Do Monster Hunter Games Die?
Do Monster
Hunter Games Die?
I know I’ll be playing MHGU again. If you’re on the discord then you know that we have active channels for MH4U, Generations, MHGU, World-borne and of course Rise. Some of these games are 6-7 years old and haven’t be “relevant” for years…. But we still have people actively playing them. I want to talk about why I think that is, and talk about the future of other monster hunter games.
Why do People
go Back?
Monster Hunter is a great series and even though there are
some similarities between the games, the mechanics change, there are different
monsters, and each one is it’s own unique experience.
MH-Tri
In Monster Hunter Freedom there is an infamous monster named
the Plesioth and it’s the bane of most hunters since it had ridiculous hit
boxes, it runs away a lot, and it stays in the water for wayyyy to long. This
is why I was so excited for MH-Tri when they added under water combat. If it
wouldn’t leave the water to fight me, I could bring the fight to it.
Even though Plesioth wasn’t in Tri and didn’t’ join until
MH3U, it was a very interesting mechanic. Under water combat was an idea that
had mixed reviews and even though it was a very innovative idea for the series
at the time they haven’t brought it to any other entry. I dusted off my Wii-U
to play mid way through 2020 and I instantly found lobbies with people playing
and chatting with each other.
Free roaming maps in the day or at night was really cool and
it was the first time that we could just run out there without a time limit and
just hunt until we wanted to leave. It was a fresh idea and really helped us to
be able to appreciate the beauty of the game.
MH4U
Even when we look at MH4U that gave us the mounting mechanic
and A STORY, there are still things that are unique to it. We do need to talk
for a minute about how up until this point there was no story line for monster
hunter.
In games before this one the story was just stuff like the
monsters attacking the village go kill it and for me that was good enough. I
just wanted to kill it and wear it’s skin…..That didn’t come out right but you
know what I mean. I didn’t need a story but then out of nowhere this
interesting story that combined all the different area’s together was here and
it was amazing.
Back to what makes 4U unique. Not only did they add mounting
to the series but also 3 new weapons. The Insect Glaive, Charge Blade, and
Switch Axe. These are the initial versions and they were pretty broken. So
broken that they have been nerfed in future games just to make up for it. If
you want to really feel the power or if you started with them at this time, the
only way to go back and experience the same weapon is here.
We also had Expeditions and guild quest which let us find
unique armors by exploring these unique maps that were procedurally generated.
Some of these weapons and armors were a little out of hand especially since
there wasn’t any anti cheat system but it was another way that you could have your
own unique armor and weapons.
MHGen
I know I’m going in chronological order through the games but
that’s because each game the dev’s make skill tweaks, try new things, and really
add their personality to the game.
Skills were… an acquired taste. I’m from the old guard so I
didn’t like the idea of styles at first but after trying them out I really
enjoyed them. Even when a dev adds a mechanic that isn’t very good I can never
blame them because you never know what that could lead to. You can see the influence
of these skills in World-borne, and in Rise today.
These styles helped you dodge, gave you counters, or even
made you more mobile. They were different for each weapons and it help you
really play the way you want. If you want to mount more but you use Gunlance
not a problem. Use Ariel style and jump into the sky.
Unique
Monsters
When it comes to monsters there are some monsters that haven’t
returned yet or will never be added to other games.
There are many monsters that I want to return even though I
hate them and the Qurupeco from Tri has been on that list ever since the demo. What
it does is calls a random monster to the area and it joins the fight. This can
be a Rathalos or Rathian but it’s always Devil Jho. Always. Especially if you’re
not ready for it. We’ll have to save that list for another day though.
There are others more Epic monsters that can’t only be fought
in there games as well. Jhen Moran the monster you have you fight while
shooting cannons at it on a boat will always be locked to Tri or 3U.
Dalamadur is the gigantic snake that you fight in 4U and is
so big that it is an entire map the Rotten Vale in World.
Gogmazios is one of my favorite monsters of all time and you
can only fight it in 4U. It’s a giant tar monster and there are multiple ways
to fight it you can focus on using the cannon (I like cannons), you can jump
down and fight it and the whole time it’s tar will be exploding and it’ll be
shooting beams around the map. You even have a Cannon S which shoots 1 shot per
fight and not only does massive damage it also slows down time for a while and
causes proof of a hero
to play. I’m getting hyped just writing this.
There are some others but MHGU did a good job of bringing
some of those fights to a new audience. Although not all of the fights are as
fun anymore, I’m looking at you Lao, atleast newer players are able to experience
them with updated visuals.
Unique
Experience
Each one of these games is different in its own way and to
answer the question of if they die. The answer is no way. Monster hunter will
last the test of time and as new hunters join, more people will want to
experience the older games. We have a great community of hunters on Discord and
we’ve expanded to Portable 3rd and Freedom Unite on the PSP. Monster
Hunter will last forever and I’m glad to be a part of this community.