Monster hunter has become one of Capcom’s biggest franchises in the decades since its initial title was released in 2004 for PlayStation 2. Capcom Investor Relations Lists monster hunter world as their best-selling game with 18.3 million sales as of June 30, 2022, not counting the Master Edition set of the Iceborne expansion. the more recent The rise of the monster hunter it is currently their third best seller with 10.3 million units. New entries are undoubtedly in the pipeline once Monster Hunter Rise: Dawn it runs its course, and one way the series can be expanded is by introducing more elements.
Unlike traditional RPGs like Final Fantasy where characters can cast elemental spells that deal their own overall damage, elemental attributes on Monster hunter act as a secondary damage modifier. The 2004 title featured four elements: Fire, Water, Thunder, and Dragon. Most monsters embodied these natural forces, with Fire represented by creatures like the original flagship monster Rathalos. Weapons a hunter creates using monster parts generally incorporate the same element and come with their own attribute number that stacks on raw damage based on a target’s weaknesses or resistances.
The second generation of Monster hunter The games introduced Ice to the main lineup, used by Elder Dragon Kushala Daora and later given to powerful monsters like generationsVelkhana of Gammoth and Iceborne. After that, the third generation introduced Elemental Blights that give hunters or monsters unique status conditions with less overall impact than the main ailments Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, and Blast. A few other games have tested the waters with items, but Capcom should consider expanding the main roster beyond Ice to give players more content to interact with.
Elemental experiments in other Monster Hunter games
Although the vast majority of monsters can be classified into one of the series’ five main item categories, some do not. smaller monsters like RaiseGreat Izuchi’s Great Izuchi are independent of items, much like iconic beasts like Diablos, seen regularly in ancillary media, including Paul W.S. Anderson’s live-action film. A select few monsters, including Diablos, Barroth, Nibelsnarf, Duramboros, and Uragaan, were given the “Earth” element designation exclusive to the mobile game. Monster Hunter Explore. In most other entries, non-elemental monster weapons and armor tend to focus on stats like Defense and Affinity (critical hit chance).
Another spin-off, the MMORPG monster hunter frontier which closed in December 2019, experimented with combining elements. For example, Blaze was a mix of Fire and Dragon, Dark was a mix of Ice and Dragon, and Sound was a mix of Water and Dragon. Most of the time, these items were exclusive to monsters like White Fatalis, which used a mix of Thunder and Dragon called Emperor’s Roar. It is possible that some of them will return due to the appearance of Thorns in The rise of the monster hunterwhose fiery breath also potentially inflicts poison and paralysis.
The benefits of additional items in Monster Hunter
The best place to start when adding new item types in Monster hunter would probably bring back ExploreEarth’s designation for monsters like Diablos and Duramboros, known for behaviors that involve burrowing underground or throwing chunks of rock. This would leave room for a handful of monsters with unique Blight-based status effects, such as Gore Magala’s Frenzy and Malzeno’s Bloodblight, while also giving players a more complex web of strengths, weaknesses, and resistances to consider.
Each new item should come with its own Blight which adds a Thunderblight-like feature, making Hunters easier to Stun or Fireblight dealing damage over time, and if the Hunting Helpers carry a new Scarab to deal that Blight It would be just as fun. While it would be interesting to see new monster designs and attack patterns (or more monsters that combine items and status effects like Sunbreak’s Garangolm), probably the main reason Capcom took this step is that it would encourage build diversity.
There are nearly endless combinations of armor pieces and weapons in Monster hunter that give players an advantage in combat or environmental feats. A key subset of armor builds are those that empower one of the five elements, encouraging players to use something like an ice greatsword against monsters weak to ice. Adding more item types to that mix increases the chance that a monster’s armor pieces will also include unique secondary abilities. Navigating this sprawling web of options can become too cumbersome if overused, but it could add dozens of hours of content and new tricks to show off.
Monster Hunter Rise: Dawn It’s out now on PC and Switch.
