[Feature] Why We’re Crazy – A confession from a Monster Hunter convert
Posted on March 15, 2015 by Jarop(@gamrah) in Features, Game of the Month
Author: Jonathan
When you look at it on paper, pretty much nothing about Monster Hunter seems appealing. Players need to work with a ferociously unforgiving learning curve, an emphasis on an end-game that can take literally dozens of hours to reach and a clunky or sometimes downright unfair combat system. It just doesn’t add up. I’ve tried several times over the years to get into the Monster Hunter titles and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is the first time the series really got its hooks in me. For the first time I ‘got’ it, and I began to appreciate the game for the journey it would eventually take me on. It’s a brutal, long, often frustrating adventure, so I wanted to explain why all of the things that are seemingly “wrong” with Monster Hunter make it so great, and why we fans are okay with that label of being just a little bit crazy.
It’s dangerous to go alone! Good thing multiplayer is awesome.
There’s no question Monster Hunter is a game that works best with others, but the big tick there is that it works with anyone of any skill level. My quest started with some buddies who were almost as fresh to the series as I was and fumbling our way through the game’s opening quests together helped create somewhat of a narrative through what would otherwise be an arduous tutorial period. Flubbing a bomb plant and blowing up the entire party isn’t how you want a hunt to end, but when it happens… it sure teaches you what not to do, and fast.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate’s tutorial does a great job of easing players into the intricate sub-systems on offer, but it doesn’t quite replicate the experience of tagging along with someone who has their game down. The first time I was brought along with a party of experienced hunters, it was like they were playing a different game. My experiences of ‘get hit, hit the monster back I guess’ times a billion were replaced by intricate map positioning, bombs, traps and communication that made the hunt a breeze. There was a real moment of ‘woah I want to do that!’ and the carrot on the stick became less about acquiring better loot and more about learning what it was like to be a well versed hunter on the field.
It’s pretty incredible how many of those experiences transferred over to the online space in random matchmaking. The game is so fundamentally rooted in its cooperative aspects and the unspoken agreement among hunters is just always such a sight to behold (especially when you consider other multiplayer communities, I’m looking at you every MOBA community ever). There’s a real sense of ‘us vs them’ and it was really refreshing to be able to jump in with strangers and not only take down a monster or two successfully, but actually learn a thing or two along the way.
Progression outside of a stat screen
One of the biggest ‘don’t knock it until you try it’ aspects of Monster Hunter is definitely its combat. From the outside it looks clunky, stiff and awkward, but there’s so much depth there it’s staggering. My weapon of choice is the hammer and my goal is simple: whack the thing on the head a bunch until it sees stars and then your party will proceed to wail on it for a little while. Seems simple enough, right? However, as I spent more and more time with the game, it became less about simple hit and run plays and more about an ongoing mission to find as much mobility and fluidity as I could with the options I was presented with. If I end my combo with a ground slam, am I going to be able to roll away after? Will the spin attack take out my party out along with the monster? How am I going to hit the thing’s head if it means constantly standing in the line of fire!? There’s no doubt that gear is an important part of progression in Monster Hunter, but there are so many intricacies to each weapon, and the game will not let you progress unless you start to exhibit mastery over them. You don’t just look the part when you advance in Monster Hunter. It shows when you’re out on the field and that’s a good feeling.
That’s an important point we can’t gloss over, though – progression in Monster Hunter looks good too. If you’re good enough to take down a monster, new gear doesn’t just give you a boost to some numbers on a stat screen: the accomplishment becomes a trophy that is on display everywhere your character goes. The feeling you get when taking down that gigantic Rathian that, once upon a time, terrorized you on your mushroom fetch quest is hard to match and the fact that you get to wear that accomplishment everywhere you go is a satisfying feeling indeed.
Deep and memorable encounters, each and every time
All these things are well and good, but at the end of the day, there’s a reason why we play the game and it’s a pretty darn good one: the monsters. Each new encounter requires research, preparation, and execution – otherwise those things will just eat you alive. If you venture out near a volcano without any cool drinks or forget half your potions at home base, nobody’s going to help you. Failure can be brutal and it’s made apparent very quickly that the monsters in this world are not interested in giving you second chances. They will kick you when you’re down and spit you out when they’re done with you. It feels brutal, and it should. You wouldn’t want something that is literally towering over you to be a walk through the park because it’s that sense of struggle that makes encounters so memorable. When you see your foe finally start to limp away, there’s a real thrill as the tides begin to turn. If and when you bring a creature down, there’s never a question of whether or not it was well earned. Monster Hunter’s unforgiving nature makes each victory so unbelievably satisfying and it’s why the primary reason why the gameplay hook works so well.
Not every moment in Monster Hunter is a barrel of laughs. There’s time spent grinding materials, repeating encounters because of horrifically low drop rates and plenty of time eating dirt after you’ve had your head stepped on for the umpteeth time. But no amount of tedium or frustration can take away from the sheer satisfaction of slaying a beast that much larger and tougher than the last. You might call us Monster Hunter fans nuts, but we’ve got good reason to be. There’s a real sense of progression in the game and it’s not because of numbers on a stat sheet or hours logged with an in-game timer: it’s because of how we grow as players. That strive for hunting mastery is the reason fans go nuts for Monster Hunter and it’s why I’ll be coming back to the series for months to come.
