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World vs Wilds vs Rise — Transcript

by mhswoocer · 6,580 words · 971 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00After the launch of Monster Hunter
0:01World, Capcom found itself faced with
0:03one of the strangest problems you can
0:04encounter as a gaming company. Their old
0:06games were actively performing better
0:08than their newest release. So, in August
0:11of 2026, they made an unprecedented
0:13change. They split the price of their
0:15newest flagship AAA title in half. If
0:18you had asked me a year ago whether you
0:20should play Monster Hunter World, Rise,
0:21or World, I would have said Rise or
0:23World without a second thought. But,
0:24this price change, along with the
0:26upcoming expansion, makes this question
0:28far more complicated. So, let's take a
0:29look goals of each of these games, along
0:31with where they excel and where they
0:33fall short, to finally answer the
0:34question of which modern Monster Hunter
0:36game holds the title of the very best.
0:40Let's start with the game that brought
0:42this series into the mainstream, Monster
0:44Hunter World. Of the three, this one is
0:46the highest rated on both Steam and on
0:47most review sites. It's the easiest one
0:49to recommend. However, there is a major
0:52caveat here. And if you blindly ignore
0:54it and play this one without a second
0:55thought, you might not just ruin this
0:57game for yourself, but the entire
0:58series. Now, I recognize that's quite
1:00the claim to make. Yet, when you take a
1:02closer look at World, you'll quickly
1:04realize that while great, it is
1:05absolutely not for everyone. Let me
1:07explain. The main goal of Monster Hunter
1:09World is to create an authentic hunting
1:11experience. This isn't a boss rush, it's
1:14a hunting simulator. Everything here,
1:15from the environments to the abilities
1:17of the player character, to of course
1:19the monsters themselves, all exist to
1:20further this idea of hunting rather than
1:23fighting. There's a reason people get so
1:24upset when you refer to the monsters in
1:26these games as bosses. I mean, to be
1:28fair, that is kind of what they are, and
1:29it's an especially helpful
1:30generalization to people who haven't
1:32actually played Monster Hunter before,
1:33but I digress. There is a genuine
1:35distinction to be made, and nowhere is
1:37that distinction more apparent Hunter
1:39World. So, in a normal boss rush game
1:41like Fury, for example, you'd beat a
1:43boss, then just walk straight to the
1:44next one. There is no real in-between
1:46section here. On the opposite end of the
1:48spectrum is something like Hollow Knight
1:49Silksong. The bosses here are great, but
1:51they're only about 10 to 20% of the
1:53total game. For the vast majority of
1:55your time in Silksong, you'll be
1:56exploring, not fighting new bosses. Here
1:58are a few other games and where I'd
2:00place them so that you can get a better
2:01idea of how this scale [music] works. I
2:03want you to keep this spectrum in mind
2:05since you probably have your own
2:06personal preference for what an ideal
2:08ratio looks like. And crucially, none of
2:10the three Monster Hunter games we're
2:11going to talk about land in the same
2:13spot. For example, World is somewhere
2:15around here. While it's not a pure boss
2:17rush, the majority of your time in this
2:18game will be spent in combat. That
2:21authentic hunting experience from
2:22earlier is created in those in-between
2:24sections. I could keep describing it,
2:26but I think it would be easier to
2:27understand if we just went through an
2:28example. So, grab a weapon real quick
2:30and
2:31yeah, I get it. There are a lot of them.
2:33Don't worry. Here, write down weapons on
2:34this sheet of paper and throw it in the
2:36folder. We'll get to it later. For now,
2:37just pick one.
2:39Okay, got it? Great. Let's hunt a
2:40Rathalos. The quest begins and
2:42immediately you're faced with a problem.
2:44Open up the map and you'll notice that
2:45you're here, the subscribe button is
2:47here, and the boss you're supposed to be
2:48fighting is
2:50well, it's somewhere around here.
2:52Naturally, you've got no choice but to
2:54start hunting for it. You get it? Like
2:56the like the title of the This is done
2:58by searching the locale for evidence of
2:59the monster's whereabouts. You'll find
3:01scales that may have fallen off the
3:02monster or gashes on trees from its
3:04claws. This evidence will gradually lead
3:06you in the direction of the monster. And
3:07for newer fans of the series, it does
3:09something else particularly noteworthy.
3:11It allows you to create a mental image
3:13of what you may be faced with when you
3:14eventually encounter the boss. There's
3:16this slow intense build-up as you piece
3:18together what kind of creature you might
3:19be preparing to fight. Eventually, you
3:21collect enough evidence and either by
3:22coincidence or by your trusty scout
3:24flies pointing you in the right
3:25direction, you'll find yourself
3:27face-to-face with
3:30And now it's just a normal boss fight,
3:32right? Not quite. There are three things
3:34that make bosses in Monster Hunter
3:36different from a normal boss. While all
3:37three of these exist to some degree in
3:39all three of these games, the first two
3:41are heavily emphasized in World. So,
3:43we'll cover those first, too, and we'll
3:45get to the third a bit later. First are
3:46the environmental interactions. Dams
3:48will break causing a massive deluge of
3:50water to send both you and the monster
3:52flying off a cliff. Hanging crystal
3:53stalactites can be dislodged and dropped
3:55onto the monster's head. Even other
3:57monsters on the map can become a
3:58potential hazard as they might try to
4:00pick a fight with whatever you're
4:01currently hunting or you. This chaos
4:03defines Monster Hunter World though.
4:05There's an inherent lack of control and
4:07unpredictability in these encounters
4:09that make each one feel just a bit
4:10different from the last. I mean, in the
4:12Ancient Forest, the map that we're
4:13hunting Rathalos in, we can
4:17Don't worry, that's that's normal. This
4:19is the second thing that makes these
4:20[music] fights different from normal
4:21bosses. Duration. This obviously varies
4:24dramatically from game to game, but most
4:26boss fights in action games like this
4:28don't last that long. Monster Hunter is
4:30often compared to Dark Souls and that
4:31comparison makes the duration idea
4:33extremely clear. A fight in Dark Souls
4:35or other FromSoftware games lasts maybe
4:3790 seconds, after which either you or
4:39the boss has been folded like an omelet.
4:41In Monster Hunter, these encounters can
4:42last well over half an hour. Granted, if
4:44they do, you're probably doing something
4:46wrong, but on average, they're still
4:48around 10 to 15 minutes each, especially
4:50on your first few attempts. Part of this
4:52is because the fight doesn't take place
4:54in a single arena. As we saw earlier,
4:56monsters will run away from you, forcing
4:57you to chase them. They'll even get
4:59tired and leave the fight for a quick
5:00snack to restore their stamina. And when
5:02they're nearing the end of their HP
5:03pool, they'll retreat back to their nest
5:05to sleep and regain some health. And
5:07that's what an average hunt looks like
5:08in World. You enter an area, search for
5:10a monster, find it, fight it for a bit,
5:12chase it around, and eventually deplete
5:13its health down to zero. These two
5:15aspects really emphasize that feeling of
5:17hunting over fighting in the gameplay
5:19itself. Yet, World doesn't stop there.
5:21This goal of creating a hunting
5:22experience is the forefront of nearly
5:24every decision made in the game, for
5:26better and for worse. There are sections
5:28in this game where you're asked to
5:29search for a specific monster for hours.
5:32Mercifully, you don't have to do it all
5:33at once, but it is tied directly to
5:36story progression, and unfortunately,
5:38it's not a one-off thing. Multiple times
5:40throughout this game, you'll be forced
5:41to halt your progress and search for a
5:43new monster instead of fighting it.
5:45Furthermore, while the size of these
5:46maps was incredibly impressive back in
5:482018 when the game released, and
5:50honestly still is impressive today,
5:52traversing them is significantly less
5:54awe-inspiring. It can often take minutes
5:56from when you enter a quest to when you
5:57actually find the monster you're
5:59supposed to be fighting. And if you're
6:00particularly unlucky, the moment you do
6:02find them, they might simply run away to
6:05another area, forcing you to do even
6:06more cardio before you can start the
6:08boss fight. Other monsters interrupting
6:10you mid-fight is a cool spectacle the
6:11first few times, but after dozens of
6:13quests, it can get more annoying than
6:15exciting. Now, it is important [music]
6:16to note that this isn't all objective.
6:18There are countless people who find
6:20these turf wars to be just [music] as
6:21exciting a thousand hours in as they
6:23were the very first time they saw one.
6:25Yet, that isn't going to be everyone.
6:26This is why I mentioned that whole if
6:28you're not careful, it could ruin both
6:30this game and the series thing. I really
6:32can't stress this enough. Monster Hunter
6:33World is not a boss rush, and crucially,
6:36Rise and Wilds spend significantly less
6:39time on these in-between sections. If
6:41you tried World and thought, "Wow, the
6:42combat is great, but this tracking stuff
6:44is really annoying." Don't worry, that's
6:45exclusive to this game. Ultimately,
6:47while this heavy focus on the hunting
6:49experience isn't going to be for
6:50everyone, if it is for you, you're not
6:52going to find anything else quite like
6:55it. Now, in regards to the actual
6:56structure of the game and its story, all
6:58three of these games have a slightly
7:00different approach. World operates on
7:01the rule of tell, don't show. And no, I
7:03didn't say that backwards. World often
7:05wants to ensure that the player can
7:07clearly understand exactly what's
7:08happening at all times. And as a result,
7:11you'll often have these uninterrupted
7:12walking sections where you get the
7:13chance to appreciate the environments
7:15and sometimes the monsters as well. Most
7:17of the larger story sections of this
7:19game are handled like this, as is each
7:21introduction to new areas. Instead of
7:23tossing you in and asking you to explore
7:24yourself, they'll start by walking you
7:26through small parts and pointing things
7:28out to you. This approach, much like the
7:29hunting stuff from earlier, probably
7:31sounds like a nightmare to some, but I
7:32promise it's not that bad. I mean, it
7:35it's it's kind of bad. However, it acts
7:37as a solid contrast to the more intense
7:39and frantic combat. Speaking of the
7:40combat, that's the last big thing to
7:42cover here, and in my opinion, the most
7:44interesting aspect of the series. The
7:46combat in Monster Hunter is unlike any
7:48other game. Even within the series, each
7:50game has a distinct and clear style of
7:52combat. World is the slowest of the
7:54three, and that idea is reflected both
7:55in the player character and the
7:57monsters. There's a ton of commitment in
7:58this combat. You've got incredibly long
8:00windups and cool downs for your attacks,
8:02and while you can cancel most items,
8:04many of your combat animations force you
8:06to carefully and deliberately attack to
8:08ensure that you don't get caught in a
8:09bad spot way out. The dual blades are
8:11one of my favorite examples of this.
8:13It's by far the fastest weapon in the
8:14game, yet when you throw out your most
8:16powerful attack, you're locked in place
8:18for the entire duration of said attack.
8:20It's not just your strongest attacks,
8:21either. Practically every weapon in the
8:23game has this windup and cool down idea
8:25with their attacks. To really illustrate
8:27the difference between the level of
8:28commitment and speed in World, Rise, and
8:30Wilds, I'll use the exact same weapon as
8:32an example in all three games. This is
8:34the consensus, objective, and divinely
8:36mandated greatest weapon of all time,
8:38the switch axe. Hey, I don't make the
8:40rules. We, yes, all of us, heard the
8:42voice in the sky on October 13th, 2024,
8:44say that switch axe was the goat.
8:46Anyway, check this out. This is your
8:47sword gauge. It depletes when you use
8:49sword attacks. Don't worry too much
8:50about the details. If you're in axe mode
8:52and you try to use a sword attack while
8:54that gauge is below 50%, you'll be
8:56forced into this lengthy reload
8:57animation. Not only is this animation
8:59dangerously slow, but you can't cancel
9:01it. Once it starts, you have to stand
9:03there like a goofball until it's done.
9:05Because of this, if you swing wildly
9:06without a care in the world, you'll be
9:08heavily punished for it. Keep this in
9:10mind. We'll come back to it in the next
9:11two games. Due to growing up in a noisy
9:13environment, I struggle to sleep in
9:14complete and total silence. I've used my
9:16phone to play ambient noises in the
9:18past, but that drains the battery like
9:19crazy, the speaker isn't very good, and
9:21if you're not careful, you might get hit
9:23with a random YouTube ad while you're
9:24trying to sleep. All of this is why I
9:25use today's sponsor, the Mantra White
9:27Noise Machine, literally every night.
9:29I'd like to highlight three main
9:30benefits. First, the speakers are great.
9:32It's loud enough to drown out ambient
9:34noise from outside, but quiet enough
9:36that it doesn't keep you awake itself.
9:37Equally, it's got well over a dozen
9:39sounds that it can play along with
9:40volume that ranges from barely audible
9:42to drive your neighbors insane. Second
9:44is the size. It's super small, so I can
9:46easily throw it in my bag when I travel,
9:48and because you just plug it into the
9:50wall, I often forget it's even there
9:51with how low maintenance it is. Finally,
9:53my personal favorite part is the remote.
9:55The on off button is massive, taking up
9:57something like 50% of the entire thing.
9:59This makes it easy to press even when
10:00it's pitch black, and thanks to the
10:02design of the other buttons, you can
10:04easily operate this thing without having
10:05to see it. It's such a small design
10:07choice, but it's genuinely brilliant
10:08when you consider this thing is supposed
10:10to be used in the middle of the night.
10:11So, check out the Manta Sleep White
10:12Noise Machine by clicking on the link
10:14below and support the channel in the
10:15process. Much like the World section,
10:17we're going to begin by defining the
10:19goal of Monster Hunter Rise. To do so,
10:21however, we'll need a bit of context.
10:22You see, Rise was a game that was
10:24designed for the Nintendo Switch, a
10:25portable console. Because of this, Rise
10:27has a much more pick-up-and-play type of
10:29experience than World, similar to the
10:31older Monster Hunter games. No long
10:33cutscenes and no meticulous searching
10:35for the monster. Instead, this was a
10:36much more streamlined experience. The
10:38primary goal of Rise was to highlight
10:40and focus on the best parts of the game,
10:42the encounters with the monsters, and
10:43trim out basically everything else, for
10:45better and for worse. Now, Rise isn't a
10:48pure boss rush. You still have to
10:49traverse the maps, and the verticality
10:51in said maps, along with how fluid and
10:53intuitive the new movement system feels,
10:55makes doing so genuinely fun. But
10:57crucially, they also make it fast. Let's
10:59go through a quick hunt in this game so
11:01that you can see what it looks like when
11:02compared to World. This time, we'll
11:03fight an Agnaktor.
11:05Come on, boss. Just Just choose one. I I
11:07promise it doesn't matter right now. So,
11:09we enter the location, and right off the
11:10bat, you'll notice a simple yet
11:12fundamental difference to the hunt in
11:13World. Take a second and see if you can
11:15spot it.
11:19There are plenty of small changes. The
11:20UI is a bit different. There are these
11:22weird icons on the bottom of the screen
11:23that'll make sense later. There's a dog.
11:25The graphics are obviously completely
11:27different, but none of those are the
11:28change that I'm talking about. Remember
11:29how in World, the monster was missing?
11:31Well, here in Rise the monster is marked
11:33on your map from the very start of the
11:35hunt, every hunt. In fact, the entire
11:37tracking system as a whole has been
11:39removed. We simply take a look at our
11:40map, see that this is the guy we have to
11:42fight, and make our way over. Doing that
11:44last part is even quicker now, as well.
11:46Thanks to the Palamute, that
11:47aforementioned dog, you can zoom through
11:48these maps, quickly scale climbable
11:50walls, and even drift for some reason.
11:53On top of this, you've got access to
11:54great wirebugs that launch you across
11:56the map at blistering speeds, and normal
11:58wirebugs that you can use to easily
12:00ascend to the highest parts of the
12:01arena. All of this almost over-corrects
12:03that problem from World. In World,
12:05hunting for the monster could take so
12:06long that it might have ended up feeling
12:08tedious. Yet here, you can do it so fast
12:11that the in-between sections feel
12:12secondary to the rest of the experience.
12:14Remember that boss rush spectrum from
12:16earlier? Well, here's where I'd put
12:17Rise. Again, not a true boss rush, but
12:19it's getting close. I really can't
12:21stress this enough, though. Neither of
12:22these approaches are necessarily better
12:24than the other. It's just that they're
12:25so different that most people are going
12:27to have a clear preference towards one
12:29or the other. Ultimately, Rise is a game
12:31about getting to the best parts faster,
12:32and doing so with less commitment. That
12:34duration idea still exists here, and
12:36while bosses still take around 10
12:38minutes to defeat, hunts in Rise often
12:40end faster than those in World, purely
12:42because you spend less time doing this,
12:47and more time doing this.
12:56This trend of focusing on shorter, less
12:57committal sessions appears in the story
12:59as well. World focuses on a tell, don't
13:01show design, but Rise really leans into
13:03the opposite, show, don't tell. While
13:06World would stop you to explain [music]
13:07exactly what these ruins are and why you
13:09should care about them, Rise simply
13:11shows you and allows you to quietly
13:12contemplate what might have happened
13:14here, how, and why. There are no walking
13:16sections in this game. All of the
13:18exploration is done on your own. For a
13:19quick spoiler-free synopsis, the main
13:21antagonist in Rise is a horde of
13:23rampaging monsters that constantly try
13:25to attack the village that you call
13:26home. Your job is to stop this rampage
13:29both by hunting specific monsters in the
13:30normal maps and very occasionally
13:32participating in these more constricted
13:34intense rampage hunts. The latter sees
13:36you defend the village from the rampage
13:38directly, furthering that show don't
13:40tell idea. They don't explain how
13:41dangerous the rampage is. They instead
13:43throw a dozen monsters at you
13:45simultaneously and let you experience
13:46first hand just how important it is to
13:48stop them from reaching the village.
13:50Furthermore, there are ruins in the maps
13:52of Rise that stand as a constant
13:53reminder of what can and will happen to
13:55your own village if you fail in your
13:57quest. Now, everything that we've looked
13:59at so far has been relatively minor in
14:00the grand scheme of things. This last
14:02difference, however, is probably the
14:04single biggest reason why people prefer
14:06one of these games over the other. That
14:08difference is the combat. Rise has the
14:10fastest combat of the three games and
14:12it's not close. The wirebugs are the
14:13primary reason for this. These little
14:15guys are astonishingly versatile,
14:17allowing you to soar through the air,
14:18dash while on the ground, and execute
14:20countless different special moves called
14:22silkbind attacks with your weapons. That
14:24last one is especially important when
14:26comparing this game to the other two.
14:27The combat of Rise is by far the
14:29greatest strength of this game. Okay,
14:30grab that folder about weapons from
14:32earlier. We're finally going to go a bit
14:33in depth. So, a quick recap since I know
14:35there are going to be at least a few
14:36people who have never played a Monster
14:37Hunter game before. These are your 14
14:39weapon types. We're not going to go in
14:41depth on all of them since this video
14:42would probably have to be several hours
14:44long if we did. Instead, just know that
14:46each one of them is almost like a
14:47fighting game character. Check this out.
14:49This is a list of combo strings for just
14:51one of the weapons, the long sword.
14:53There are full multi-page long tutorials
14:55that you can find in game for this
14:56stuff. Equally, you can go on YouTube
14:58and see the tutorials for these
14:59individual weapons can be over half an
15:01hour long. This is great since it allows
15:03for near endless content. You can play
15:04something like the sword and shield for
15:06200 hours, feel as though you've
15:07mastered it, and then switch to the bow
15:09and get the very same feeling that you
15:11got 200 hours prior when you started the
15:13game. It really is an incredible system
15:15with a level of depth that I haven't
15:16really seen in any other game like this.
15:18Now, here's the key detail that I I want
15:20you to remember. Weapon complexity isn't
15:22exclusive to Rise. All three of these
15:24games have incredible depth with all 14
15:26weapons. Where Rise becomes borderline
15:28overwhelming lies in how this complexity
15:30increases exponentially with the
15:32introduction of those wirebugs from
15:33earlier and a new system called switch
15:35skills. The latter just lets you
15:37interchange attacks and combos. Now,
15:39these systems are truly outstanding,
15:40especially if you're a returning fan of
15:42the series. They allow for an insane
15:44amount of customization and personal
15:45expression that far surpasses what you
15:47can find in World and Wilds. Yet, at the
15:49same time, if you're a newer player and
15:51you don't even know what a charge blade
15:53is, then having the game toss this
15:54weapon in your hands and go, "Okay, do
15:56you want the axe hopper for an instant
15:57SAED, or would you rather use counter
15:59peak performance to fill your files?"
16:01You may rightfully respond with, "Files?
16:03I thought I already downloaded the
16:04game." Don't get me wrong.
16:06>> [laughter]
16:07>> That's one of the dumbest jokes I've
16:08ever written. Don't get me wrong, some
16:10new players are going to love this level
16:11of choice and customization, but plenty
16:13are going to look at a system this
16:14complicated and instead of going through
16:16the mental effort of learning
16:17everything, they'll just give up. That
16:19said, if you can manage to learn and
16:21master this combat and all of its ins
16:22and outs, it is, at least in my opinion,
16:25probably the best of the three. It's
16:26even got a level of verticality to the
16:28combat that's almost completely
16:29non-existent in the other two games.
16:31There are massive wave attacks that you
16:33have to jump over, and since plenty of
16:34monsters attack while on the ground, you
16:36can use wirebugs to avoid their swings
16:38and even quickly counter attack mid-air.
16:40On the topic of those monsters, after
16:42playing Rise, World almost feels like
16:44it's moving in slow motion. The monsters
16:46here are incredibly fast with countless
16:48follow-ups and combos that are meant to
16:49punish reckless counters and
16:50overextensions. As strong as the
16:52wirebugs and silkbind skills are,
16:54they're a limited resource. And because
16:56they can be used offensively for attacks
16:58and defensively for counters and
17:00evasions, you get this brilliant game of
17:02risk reward where you're forced to
17:03constantly ask yourself not merely if
17:05this attack will land and if you'll be
17:07safe during the cool down afterwards,
17:08but also whether or not you'll need that
17:10wirebug that you just used for whatever
17:12the monster does next. Okay, remember
17:14that commitment idea from earlier with
17:15the switch axe? Well, in Rise, similar
17:18happens when you try to use your sword
17:19while the gauge is under 50%. You get
17:21stuck in this lengthy reload animation.
17:23There's no real avoiding that. What you
17:24can do though is use wire bugs for a
17:26quick recharge skill that refills most
17:28of your gauge. You can't cancel out of
17:30this and it does cost one wire bug to
17:32use. So, there's still level of
17:33commitment and resource management.
17:35There's a balance here between giving
17:36the player more options and keeping that
17:38commitment based combat intact. The only
17:40caveat I'll give to all of this is that
17:42Rise's combat, while great, doesn't
17:44truly reach its peak until the Sunbreak
17:46expansion. But, that's well beyond the
17:48scope of this video. We've got to look
17:49at our third entry, the game that's
17:51getting its own expansion that we'll
17:52talk about later, the most recent
17:54Monster Hunter game, and perhaps the
17:56most divisive, Monster Hunter World.
17:58World is the most interesting entry here
18:00because on paper, it's easily the best
18:02one for newcomers and is arguably the
18:04best base game that we've ever seen.
18:06Yet, there are so many caveats and
18:08asterisks attached, making it nearly
18:09impossible to select this as my general
18:11recommendation. Even if, again, on
18:14paper, it should be. Much like the
18:15previous two games, we'll start with
18:17goals. What is World trying to do? Well,
18:20it's kind of like if World and Rise had
18:21a kid, but that kid didn't grow up in a
18:23challenging environment cuz its dad made
18:24so much money that it never really had
18:26to work hard. The kid looked up to both
18:27parents quite a lot and idolized them
18:28and wanted to be like both of them.
18:29Tragically, however, this idolization
18:31led to a failure to develop its own
18:32unique personality identity.
18:34Is that a weird analogy? World is the
18:35middle ground. In basically every way,
18:37this game aims to be a successor to both
18:39World and Rise at the same time while
18:42providing the most immersive and
18:43detailed environment of the three games.
18:45In my opinion, it does that pretty well.
18:47First, let's talk about the actual
18:49structure of the game. Unlike Rise,
18:51World brings hunting back. Yet, unlike
18:53World, that hunting is found more in the
18:55story than the gameplay. This might
18:56sound like they just show you a bunch of
18:58cutscenes, but that's not quite right.
19:00And what they choose to do instead is
19:01executed surprisingly well. There's this
19:03level of build-up and tension. Stakes
19:05feel higher than the previous two games
19:07and the monsters themselves feel far
19:08more threatening. While this may be a
19:10bit of a divisive statement, I think
19:11there's a pretty strong argument to be
19:13made that Wilds has the best story out
19:15of these three games. It's also the one
19:17that focuses on said story the most by
19:19far. Crucially though, the actual
19:21mechanics that create that feeling like
19:22you're tracking down some elusive
19:24supernatural creature do not exist in
19:26the gameplay here. Much like Rise,
19:28monsters are marked on your map, and
19:29taking that streamlining even further is
19:31the fact that your new mount, the
19:33Walmart brand Palimute, also known as a
19:34sacred, can instantly taxi you to every
19:36monster in the game with the press of a
19:38button. Going back to that boss rush
19:40spectrum one final time, we can see that
19:42Wilds is actually the closest to a pure
19:44boss rush. There's almost nothing in
19:46between you and the boss fights. This is
19:48why those story sections are so
19:49important. You see, while Wilds doesn't
19:51have the hunting mechanics of World, it
19:53does create these moments and sequences
19:55that are far better than nearly any of
19:57the scenes in World and Rise. For
19:58example, you'll start investigating a
20:00specific monster in the story, later
20:02find out that the one monster that you
20:03think you've been tracking is actually a
20:05horde of them. Said horde will destroy
20:07your camp, break into a nearby village,
20:09and cause untold destruction. Then the
20:10leader of that horde will effortlessly
20:12dispatch an early game monster that took
20:14you anywhere from five to 10 minutes to
20:15defeat in a single attack, toss its body
20:18at you, and begin the hunt in the middle
20:19of a thunderstorm so intense that you
20:21can barely see more than a dozen feet in
20:23front of you. Sequences like these are
20:24so impactful because unlike the previous
20:27two games, they clearly show us why
20:28these monsters are so dangerous in real
20:30time. In Rise, you knew you had to stop
20:32the rampages because one day it could
20:34destroy your home. In World, you had to
20:36stop Zorah Magdaros because it was going
20:38to ruin the ecosystem. Here though, the
20:40monsters do reach the village. Lives are
20:42in danger right [music] now. It creates
20:44a much greater sense of urgency than the
20:45previous two games. Naturally then, it
20:48makes sense that the story is a major
20:49focus in Wilds. The characters are
20:51orders of magnitude more complex than
20:53previous games. Now, to be clear, these
20:55are not the greatest written characters
20:57in fiction. They're anywhere from
20:58mediocre to slightly above average. But
21:00by Monster Hunter standards, they may as
21:02well be written by Pulitzer Prize
21:03winning authors. The narrative itself is
21:05solid, has reasonably meaningful themes
21:07and ideas, and is generally paced pretty
21:09well outside of the walking sections
21:11from World that returned because exactly
21:12zero people asked for them. Seriously,
21:14Capcom, please don't put these in the
21:15next game. The best part of the writing
21:17in the story in Wilds is the lore.
21:19Monster Hunter lore has always been
21:20fascinating, but Wilds is the only game
21:22of the three that really leans heavily
21:24into that lore, even in its main story.
21:26There are some shocking reveals here,
21:28especially later in the game.
21:29Furthermore, there are some concepts
21:31that I found myself thinking about for
21:32months after finishing the game. They
21:34were just that interesting.
21:35Paradoxically, however, a large part of
21:37why some of these lore reveals worked so
21:39well for me personally was because I had
21:41context from previous games in the
21:43series. That's something to consider if
21:45you're going in purely for the lore,
21:46which I recognize as an extremely small
21:48number of people. Most people who are
21:50interested in Monster Hunter are here
21:52for the combat. Continuing this
21:53middle-of-the-road trend, the combat in
21:55Wilds is faster than World, but slower
21:57than Rise. Wirebugs were removed,
21:59causing the combat to feel a fair bit
22:00slower and more grounded, literally.
22:02Switch skills as well also aren't
22:04included in this game, presumably to
22:06simplify things for newer players.
22:07However, a ton of those special wirebug
22:09attacks from Rise return here with
22:11slightly watered-down versions. Equally,
22:13most of the switch skills are back, too.
22:15Check this out. These are two switch
22:16skills for the switch axe in Rise, and
22:18here are the same attacks in Wilds. Now,
22:20instead of having to choose between the
22:22two each time you go out on a hunt, you
22:23can simply use either one at any time
22:25depending on the situation. Where this
22:27really gets interesting, though, is the
22:28fact that most silkbind attacks are just
22:31normal moves now. Both the spiral slash
22:33and demon flight skills are accessible
22:35through the new focus strike system.
22:36See, here's a side-by-side. The attacks
22:38are nearly identical, and the new
22:39perfect dodge is extremely similar to
22:41the shrouded vault silkbind attack.
22:43Crucially, these new watered-down
22:44silkbind attacks are exactly that, more
22:46grounded and weakened versions of their
22:48Rise iterations. Yet, this should give
22:50you a good idea of why I say that the
22:52combat feels like a mixture between
22:53World and Rise. It's far less vertical
22:55than Rise and a bit less over the top,
22:57but it does retain a lot of the things
22:59that made the combat in Rise so much fun
23:01without completely removing the more
23:03grounded combat that existed in World.
23:04This trend continues with the speed of
23:06the monsters as well. Much like the
23:07player character, the monsters are
23:09faster than World and slower than Rise,
23:11once again creating that middle ground.
23:13Yet, there does exist one key difference
23:15in the combat outside of this middle
23:17ground idea. It's something that I think
23:18is especially important for newer
23:20players. So, if you fall into that
23:21category, lock in. Wilds has more safety
23:24nets than any previous Monster Hunter
23:25game. How about we look at that Switch
23:27Axe example from the previous two games?
23:29What happens when you try to use a sword
23:30attack at less than 50% here? Well, you
23:32still get that same slow and clunky
23:34reload animation.
23:36Oh, I I guess you can just cancel it
23:39now. In fact, this is the case with most
23:40of the commitment in Wilds. Despite
23:42being slower than Rise, the level of
23:44commitment here is far lower than both
23:46Rise and World. Longer attacks that used
23:48to lock you into one specific animation
23:50can now be canceled early. The biggest
23:52change, of course, is focus mode, a new
23:54mechanic that allows you to freely and
23:55precisely aim all of your attacks. Now,
23:57remember way back in the World section
23:59when I said there were three things that
24:00make Monster Hunter bosses different
24:02from normal bosses in other games? This
24:04is the third. Targeting specific parts
24:06to alter the fight. My favorite example
24:08of this is an old gen monster called
24:09Tetsucabra. This monster can pull
24:11massive boulders out of the ground with
24:12its tusks, but if you break those tusks,
24:15the boulders will be significantly
24:16smaller and less dangerous. This is
24:18something that exists in plenty of
24:19monsters. You can cut tails to lower the
24:21range of tail swings. You can break
24:23harder parts of a monster's armor to
24:24expose it to more damage. And for a lot
24:26of the bigger fights in the late game,
24:28you'll need to target specific parts to
24:30prevent some kind of ultimate attack.
24:31This was a rather precise and careful
24:33task in games before Wilds. And while
24:35focus mode doesn't fully remove the
24:37importance of meticulous spacing and
24:38positioning, it heavily lessens their
24:40significance. This is an interesting
24:42change, since [music] whether or not it
24:43matters to you is going to be almost
24:45entirely subjective. This kind of design
24:47is great for newer players who struggled
24:49in previous games due to the more
24:50restrictive nature of the combat. Now,
24:52if you make a mistake and use an attack
24:54that's unsafe, you can cancel it before
24:55getting hit. You'll never have to worry
24:57about missing an attack either thanks to
24:59focus mode. Yet, at the same time, that
25:01commitment was a large part of what made
25:02Monster Hunter's combat so unique in the
25:04first place. There's way more to this,
25:06but honestly, you could make entire
25:08videos on this subject alone. In fact,
25:10plenty of people, including myself,
25:12already have. For players just looking
25:13to compare these three games though, the
25:15most important idea to take away is that
25:17in terms of speed from fastest to
25:19slowest, the games are Rise, Wilds,
25:22World. And from least commitment to
25:23most, it goes Wilds, Rise, World.
25:26Lastly, I'd like to include a topic that
25:28I'd call wildcard details. First, I want
25:30to briefly touch on the environments of
25:32Wilds. This is a smaller thing that's
25:33not really going to matter to a lot of
25:35core fans of the series, but the level
25:37of detail here is so high that it would
25:38feel strange to completely ignore it. If
25:40you're the type of player who enjoys
25:41games with a ton of detail where you can
25:43walk around and photograph different
25:45things or just observe the environment,
25:46then that might actually be something
25:48worth considering when comparing these
25:50three, since Wilds is by far the best at
25:52that, and it's really not close. Next,
25:55remember how I said on paper Wilds is
25:57probably the easiest game to recommend?
25:59Well, let's get to those asterisks. On
26:00the negative side of things, if you're
26:02on PC, Wilds might not run for you. The
26:05game has gotten plenty of performance
26:06patches, and the sentiment seems to be
26:08pretty positive at this point. Even
26:09still, please do your own research. I
26:12played the game on console, and I never
26:13had a serious problem with performance,
26:15but I can't personally speak on how the
26:17PC version performs right now. There are
26:19also the expansions. Wilds has one on
26:21the way. It'll get here sometime next
26:23year, and by the time this video is out,
26:25even have a release date. World and Rise
26:27already have expansions. This can be
26:28both a positive and negative. With an
26:30expansion likely comes a more active
26:32community, and considering these games
26:34can be well over 100 hours long if you
26:35aim to complete all of the content in
26:37them, now might be the perfect time to
26:39jump on Wilds depending on your schedule
26:41and how much time you have to play
26:42games. The negative for Wilds here is
26:44twofold. First, the expansion might be
26:46bad. Granted, this is the equivalent of
26:48going LeBron might fall off next season
26:50in 2016, but it's not totally
26:52impossible. Second and more importantly,
26:54Rise and World have more than twice as
26:56much content as Wilds [music] does if
26:58you include their expansions. This won't
27:00be true forever, yet it is true right
27:02now and it's something to keep in mind.
27:04Okay, so with all of the context out of
27:05the way and with a detailed explanation
27:07of the three options, which one is the
27:09best? Well, this is the easiest part
27:11since if you've been paying attention,
27:12you probably already have your answer.
27:14My personal answers are going to vary
27:16depending on who exactly I'm
27:17recommending the games to. So, I'll
27:19break them into groups along with my
27:20recommendations. Now, of course, you
27:22might fall into one of these groups and
27:24still find yourself leaning towards a
27:25different game than the one I recommend.
27:27That's totally fine. Don't just blindly
27:29listen to me. If I wanted you to do
27:30that, I would have just said Rise at the
27:32start and ended the video without giving
27:33any details or evidence. All right,
27:35here's the list. If you're totally new
27:36to the series and all three games are on
27:38sale, I'd recommend starting with World
27:40over Rise since I think World is a bit
27:42easier to get into due to its
27:43simplicity. If the games aren't on sale,
27:45I'd actually recommend starting with
27:47Wilds over World and Rise. The
27:49difference in price is relatively low
27:50and Wilds was literally designed with
27:52the idea of appealing to newer players.
27:54If you've played these games before, but
27:56stopped at some point before 2015, start
27:58with World. Maybe Rise if you think the
28:00over-the-top combat looks particularly
28:02fun. If you've only played Rise or
28:03World, you'll probably like Wilds. And
28:05if you've only played Wilds, choosing
28:07between World and Rise is like picking
28:08your favorite color. It's entirely
28:10personal preference. Regardless of which
28:12one you choose, I can't stress this
28:13enough. You really can't go wrong. All
28:15three of these games are fantastic and
28:17stand as paragons of what this medium is
28:19capable of when it comes to combat, boss
28:21fights, and just generally unique
28:22experiences. Really, these games are
28:24truly special and mean quite a lot to
28:26both myself and practically all of the
28:28fans of the series. [music] And
28:29hopefully, once you play them, you'll
28:31understand why. Speaking of things that
28:33would mean a [music] lot to me, you can
28:34purchase all three of these games
28:35through my affiliate program to help
28:37support the channel. Listen, I got to
28:38keep the lights on somehow.

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