificial intelligence is on another level
Difficult and demanding, but very rewarding
Worst
It does not help the player too much to learn, once again
The new general position of the camera, not so comfortable
History does not stop exploding, opportunity not taken advantage of
A reference title in its kind, which stands out above its competitors and which you will enjoy from beginning to end, surely several times. A game destined to become classic over the years.
1-6 IMAGECREDIT
THANKS FOR READING, ALSO CHECK OUT MY PREVIOUS REVIEW ON LAWBREAKERS (PC)
