Yep!
Unless you are avoiding them due to spoilers, there’s a few articles out there about upcoming and already added Free DLC additional Monsters. Along with them, of course, new Armor Sets and weapons too! This games gonna have loooong legs! 
I'll be double dipping on PC for co-op play with friends though, so I don't care if they uograde the console plebs.
All righty, I've made it into the Rotten Vale so I think I've spent enough time that I can offer some half-intelligent impressions.
Overall the changes are for the good. The hunter-gatherer portion of the game is so much better than it's ever been. It's easy to find stuff, and you don't have to prep too much beforehand when all you want to do is catch some bugs and mine some more. The search flies making finding monsters a touch easier, and at the end of the day it's just the difference between memorizing the monsters' territories verses just being able to track them. And I love the new environments. They are a little tougher to explore, but you're also rewarded for taking the time to properly explore things. Getting to build new camps, finding more little cat dudes, etc. And the environments are amazing so why wouldn't you want to explore them. The Coral Heights? It's an underwater level without the water!!!! Fucking brilliant!!!
That said I definitely have some gripes. First, so far I've seen only one new monster that I thought was at all creative, the white bat thing - Paoloma I think it was called?? Maybe the catfish monster too, but he doesn't really do anything too interesting. Aside from that, lots of retreads here. The main town is awful. It's a sight to behold, but at the end of the day it's way too big. The could have made it half the size and it would have filled its need nicely. Just seems silly to run around so much to get basic crap done. Also not a fan of the way you have to set up investigations, instead of just redoing quests in order to hunt particular monsters. Again, seems unnecessary.
And while it's too early to say, overall the game seems a lot easier than previous installments. I'm sure part of it is due to better controls and my own increasing familiarity with the game, but it really feels like they made everything less tough. Up until this point I really haven't been putting too much thought into pre-battle prep and I've yet to fail a quest. I've died once or twice in battle, but that's it.
Anyway, loving it. Glad I picked it up, and I"m not stopping anytime soon. And maybe at some point I'll pick up PSN plus again so I can play it online.
You have already overtaken me by a large margin. I just defeated my first Anjanath. 
I too feel that the game is easier, although so far I've assumed it was just because of how much experience I already have. Not sure if it's the game's fault.
Nice impressions there Robio.
I’m looking forward to when you guys get to take on tempered Elder Dragons, especially Kirin, Devil’jho, tempered Devil’jho, and this recent new Elder Dragon Kulve Taroth.
Going to be a while before I get there. I just swapped out the bow for a great/buster sword and never used one before. Should be interesting to see if I can do anything with it.
Also, I wanted to mention just how really well done the weather and time of day effects are in the game. I had probably done the Ancient Forest 15 or 20 so times and was getting pretty familiar with it, but one mission dropped me in there in the middle of a heavy rainstorm at night. The combination of those two things made the entire level feel completely foreign to me. It was a very cool change of pace.
Also there's a new rank 5 monster that has also wiped the floor with me. I can't remember the name but it basically looks like a blue unicorn with lightning, and seems like it was pulled out from Pokemon. I didn't prep well for it and wore armor that's weak against lightning so I went in with a disadvantage, but that doesn't take away from how surprisingly tough it is.
Anyway I think going forward I'm going to reboot the Monster Hunter Diaries and start chronicling it there.
Ahhh, the blue unicorn is none other then Kirin. Just wait until you fight Tempered Kirin, the bane of many.
robio said:Beat the Zora Magnoros or whenever the big volcano dragon thing is called. That battle was just fucking stupid. During the first half of the battle, it seems like no matter what you do you can't screw anything up. Oh well, at least all of that is done, and now the real game opens up.
I'm just passed the capture attempt. I was playing it on auto pilot as I wasn't feeling all too well, fumbled my way through it. I don't think it's possible to screw the mission up, unless you end up dying 3 times. Honnestly not too fond of the new emphasis on spectacle and in-mission cutscenes.
SupremeAC said:I'm just passed the capture attempt. I was playing it on auto pilot as I wasn't feeling all too well, fumbled my way through it. I don't think it's possible to screw the mission up, unless you end up dying 3 times. Honnestly not too fond of the new emphasis on spectacle and in-mission cutscenes.
That was pretty much my experience with the capture Mission. I didn't know what I was doing, and as I started to figure it out it was over. The Second Battle with him is a little bit better, but not much. I like the concept of fighting the giant monsters, but they haven't figured out the execution at all. There is so much room for improvement.
robio said:
That was pretty much my experience with the capture Mission. I didn't know what I was doing, and as I started to figure it out it was over. The Second Battle with him is a little bit better, but not much. I like the concept of fighting the giant monsters, but they haven't figured out the execution at all. There is so much room for improvement.
I quite enjoyed Jhen Moran in Tri to be honnest. A combination of melee and ranged combat while on the skiff, and then fending him off in the second stage. Of course the Zora Magdaros is another scale completely. Personally I don't see the need for Kojira sized monsters.
Edit: really, MH4 had some great original monsters. The shit slinging baboon, that frog, kirin,... I hope they bring some of those back for MHW Ultimate, hopefully in time for the PC release later this year.
My favourite monster to fight in this game is Nergigante. I don’t know if he is other games though.
SupremeAC said:Just beat the balloon squirel thing. I recall Robio saying it was one of the few enjoyable new monsters? Yeah, I just wanted to say I disagree. Since a lot of monsters get there moves from the same small pool of animations, a lot of them feel very similar. After a couple hundred hours of monster hunting it also immediately shows. The squirel thing is no more original than any of the other monsters so far. I hope they bring back the frog from MH4, but I'm not holding my hopes up.
I still liked him. His deflation attack was pretty cool and unpredictable,so that was neat. I will agree with you and say that overall though there's not a lot of originality in these monsters. I just got access to the rank 7 quests (story is still going on even though Zora Magnoros is gone), and I'm pushing myself to keep playing. They finally opened up a 5th zone, and every monster is yet another familiar face or just slightly different from an existing one. The graphics and QoL improvements are all wonderful, but the actual monsters are underwhelming. They clearly designed this to attract new players instead of appealing to the existing base.
This is all coming off a lot more negative than I mean it to. I've still enjoyed it a lot and probably put in north of 70 hours of gameplay. Just wish we could have had something a little more fresh to fight to go along with all the other good stuff.