Monster Hunter : A Genre of it's own
- Akash Oak
- Jan 24, 2021
- 4 min read
Hello everyone!
Been a while since my last blog post and it's because I got a job. I had to move around and figure out living and fitting in the company, Outplay Entertainment. It went smooth and throughout this journey Monster Hunter World/Ice borne kept me company as I was slashing monsters with my friends. I'll be honest, I wasn't keen on playing these games as I never got in properly and shunned the series away but, now that I've gotten a taste of the gameplay, I am assured there's no other game series that does this. So why is that, let's take a look!
Gameplay Variety
As the name suggests, Monster Hunter is about hunting monsters, but why are we doing it? Narratively, the Commission you're part of is responsible for keeping the balance of nature and the food chain in check. You can hunt with friends or with your Palico, your trusty feline sidekick.
But the narrative isn't the part of the game that gets you, it's the gameplay.
So how do you hunt the monsters? With the 13 weapons that the game offers.
Each weapon has a completely different way to play and it's amazing how every weapon feels so distinct. Do you want to do big damage numbers without thinking too much about combos? Try the Great Sword and doing the True Charge Slash, by just holding the left click.
Want to look like someone straight out of an anime? The Long Sword is for you.
The options are so many each time you have a new learning curve when you switch weapons, which is exciting. So how does Capcom achieve this? There are 3 variables according to me.
Mobility - How mobile you are with a weapon?
Damage - How much damage can you output with it? Do you need to charge to output more damage?
Safety - Can you block attacks or have some kind of safe wall when a monster strikes you back?
Let's take a weapon and break down what I mean by this. Let's compare 2 weapons, the Great Sword and the Sword and Shield.
With Great Sword, you get a blocking option, but that's the last thing you want to do with it. You can effectively use the weapon by sheathing it and unsheathing it when you find an opportunity to attack. With the weapon out, you move as slow as a roller on the road.
On the other hand, the Sword and Shield keep you mobile as you attack and you can dodge out of an attack very easily. You have a shield to block some attacks but if you can't you won't lose a life, you'll just take a lot of damage. It provides some amount of safety, if not complete.
This difference is huge when you try the weapons out yourself and I strongly encourage everyone to try for sure. Each weapon comes with it's own values of the aforementioned variables, which makes each weapon have a new and different learning curve. :D
Progression and Challenges
The progression of Monster Hunter depends completely on the monsters, as each new Monster feels like a different boss. Let's start by looking at a Monster, the first monster you have to fight in MH: World, the Great Jagras.
The most basic of the monsters, the telegraphed moves of the Great Jagras are easy to read and counter. It will eat another smaller monster nearby and gain new moves, which is a nice twist for a monster even as basic as this. This makes for a good starting point for players and gives them a taste of what to expect on the next hunts. But as the monsters become harder to fight, the game introduces what I like to call Gatekeepers.
Gatekeeping
Gatekeepers are the challenges that see a huge difficulty spike in gameplay, but it preps you for what to expect next and serves as a skill check. The first gatekeeper in the game would be Anjanath, a huge T-Rex-Esque wyvern who is aggressive and one of the huge hurdles for players to overcome.
Anjanath is hard with the basic armor and weapons the player has, which makes the player hunt the previous monsters to make better armor and gear. This aspect of Monster Hunter promotes going back and defeating the previous monsters more, which makes replayability feel more enjoyable in my opinion.
Anjanath isn't the last gatekeeper in the game, as there are more powerful monsters the player will encounter soon after. There are elder dragons too, which are insanely more powerful monsters and a real test of skill. (Something which I do not want to spoil.)
Journal Entries
Each Monster has different moves in terms of their mobility and what they can do. The attacks are also dependent on their body structures, which brings us to the most amazing part of the hunts, journal entries. The more you hunt a monster, the more information you get about the monsters such as weak points, breakable parts, elemental weaknesses, and if the tail can be severed or not. This is of huge importance as the more you hunt a monster, the more information you have on them to make the hunt easier.
Oh, did I mention breaking certain body parts alters the monster move set completely? Try out and see the results for yourselves. :)
So you do all the hunting, how are you rewarded?
Sense of Accomplishment
Every time you overcome a monster, your player gets new weapons and armor to make, which are derived straight from the monster you defeated. This makes you more powerful in terms of the damage output and the armor protection you get making you less likely to cart. Facing the monster you just defeated is promoted as you'll need more parts to make the gear you want.
The progression happens in front of your eyes as you upgrade a weapon or make something new.
The gameplay loop can be interpreted as follows -
The feeling of satisfaction when you defeat a monster after failing, trying multiple times, learning the moves is immense.
So why is it a genre of its kind?
No other game does what Monster Hunter does, each monster is designed so well and each monster provides a new challenge, which I haven't seen in any other game. Monster Hunting could be a genre of games by itself if the gameplay is derived from the Monster Hunter series.
Also, let me know how your experience has been with the game.
Thanks for reading :D
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