To Follow Up On What My Friend @fru1tycak3 Is Talking About Here As Well. I Found The Online System To

To follow up on what my friend @fru1tycak3 is talking about here as well. I found the online system to be a bit obtuse in it's presentation (though I am fully willing to admit that I am used to the MH4U and MHRise systems), it felt difficult to form a party and then start the environment link so we could play in the same instance and, y'know, hunt together. Besides getting actually connected, the servers would DC us every so often (understandable, it is a massively popular beta that's open to the public and is available for free), but while we were hunting it felt pretty smooth.

There's a lot to love about the beta that I think points towards a really ambitious and well-crafted final product: The story actually had me really intrigued and I went to watch Secret Sleepover Society's stream VOD (plugging some creators that I love) after I played so I could refresh myself on the minutia of the setup. As a player that started with MH3U and MH4U I'm not used to the plot taking center stage for what felt like a pretty holistic start to the experience. I'm used to you being a random shmuck that is in the right place at the right time before you get encountered with something that the dialogue box tells me I can help with, and away I go. The way that monsters feel like they react to your actions is really tight; for instance I was playing Bow while with fru1ty and whenever I landed a big shot the monster would sometimes switch focus for a moment to me before going back to focus on fru1ty's Charge Blade assault, then switch back to me after he'd put pressure on the shield. Really great communication and enemy design there. I also can't get over how much I love the Seikrets, I'm a big bird fan so go figure, Capcom did a great job of making locomotion feel organic as well as very aesthetically integrated to the world you find yourself in.

Some of the things I hope to see either confirmed before release, or adjusted/added in the final games: 1) I hope the way the game handles draw distance rendering is reworked or adjusted so that we don't have super high rez models popping into the far distant horizon, or low poly getting up in my grill because the game prioritized something else for a reason unknown. 2) I would love to have online functionality explained more thoroughly as a player coming from the "portable" series. 3) BRING BACK PRANCE GESTURE, PLEASE ;^;

I've been playing Wilds with a friend (@mintyfreshka), and I have some thoughts about it:

To get it out of the way, I do think the *beta is poorly optimized for average gaming setups. It's probably due to a poor or broken LOD system; but the extravagant fidelity of simulation for the ecosystems doesn't help either. 30-40 average frames on a relatively modern system is not worth $100 CND to me. Lowering the settings has drastic changes to the picture and feel that anything lower than medium or high really cheapens the whole thing.

*it's going to release like that anyway

Despite all that, it's still really good. Like, willing to stomach bad optimization good. The general presentation rides the line of fidelity and stylization well. The gameplay was fluid; focus mode with the wound system feels like a culmination of various weapon mechanics now unified under a common system.

The stars of the demo, the new monsters, are neat spins on common wyvern archetypes. Especially Rey Dau, as I have no clue how capcom is going to make fighting a Rathalos match the gravitas that the Glassing Wyven brought to the table. Like, it's just cooler than the king and queen in Rise/Sunbreak despite them being equally lethal to your average hunter.

I'm excited to wait a few months after launch for Capcom to sort their shit out, then get it. On sale.