Monster Hunter has become the only game I buy at launch

Promoted from our community blogs

_{[In this community blog, Destructoid user Moths delves into why the Monster Hunter series still has so much goodwill after 15-plus years, and why players keep coming back for more without burning out. The hunt can’t stop. -Jordan.]}

We live in an era of effectively infinite games. Whatever your tastes, it’s never been easier to find a game you like and play it. It is true that there could always be more: more variety, more quality, better preservation of old titles. But ultimately, the fact of playing current games is that yes now more than you need for the rest of your life. And yet, they keep coming.

This can be overwhelming. Presented with such vast territory, there is an impetus to consider ways to divide and traverse it. We create or present niches for ourselves: loyalties, habits, aversions, and so on. Shortcuts. You may not play racing games, you may often play anything that happens on PlayStation Plus. The zeitgeist is great. There are always a handful of games that have a much greater cultural traction than the rest … until they do. But that’s the core: an external force capable of answering the question “what should I play next?” whenever asked.

Personally, I’m a little uncomfortable with that. For one thing, the games of the moment are usually new, and the industry is such that a game at launch is usually more expensive and worse than the game itself two years later. Arriving late at the party has become a smart decision if the contents of the glass what interests you most is what you can do.

I also don’t like the idea of ​​letting someone else tell me what I play. And I really i don’t like the idea of ​​letting the sum of all the others do it. I ended up designing a small system designed to offer me a balanced gaming diet and at the same time alleviate the burden you have chosen. It’s a completely neurotic behavior, but fuck it. It works. I like games with my nonsense more than without them.

Anyways, Monster Hunter Rise it’s the only one I’ve played since it came out.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way. I’m supposed to be playing Anodyne 2: Return to dust. But they got me, just like so many of you. Monster Hunter wins again. Just like he did with World Cup before, and with Generations before.

Why is this still happening? Well, here are some ideas:

1: pedigree

Monster Hunter it has been good and has grown for so long that it has gained rare confidence. He has seen ups and downs and unpopular changes, but never a real blow to the collective trust. Another one Assassin’s Creed: Unity or Ciberpunk 2077 moment. Maybe nothing at the level, for example, of New Super Mario Bros.2. Something good, but worryingly tired.

That is, the faithful have been given little reason to hesitate, and so few reasons to stop talking out loud about how good they are. Monster Hunter it’s every time it comes out. Example: this post. I had every reason to believe I would love it Go up, so I bought it, and I do. And now I have more chances to do it all again next time.

2: Life cycle

Monster Hunter it’s basically the same schtick as all MMOs or live service games. It’s a huge, repetitive shot that greets you with a party and then tries to connect you to a drip food. It makes early adoption attractive by offering new content at a measured pace, in theory creating a satisfying feeling of keeping up with something over time without ever feeling imposed. Unfortunately, we have been conditioned to distrust this way of doing things; so often he announces all that is ugly and useless about the gaming business. An attitude that doesn’t matter if you have fun while playing and don’t care about burning bridges while tolls are still running.

Things feel different Monster Hunter, especially since World Cup. Less like extortion and more like hospitality. There is no pressure, and everything is free, except for extensions of a size that feels fair to pay. There is no attempt to convince you to own to stay or pay beyond the moment it has been filled: all that comes is more Monster Hunter, after all. More monsters, more gears, more grinding. Take whatever you want and leave the rest. It’s a strategy based primarily on wanting players to like the game. Players who like the game keep playing, talk about it, keep watching the cross-promotions you make there, and keep buying the next one.

The other aspect of Monster HunterThe life cycle is so simple: there is a gap. For all players except the toughest, there is a long enough wait between the time one game is left and the point when the next one comes out. In fact, with enough time to start thinking that you could really opt for a new one. Probably not an accident. You have the sense that MHCreators know what their ecosystem can sustain and they know that respecting those boundaries is in everyone’s best interest.

3: It’s like Pokémon (but better)

So … listen to me on this topic. Monster Hunter it is not a game about collecting monsters. This is true. But it sure is a game about a collection of monsters, and he’s very good at it.

The same that Pokémon, every novelty Monster Hunter it comes with a mix of new, old favorite and not so favorite old creatures. Each new entry has some stock functions that will be occupied by new creatures: Pokémon it has the starters, the first route errors, the birds and the normal types, the cover legends. Monster Hunter he has a new silly lizard to serve as the first big monster, a new flagship, some new Elder Dragons. Both franchises will try to revitalize or capitalize on older creatures by giving them new variants. There will always be a new region with a new cast of adorable helpers and a new pretension in a story, and everything will be surprisingly similar to the previous generation.

The difference is that it is an individual monster way more fully realized than an individual Pokémon. Pokémon it offers relatively few tools to work with, and often doesn’t even get the most out of it. What about these models and animations? Those cries? In Monster Hunter, everything related to a creature gives a coherent picture. This is how it moves, its attacks, its appearance, the gear that can be made of it: everything. And you’ll spend enough time with each one so you can see it. Even those who frustrate you do so with growing familiarity. A kind of pet is still a kind of pet.

Perhaps the easiest way to express it is this Pokémon it often only leads you to establish a relationship with your team members and a handful of other prominent ones. The rest are just noise. Monster Hunter allows you to build that relationship with most of the cast. It helps that it takes ten times longer to hunt a monster than to catch a Pokémon and that there are ten times as many. You end up getting to know Rathalos in a way you can’t get to know Rattata.

And the fact is that Pokémon it still works! Damn, that really it works, despite being currently questionable. I think Monster Hunter it offers a more powerful version of the same appeal to a smaller audience. There’s something homemade about opening up a new list of missions and seeing who’s there: a point of continuity and novelty that gets thicker and fluffier every time you go back. The world is a scary place. I can’t say no to a good blanket.

And this is mine Monster Hunter Rise publish. It’s not entirely consistent, but it’s okay: I don’t think they put the ratings on us in that regard. The result is that this franchise seems to be becoming a master class on how to handle a long-running series. It is enough for even this inveterate opponent to be happy to leave everything and jump back into the car. I also really like fantastic dinosaurs.

And you? What is one game that always makes you bite? I would love to know. Looks like there could be good stories.