Monster Hunter: World

Monster Hunter: World
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Director(s)	Kaname Fujioka Yuya Tokuda
Producer(s)	Ryozo Tsujimoto
Series	Monster Hunter
Engine	MT Framework
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Release	PlayStation 4 Xbox One WW: Q1 2018 Microsoft Windows WW: TBA
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Monster Hunter: World^{[lower-alpha 1]} is an upcoming action role-playing video game in development and to be published by Capcom, and is the fifth primary title in their Monster Hunter franchise. The game was announced at Sony's Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 conference. It is currently scheduled for a simultaneous worldwide release in early 2018; while it will only release for PlayStation 4 in Japan, it will launch with both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions in Western markets, with a Microsoft Windows release sometime afterwards.^[1] It will feature much larger maps, seamless transitions between zones in the map and four-player online co-op; it will allow players from Japan and from Western regions to play together, a first for the game in the series.^[2][3]

Gameplay

Monster Hunter: World is an action role-playing game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. As with previous games in the series, the player takes the role of a Hunter that is tasked by a group of researchers to hunt down and either kill or capture large monsters that roam outside the village for them to study. The player's character does not have any intrinsic attributes, but instead these are determined by what equipment the character is equipped with. This includes a weapon which comes from several archetypes (such as long sword, bow, or guns), which then further defines the types of combat moves and abilities the player can use, and pieces of armor, which can led to beneficial or detrimental combat skills if matched properly. While some basic equipment can be purchased using in-game money, most equipment is built from loot obtained by slaying or trapping monsters, rewards from completing quests, or items gathered while in the field. This creates a core loop of gameplay that has the player fight monsters they can beat to obtain the right loot to craft improved weapons and armor to allow them to face more powerful monsters and the potential for even better equipment.

Monster Hunter: World will include all fourteen weapon types from Monster Hunter 4 and Monster Hunter Generations.^[4] However, the Hunting Arts and the Prowler Mode from Generations are not included in World's gameplay.^[5] Players will still be able to mount and try to topple monsters, and in some scenarios, will be able to use their primary weapon for these toppling attacks.^[5] All hunters gain access to a tool called the Slinger, which can be used as a grappling hook to reach higher elevations or pull down rock formations, and also can be used as a slingshot to launch bullets that can damage or have debuffing effects on monsters or can be used to distract monsters to allow one to escape.^[4] Players can also use a Mantle, similar to ghillie suits to either stay hidden from sight of a monster, or to lure a monster into chasing the hunter into a trap or into an area occupied by another monster and having them fight each other.^[4][6] Hunter use Scout flies to track down monsters; after finding enough signs of a monster's presence such as footprints or mucus piles, the Scout flies then help lead the Hunter directly to the monster. They can also be used to search for other resources, and can be trained to be more effective at their tracking skills.^[7]

Monster Hunter: World has several different areas to hunt, divided into a set of numbered zones. However, unlike previous games where there would be a loading screen in travelling between each zone, making each zone isolated from the others, World offers seamless travel between zones in the area.^[4][8] This alters the nature of some gameplay elements: for example, with zones, a player could temporarily escape a monster by leaving a zone entering the next, giving them time to drink healing potions or prepare other equipment. With the connected world approach, the player does not have this immediate escape option, so some gameplay elements are tied to the fact that the player cannot easily escape danger. One such change is allowing the character to drink a healing potion while walking rather than having to stand still and remain vulnerable.^[9] The game will include a dynamic day-night cycle, which can affect the behavior of some monsters mid-quest.^[4] Parts of the environment are destructable by Hunters and monsters alike, such as breaking down walls to create new routes or causing a flood of water that washes creatures to a different area. The areas have what Capcom considered to be living ecosystems, with monsters reacting to the presence of other monsters; this can be used to lure monsters to fight and weaken each other, for example. When outside of combat, players will have a way to quick-travel to the region's base camps – safe areas from the monsters – where they can change out equipment and restock on items before setting out again; new in World is the ability to change weapon class while out in the field.^[4][7] A central hub area will be used where players can buy and sell goods, craft new equipment, and gain new quests.^[5]

The game supports both single-player (both offline and online) and up to four player co-operative mode while online; there is no local online multiplayer. The game's quest system will be the same in both modes.^[4] In single-player mode, hunters can have a Palico (an anthropomorphic sentient cat species) assist them in combat, and if they are playing online, players can call for help from other players anywhere in the field by having their character launch a red flare, allowing other hunters to help, creating a drop-in/drop-out system.^[4] The game will allow players in different release regions to work together; the game will use a pre-determined set of common greetings and commands that are translated to the various languages so that players can effectively communicate with each other.^[4] However, players will be limited to co-operating with those on the same platform, and will not feature cross-platform play.^[5] With an aim to reach a wider audience than past games, Monster Hunter: World also provides more information to players, such as a companion that will warn the player when they are running low on health, and more details on the advantages and disadvantages of weapons and armors against specific monsters.^[7]

Development

Monster Hunter: World is considered a main instalment in the Monster Hunter series, according to the game's producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and co-director Yuya Tokuda.^[9] Tokuda and co-director Kaname Fujioka were also directors for Monster Hunter 4 and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.^[10] Development of World started about three years prior to the E3 2017 reveal, following a year of brainstorming on what the next main game in the series would be.^[8] With the series more than a decade old, Capcom re-evaluated where they wanted to take the series, and realized that with the hardware capabilities of the new consoles, they could realize a different vision compared to the handheld entries.^[8]

Tsujimoto said that past games typically had arcane rules, and the zoned-area structure made each zone feel isolated, and wanted to change that approach.^[11] They have also wanted to implement living worlds and ecosystems, with complex artificial intelligence interactions between monsters and the environment but have been limited in the past by handheld gaming hardware.^[9][8] The team determined that they would pursue highly detailed worlds that felt realistic, eliminating the disconnected zoned-map approach.^[11] This created a "ripple effect" of changes in gameplay; for example, elimination of loading screens meant players could not use the tactic of jumping to a different zone to heal in safety, and thus allowed players to drink healing potions while walking.^[12] Tokuda noted that with these changes, the pace of the game also became quicker.^[12]

As they worked towards this, Capcom found that this more open world would be something better appreciated by Western audiences. The Monster Hunter series has generally languished in sales in Western markets due to the complexity of the game, high learning curves, and that, unlike Japan where portable gaming is more popular, Western audiences tended to play on consoles or personal computers.^[11] The team felt the new approach to the game would be something that would mesh well with Western markets, and starting adopting the game to include more Western standards in controls and interface design. They also looked to provide more tutorial information as well as making these fully voiced, as to avoid unskippable dialog boxes that had been used in the past.^[11] With these changes came the decision to make the game a worldwide release with inter-region play, as they believed they will be able to draw more Western players with the gameplay changes they have made.^[11] Tjusimoto and Tokuda recognized that World will be the first Monster Hunter title that many in the Western regions will likely play, so wanted to make sure the game was accessible to those players without having played any of the previous titles. They also were aware of past criticisms that the games were very hard to learn though provided a rewarding experience once learned, so aimed to include means to help ease the learning curve and provide more information to the starting player.^[9]

Fujioka responded to some initial criticism of the Western-driven changes to the game that they were not trying to make the game easier just to drive sales: "We're not taking things that people in the west hate and fixing them to make western players buy it. People sometimes make that assumption, or they've got that fear, but that's not the case at all."^[6] He continued that some of the changes that were seem to favor Western audiences were necessitated by the highly interconnected maps, and that "the new gameplay has to mesh with the new concept or else it would just be a mess."^[6] Tsujimoto also said that as they have been working on the series for more than a decade, they are aware of what fans expect of a Monster Hunter title, saying "we want Monster Hunter fans to feel like this is a Monster Hunter game through and through when they play it".^[6]

The subtitle World alludes to many facets of the game's design changes from past Monster Hunter games: it reflects that the game will have a worldwide simultaneous release, that it will be playing on worldwide servers rather than segmented by region, that the maps are no longer connected zones but wide-open worlds, and that these maps represent living worlds.^[9][8] Capcom opted not to use a numerical title, such Monster Hunter 5, as that would give the impression that players needed to have completed other titles in the series to play this one.^[12]

Tjusimoto and Tokuda noted that with each Monster Hunter title they have tried to bring a gameplay element to be unique to that title to make it stand out, and as such, the Hunter Arts and Prowler Modes from Generations will not be included. However, they have re-evaluated all the existing weapon classes to add new moves and abilities to provide a fresh take on the series for veteran players.^[8] They do plan to introduce crossover collaborations in outfits and weapons from Capcom's other series and from other publishers as have been present in the other games.^[8]

While their main Monster Hunter development team from Osaka has developed the core, Capcom brought in other programmers familiar with the newer consoles to help with bringing the game to those systems.^[9] The game will use a modified version of Capcom's internally developed MT Framework engine, and development is targeted to provided a minimum of 30 frames per seconds on all platforms.^[13] The consoles versions are expected to include ultra-high resolutions and other improved features from the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles.^[8] Tsujimoto and Tokuda said the delay on the Windows version release is "to make sure it’s optimized and fine-tuned for the PC as much as possible", with all work is being done internally within Capcom to avoid treating the game as an outsourced port.^[14] They also seek to have Monster Hunter: World support a wide variety of personal computer configurations, and need the additional time to achieve this broad range.^[12]

Notes

References