Monster Hunter Wilds (28th February 2025)

[Julius]

OBT2 extension confirmed: 

 

[Happenstance]

Ok I broke down and pre-ordered Wilds as I want something new to play. Been years since I last played Monster Hunter so I'm gonna have to watch some refresher videos I think to get ready.

[Julius]

Reviews have started coming in, and it's currently at an 89 on both MC and OC. 

Reviews seem to be calling out the performance issues and the lack of a truly challenging endgame in the launch version – seem to remember a similar sentiment floating around at the launch of Rise as well. 

[drahkon]

18 hours ago, Julius said:

the lack of a truly challenging endgame in the launch version

Which is why my friends and I are waiting.
I was considering getting it day-one, but given my weekend plans I decided against it. And now with the reviews pointing out some issues, I'm glad with my decision  

[Dcubed]

The lack of challenge until post game or G-Rank/Master Rank expansion has been a looming issue ever since Worlds really.  Even MH3G was a big downgrade in difficulty over the base MH3 until you got to G-Rank.

A lot of these reviewers are coming from the perspective of players who have already played hundreds of hours of Iceborne (Rise as well, but mostly Worlds, let's be honest here), and are now expecting base Wilds to offer up a similar challenge.  Which of course is a silly expectation.  But it's certainly true that the base games are becoming easier over time.

I think the more pertinent observation is that the series' identity is being continuously eroded away as Capcom continue pushing to make the series more "western friendly", under the guise of "quality of life improvements".  I never liked the gameplay changes made in Worlds, and Wilds is doubling down on that.  I never liked the focus on story, or the English voice acting, and again, Wilds doubles down on that.  Even Rise wasn't free from many of the dumbed down mechanics introduced in Worlds (the ability to heal while running, while at least nerfed a bit from Worlds, is still there in Rise; as is the loss of Hot and Cold drinks for instance).

None of this should be surprising.  Worlds was a massive success, and the more traditional gameplay seen in Rise is only really appreciated by handheld/Nintendo/Japanese audiences, so of course they're going to follow up with what Worlds started.

As for the performance issues? They're really inexcusable.  It runs like shit on every platform, and RE Engine clearly isn't fit for purpose when it comes to open world games.  Worlds hardly ran amazingly, but it certainly ran better than Wilds reletive to its hardware.  You probably won't get any sort of solid technical performance until PS6 comes out and "fixes" the problem with brute force.

Edited February 25 by Dcubed

[Julius]

7 hours ago, drahkon said:

Which is why my friends and I are waiting.
I was considering getting it day-one, but given my weekend plans I decided against it. And now with the reviews pointing out some issues, I'm glad with my decision  

Yeah, don't blame you guys at all. 

I was on the fence about going in for launch because of my experience with World, but after hearing all this, I'll just wait. There's so much else to play that getting to the game over Christmas or something sounds much more appealing to me right now! 

Oh, and it's just World, as in the one of them, @Dcubed  don't mean to pick on you at all but I've been hearing it a lot on podcasts and reading it a lot more in articles and on other forums – guess that's just what happens when the successor to World is Wilds, eh? Gave me a good chuckle at least  agreed with all of your points! 

[Kav]

I can’t wait to dive in tonight.

I’m not overly fussed about the difficulty just yet… I’ll restrict myself in some way; I won’t upgrade weapons/armour etc.

[Happenstance]

I put it on quickly this morning to make my character. Might try and get through some early stuff on my lunch break.

[Happenstance]

Slowly starting to remember how to play again. Not really done much yet but I have now unlocked the secondary weapon so I need to decide what I want to go with. Maining the bow again so I want some kind of Blade. Thinking either twin blades, sword & shield or maybe long sword.

[Happenstance]

Did a couple of hunts using the Portal and it all seemed to work fine, no latency issues with weapon timing or issues with it being in an online lobby at the same time which was good.

[Julius]

With 8 million copies sold in 3 days, Wilds has become Capcom's fastest-selling game ever. 

Quote

Capcom Co., Ltd. (Capcom) today announced that worldwide sales of Monster Hunter Wilds, released on February 28, 2025, surpassed 8 million units in 3 days, which is the fastest a title has reached this milestone in the company’s history.

Quote

Monster Hunter Wilds is the latest entry in the Monster Hunter series and is set in a dynamically changing world that is in one moment a severe wilderness, swarming with packs of attacking monsters, and in the next transforms into a rich natural environment teeming with life. Monster Hunter Wilds features grand, beautiful visual depictions made possible by the RE ENGINE, Capcom’s proprietary game development engine, and cross-play, allowing players to enjoy the game together regardless of their game platform.

Quote

Following the game’s announcement, Capcom promoted the appeal of Monster Hunter Wilds to a broad audience worldwide, exhibiting the title at global video game events and holding an online open beta test to give many players a chance to try it, while also providing updates on game information via the online events such as Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase. As a result of these continuous global initiatives, Monster Hunter Wilds has evoked massive excitement and achieved sales of 8 million units in 3 days, the fastest any game has done so in Capcom’s history.

Quote

Capcom remains firmly committed to satisfying the expectations of all users by leveraging its industry leading game development capabilities in order to create highly entertaining gameplay experiences.

Congrats to them! 

Edited Tuesday at 09:18 AM by Julius

[Kav]

I’m absolutely loving the game!

I have just finished the main story, that final boss fight was great!

I didn’t upgrade my armour or weapons and man I felt it, everything was hitting heavy!

Ive built myself a high-end Low Rank set for preparation of High Rank now.

Myself and @Blade will be gaming on various nights. If anyone wants to join us, give us a shout - we’ll be doing mostly Low Rank at the moment though as Blade is pretty much just starting the game.

Edited 10 hours ago by Kav

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, Kav said:

I’m absolutely loving the game!

I'm pretty disappointed by it. The game is ridiculously easy to the point where there is next to no challenge at all. I had the credits rolling in 10 hours and not once did I have to grind for materials. I know companies want to appeal to a larger audience but the pendulum has swung too far with this entry. This is why I will always respect FromSoftware for sticking to their guns for so long when it comes to their Souls games.

I honestly don't see the point to the massive maps that Capcom have created. There's no real exploring to be done because all you need to do is jump on your creature and it automatically takes you to where you need to go. It's as if the game has been made for people who can't stay off their phone for 5 seconds and it gives them the opportunity to look at it while the game plays itself. 

Crown hunting has been nerfed now to the point of where there is no prestige to it at all. Being able to see if it's a crown or not before fighting the thing is just ridiculous. Again, it's removed all challenge of this aspect of the game. 

The weak point/breaking mechanic is ridiculously broken. I like the fact you can do a lot of damage to monsters this way but there's no way it should be rewarding players with drops/items every time it's done. This is what has removed the grinding mechanic of the game, something that always made Monster Hunter what it was. Adding to this is the way investigations now show if a rare item will be dropped in the rewards. They may as well just give players rubies/plates etc. as a standard reward.

I've put just over 30 hours into the game and have already got most the trophies, built the best armour in the game, nearly maxed it out and nearly built every LS that's available. It's low on content and challenge. It's essentially babies first Monster Hunter and this is very evident as I've been playing Monster Hunter Freedom on the PSP side by side with this.

Despite all of this negativity, I'm still enjoying the game though. 😛 

[Julius]

Purple 'H', wait does that mean...

Just in time to play Suikoden, right @Hero-of-Time? 

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Julius said:

Just in time to play Suikoden, right @Hero-of-Time? 

Sadly not. I'll get to it eventually but there's no need to buy it yet as I won't get around to it for a while.

[Kav]

As I’ve not ventured into High Rank yet and not really done much other than the story quests, I’ve not really come across those kinds of frustrations just yet (with the exception of the wounds mechanic being broken), but I totally get where you’re coming from @Hero-of-Time

I’d definitely feel like the heart of Monster Hunter has been somewhat removed facing all that you’ve listed.

At least the combat is great!

I think going at it with basic armour has made me enjoy it more, as the risk is greater.

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Kav

[Hero-of-Time]

3 minutes ago, Kav said:

I’d definitely feel like the heart of Monster Hunter has been somewhat removed facing all that you’ve listed.

At least the combat is great!

 

It's just a necessary evil in order to gain success. I mean, the numbers don't lie. It's already been a fantastic start for Capcom and their financials and it will continue to go from strength to strength, with new content constantly getting added and the possibility of a Switch 2 version.

Agreed about the combat though. Using the LS has never felt better. Some of the combo's and damage you can do are insane. I did find myself missing the Spider-Man mechanic from Rise though. There have been a couple of times where my gaming instincts have kicked in whilst playing this and I was actually pressing the buttons is if I could swing through the air again.  

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's essentially babies first Monster Hunter

Perfect, so I won't have to carry my stupid noob friends yet again  

My copy should arrive tomorrow, but I won't have time to play for a while. Looking forward to it, though.

[Hero-of-Time]

20 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Perfect, so I won't have to carry my stupid noob friends yet again  

Yah, they should be fine. There should be nobody carting, especially during low rank quests.

[drahkon]

9 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yah, they should be fine. There should be nobody carting, especially during low rank quests.

You don't know my friends, though  

There's a reason why I was mainly using Hunting Horn in Rise when hunting with friends

[Happenstance]

I'm still enjoying it, got some multiplayer in with Goafer last night which was fun. Not a big fan of the menus though, always find them hard to navigate and lose what I'm looking for. Its been a while but I also swear it was a lot more obvious what you were working towards armour-wise in Worlds.

[Hero-of-Time]

5 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I'm still enjoying it, got some multiplayer in with Goafer last night which was fun. Not a big fan of the menus though, always find them hard to navigate and lose what I'm looking for. Its been a while but I also swear it was a lot more obvious what you were working towards armour-wise in Worlds.

What weapon are you rocking?

[Happenstance]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

What weapon are you rocking?

Bow at the moment. I meant to try and alternate between that and some kind of up close blade but I just haven't found myself ever wanting to switch.

[Kav]

The Bow is so much fun, it’s never been better!

Most weapons have never been better to be fair.

I’m switching between the Charge Blade, Bow and Lance, but will hunt with more as time goes on.

[Kav]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

There should be nobody carting, especially during low rank quests.

I carted the other night with @Blade

I completely wasn’t paying attention and Lala Barina took me out! 😆

…so embarrassing!