My Review Overall After Beating AT Arkveld

(My opinion obviously, it's mostly mixed. It's a discussion, add your own thoughts of the end before the dlc below. I also am posting this as a guide for anybody that wants to buy the game.)

After beating the final big challenge monster, I can say that I'm a bit mixed on the game as a whole. Mh World was personally an instant win for me and I liked Rise because they made full use of their mechanics and knew what direction to take it, even when some monster attacks are calibrated weirdly. Hitboxes in World are mostly sharp compared to some in wilds, and my short opinion is that the game isn't fine-tuned enough (Wounds, cough cough.)

Long details:

Tempered vs normal (The biggest problem): At launch, the wounds system made normal monsters ridiculously easy to bully and sometimes even monsters like Lagiacrus get bullied by this system because of just how often wounds are. Then you have the opposite problem with tempered, where some wounds refuse to open up even with flayer to open them up faster. To make it worse, high level tempered monsters refuse to be stunned or interrupted during their combos while expecting you to knock it down only with a wound you can't pop. So on one hand, normal monsters are far too easy while tempered are barely functional. It doesn't help that even with 500 defense you can be one-shot by tempered monsters and their animations are sped up too. For those that fought tempered Rampo, you know what I'm talking about.

There's no special move for Wilds: No clutch claw, no monster mount riding. You just open up a weak spot and hit it. Seikret and dual weapons are the closest you'll get to actually having something unique, and it's only used fully in the Gogmazios fight. Perhaps the dlc with add more. Wounds need to be reworked.

RNG Talismans and Artisans: A cheap way of trying to force you to play longer. That's how I'll always see these gambling games. I liked Safi weapons from world, but I don't like these because they are made too important for the game as a whole. They lessen the other weapons you can forge and that's a problem.

Armor skills: Most of them aren't good, and for some reason there is a fixation on extra damage skills. Extra fire with Rath, extra dmg with bad blood, extra lightning with Lagia. Zoh shia has Vaal Hazak's ability, while Arkveld has hasten recovery, copy and paste. Go Gog or go home. Dude literally makes you immune to two one-shots. Gog and Gore all the way.

Overall diversity: Love the selection of monsters and it's incredibly diverse. Lots of fanservice monsters were brought along and I love Lagiacrus and Gore Magala. Tempered Lagia is fine, tempered Gore reminds me of Nergigante in terms of aggression and speed. I want an ultimate move from Gore and others. Jin Dahaad is amazing. 1st phase Gog is great, final phase is a camera and hitbox cataclysm of mistakes. Arkveld has the best moveset in the game hands down, love em.

Story: Best story in the whole series and your hunter character is very charming. I found many moments to actually be extremely intelligent and emotional especially when paying homage to past monsters. I also think this is the first time since the old ps2 game where monsters feel like actual threats that NEED to go. They are constantly trying to kill your friends and I think that gives a valid reason to fight them, unlike in World where you were an invasive colonist.

Weapon balance: Some weapons were expanded in the best way possible, some are in an experimental phase, and some are just lacking. Hunting horn is horny. Longsword is great but you need to learn how to cancel the last frame of lai slash with spirit charge into counter. Lances have amazing combos this time, bows and bowguns have a few additions and dmg tuning. Dual blades have better dodge, Sword and Shield is still mained by Jocat, and insect glaive has a wonderful charge move. Switch axe is amazing now, charge blade removed the discharge shortcut but buffed the axe combo (weird, but blocking lets you do the shortcut). Greatsword my baby got nerfed and nobody is gonna tell me otherwise. Oh WOW one offset attack got added and a stupid clash system that never works. Oh wOw I can aim slashes. And? Where's my bloody slinger burst? Everybody got new moves and greatsword got nothing. Even the offset slash is just rising slash. Imagine if wide slashes did something for once. AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Design: Visually I like most regions except for the volcano one. I think some parts of them are underused though. Think, when was the last time you climbed up into the trees during forest hunts as compared to a waterfall? Stuff like that. Also, after walking the route that takes you from the tundra to the ruins, I now want a gothic city environment. Walk there, you'll know what I mean.

So yeah. Play it at least for the story and spectacle I say. It has the potential to be really good, but there's just a few bumps it hits on the road.

(Oh and I'm very sour that they waited until the very end to give you equipment that pairs flayer and weakness exploit together. They knew they were a match made in heaven and kept the set locked away until the game is basically over, lmao.)