Is anyone playing Monster Hunter World? (Off-Topic)

by Kahzgul, Wednesday, January 31, 2018, 00:14 (2487 days ago) @ cheapLEY

- Do you know or are you able to learn, in-game, which monsters you need to hunt for which gear?

Yes. You see a list of gear you can craft and which components you need. There is a bunch of gear that just has ????? as the component needed--I assume it's because I haven't encounter that monster yet.

- Do you know or are you able to learn, in-game, where you can find the monsters you need to hunt?

Yes. This system is actually pretty neat. As you wonder around the game, you encounter clues. Usually tracks, sometimes other signs of a monster roaming through the area. You have an investigation meter for each separate monster. There are these things called scoutflies in the game that work basically as the quest marker. They're like fireflies that lead you around, but they only do so as you level up your investigation meter for whatever monster you're tracking. At level 0, they do nothing. At level 1 they lead you to the next clue. At level 2 they lead you straight to the monster, and at level 3 you can just see the monster on your map at all times.

I think there are two separate version of this--if you're on a quest to hunt a specific monster, once you find enough tracks, the scoutflies will track the monster in that quest. This seems to be independent of a larger game-wide system for each monster. You don't have to be on a quest to hunt a specific monster--you can hunt any monster at any time, while in expedition mode (free roam, basically) or even when you're on a quest for another monster. I think that's where the overarching system comes into play.

EDIT: I also forgot another aspect of this. As you play, if you actually pay attention, you learn the monsters' preferred areas. As you damage a monster, eventually it will try to flee, and if it's really hurt it will try to return to its nest. Once you learn where it likes to nest, you can use that to your advantage on future hunts by placing traps there before you engage it in a fight.

- Do you know or are you able to learn, in-game, how to conduct your monster hunt for maximum effectiveness?

Yes. The more you encounter and fight and investigate monsters, the more info you learn. This happens both in actuality (learning the monster move set, attacks, etc), and in game through info collected in the monster guide, which will tell you its elemental weakness and attacks, which body parts can be broken off by which type of attacks, which components they drop, etc.

I think the biggest thing, which all of that gets at, is purpose. It's grinding, but it's grinding for a reason. I know exactly why I'm hunt a specific monster--I need XX part to craft XX item, so I need to hunt that monster for it. It works in a way that running a specific strike hoping to get an Imago Loop just didn't for me.

Rather than hunting for a weapon that will have a random set of stats, I'm hunting for parts that allow me craft the specific weapon with the exact stats that I need. I needed a weapon with a water element to hunt a monster that was weak to water, so I farmed the monster that dropped the part that allowed me to craft the weapon that had the water element.

At the end of the day, it's all just dressing up the fact that you're hunting the same monsters over and over and over again, but it's compelling in a way that grinding out the same strike over and over again just wasn't.

I'm beginning to understand why folks are asking for the things they are in Destiny in terms of things to grind for. I think the thing that makes it not work so well in Destiny is a lack of depth. I can easily imagine a version of Destiny where strikes (or even just Majors that spawn during Flashpoint patrols or whatever) drop specific things that allow you to customize your gear and weapons more. It would give doing specific things a purpose beyond getting another Scathelocke or whatever.

Even that system existed, I'm still not sure it would work that well, though. Other than the raids and maybe the Nightfall, Destiny doesn't have much gameplay depth. It's an easy game that's basically just shooting things, and, for a large part, the gear you're using is irrelevant. The stats connected to any piece of gear are mostly very minor. The stuff you craft in Monster Hunter gives you options. Craft stuff that you know gives you an advantage over the monster you're hunting. Weak to fire? Make a fire weapon. Oh, its tail can be severed? Make a weapon that does severing damage, rather than blunt damage. It's a flying monster? Make a weapon that has a longer range so you can bring it down rather than having to wait for it to land. It's all about giving you options. The only thing Destiny has is elemental shields.

None of this is to criticize Destiny. Ultimately, I feel like most of that is just beyond the scope of what Destiny wants to be. I just can't help but get excited and imagine a world in which Destiny actually embraces systems like that, and I honestly think it would be an incredible game. Destiny is at its best when it combines it's incredible feeling shooting and actual mechanical depth and challenge (the Raid, Nightfalls), but it spends most of its game time coasting on the fact that it just feels good to shoot. Even as I say all that, I fully expect someone to come along and say that all of that is the exact opposite of what they want Destiny to be, that it sounds too much like work, and I totally get that, too.

Maybe I'll play Warframe one of these days . . .

Warframe's loot system works a lot like Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, if you've played that mobile game. You see a list of things that can drop during a mission, and then you run the mission and hope to get a lot of the one you need. Also, you almost never get (or need) just 1 of something really rare. Instead, you need 20 of an item that drops 2-10 per level. So there's *always* progress being made.