So I've now progressed far enough into the game to face down a big event with the Elder Dragon that you see in the beginning of the game. While playing this mission I realized just how utterly boring Monster Hunter actually is. You see Monster Hunter is a game of repetition, you fight the same monster over and over until you get the parts you want to make the gear you need to fight the next monster.
Every mission is the same, see that monster? Kill it, or sometimes just beat it to nearly death and trap it. Rinse and Repeat. While this cycle was fun enough for a while, it was actually the big staging mission against Zora Magdros, where you have to shoot cannons and balistas at the massive thing, before you then get onto the beat and pop some zits that I realized the potential Monster Hunter has but completely fails.
The Zora mission sucks. Loading cannons is slow and boring, and popping zits on the beast isn't challenging or fun. But it does highlight a question.
Why does every monster fight go the same way?
In a game that is all about monster fights, why does every monster fight got he same way?
You find the monster, you hit the monster until it stops moving, the end. It doesn't matter the monster, it doesn't matter what weapons you use, every fight goes this way. Why couldn't there be objectives when fighting monsters? Maybe you have to poison the monster's nest before you go to fight the creature because it's too powerful for your weapons. So you have to beat it back to the nest where it gets poisoned and you defeat it that way? Or have to break apart armor plating on monster's body parts in order to deal damage to vital organs?
Like the Zora fight, where you have to break pieces on the creature rather than actually fighting the creature, this just seems like a huge missed opportunity to make these monster fights truly interesting.
Additionally a thing that bothers me is the fact that you can't ever really over prepare for any given monster. Like Anganath for example, is basically a Fire-based T-Rex. How come in all this gear you can craft, these ammo coatings, traps, potions, and all this prep you can do before fighting this thing, why can't you over prepare and fuck his shit up? Now I know what you are gonna say, "well he is weak to fire and does fire damage to you, so wear fire resistance and use a water weapon", and yeah I guess. But here is the thing about that. Using a water weapon against him, doesn't actually do any significant extra damage to the creature. There is no interaction beyond a slightly bigger number when you hit him. Using water doesn't actually give you an advantage against the monster and that is the problem with monster hunter.
You are a hunter, you are supposed to know your shit, which means if you prepare correctly, the monster should have ZERO chance against you. Of course since this is a video game, you have to be balanced and whatever so let's tone it down a bit and ask you this question. Anganath can breath fire, what if he loses that ability if you hit him with water weapons? Maybe the water weapons reduce his body temp enough that his fire no longer works, which means you gain an very solid advantage against the monster without ruining the danger and the fun have having to take a guy that will bite, jump, claw, and charge your ass down.
But Monster Hunter doesn't have those kinds of interactions. Nothing actually matter beyond just making better gear and having enough numbers to survive the monster's numbers.
By the way, poison is by far the most powerful effect in the game for weapons. Because it is the only weapon effect that has an impact on the battle. When a monster is poisoned it takes damage over time, and this effect lasts while they run away from you making the extra damage you deal with poison far beyond what little extra damage hitting the monster with its weakness provides because the damage happens even without hitting the beast.
Anyway i'd give the game a 6/10 honestly. It's only fun for a while, but once I realized that nothing I do really makes a difference, I stopped caring.