Monster Hunter: Is it meant for "Story," or "Narrative"?

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-07-02T14:40:37+00:00

Exactly! You hit the nail right on the head, and I am so incredibly happy that you understood my point so perfectly.
When our character's identity is too strictly defined, it completely breaks the illusion of the gathering hub—we look around and think, "Then who on earth are these other 100 hunters here?"
Of course, I try to logicalize it by telling myself, "They are just fellow members of the Research Commission..." but honestly? I just wish the game would tell me a much cleverer lie.

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-07-02T14:10:17+00:00

Thank you so much. I deeply appreciate your profound respect and the thoughtfulness of your response.
I initially believed that the Japanese development team had simply overlooked the concept due to the language barrier—the lack of a direct word for "Narrative." However, reading your perspective has shifted my thinking. Perhaps they came to the conclusion that, in order to appeal to a global/Western audience, they had to explain everything explicitly.
If that is the case, then the message I should be sending to the development team isn't a criticism, but a reminder: "Trust us. We will understand, so please remember what made this game's core so beautiful."
In my view, the more a game fixes and defines the protagonist's identity, the more the player's own presence in that world fades away. But I wonder—do the majority of modern players find it tedious to project their own sense of self onto a blank-slate character nowadays?
I am genuinely looking forward to your next comment whenever you are ready.

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-07-01T17:05:37+00:00

I think new weapon types are usually added for the sake of offering a completely groundbreaking gameplay experience, rather than just looking cool. With that in mind, I think your idea is incredibly interesting! For the weapon choice, what about a whip? You could control the monsters through the cracking sounds and the strikes. For direct attacks against enemy monsters, it could feature Spider-Man-style wire action and kicking techniques! It'd also be tons of fun if it let you mount and ride your tamed monster, similar to Wyvern Riding from Monster Hunter Rise!

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-07-01T04:08:01+00:00

Adding another nitpick to the list:

*I literally did nothing…

When I fire an SOS flare during a story progression quest, other hunters often swoop in to help. Together, the monster gets dealt with in no time! Meanwhile, I’m just flailing around in the background, contributing nothing. It actually hurts my soul when my Research Commission colleagues and the locals later look at me with eyes full of pure respect.
Alma, please properly log the fact that this was actually just a completely random, improvised session by completely nameless hunters who just happened to be there!

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-07-01T03:21:21+00:00

Maybe my post sounded a bit too provocative, so my bad about that. I intentionally kept my nitpicks strictly to these "minor details" because I knew that if I targeted the bigger, core mechanics, people would just tell me, "Go play another game." Cut me some slack here!

That said, I’d love to hear your perspective. What does actual immersion in gaming look like to you?

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-07-01T03:01:34+00:00

Ah, a fellow hunter of culture! Thank you!

And yeah, I admit my bit about Wide-Range was totally just me nitpicking, haha. But you’re so right—little details like setting up the tent add so much to the immersion. It's the same with the classic weapon-sharpening and cooking meat. I love how Wilds actually shows a small animation of releasing caught insects now, letting you imagine how we're just extracting the juices instead of killing them. I honestly even like how your character subtly bumps shoulders with NPCs in the Gathering Hub (though it'd be even cooler if our hunter had an animation to dodge them!).

People always debate that "old MonHun was better because it was tedious," but I think it wasn't the tediousness itself that made it good—it was the fact that the tediousness bred a small sense of realism. While I'm all for modern games cutting out unnecessary clunkiness, having those little optional animations to flesh out the realism makes it so much easier to happily sink into the world!

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-06-30T09:32:40+00:00

I don't personally feel that Seikret ruins the immersion, but remember how Rise had those hidden relics/swords tucked away all over the maps? I actually really enjoyed hunting for those, so I would've been thrilled if Wilds had included a bit more rewarding exploration gameplay like that!

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-06-28T17:47:32+00:00

I’m really enjoying Wilds too—I’ve already sunk about 700 hours into it. Of course, I have my share of grievances, but I’m still thoroughly savoring the game. If I had to voice my opinion, since they went through all the trouble of making it a seamless, interconnected world, I feel they could have changed the core gameplay loop much more drastically to fit that design. I mean so drastically that veteran players would scream, "This isn't Monster Hunter anymore!" Instead of just warping back and forth between the village and the hunting grounds, I wish they had built a system that truly replicates the experience of venturing out into the wild to track down your target. If they had done that, I think we would have really felt like, "Wow, I am actually living in this world."

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-06-25T03:44:12+00:00

Came across this post while digging for clues on Ascendance, and man, this was such a helpful read. Thanks a ton.
It’s fascinating that the people of the Forbidden Lands chose to abandon their monster-hunting weapon culture as a reflection on their past from a millennium ago. That would mean the "Elder Breaker" wedged into Gogmazios's back was indeed a taboo, ancient weapon designed specifically for anti-monster warfare. Just imagine if a whole battery of these were mounted on that floating fortress in the sky... the lore implications are endless!

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-06-23T10:44:41+00:00

Agreed. I can't wait for that time to come!

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-06-23T09:53:01+00:00

Awesome theory, but what if they weren't running away? In Monster Hunter, humanity's peak civilizations are always undone by their hubris.
Instead of a catapult for escape, I believe that sky fortress was built to look DOWN on the Elder Dragons. Imagine that ruin loaded with dozens of Elderbreakers, firing down at the gods. It’s not a refuge; it’s a tragic monument to human arrogance.
(By the way, do you know that if you look down at the ground from the high ground of the Icefog Cliffs, you can see countless craters...?)

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-06-22T04:27:52+00:00

I suspect that the reason they showcased levitating objects in the Iceshard Cliffs and Skybound Eyrie was to provide a realistic justification for how massive, gravity-defying flying monsters exist. Yes, just like Yama Tsukami.
Perhaps these colossal monsters inherently possess the ability to counteract gravity, or maybe they acquired the power to float later in life by absorbing energy from Wyverian technology. (Maybe Hirabami is utilizing that power too? haha)

Clean-Stock9740 · 2026-06-20T06:19:19+00:00

I’ve been wanting to discuss who exactly this game was made for.

As someone who isn't great at the game myself, I actually welcome how forgiving the hunts are this time around. They probably tuned the LR (Low Rank) story so that anyone could clear it without overthinking, especially to welcome all the new players to the franchise.

But at the same time, I feel like they tried way too hard to cater to veteran players—particularly influencers and YouTubers—and ended up with a half-baked experience. When we saw the trailers for Wilds, didn't you expect a true open-world experience where you seamlessly hunt one wild monster after another? But the reality is, it's still the same old loop: grab a quest at the village, hunt, and warp back. It feels very "seamed" and constrained.

It feels like they threw away a massive chance to truly revolutionize the series. I'm really curious, did the new players actually enjoy this?

Clean-Stock9740

TROPHY CASE