Welcome to Respawning’s Games Club! The purpose of this is to get a bunch of us together every Monday to allow us the chance to chat shit about whatever takes our fancy in the world of video games and discuss what we’re currently playing.

Since Monster Hunter World has been taking people’s consoles by storm, we’re going to be talking about our experiences with the Monster Hunter franchise, or why we’ve never gotten into it! Let’s hunt some fakking dinosaurs!!

Joe

Monster Hunter is one of those franchises that I had always wanted to try, but never had the chance to delve into – From watching playthroughs of Monster Hunter 3, I was convinced to go out and buy not just one copy of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, but two copies of it (To force my partner to play)..!

Ever since then my infatuation with Monster Hunter has been a long-lived one; admittedly I haven’t delved too far into the other entries in the series, but with Monster Hunter: World out now, I’ve definitely been making sure that I’ve gotten my money’s worth!!

Javier

I’m brand new to the Monster Hunter series of games and have only owned Monster Hunter world for 5 days, yet I’ve already put about 8 hours in, 7 of them being co-op… What can I say I bloody love this game! It’s so fucking enjoyable!

I never thought I’d enjoy the Monster Hunter games, to me they were silly DS games that looked a bit pointless, but this new game had proved me very wrong.

I started with a Long Sword but then moved to a Sword and Shield, and like how precise the combat is, and how much it changes when switching weapons. The world they’ve created is full of life and tempts you to explore as much as possible, making it obvious from early on that the whole game is about exploration and HUNTING.

Me and Luke were very quick to realise that the whole game is pretty much just grinding, you kill a monster for better armour and to level up, this enables you to kill the next monster etc. But you never really think about it because you’re having so much fun playing the damn thing. The cut scenes are just there for the sake of having a story and to slightly distract you but I’ve not been fussed by them so far.

As well as all this the entire game is FILLED with intelligent cats, this is a plus if there ever was one. Your Palico (cat) helps you fight monsters and collects gear, they’re also in the hub area to cook you tasty meals.

Playing this coop with 2 or 4 of us it’s brilliant, I’m hunting bloody massive monster dinosaurs, assisted by a kitty, with my mates. What else do I want!

Salman

Man this game is fucking great. I was never able to get into Monster Hunter mainly because I just hate the limited control scheme of the 3DS as well as the graphics that are literally from the PS2 era. But this game might just make me want to go back and try some out because I haven’t sunken these many hours into a game so fast since Yakuza 0. I’m about 70 hours in and only Hunter Rank 14 or so. I’m aiming to get that god damn Odogaron set that gives you mad crits and speed sharpening to accommodate my busted ass Charge Blade that practically crits on every hit. I can’t wait till Luke and Javier get to High Rank because that is seriously where all the fun begins. If I had one critique for the game it’d definitely be that I wish there was more unique monster designs and some that are just really out there and interesting. But then again I’m also fine with cool looking dinosaurs and dragons all the same!

Luke

Oh Monster Hunter: World… How I hated you in the beta stages of your development. Something just did not feel right with me, I couldn’t get behind your clunky controls and simple boss killing combat. I simply liked nothing about you and as everybody knows I called you out on release for being one of the most overrated games of all time…

… So why is it then, that I couldn’t stop thinking about you until I had you inside my PS4. Why is it that when I tried you out again in the full stages, Something just… clicked and you were embedded into my brain meaning that before I knew it – I had clocked up 20 hours with barely a blink away from my TV.

Monster Hunter: World is, now, in my eyes one of the most beautiful games on the PS4 with incredibly satisfying combat and detailed world building. Well done Capcom, you have turned me.

Austin

Monster Hunter is a franchise with a long history of impressive titles stretching all the way back to 2004. Combing JRPG elements, nuanced gameplay, and creative ideas for monsters and weapons, the franchise seems to have it all.

So why haven’t I played it? Economics.

In the last 14 years, Monster Hunter has been on a plethora of devices, including handheld platforms and phones, but with the exception of Frontier, Capcom has steered away from my platform of choice: The PC. The investment required to obtain another console was simply too high to justify when already owning a computer with the quality required to enjoy the myriad of other games released every day. Of course, picking up an outdated console was always an option, but trying Monster Hunter’s outdated content was never a priority, nor would it do justice to a series which has been, by many accounts, innovating upon itself since its inception.

Unfortunately, when the barrier to entry is the cost of a new console and the full retail cost of the product, fewer people buy in.

Designing for multiple platforms is hard, and Steam is littered with stories of bad console-to-PC-ports which negatively impacted the users and caused mass-refunds, or outright reduced the number of buyers. That Capcom wouldn’t take the risk is understandable, perhaps even admirable, but unfortunate. Ryozo Tsujimoto flipped the script in January with his announcement of a PC port for Monster Hunter: World. In a single move, Capcom reduced the financial barrier to entry to a fraction of the original. Given the fanbase’s desire for a PC port, the positive reception of Steam sales, the greater options for multiplayer support, and the publicity that comes with being on the front page of the Steam store, Monster Hunter: World will find no shortage of attention from fans of the series and newcomers when it comes to PC this fall. There are, of course, technical difficulties to consider, such as the wider variety of hardware specifications the game will need to operate on, the complications of translating controller-based actions to mouse-and-keyboard, and the host of problems which inevitably crop up in the early days of a port, but if Capcom can pull it off, a whole new generation of players will join the fray, myself included.

Chris

I don’t have a super amount of experience with Monster Hunter; I’ve only played Tri and 4: Ultimate. But I friggin’ loved em! The idea of hunting down, and fighting monsters over the course of half and hour to an hour was pretty mind boggling, but addicting. On Tri, I’d tackle Great Jaggi, Barroth, Lagiacrus and more, alongside my brother; if I remember correctly, he was gunner, and I was lance. The arena modes were pretty fun, too. The swimming mechanics of the game were interesting, but I can see why the series has been so far hesitant to bring them back…maybe some day though. 4: Ultimate has less staying power in my mind for some reason, but man, the Bug Glaive. I loved catapulting myself into good positions, and shooting off my little beetle friend to gather vital juices for me. Would befriend insectoid again, 10/10. I’m thoroughly anticipating the release of World later this year, but alas, most of my friends already have it on PS4, so it’ll be more like Monster Hunter: Small Island for me. Hey, Sony – ever heard of a little thing called ‘cross play’..?

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