Monster Hunter: World - Iceborne (2019)

I technically "beat" this game quite a while ago, in that I saw credits. I wanted to hold off on calling this game done until I hit a more meaningful milestone. Well, today I beat Fatalis, so I'm going to call that as done as it's going to get. After over 300 hours of monster hunting, here are my thoughts:

The slinger is an interesting gimmick, but I'm glad it's not making a return in Rise. I appreciate the greater control you have while aiming pods, as opposed to throwing flash bombs and the like in previous MonHun titles, but I think its implementation was kind of clunky. It has this sort of dual-layer system where you can load an environmental pod (stones, redpits, etc) and then load a crafted pod (like a flash pod) from your inventory. You'll fire the crafted pod if you pull the trigger, but you still technically have the environmental pod loaded when you unequip the crafted one. This is annoying when you really want an environmental pod for a flinch shot or something, because you have to scroll back to the item you want to unequip to change pods.

The clutch claw is also pretty neat, my main complaint is that it seems like it should have been better incorporated with the very similar mounting system. I also had a lot of frustration trying to clutch claw onto the right monster part, I suppose that just takes more practice to get right. Like the slinger, I'm not sad to see it go in Rise, but I appreciated the novelty while we had it.

My main weapon, greatsword, was a lot of fun to play. I liked that it had a more active style with the true charge slash and especially the tackle. I had a lot of fun counter-hitting monsters with the tackle, seldom as I could pull it off. The game also got a lot more engaging once I started having flexibility in my builds for Focus. It turns out there were a few moves that I never really took advantage of, as I only learned about them about 250 hours in by watching a video guide. Also, while GS is pretty much only a raw-damage weapon, I liked that the Frostcraft skill and the Alatreon fight gave me the opportunity to change up my style a bit.

Multiplayer is great, of course. My only problem here is the bizarre way co-op works for main quests: you can only co-op a quest if everyone has already seen the monster reveal cutscene. Pain in the ass, let me tell you. I played the whole main quest for both games with friends, and this took a while to figure out. It still doesn't really make sense to me.

Lastly, Fatalis was a very frustrating but ultimately good fight. It was a great way to cap off the experience. As a greatsword main, the combination of extremely dangerous attacks and a fairly strict timer really forced me to optimize my play by learning what attacks were safe to punish and when it was time to play defense.

This is the first MonHun game I played this much; before this I only played MH4U through low rank. It was a great experience overall and I'm thrilled to play Rise when that drops.

3/5

More of the same.

The new gameplay additions were fun and shook up some of the weapon movesets. The new monsters were great, as were all of the base game monsters. The story was once again complete and utter bullshit, I get that it's not important but surely they could at least try. Every single character is a joke in this game. New armor was cool, but I just didn't feel like grinding for any of it. In the end I just rushed to finish this expansion and was glad when it was over.

Milla Jovovich in a limited time event mission from Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.

And now, with the Artemis' armor in my possesion and more then 511 hours of play time, I think its time to say goodbye to this game. I absolutely loved it.

ALATREON IS FINALLY DOWN!

I tried to hunt this fucking black dragon like a thousand times. Tried solo, with friends, randos. Nothing.

Today, I joined the session of one of my favorite streamers (Jenna_S_) and, after a scolding (I wasn't using an appropiated weapon) I was finally able to see him fall.

Now I can finally go on with my life.

Iceborne, much like the Ultimate versions of previous games, seeks to create a much more difficult experience with unique new monsters and environments. Not only does it have that in spades with a gaggle of returning favorites, but finely tunes its gameplay to offer a much more satisfying and unique experience than the base game, making it one of the best video game expansions.

On a quest to explore a new region of the New World, the frozen Hoarfrost Reach, the main character discovers even more monsters from the Old World migrating to the New World and a powerful Elder Dragon that threatens to disturb the ecosystem. This translates to a fairly challenging start of new monsters like the Banbaro and Beotodus to returning flagship favorites like Glavenus and Brachydios and eventually going toe to toe with Velkhana and much more. The new environment is GORGEOUS, with unique snow effects that affect travel and mechanics suited to cold regions of previous games.

As for gameplay changes, a lot has been updated. Elemental damage has received a high boost, making it a very viable strategy now compared to raw. Weakness Exploit, Maximum Might, and other skills also have tweaks and new versions that make them very desirable. The real gem of Iceborne, however, is a little tool called the clutch claw that can turn every monster's part into a weak point for a limited time based on where you hit it and can also be used to ram monsters into walls for extra damage. Lavasioth giving you trouble? Weaken its shell while you wait for it to dive into lava. Uragaan chin needing a quick break? Look no further. The player now has a formidable arsenal for taking on the most difficult fights and believe me, this game is quite difficult.

As for the endgame, Iceborne also now has a much more improved endgame in the form of the Guiding Lands, a loading-free persistent world of monsters of every biome variation that provides breezy rank grinding for the final quests, along with new layered armor and augments for armor and weapons. With these gameplay changes, a much more finely tuned gameplay experience from start to finish (no endgame lull like in base) and an array of exciting new and old monsters with the same gorgeous eye to detail, Iceborne is truly worth every penny and will pull hunters back in for another hundred hours, perhaps more.

It's over for me. I couldn't resist. I always told that I'll never do something like this, but I'm weak...

I paid for a microtransaction!!!!!! (T_T)

But just look at this! It's so cute and floats over my character everywhere

But... but is was cheap! It really isn't a problem. It really isn't! It's not like I'm buying anything else! I promise!

I also made a new support build with Kulve Taroth parts.

I am not going to give this a rating because I only put about 5 hours into this. I used to LOVE this series. I played probably 200 hours of the original one on PS2!

This one is another one of those but they added all this bland story and world stuff that only sticks out by being offensively colonialist.

I could probably get over the story issues but the gameplay is just not where I am at right now. It is not interesting to me.