Monster Hunter...Milds?

I don't know that I necessarily have a ton to say about Monster Hunter Wilds, but I do have some thoughts. Plus, writing gives me something to take my mind off...well, everything, but this is about Monster Hunter. Wilds! Or...Milds??

So, here's the thing, that I'm guessing anyone reading this knows what I'm getting at here, so I should keep the preamble about the hundreds of hours I put into World short. World was a great game, taking the thrilling combat of the series and glowing it up with higher production values, and seamless regions to greatly increase the immersion. Plus, it was a great first Monster Hunter! It streamlined a lot of the more tedious and frustrating parts of the previous games, at least from what I've heard. Like I implied, it was my first.

Wilds continues that tradition, further refining and streamlining the experience until it in every way but one, is about as aerodynamic as this sort of game can be. World introduced Scoutflies that led you straight to the monster after you found enough clues tracking it, and in Wilds you don't even need that much. The monsters are just on the map! Set it as your waypoint, and the Scoutflies will show the way. In World, you still had to run and climb across intricate levels to hunt down the monsters, but Wilds? Your trusty dino-bird Seikret will run you the whole way there, no player input needed, if you want.

Even the hunts themselves are faster, and dare I say, easier than ever. Most of the hunts in Wilds only took me about ten minutes to complete, whether played alone or in co-op. And the longest ones were only around twenty minutes. For context, traditionally Monster Hunter quests have a fifty minute time limit, and I remember the hardest ones in World pushing right up against that. And I even timed out on a few I wasn't properly equipped for! Now, I'm not going to say I've fought the hardest of the hard monsters in Wilds, I've not fully explored the max level Tempered monsters. The problem is...I also haven't felt any desire to keep hunting.

The core loop of games like this, once you've completed the story, is play the game to get materials, use materials to craft better gear, use better gear to play harder missions, rinse and repeat. But that loop doesn't work if the game isn't hard enough to make me feel like I need better gear. Sure, I could be even stronger with the best armor equipped with the best “Decorations,” and the most powerful weapons in the game, but...

It's already too easy, so why would I want to make it easier?

By all accounts, World was already easier than the previous games in a lot of ways, but at its toughest, it could still put up a pretty strong, and more importantly, fun challenge. That's not to say Wilds isn't also fun, because it is! The core feel is still fantastic, and it's still a lot of fun to learn the ins and outs of the monsters, whether they're all new, new to me, or some of my returning faves from World.

Even then, those faves just don't pack the same bite they did in World. Odogaron, the nimble beast it is, was one of my absolute favorites in World. Not a very large monster, but one that could strike quickly, and without mercy. On top of that, its razor sharp claws could cause bleeding with what felt like just about any attack, so you really needed to either master the timing on those dodges (or I guess block if you use a blocking weapon), or have a lot of items (jerky?) to stop the bleeding.

Odogaron returns in Wilds, and...it's still fun, but not quite the same. Now, is part of this because I hunted so many Odogaron in World that I already have this monster mastered? Maybe, but I feel more inclined to think the game is pulling its punches. My memory is Odogaron in World caused bleeding all the time, whereas in Wilds I think it only happened to me once? Maybe twice?

That's definitely one of the biggest areas where it feels like Wilds isn't doing much of anything. Negative status effects. And I get it, no one likes being poisoned, or bled, or stunned, or whatever else mid fight. But when they barely crop up, and don't seem to do too much when they do, sure the game gets more streamlined and less frustrating, but it loses some of its charm too.

Yes, in World (and I assume previous games) you could equip your way out of needing to deal with specific statuses. Use enough poison resistance stuff and poison isn't a threat, or as much of one. The point here is I didn't even need to do that, the statuses aren't threatening in the first place. Which boils the fights down to just learning the best moments to attack, and when to dodge. Again, that's still fun! But it starts to feel less like a Monster Hunter game where I really need to learn the monsters and their habitats to go toe to toe with them time and again, and more like a Souls game where I just learn how to beat the boss once, then move on.

Another thing this game is lacking, in what feels like another pulled punch, is a Bazelgeuse, or Bazelgeuse like monster. For those who didn't play World, Bazelgeuse is more than a little infamous amongst the community. Imagine you're in the middle of a hunt, been out fighting for ten or fifteen minutes, and suddenly the music cuts out and is replaced with...

Bah god, that's Bazelgeuse's music!

Yes, part of why I love Bazelguese so much, to this day, is it has its own theme song that just overrides whatever music was playing normally. But beyond that, this is the sort of thing that I love about video games, is when they catch me by surprise, and make me really think on my feet. Suddenly having to deal with a second, enormous monster swooping by, and dropping bombs all around is hectic, and wild, and FUN. I'm not saying Wilds should just bring back Bazelgeuse, the real answer would be to introduce a new monster that fills the same role, but feels different in some way or another. But let's be real, I know I'd get goosebumps if I heard those opening notes in game again.

I will say, credit where it's due, I do like the story and characters of Wilds a lot more than in World. They actually have names this time! Listen, I can see some appeal in everyone being like, “the Handler,” or whatever, but personally I like it in Wilds better. Gemma is better than like, “midriff baring blacksmith” or whatever she would've been called. In all seriousness though, I do like the characters in Wilds, even if (and I won't use the word “plot-hole”) a few things about Nata don't make...complete sense.

Short version is, he's a kid lost from his village somewhere in “The Forbidden Lands,” and part of the mission is to find said village. The thing that confuses me is that, apparently multiple years pass between the intro of the game where Nata is separated from his village, and when you gain control, during which Nata does not seem to have grown at all. This is something that has bothered me in other things too, when time passes and kids don't grow at all (as opposed to live action media where no time passes in universe, but the kids all look older because it took years to make a new season of the show, haha (that doesn't bother me nearly as much)).

That's just a nitpick, though. On the whole, I really like that Wilds is so heavily focused on trying to preserve and maintain environments. It feels like they heard the criticisms about previous games (or really mostly World since that's when people outside the sickest of sickos got in), and wanted to do something better, and more interesting. Nitpicks about how much a child did or didn't grow (and also I think it's weird that he's as old as he is and knew literally nothing about the culture of his people) aside, I think Wilds tells a good story, and gets into some of the more interesting parts of the world and lore. I'm quite fascinated by the fallen super advanced ancient civilization stuff specifically. I'll leave that for people to play the game and discover on their own, of course.

The characters are all pretty good too. Alma (your handler) is cool, calm, and collected, unless an ancient artifact is under threat, then she goes into action mode. Gemma, on the other hand, is so good at blacksmithing that she doesn't even need to wear a full shirt! Olivia, the head of the security for the expedition is as tough as they come. Then there's Rove, the weird little wizardly cat person. No, I won't explain any further, other than to say he isn't one of the series' trademark Palicos (though I love Olivia's Pali-companion Athos, and the way they practice swinging their sword). I also like that one of the lead researchers is a very effeminate guy who (at least in english) is voiced by nonbinary actor Casey Mongillo.

While on the subject, maybe my favorite improvement over World is that the armor designs are no longer gender locked. None of the actual armors themselves were gender locked, so (as far as I know!) “neither” gender had a game play advantage. But the armors for women characters tended to be more, showing off midriff like Gemma (sorry that I keep bringing it up, but she's a BLACKSMITH), or not covering their legs, etc. Not to say there was none of that with the men (I think the Bone sets were always fairly skimpy for both), but it still didn't sit well with me. In Wilds, though, you can pick from either version when crafting a piece of gear, so masculine characters can show their bellies and wear skirts, and feminine characters can be covered head to toe in thick armor. Or they can be mixed and matched however one pleases! There's also options for tights to cover up those bare spots, which is appreciated.

I also like that the playable character is voiced now, and speaks quite a lot throughout the story. They don't really quip during hunts, thankfully, so I'm really happy with it. The voice I went with, and I have no idea if this was supposed to be the intent or not, but they sound kind of like...how do I put this... Like a guy trying to sound a little gay? Or just effeminate in general? And I really apologize to the voice actor (I'm not entirely sure which of the six different player voices was which actor) if that's not the case but...hey, I liked it! Regardless of the intent I really appreciate one of the voices being at least in that ballpark, and I thought they did a good job.

As has been the case with recent Capcom customizable characters, this is a really good system, but you only get the one free redo, so be careful! You can change some details like hair and makeup (I think) for free as much as you want, but changing their face, or overall body shape costs money. Just like real life, I guess? I still don't like the sorts of stuff Capcom charges for in their full priced games, but I was happy with my character and didn't need to change them, so it's whatever for me.

Probably the biggest positive change is that the base camps are just part of the world, so no loading screen when going off for a hunt. I can't say every region is connected to each other seamlessly, there are a couple loading screens, but thanks to current gen consoles, the load times are so much faster than World on PS4, so that's not an issue. I really loved the majority of my time with World, but at a point I played so much that those load times really became a drag.

Sadly, despite different regions being connected, the monsters don't ever go between them. I would have loved to have a fight start out in the desert, then eventually lead into the jungle, and end in the oil basin. I'm sure that on top of none of the fights lasting long enough to make that realistic, there's probably some technical thing preventing this, but who knows! Maybe another monster will be added in the future that will have hunts spanning multiple regions. I'm not getting my hopes up, though.

The other change is that most of the regions (all but one, I think?) have different seasons. Periods of fallow and abundance, that can have some pretty big differences. The opening desert area is grey and all but lifeless when it's fallow, but beautiful and vibrant after the season changes. It's neat! It affects what monsters show up, and where, but maybe I just haven't played enough, it kind of feels like it's a bigger difference aesthetically than anything else.

Anyway, all those I think are changes for the better. It helps make Wilds feel more vibrant, and more like a proper interconnected place than World. Even if part of me still likes the actual level layouts of some of World's regions more than the ones here. I don't know how much of that is just nostalgia, though.

The issues come in when it really feels like Capcom decided to sand down the few remaining edges so much that the game just feels too smooth. By default, the Seikret will carry you everywhere you need to go, so you don't need to learn the areas at all. Thankfully there's options to give the player full control over Seikret movement, while still having the option for a different button press for auto-pilot. Listen, sometimes I got really turned around and needed to be pointed in the right direction!

Earlier, I said that in the story the game is more concerned with managing and preserving the environment than World was, but game play wise... The game still has “Hunter” in the title, but rather than the fierce battles where the hunter goes toe to toe with the monster, at times Wilds starts to feel more like modern real world “hunting.” Which is to say, rather than being a true test of skill, of human versus nature, you go out there so wildly over-equipped that nature doesn't stand a chance.

I hate the idea of hunting for sport in the real world, and I never liked hunting defenseless animals in video games. That's why I'm glad the “skin X critters for pelts to upgrade your ammo pouch” style of game design seems to be going away. It's no fun, and at a point just cruel to go out annihilating deer with sniper rifles. Or just absurd to kill an entire whale in Assassin's Creed IV to make a new gun holster (and I'm very happy to hear there's none of that in AC Shadows).

Obviously there's a lot more dodge rolling here, and these monsters put up way more of a fight than an average deer. The issue is not the morality of if it's right to hunt the monsters in this game. The issue is Wilds is starting to feel more like a middle aged white guy with masculinity issues taking it out on deer than actual hunting, if that makes any sense.

So, on top of the game becoming less fun because it's too easy, it's starting to feel like a fairly big disconnect between the story's themes and the game itself. Which isn't the end of the world, but it's frustrating. There's always going to be at least a little disconnect between the story and game when the game has so much focus on combat, yet the story is trying to be about literally anything but the act of fighting itself. It's just a shame when it happens because of an entirely avoidable misstep, one that previous games didn't have by virtue of simply being more challenging.

When I wrote about World in 2018, I did so a couple months after release, when I had put 160 hours into the game. Whereas my playtime in Wilds is like, 40 something? And I'm not saying I'm done done with the game, I'll keep playing when it's updated, or if friends really want to, but I feel done with it. I'm pretty sure I've fought every monster at least once, and I've no desire to grind for gear to make an already easy game even easier. I don't regret playing it by any stretch. It was fun, and I liked the story! But it's lacking that special something that made World so compelling.

Oh, and I forgot to mention it, but the one part of the game not sanded down? The multiplayer! It's still a mess! I didn't even try playing with other people during the story because I was told it has the same issue as World (need to watch the cutscenes solo). Outside of story quests it's better, but still confusing. There's lobbies, and also world links? You join a lobby, and can partake in any public quest posted in said lobby, but if you want to explore the world outside of a quest with another player you need to join their world link? There's also an in game friends list, which makes sense given it's cross play this time, but you can “follow” other players? I have no idea why?? But I did it for one friend to get a Trophy!

It's...the multiplayer is functional, just confusing. And needlessly so, Destiny figured this stuff out years ago and I don't understand why more games don't just copy what Bungie did. They've had plenty of time since Monster Hunter World, and that was Capcom's best selling game ever, so it's not like they didn't have the time or resources!

So, those are my feelings on Monster Hunter Wilds. It's fun! I genuinely like the story and characters, and I hope there's more of them in the coming updates (and eventual expansion). The Palicos are still cute and funny, and the Seikrets are cool...once you turn the auto-pilot off. The regions being connected is neat, and I think the game has potential. I'm hoping they take the feedback about it being too easy seriously, and add some tougher fights. Maybe we'll have to wait for the big expansion next year(?), but hopefully they find the right balance eventually.

Until then...I'm going to be playing other games. Warframe just got a new nonbinary Warframe. They're a glam rocker with a talking (singing) fire guitar and a Hi-Fi Rush-esque time it to the beat mechanic. It's like they know how to appeal to me specifically.