User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Kushala Daora (5th Gen)/@comment-15446856-20180804095400

Kushala Daora in this new generation is something that is as bad to me as it is to many others. Yep, it's time for another rant. And this time, I will make sure every single reason of why it is bad gets covered!

First, the design. In an unpopular opinion, I don't not like the redesign of its wings. Yes the original may have looked weird a bit, but I'll be damned if I don't say that the new design looks generic as hell. They now look like any other typically imagined dragon wings, not a good start. The rusted nose I couldn't care about and the steel is the same. The design regardless is also the best thing about this monster, thanks to the HD textures, but that really isn't saying much.

Due to the lack of an ice area for World (unless they add one in a large title update) the Kushala is first encountered in the volcanic area. Tell any old player that and they'll assume you're lying to them, as the concept of a Kushala Daora in a volcano is absurd. And it can definitely look out of place among the brimstone rocks and the volcanic activity in the background. It does get to go to the Ancient Forest though, which suits it much better. In the rain, its like you are playing the battle in the intro of Dos in game, which undoubtedly is incredible. Another of the only two good things about it.

But what I can definitely agree on with most people is the fight. It's really bad. Capcom went way too far of its "wind dragon" status in this game. They decided to scrap all its ice element attacks completely and cram in a crap ton of wind attacks in their place. These wind attacks manage to far surpass the annoyance the ones of old gen. Their range has increased greatly and the reaction the hunter is given is now longer. Besides the typical wind blasts, the Kushala now gets a super version of this attack, which is really big and an AOE upswing. It is harder than it looks to avoid. It gains a triple wind blast attack that makes it looks like it can't control its own power. None of them have any real chance of hitting you from their blind-like aim so it only serves to knock the hunter backwards and piss you off. On the ground, it can do a wind breath sweep, which is useless. Oh, and they got rid of the version where it would sweep the area from above with a continuous wind breath, so that sucks too. For the melee attacks, they aren't much better. They gave it an annoying double bite attack reminiscent of Rusted Kushala Daora's from 4 Ultimate, and anything from that Rusted is a bad thing. God damn it, they gave it Rusted's movements too... There's the traditional charge attack with has a near one second tell now, but this is better than no tell at all. I also don't get why they gave it a Teostra style pounce, it just looks.. off. But lets get to the main point.

The absolute WORST new thing they gave it, is its new tornadoes. Remember the tornadoes it had in 4U? Yeah, the big one in High Rank was okay, it was its ultimate attack and did big damage when it hit you. Then in G-rank, they messed it up by adding zig-zagging mini tornadoes that are enraging and even made the big tornado move, which was such a huge troll. It could wind pressure you, then cart you before you could recover! Now, take the big tornado and enlarge it, give it the wind pressure it had and amplify it, make it stationary like the High Rank one, and allow two of them to be in the same place at the same time. Sound like hell? Well thats what they did with the brand spanking new 5th Gen Kushala Daora's tornado! By Fatalis, they are as annoying as the new Stun mechanics! It can, and it most certainly can, trap you into a tight space in a small area by two well placed tornadoes and force you to fight the dragon with its wide reaching attacks in that spot until one of them or you dies. Whats that? You want to try and move around it? Nah! You simply can't do it. Every time you go near it, it pushes you backwards away from it. This alone will make you want to tear the skin from your face, and pretty much make everything else so much worse. Oh but wait, did you remember the aerial attacks? Well, they messed them up too! The perfect ground smashing and slapping attacks of the past have been erased. And what they replace them with? A bicycle kick. A fucking, retarded looking, bicycle kick. And an annoying one too, as it comes nearly out of nowhere and is more difficult than it should be to dodge. Aerial glide? Changed into a dramatic swoop and another version that makes it land. I almost forgot to mention that its tail is used in practically nothing now, since the flying tail sweep no longer exists.

Also a quick mention that Behemoth has the same tornado attacks, but they home in on you and multiple can be placed in one area.

And its not even over yet for me with the complaints! The wind barrier it now has is the worst yet! I've had by jumping attacks ruined so many times because my hunter would go flying down across the floor because that bloody wind pushed him away! Remember when wounding its head would severely weaken its wind barrier, and was a sense of joy? Guess what? No, just guess what? It hardly does shit anymore. >insertderpfacewithaninternallyscreamingsoundeffecthere< Awesome! Now for the first time in the series theres nothing you can do other than flinching it to bring down that supreme annoyance wind! What a load of shit. Also poison? It also for the first time ever in the franchise does NOTHING to weaken the wind barrier! Just wonderful. For the moments when the wind isn't a problem, the fight is just really boring. And when the steel bastards nearly down, it enters the worst stage of the hunt. The final area. This is where the annoyance turns to cancer. In the Elder's Recess, THREE TORNADOES APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE AND BEGIN CIRCLING THE AREA AND MAKE THE FINAL STRETCH ABSOLUTE HELL!! That is truly madness. And lets not forget about the Ancient Forest with its much smaller area, where Kushala can easily block you in with two well placed tornadoes. Maybe if I breach the dam I'll get the pleasure of seeing that flying tin-can be sent screaming down to his doom below? *Kushala is hit full force by the water and just falls over* It... just fell over.... with no damage whatsoever...

In a wrap-up, this fight is terrible and I pray Rusted doesn't make an update comeback.

But lastly I have to mention the sound department for this Kushala. Firstly its new theme sounds okay which now has segments of the Dos main theme, but I have a nick-pick disliking towards a certain three second section of the melody that plays Asteras theme. Why did they include that? It messes with the theme in that brief moment and just remind you that you're fighting the MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD Kushala Daora, not the old one with its near perfection sense of power and command theme. The sound of Kushala? They threw in Alatreon screams for when it takes heavy flinches, and even including almost the entirety of its death scream when the World Kushala dies. This almost sounds like Online tier lazy.

Most monsters in World for me are either great, good, okay, below average or flat out bad. Kushala is in the last category. They made the fight that was simply ok for me in previous games into one of the worst, along with Lunastra's blue flames of pain and overpowered damage, Tempered Kirin and its Stun hell, Paolumu with its blandness and unoriginality and Kulve Taroth and its fight that is designed to force you to pay for an online subscription and play multiplayer if you want to have the slightest chance of a acceptable time to complete its quest. If they add G-rank into the game AND Rusted Kushala Daora, then may the gods have mercy on us all...