This is a big game, isn’t it? I mean, long. Huge. Hours. I’ve plugged over 20 hours (offline) and at least 3 (online) into it so far, and I’ve only just started the 3* offline quests and have barely touched the online quests – let alone go back to previous quests to complete the subquests I’ve missed.
For the first 10 hours or so I was totally lost. Everything was confusing, from inventory management, to farming, the way online works, quests and hunting, combining items, forging armour and weapons, upgrades, skills… the lot. After every quest or two the game threw in another thing to cope with (I can send fishing fleets off? There’s a chef? I can trade commodities?!), and even at 20 hours I’m still learning. How do I even work the bowgun? Why is the Switch Axe useless? Where on earth do I get all these items I need to upgrade stuff?
But it’s excellent. It should be repetitive, mundane, and full of grinding. But somehow, it isn’t. It’s fun, frantic (in places), sedate (in others) and has an OCD Factor 5 hook to keep playing. And who doesn’t like smashing dinosaurs the size of buildings in the face with swords as long as telegraph poles?