Want some water?
I think I'm just exhausted and I should have ate a meal.
﻿Hello hunters, I’m Andrew,
and I am so pumped that more people are finally starting to check out the ‘Monster Hunter’ series.
I’ve been a fan of the franchise since Monster Hunter Freedom in 2005.
But until now, the games never took hold in the America the way they always have in Japan.
‘Monster Hunter World’ has streamlined the experience and polished it up,
and at last, millions of new players are discovering that sweet, sweet grind.
The sales numbers are in,
and Capcom is making stacks bigger than Zorah Magdaros,
thanks to some extremely smart design choices and excellent timing.
So pet your Palico and for crying out loud, eat something will you?
Because we’re on the hunt for answers about
Monster Hunter World: How Capcom Crushed it
Let’s put this in perspective:
‘Monster Hunter World’ is Capcom’s fastest selling title ever,
and the company is no stranger to heavy hitters.
At six million copies moved, it’s their fourth highest-selling game as well,
just under ‘Street Fighter 2’ for SNES.
It took ‘Resident Evil 4’ six years to sell that much,
and I’ve bought that game at least three times.
What are ya buyin?
So what made ‘World’ such a game-changer for this 14-year-old franchise?
It’s all about
Accessibility
Once upon a time, Monster Hunter was just one of those series like ‘Dragon Quest’ that was a huge hit in its native Japan,
and a niche everywhere else.
We’ll talk more about why later,
but the steep learning curve and dense user interface didn’t help.
‘Monster Hunter’ is an extremely complex game,
This is too hard!
and as the series evolved it just grew more and more complicated.
Even with two screens on the 3Ds,
navigating eight million menus trying to craft Mega Potions on the fly isn’t easy on your eyes,
your brain,
or your hands.
That didn’t stop millions of fans from loving it,
but until ‘Monster Hunter: World,’ the series was always kind of a pain in the ass to play,
and more than a little intimidating to newcomers.
But with ‘World,’ Capcom removed some of the most aggravating features and made the entire experience a lot more inviting.
Now, you don’t have to waste your inventory space with piles of breakable pickaxes and fishing rods,
not that it matters as much, because now your hard-earned monster parts get beamed straight to your item box.
In the older games, you’d have to throw paintballs at monsters to track them,
it was really clunky, the aim was off, and it would wear off in a bit.
But now you just scrape some slime off the wall and let the scout flies lead the way.
I can’t even tell you what a relief it is that I don’t have to keep spamming the circle button every time I want to harvest honey.
And it's the same honey, in the same spot, and you can't move.
Or how great it feels to start a new quest without having to warp back to home base.
There are dozens of quality-of-life improvements that make series vets like me grateful,
and make the game accessible without dumbing it down too much.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still room for improvement,
but it’s never been easier for new fans to get on board.
You’re still gonna get your ass carted from time-to-time,
but at least you’ll have a prettier view as your cat drags your lifeless carcass back to camp.
Prettier because‘Monster Hunter World’ is one of the most gorgeous games I’ve ever seen,
thanks to the power of
Hunting at Home
The 'Monster Hunter' series has been around for a while.
It started with a PS2 game in 2004,
but it didn’t hit it big until ‘Monster Hunter: Freedom’ on the PSP a year later.
Hunting monsters on the go was a perfect fit for Japan.
It’s dense population and heavy reliance on public transport meant that you’d always find a buddy around to interrupt your combos.
It’s not limited to Japan either,
Monster Hunter also had a huge following in Mexico,
where the PSP was a big hit.
PSP, huh?
Sweeet!
As for me, I never had any trouble rounding up a crew to go slay some jagras,
but that’s because I live in New York City.
I think I’m getting StreetPassed right now, in fact.
Oh wow!
I did!
Hold on, hold on.
The rest of America is way more spread out,
and we never fully embraced portable gaming the way the Japanese have.
There were plenty of Monster Hunter games on consoles,
but the experience wasn’t really tailored for sitting in front of a TV,
and the systems they released on didn’t have the online infrastructure we have today.
‘Monster Hunter’ was designed with local multiplayer in mind,
you’d sit across from your friends, link up and go kill a giant pink dinosaur.
But now, with PSN, XBox Live, and Steam,
there’s finally a convenient way to play with your friends all around the globe.
You can do your shopping at home, or play 'Mortal Kombat' with your friend in Vietnam!
And without the limitations of a handheld,
the world of ‘Monster Hunter’ has never looked better.
For years, the series got bigger and bigger as the systems stayed the same size.
The games were gorgeous for the hardware they ran on,
but the jaggy, low-res screens made the huge battles taking place feel cramped and small.
Since ‘World’ is running on PCs and modern consoles,
Capcom can finally give ‘Monster Hunter’ the scale it deserves.
The small, sectioned-off zones of the older games have been blown wide open into a huge world that’s just begging to be explored.
My jaw dropped the first time I stepped into the Coral Highlands,
it was goddamn beautiful.
Then, my jaw was ripped off by the gorgeous white monster bat that carted me in seconds.
I needed to farm some more, but that’s okay,
because ‘Monster Hunter World’ is a great example of the
Grind Gone Good
‘World’ struck paydirt in the U.S. because it gave us what other games tried and failed to:
A satisfying grind.
‘Destiny 2’ was supposed to fill that void for us,
but Bungie seemed to forget all their lessons from the first game.
I am Moron!
The community cried foul about the shallow endgame and unexciting loot,
and today, there are a lot of ex-Guardians chowing down at the kitty cafe.
‘Monster Hunter’s’ core feedback loop of prepping, hunting, carving and crafting satisfies the exact same urges as games like ‘Destiny’ and ‘Diablo,’
it’s literally addictive,
I'm not hooked.
You got a quarter?
and it’s why the franchise sunk it’s hooks into so many gamers before it went mainstream.
Compared to those games, earning your armor and upgrades just feels more rewarding in ‘Monster Hunter.’
I mean, what sounds cooler:
churning through mobs of enemies hoping they’ll pop out a weapon rolled by the RNG gods,
or stitching together some fancy new boots that you got from killing the goddamn thing, with a sword or a bow made from sliced-off monster tails?
It’s visceral and satisfying,
and by the way: there’s not a loot box in sight.
Fans are sick of triple-A developers nickel-and-diming us with microtransactions,
pay-to-win bullshit,
and pricey shortcuts to make progress.
I hate that whenever I preorder a game at Gamestop, and I never do anymore because of this fact,
that when I do, I get a day-one gun that makes it so easy to level up on all those people that paid on the day it came out.
You shouldn’t have to pay to skip the grind,
the grind should be the most fun part of the game!
Because the grind is most of what the game is!
Capcom has made it pretty clear that they’re steering away of that hot mess.
They’re going to sell some DLC armor and weapons,
but they’re also giving us new monsters post-launch absolutely free,
much like 'Overwatch' does with free characters.
It’s the right way to treat your audience,
and it’s going to create a lot of loyalty and goodwill in their newly expanded fanbase.
‘World’ is an awesome example of “games as a service” done right,
And upcoming Western lootfests like Bioware’s ‘Anthem’ should take some valuable lessons from its success.
By opening the game up to a wider audience,
embracing the power of home consoles,
and ensuring that profit doesn’t get in the way of fun,
Capcom transformed Monster Hunter from a cult classic into a triple-A blockbuster we’ll be playing for years to come.