Monster Hunter World: Deluxe Edition is on GMG for 22% off, $55.
https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/monster-hunter-world-deluxe-edition-pc/
Not a great deal, but I'm itchy to play a hard, good looking ARPG game that's NOT a Dark Souls game. Any CAGer have good (or bad) things to say from their experience with it on PS4?
For one thing, it really isn't an RPG. I'm not really sure how to describe it in terms of traditional game genres, but effectively it breaks its structure up into relatively small missions where the gameplay focus is on bursts of action-style gameplay. Outside of that, it's mostly loot-driven equipment management. There's no character improvement, all upgrades through the course of the game are equipment-based, so in that respect it scratches a lot of the same itch as loot-based ARPGs, where your main motivation for continuing is getting that next, better piece of gear, but since all equipment is crafted, you don't have quite the same RNG focus--only the materials you receive as a reward for hunting monsters or completing missions are randomized.
All that applies to any Monster Hunter game, however. For MHW in particular:
If you've ever played a MonHun game before, the most obvious point is that MHW is much, much more streamlined. You can get through the low rank portion of the story much faster than in previous entries, and downtime between missions has been greatly reduced thanks to the concentration of various systems. Gathering materials from the environment is also somewhat more streamlined, and you can carry far more materials and curatives than you could in previous games, thanks to some changes with the item pack system, which in turn speeds up the pace of improving gear. And since, after a couple hunts of any given monster, you have a neon signpost leading you to where they are on the map, missions tend to go much quicker as well. I won't go into my personal feelings on how this affects ambience, but it certainly makes for a quicker paced game, which is probably a good thing for newcomers to the series--MonHun has had a pretty steep, slow curve in previous games, while this one lets you get into the meat of the game comparatively quickly.
Large monster variety is fairly low compared to most previous games, unfortunately, and five of the thirty-four large monsters that will be in the game by the time the PC version comes out are relatively minor variations on other monsters--slightly different behaviors, elements, weaknesses, and/or just tougher. This is mitigated somewhat by the system of low and high rank I mentioned before--many monsters have weaker and tougher variants with slightly different behavior patterns, but this is a hallmark feature of the series, so coming from a previous game in the series, you would certainly still notice the lower amount of content.
All that said, the real question is whether the game is fun, and it is. Some of the overly helpful player aids aside, I feel like this is probably one of the best games in the series, with many of the major annoyances of previous entries streamlined out or to the point of inoffensiveness. The quicker pace makes it much easier to get into, whether you're bew to the series or returning after a break, and while the amount of content is certainly lower than many previous entries, it's still a ton of content--you can easily spend a couple hundred hours playing solo in this game, let alone with friends. The action is satisfyingly challenging without being unduly punishing--the most you can ever fail is to be kicked out of a repeatable mission; and player learning and clever preparation is rewarded more than grinding.
The one caveat I have for anyone thinking of getting it is that most Monster Hunter games eventually get expanded versions with significantly more content. Regardless of what price you think is right for MHW, I think you'll be getting your money's worth if you buy the vanilla version; and I'm honestly not sure if World will get the expansion version, and if it does, whether the expansion might not be sold as DLC as well as in an expansion+base package, given the era and expanded platform list. But it is something worth keeping in mind, given what forum we're posting in.
