Monster Hunter's Meaty Design

Let's get this out of the way first. I Love Monster Hunter, always have, probably always will. I started playing way back when with Monster Hunter Tri (for the Wii) and have been hooked ever since. I've certainly missed a couple installments here and there, but it's been a constant in my life. I've got figurines, posters, the only thing I'm missing is a massive Greatsword made out of a T Rex Jaw. But like most Designers, liking something isn't enough. I want to really dive into what makes monster hunter so special, why I like it so much, and why it seems to be this eternal juggernaut of incredible games. 

First and foremost, the Weapon Design. In Monster Hunter, your first main choice is what you want to use to fight. sometimes the game hands you something and tells you to figure it out, but in more recent titles it gives you the chance to choose for yourself before you venture out on your first quest. Across the years, I've experimented with a lot of them, but have recently stuck with the Longsword, Charge Blade, and Switch Axe, as such I'll be talking mostly in the context of these. Each weapon has it's own end goal, a little mini game that you play while hunting to keep ramping up your power. In addition to being a means to an end, each weapon adds an additional layer do it's combat to make sure the game remains fresh. A lot of weapons I tend to use ramp up in power, allowing for massive blows that usually topple monsters, or a huge all out attack for when the monster is already reeling. It's a little extra layer to keep in mind while fighting, always keeping your mind busy with your next steps towards achieving that goal. The uniqueness of weapons encourages player mastery. Learning the quirks, weapon timings and specific aspects of management of your chosen weapon provides players with the feeling of being an incredibly skilled hunter, expert at their craft, while also rewarding players for exploring the mechanical density with high(er) execution, but vastly powerful effects. 

Monster Hunter combat can (in the best way possible) be boiled down to a delicate balance of meter management. In combat, players need to keep track of their health, stamina, weapon sharpness, recovery item stock, monster behavior, and Palico (or Cha-cha) status. While this is certainly overwhelming at first glance, it's fulfilling it's purpose perfectly. Monster hunter thrives on tension in combat, making each move count. By focusing so granularly on the more mundane aspects of combat that other games often streamline (like weapon durability, whether or not you've eaten recently, and even the temperatures of the areas you're fighting in) it makes each combat encounter infinitely more tense and dynamic. These constantly shifting elements keep players on their toes, and transforms the simple goal of "hit it till it dies" into a tense, but exceptionally rewarding interplay of systems. 

Moving on to the next piece of this puzzle, the Monsters. Besides the fantastic visual designs, the Monsters are amazing icons of incredible enemy and boss design. Each monster is varied and unique, but with commonalities that make new fights easier to grasp on first hunt. For example, most if not all monsters with 2 legs and wings will have a hip check, and tail spin, and tail swipe attack. Players will most likely already know the evasion timing for these, as there's always at least one early game monster with these capabilities. This frees up the player to focus more on a monsters unique attacks, like the Rathians backflip, or the Diablos' lethal charge. As players get more experienced, monsters tend to perform variations on these attacks, extending ranges, altering timing, or adding additional properties. One of the best ways to compare is with Subspecies. These keep the structure of a monster almost identically, but add extra properties to moves, or an additional attack, to keep things fresh and ensure that higher skilled players are challenged as the game progresses. 

Another excellent aspect to the monsters is Part Breaking. When attacking a monster, repeated blows to a specific part of the monster will break or be cut off. the most common example of this is the tail. Monsters with longer tails can usually have them sliced off. Almost always this provides a tactical advantage, limiting the range of certain attacks, removing certain effects entirely, and providing a reward for interacting with the gameplay systems. this obviously works on other parts, breaking horns reduces the damage of charges, and cracking legs will often allow weapons with lower sharpness to cut through more easily. having these moments of encouragement does incredibly to break the tension of a fight. It allows players a moment to feel like they've gained the upper hand. Enemies will almost always flinch when a part snaps off, giving players a second to regroup or press their advantage. 

To add an additional layer to the combat, monsters have mood states. There's only 3 major ones to comment on, standard, enraged, and exhausted, but they change the dynamics of a fight dramatically. Enraged monsters fight far more aggressive, and often gain new moves in their kit that can one shot unsuspecting players. contrastingly, exhausted monsters spend a lot of time standing still, catching their breath providing players both a chance to do the same or a chance to capitalize on the easier pace of combat. Often monster will become exhausted after they've been enraged, so it provides players a sense of accomplishment and mechanical reward for surviving some pretty unforgiving onslaughts. 

By far, the biggest breaker of tension in combat is the topple. Being able to knock your opponent to the ground and unleash hell on them for a brief period of time provides an excellent sense of progression and ensures players maintain hope for the fight. This can be obtained through mounting, a system added in MH4, or through sheer persistence. either way, it's the natural progression of both the exhaustion and part breaking systems. It encourages aggression and often puts the monster in a position where mobile parts, like heads or tails, are easily accessible for the strongest blows you can dish out. Synthesizing all of these mechanics it provides players with a lot of information, adding to the feeling of danger and tension, but strategically provides moments of relief in reward for weathering the storm. 

The last piece of this equation is Preparation. Forging equipment is vital to being able to survive. While it's certainly possible to kill any monster with nothing but a toothpick and your underwear, it's missing out on a vital aspect of the game. Early on you mainly content with standard equipment, each set offers bonuses, some by wearing the complete set, but most offer buffs on a piece by piece basis. Players can mix and match or stick with specific sets (I often go for sets that boost attack power in one way or another). Sets are unique to each individual monster, and as such, act as an extra reward for players showing that they've mastered this specific Monsters fight. Additionally weapons can change the flow of combat, some apply status effects, like poison or paralysis, or enhance damage with elemental damage. Decorations are introduced at higher ranks, and allow you to customize your armors benefits a bit more and push bonuses granted even higher. 

On top of equipment based preparation, there's item management! Items are relatively easy to buy or simple to craft, but making sure you have the right gear for the job is vital. being stuck without antidotes while fighting the toxic Pukei-Pukei, or wandering around a glacier without warm drinks can spell the difference between victory and defeat in most fights. More often than not, in case of emergencies, the materials for crafting some of these much needed items can be found in the environments themselves, and in more recent titles you can even access your item box from camp, allowing you to rectify mistakes you might have made before departing on a quest. 

While all of this seems absurdly overwhelming, especially to new players, Monster Hunter does an amazing job of drip feeing you information. Additionally it boasts one of the most airtight core gameplay loops I've ever seen. Prep, Hunt, Craft, rinse and repeat. All of the mechanical density quickly becomes second nature, without becoming so ignorable as to be pointless. The seemingly infinite depth of customization for builds combined with the incredibly variety of monsters to fight allows a game with a relatively simplistic gameplay loop to flourish for hours on end. 

In an effort to be a little bit fair, there are certainly plenty of valid criticisms to be levied at MH. First and foremost, tracking monsters is often a pain to me. It might just be my older sensibilities, but Monster Hunter Worlds approach feels like it leaves a lot to be desired. In my opinion, the game is about the fight, not the tracking. while it is relatively streamlined, not being able to memorize spawn locations, or having to traverse these (admittedly gorgeous and unique) open world maps gets boring after a while. Additionally, beyond the first couple quests, it becomes a bit more difficult to experiment with newer weapons. oftentimes if you've upgraded a specific weapon and want to try something new, there's never been an easy way to bring another weapon up to the level of your current gear without a good deal of farming. 

Overall Monster Hunter is still an amazing franchise. Personally it goes to show the incredible design chops of the developers that the core loop has remained intact all these years. Of course things change over the years (one of my personal favorites being the different Hunting Styles and Hunter Arts of Generations, Adept Style for life) but universally the core loop remained rather simple. Prep, hunt, craft, rinse and repeat. The unique and memorable monster designs, the untold depth of the weapon systems, as well as the occasional additions to the arsenal, keep veterans such as myself coming back, and entice newer players to pick up the game! If you're looking to jump in with your weapon drawn Monster Hunter World is a fantastic and standalone entry point to the series. Monster Hunter: Rise hearkens back to the more classic MH style of gameplay, with it's own unique spin on the mechanics, both are exceptionally worth a shot!