I was not expecting Monster Hunter Wilds' most challenging fight to date to come from a Final Fantasy 14 collaboration of all places, but as someone who is an absolute sicko for both games it's perhaps the most fun I've had repeatedly carting over and over again.

At first I thought it was the fact I hadn't touched Wilds in a few months and I was rusty as hell—tunnel-visioning in on my Hunting Horn songs and eating just about every damn hit I could—but it turns out Omega Planetes is actually just kinda freaking hard.

Taking a look on the Monster Hunter subreddit today, I was met with a plethora of posts ranging from players encouraging one another to "lock in," to folk lamenting just how big a difficulty spike Omega Planetes really is.

Thanks, I hate it from r/MHWilds

"Just tried to solo this thing and uh… that's the first time I ever failed a mission solo," one post titled Omega Planetes got hands reads. "This guy is tough." One of the top comments calls it "the hardest fight in the game for a solo player," while another says, "I was waiting for something hard, but DARK SOULS????"

One of the top Omega Planetes-related posts on the subreddit right now simply says "Thanks, I hate it" with comments lying somewhere between 'this fight sucks' to 'this fight sucks if you play it with anyone other than the [[link]] support hunters'. That's not to say some aren't revelling in the masochism of it all, though. One player posted their 17-minute killtime of the Savage version which, as it stands, is pretty damn good.

I also had an absolute whale of a time in the few attempts I had yesterday. It feels like the first fight in Wilds where [[link]] teamwork really does matter—I absolutely love that hitting Omega's head is how you gain aggro, and as a Hunting Horn main it feels more important than ever to have plenty of support songs to throw out and help my fellow hunters.

Monster Hunter Wilds x Final Fantasy XIV Special Collaboration - Omega Planetes Introductory Guide! - YouTube

Watch On

Is it hard as hell? It absolutely is, and I can be a little difficulty-averse at times, but I've come to expect this sort of thing from Monster Hunter. I have to wonder if Capcom heard all of the complaints when the game launched and said, "Oh you want harder fights? Here you go," before throwing the kitchen sink at us.

Ultimately, it does seem like a fight that is very multiplayer-oriented, which won't make everybody happy. I'm here for it though, as someone who's always preferred hunting with friends versus going it alone. Trying to cobble together a bastardised version of Final Fantasy 14's party composition with a pal last night was absolutely something I hadn't expected to be doing in Monster Hunter.

I'm all giddy to jump back in and get my [[link]] ass handed to me all over again… and that's before I have to deal with the tough-as-nails Savage version of the fight.