I hunted Barioth in Monster Hunter World Iceborne. And it was good

Jan 03, 2024

The year was 2010.

After previously struggling with my first game in the series, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, everything finally clicked in Monster Hunter Tri. Maybe it was the improved hitboxes. Perhaps I just finally put in the proper amount of time to learn Monster Hunter's mechanics. Whatever the reason, I was hunting like a well-oiled machine.

After a bit of a rough start with the Great Jaggi (yes, I know), I started taking down monsters in consistent fashion as I finally started to get familiar with my new exclusive weapon of choice, the light bowgun. The trumpet-faced Qurupeco was the first to fall against my improving skills. Up next was Royal Ludroth, whose underwater fights I still sorely miss to this day. Then came Great Baggi and Barroth. After that, I took down Gobul after a long slog with mere seconds left on the timer. That was probably because I was still, um, using the default bone LBG and starter leather armor. The lesson as always is, I’m an idiot.

Once I upgraded my gear, however, everything went smoothly once again. I polished off Rathian, Gigginox, Lagiacrus and Rathalos in short order. My confidence was at an all-time high. Then again, we all know what Monster Hunter does to hunters who are flying high. It tends to destroy your dreams and send you crashing down to the ground. This is especially true for pre-World classic Monster Hunter, which lacks the quality of life improvements we now enjoy. Just try aiming a bowgun in Tri and you’ll know what I mean.

But I wasn’t thinking about that back then. Nope, the only thing in my mind was the many ways I was going to take down the new snow-white, saber-toothed dragon cat that appeared before me so I could exact vengeance for the poor dead Popo that now lay before me. I mean, the Monster Hunter switch has finally clicked right? I'm also the guy who beat Gobul with the starter LBG while wearing starter leather armor! I got this.

On that day, I would learn that Barioth was mighty skilled at playing pinball. The ball, by the way, was me.

To quote a renowned philosopher from Catskill, N.Y., “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” In this case, Barioth was the plan-wrecking mouth puncher and I was Mike Tyson. The only difference was that I wasn’t able to even nibble off a piece of Barioth’s right ear. I’m such a failure. Anyway, I don’t exactly remember if I ran out of time or triple-carted to kitty cart heaven. All I remember is that I seriously considered switching to melee for the extra defense and learning Longsword. Eventually, I triumphed over Barioth and Monster Hunter’s circle of life continued. Even as the hunt eventually became easy as I learned it patterns, Barioth is one of those monsters that would occasionally make me flinch when I come across it. That’s just how memorable the beating it laid into me was from that first hunt.

It’s the reason why I reacted with both giddy glee and dejected dread when Capcom staffers mentioned that we were fighting Barioth as the last monster during the Monster Hunter World Iceborne preview session I took part in last week. On one hand, I rank Barioth’s design as one of my favorites in the series. I mean, the monster combines a saber-toothed tiger with a freaking dragon. How cool is that?

More:Hands-on preview: We play first few hours of MHW Iceborne

On the other hand, there’s still the residual trauma that my evolutionary instincts have apparently made sure I never, ever forget. In short, I decided to bring out my lance. By the way, I only use lance for two reasons. One is for fun. The other is when I’m legit worried, like when fighting Savage Deviljho or Lucent Nargacuga. This was not for fun.

First off, I must say that Barioth looks fabulous in Monster Hunter World Iceborne. Like, not just fabulous-fabulous but also Elton John fabulous. You’ve got more distinct fur accents on certain body parts, for example. At the same time, its scales are also more pronounced. In fact, I still remember the reaction of my co-worker Cameron, who accompanied me to the test build preview.

“Wow, Barioth looks more like a dragon now!”

Barioth looks especially impressive during its cinematic entrance, which enlarges the crisp details on the flying wyvern’s face and body. The monster’s fierce yet majestic design was my favorite in all of Tri and Monster Hunter World Iceborne kicks it up several notches with a rocket straight into the stratosphere. I almost felt goosebumps as I looked into Barioth’s glowing eyes as it glared back from the monitor in front of me.

Barioth’s moveset, meanwhile, will be familiar to veterans of the series. While I’m not allowed to break down his moves in detail, I can say that Barioth definitely feels like he should. As shown in the gameplay video I’ve embedded, the monster remains as quick as greased-lightning at the start of a hunt when its wing claws are still in pristine shape. It also continues to be a combo fiend that while sporting its familiar ice breath attacks, which it blasts onto the field while summoning icy tornadoes. Barioth itself sports a few new tricks as well, including a vertical pounce I don't remember seeing before. The main difference now is that you have World’s mechanics on your side. These include the ability to use mantles to help weather Barioth’s attack or use slinger ammo to drop down giant stalactites to stop the white wyvern in its tracks. Iceborne also adds the ability to grapple the monster with the Clutch Claw, which you can use to soften body parts or send Barioth slamming into a wall. In that sense, you have more options now against the beast, especially when compared to his first appearance in Tri.

The best part about fighting Barioth is that it made all these memories of previously forgotten hunts pop up inside my head again. It reminded me of the times I used to hunt the monster with one of my cousins, who’s now in college and a lot bigger than the little guy I introduced to the game. It also made me recall the first time I took my niece to hunt the monster and how she frantically scurried around the map the same way I did when I fought the monster for the first time. Even the way that everyone would rush toward Barioth when it started to slip around toward the end of the hunt reminded me of the times my hunting partners and I would do the exact same thing in past games. It was akin to smelling blood in the water and rushing the poor beast like a school of rabid piranhas.

I guess you can say that Barioth feels like Barioth and that’s the best thing that series fans could really ask for. And after starting the hunt with trepidation, it proved to be the most fun out of all the ones we did that day. So welcome back to Monster Hunter, old friend. Let me just say that you look great — no, even better than ever. By the way, have you been lifting weights? Now if you’ll excuse me, how about we do a little dance? For old time’s sake? And no, playing pinball is out of the question.

Jason Hidalgo covers business and technology for the Reno Gazette Journal, and also reviews video games as part of his Technobubble features. Follow him on Twitter @jasonhidalgo. Like this content? Support local journalism with an RGJ digital subscription.