Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate localization team proposed some options that made it into the final game
Over the past few months, it’s been made clear that the localization team behind Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate had a fairly notable impact on the game’s release. Little suggestions were proposed here and there to improve the overall experience.
Capcom detailed some of these in a new localization blog post today. Thanks to suggestions proposed from the overseas side of the company, we get to see things like the “Instant” text speed, the ability to toggle your partner’s Palico conversation on and off during multiplayer, and the option to turn off a portion of the tutorial messages.
Before we start talking about monsters, I want to write about a couple of nifty features that were introduced into the Japanese version of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and of course, are intact for the Western version. The first is an option to change the dialogue text speed from Normal to Instant. If you’ve played a Monster Hunter game before, you know that the text displays one letter at a time and while some players are okay with this, some players are pretty quick readers, so switching the option to Instant will display the dialogue all at once, allowing you to get through the conversation quickly.
The second option is something the localization team and I proposed to the Monster Hunter team once the localization started, although I suspect they had the same idea when we talked about it. We wanted an option to turn off Palico conversations during multiplayer because it felt intrusive when playing with other people because you and your partner’s Palicoes would be talking constantly. The option in the game is a slight compromise; you can toggle your partner’s Palico conversation on and off during multiplayer, but your Palico will still communicate with you.
Finally, there’s also an option to turn off a portion of the tutorial messages found in the game. This was another request that the localization team and I sent to the team and we were very happy that they not only said yes, but even included it into the Japanese version of the game! Our work on this feature was more involved than the other ones; Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate’s lead designer Tokuda-san asked us if we could help mark all of the tutorial messages that should be hidden if this option was selected, so one diligent member of the localization team (thanks Graham!) took the time to sort out all of the tutorial dialogue to figure out what was necessary and what wasn’t. We discovered that there is a lot of story-related content, and you’ll see those no matter what, but tutorials teaching you about vitality, weapon sharpness, etc., won’t be displayed with this option turned on. For first-time Monster Hunter players I highly recommend NOT using this option, but if you’re a seasoned veteran you can use it without worry.
