Let me just polish off my Insect glaive- hmm. that sounded much better in my head...
Within Monster Hunter lies a very simple premise; you have to kill monsters. It's just that simple and plain, and were the games just that I probably wouldn't be writing this blog right now about my feelings towards their upcoming latest entry, which are largely positive. And yet, due to it's title, presentation and very nature; I couldn't help but overlook this franchise for years thinking it to be exactly that. Of course, there was also the natural barrier of this being a game that wasn't all that heavily marketed or even sold in the West, but I've always been close to those with access to foreign games, so it really was a decision, albeit a subconscious one, not to pursue this series. It'll be no news to you, even if you haven't hung around this blog long enough to hear me recount this before, to learn that it was Monster Hunter World which finally turned me around and onto this fantastic franchise, and now these games are the kind that I want to keep playing until the end of my days, because I am ever in awe of the amount of ingenuity, creativity and love imbued in them by their creators.
But what makes this series so good? Well, in my opinion that starts with the design, (which is a bit of a nothing-statement when you really consider all that encompasses) let's start with the monsters themselves. No matter what the fidelity of the console, nor it graphical capabilities, the monsters are the star of the show and they absolutely deserve to be. Capcom's Monster Hunter team obviously have gone to great lengths to realise these monster in painstaking detail, making creatures that look intimidating and feel alive. These aren't you're typical 'RPG enemy' affair that you'll find in your local Dragon Quest or even (forgive for the jab) Final Fantasy, these are animals shaped from the ground up with important factors ever present, such as their environment, food sources and evolution. (I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if at least some paleontological interest had crossed the minds of the designers.) But why is that important? Because it forms the basis of immersive worldbuilding that the rest of the game feeds off. So right away, I can tell you that Monster Hunter Rise has world class enemy design, without even really telling you anything at all. (Because that, as impressive as it is, is just in this series' DNA.)
What really blows me away is how that level of care in the design always manages to bleed into the gameplay, and specifically into the behaviour of the creatures. At the heart of the gameplay loop, the hunt itself, lies a learning curve which asks players to study and learn about the monsters they want to fight in order to pick out fragile parts and weakness, with these, of course, being informed by the design team. They range from the rather simple, flying monster like the Rathalos having their wings be weak, to something wholly more involved and unique, such as the Barroth, who favour territories covered in mud, and who's weaknesses and resistances flip when they roll around and cover themselves in a shield of mud. That's just the tip of the iceberg and it should display the level of creativity on board here, as well as the depth of the systems available for players to lose themselves in, should they desire to.
Monster Hunter Rise is rather odd, as a sequel, as rather than really step up what the hugely popular Monster Hunter World set up, Rise is really attempting to meet it. That wouldn't be quite such a herculean task if it weren't for the fact that Rise is coming to Nintendo Switch, rather than the home consoles of today, an undeniably weaker console. Of course, any who doubt the capability of the Switch to achieve such a level of gameplay should wash out their mouths for selling short the console which currently has it's own version of 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' on it. (Still blown away by that) Still, circumstances being what they are I personally shifted my expectations for what I want out of this game. As such, visually it doesn't quite match 'World', but it still looks absolutely fine and that's worthy enough of praise. Conversely, the team actually managed to copy the large interconnected worldspace of World which made those hunts feel particularly dynamic, and I find that quite impressive. (Then again, the last Hunter game not to come to home consoles hit the 3DS, so maybe my expectations were a little low.)
So now lets really settle on what this Rise game is presenting us with, and I'm already glad to see it's bringing back all the fighting styles of World. For those unfamiliar, this refers to the different weapon-types you can wield, rather than the techniques with which you wield them. However, the art of mastering them becomes interesting because of how widely different they all are in how they play. You have everything from the rather straightforward oversized anime swords, great for whacking creatures in the head and performing the odd interrupt, to the complex Insect Glaive, requiring the user to collect 'essences' from different part of the creatures body in order to power up the tool in various ways, something the player must keep track of because those 'essence buffs' don't last forever, and are crucial. (I was a Glaive main, if you couldn't tell.) If Rise is bringing that level of complexity back into the mix, then Switch players are in for a treat. As well as some toxicity. (A natural by-product whenever a modicum of skill is involved in gameplay)
There's going to be some new rides to play around with, which might be indicative of less rigid and maze-like map design. (Honestly, I kinda liked the mazey-ness of some the late game-locations, but I understand the more open appeal to others.) Some of the more classic monsters are returning, such as the Khezu... Yay... Didn't miss him at all.... Oh and was there anything else... hmm- oh right, the ability to ride freakin' Wyverns! I mean, oh good lord that is just the coolest thing of all time, no? I grew up in the age of Eragon (terrible movie, drove me away from the books) and Lair, so any sort of Dragon riding is automatically going to gel with me, but getting to ride the Monster Hunter cast! And riding them into battle against other monsters, no less! That's beyond cool, I can't wait for all the dynamically heart stopping moments that'll bring. Turning around the tide of the fight thanks to a passing Rathalos? Sign me all the way up!
A lot of the other features coming to Rise are more small-scale improvements, but given the nature of a game like this even those have the ability to drastically change the experience. Such as, for example, the new Wirebugs which permit rather freeform movement, supporting vertical navigation that will really prove invaluable to people who have been complaining about messy map layouts and the general inability to hit flying monsters. That's a pretty big one. Oh, and there's there's the new AI partners who can now join a full 4 player squad and bring a veritable army of annoyances into the hunt. I can imagine some of the more AOE-centric monsters really requiring the sorts of baiting tactics this will allow for. But I can sit here and dive into every individual feature all day when the rub is this, Rise looks to be at least to the level of World in most of the important regards, and given the quality of that game, there's room to get excited.
Of course, there'll be a contingent of folk out there who plain aren't interested by Rise and what it has to offer, either due to them not having a Switch or simply wanting a huge step up from World, and that's not really what I'm seeing out of Rise. (So if you count yourself amidst that crowd, I wouldn't encourage getting too excited) Capcom know this, of course, and thus the majority of the marketing budget is clearly going to Resident Evil, even as Rise's release date approaches. Perhaps that signals a comparatively modest launch for Rise compared to it's predecessor, but I think that's what we all sort of expected anyway. But for folk like me, who just want to get into the hunting grind once more, I'm sure this'll make for a perfect stop-gate on the road to the next-console-gen MH which I'm positive is coming. (There's no way Capcom can resist that Raytracing goodness!)
No comments:
Post a Comment