01 - 4K Fidelity
Monster Hunter rose to prominence on portable systems: the PSP and the 3DS. The leap from 240p to 4K delivers a long-overdue upgrade that borders on sensory overload.02 - Staggering Detail in Monster Rendering
All that extra graphics horsepower is put to good use, especially when rendering the real stars of the game: the monsters. The way tiny ice crystals form on the belly of the Legiana, the way the fiery Teostra's mane glows from within... These beasts have a majesty they've never had before.03 - The Accelerated Day/Night Cycle
It's a subtle feature, but a powerful one. To fight a monster for 20 minutes or more in darkness, and to see the sun crest the horizon just as you fell the beast... magical!The new multi-layered maps add tremendously to the atmosphere, and they also allow for furtive dive-bombing attacks.
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04 - Endemic Life
Beyond the odd trash mob, the maps in Monster Hunter used to be largely empty. But in World, there are critters everywhere: birds, geckos, and even ants. And you can catch them all.05 - Living Consumables
Here and there you'll find plants and animals with tangible in-game effects; Vigorwasps that restore your health, or Paratoads that burst open into clouds of monster-immobilising gas.06 - True Multi-Level 3D Environments
With myriad nooks and crannies and stunning vistas, the new multi-layered maps add tremendously to the atmosphere, and they also allow for furtive dive-bombing attacks.07 - High-Concept Fantasy Locations
Monster Hunter locales were once the epitome of game level cliché: you'd get a forest map, an ice map, a desert map, etc. But new locations like the Coral Highlands and the Rotten Vale look and feel more like they are part of a complex fantasy ecosystem. They wouldn't be out of place in a Roger Dean painting.08 - Sliding Attacks
Running down a sloped surface will now trigger a sliding animation. This speeds up the pursuit of monsters between zones, and can seamlessly chain into a new range of spinning, leaping attack moves.09 - No More Loading Between Zones
Overall loading times are a tad longer, but once you're in, you're in... and a phantasmagorical world is yours to plunder.10 - Significantly Larger Maps
Another subtle, but powerful effect compounding the realism. The maps are huge, and when you explore them for the first time it feels like anything could be around the next corner.11 - Multiple Camp-Sites
You can choose to start a quest at any of the base camps you've unlocked, so as to get to the monster-belting all the more quickly.If you're not in combat you can whistle for a Wingdrake at any time, and one of these friendly pterodactyl-like creatures will whisk you away to safety.
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12 - You Can Fast Travel to Any Unlocked Camp-Site
If you're not in combat you can whistle for a Wingdrake at any time, and one of these friendly pterodactyl-like creatures will whisk you away to safety.13 - You Can Eat at Your Camp-Site
Pre-quest buffs are lost if you faint even once, but now you can apply fresh buffs in the field.14 - You Can Change Your Equipment at Any Camp-Site
If the weapon and armour you chose aren't working out you don't have to abandon the quest and start over – you can swap out your gear in a matter of seconds.15 - You Can Access Your Full Item Box at Any Camp-Site
Running low on mega potions? Need more flash bombs? Did you use the shock trap too soon in a capture quest? Again, no need to abandon the quest – you can restock at camp.16 - No More Paintballs!
You used to have to throw a bright pink paintball at a monster so it would show up on your map. Hitting them was tricky, and you had to apply a fresh one every ten minutes. This was challenging, but hardly 'fun'.17 - New Tracking Game Mechanic Results in Actual Monster Hunting!
World doesn't use paintballs – you actually have to look around for monster tracks. Once you find some the Scoutflies that live in a jar on your hunter's belt will light up and lead the way directly towards the monster; a welcome convenience in the convoluted new maps.18 - No More Books of Combining!
Combining items into other items used to carry with it the risk of failure. The more expensive the item, the higher the risk. To minimise (but not entirely negate) this risk meant buying a five-volume encyclopaedia set, the 'Books of Combining'. If you wanted to combine explosive ammo in the field, that meant lugging those books with you, and having fewer inventory slots for potions, gathering, etc.19 - Unlimited Pickaxes!
Ore extraction in Monster Hunter has traditionally been an ordeal. You had to remember to bring pickaxes, and you had to contain your disappointment when they would break after a handful of uses. For much of the game's history they weren't even context sensitive; you had to select them manually, as you would a potion.Now you just approach an ore deposit and hold down 'O' until it's all yours.
20 - No More Bugnets!
Craftable critters once required disposable bugnets to capture, duplicating the busywork of ore-mining. In World you can see Godbugs and Flashbugs and Thunderbugs just sitting around out in the open, and you can run up and grab them with nary a second thought. They're even colour-coded for your convenience. 'Oooh, a blue one! I could use some more Bitterbugs!'21 - Unlimited Whetstones!
Weapon sharpness is still a core game dynamic – a melee weapon will lose sharpness as you use it, diminishing its penetration and damage values. You still need to periodically sharpen your blades, but you no longer need to stock up on whetstones as you would potions.Running out of whetstones during a protracted battle was one of the more aggravating ways you could lose; this 'feature' will not be missed. You still need to sharpen your war hammers, though.
22 - The Map Is No Longer an Inventory Item!
Previously you had to collect the map from the big blue box at your base camp. Every quest. Every single time. Or risk getting lost.23 - Monsters Will No Longer Steal Your Possessions!
Mere words cannot describe how aggravating this 'feature' used to be.24 - The Slinger
Attached to your hunter's left arm, this projectile launcher allows for more deft use of flash bombs, sonic bombs, and the like.25 - Nigh-On Unlimited Slinger Ammo to Gather
Piles of stones are everywhere, Redpit plants are plentiful, and hitting monsters will often make them drop even more damaging slinger ammo.26 - Wedge Beetles
Your Slinger can fire a grappling hook that can attach to these conveniently placed yellow bugs, allowing for rapid traversal of the large new environments.27 - Environmental Traps
Like the breakable dam atop the Ancient Forest, these are environmental features that can temporarily restrain a monster.28 - Gathered Materials Are Now Sent to Your Item Box Automatically at the End of Each Quest
Supplies and gathered materials/monster carves are now stored in separate sections of your Item Pouch, too. It's now quite rare to run out of room and be forced to throw something away.29 - You Can Now Hold Down 'X' to Collect All Quest Rewards
You used to have move the cursor and tap a button repeatedly simply to select what you might assume would be the default option: to send all of your quest rewards to your item box. Now you can store them all in a flash!30 - “Bounties” Are an Engrossing Secondary Objective System
They're usually simple tasks, like 'gather mushrooms seven times', or 'rummage through bone piles 15 times'. But every time you complete a Bounty, the Resource Centre will reward you with one or more Armour Spheres, for incrementally buffing your armour.It's been said that grinding is the ultimate video game fantasy, because it provides the illusion of being consistently rewarded for your efforts.
31 - Zero Palico Micro-Management
Beyond choosing his weapon, armour, and support gadget, your Palico requires zero care and attention. Earlier games would have you managing small armies of cats, effectively forcing you to min/max their personal development to get the best support abilities.32 - Faster, More Streamlined Gathering
Gathering points are now liberally placed about the map, especially on the narrow corridors between zones.33 - Quite Generous Gathering Drop Rates, Especially for Ammunition
It's a subtle change, but a big one. In the past, crafting a specialised armour set just for gathering was pretty much essential, but in World I didn't bother making one until around the 50-hour mark.It's a subtle change, but a big one. In the past, crafting a specialised armour set just for gathering was pretty much essential, but in World I didn't bother making one until around the 50-hour mark.
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34 - Streamlined Item Box Management
There are now tabs sorting your items into potions, ammunition, traps and gadgets, etc. Item stacking is less confusing, too.35 - They Finally Differentiated Between the Icons for Potions and Mega-Potions
They used to be identical little green jars, and it used to be a little distracting.Also: Different ammunition types are marked much more clearly, instead of the old paradigm of endless identical stacks of white bullets.
36 - Auto-Combining
This handy feature will automatically convert gathered mats into consumable items.37 - Auto-Combining Is on by Default
Tool around gathering herbs and nuts and your item pouch will start filling with potions and gunpowder. Genius!38 - Standard Potions No Longer Need a Herb and a Blue Mushroom – They Just Need a Herb!
Pretty sweet, considering you'll be using potions more than just about any other item.39 - Antidotes No Longer Require an Antidote Herb and a Blue Mushroom – They Just Need an Antidote Herb!
Again: This is huge.40 - Completely Re-Imagined Armour Skill System
In previous Monster Hunter games skills worked on a far more complicated point-based system, with typically a minimum of ten points in a given skill required to activate it. You might get, say, a mere two points in a skill in each of the five components of an armour set. This meant you usually needed the complete set of armour from a given monster to activate those skills.Creating mixed sets was a dark art akin to alchemy, entailing the use of elaborate computer programs created by dedicated fans. Not exactly user-friendly.
In World, an armour piece typically has one or more active beneficial skills, guaranteed. And they all stack.
41 - Less Grinding For Armour
With no more emphasis on complete armour sets for skill activation, a la carte gear selection is the default. You can splash out on new pieces when it suits you, or simply use armour spheres to upgrade your armour's defensive value from time to time. There's no pressure. Get a decent set early on and it'll last you all the way to High Rank.42 - Armour Set Bonuses Encourage a Coordinated Wardrobe
That said, certain monsters' armour sets will grant additional bonuses if your hunter wears a certain number of parts from the same set. Eg. Equip two pieces of Rathalos Armour and you'll increase the elemental damage you do when landing critical hits.43 - Fewer 'Clown Suits'
Armour components are generally more aesthetically subdued. Creating an ensemble of pieces from different armour sets is far less likely to turn your hunter into a walking fashion disaster.44 - No More Negative Armour Skills!
This was one of the many, many ways Monster Hunter used to troll you. A complete armour set would impart beneficial skills, but it might also have a skill that hindered you. For instance, the Steel armour set in Monster Hunter Tri would give you Guard +1 and Speed Sharpening, as well as 'Doggy Paddler', a skill that made you terrible at swimming (in a game with loads of underwater combat!).You'd have to gem out those dud 'skills', or learn to live with them. Good riddance!
45 - No More Distinction Between 'Blademaster' and 'Gunner' Armour
Melee specialists used to hesitate at the thought of experimenting with ranged weapons, as it meant investing in a whole new armour set. Not any more!46 - Straightforward Distinction Between 'Alpha' and 'Beta' Armour Options
Starting at High Rank, every monster has two varieties of craftable armour sets: Alpha, with more skills, and Beta, with more decoration slots. Easy to remember!47 - Completely Re-Balanced Skill Effects Challenge Rusted-On Min/Max Orthodoxies!
No longer is there always one ultra-optimised, min/maxed choice – there are many viable equipment options for every situation.48 - You Can Make Your Helmet Invisible!
World has the most in-depth character creation system in the series to date, hands down. And because this system doesn't give a good impression of how your hunter will look in cut scenes, many players found themselves re-starting several times just so they could get a head that doesn't look too wonky. After going to all that trouble, it seems a waste to hide your hunter's chiselled features under a helmet. Well, you don't have to!49 - Craftable Charms
Previously, the paradigm was that decorations were craftable, and charms (or 'Talismans') were found or earned as-is. Now decorations are the rare, randomised rewards, and you can craft charms as you please. An arbitrary change? Perhaps. But it forces returning fans to look at how they optimise their armour sets with fresh eyes.50 - Streamlined Palico Equipment Creation
Some of the previous games would add an extra layer of busywork when crafting weapons and armour for your battle cats. You might get 'scraps' left over when making your hunter's equipment, and only those 'scraps' could be used for Palico gear. Now they use the same mats you do, and in very small quantities. A single kill can be enough to give your kitty a whole new wardrobe.51 - No More 'Hunter Arts'!
This system of additional combat styles was added for Generations, and it was quite controversial. The flashy graphical effects noticeably sapped the frame rate on the 3DS hardware. Worse, they effectively offered a mere illusion of choice, as certain Arts worked consistently better with certain weapons classes.52 - Brutal New Mounting Attacks!
If you don't get thrown off after stabbing the monster repeatedly with your carving knife, you can let loose a powerful charged attack that will send your prey reeling.53 - Poison Smoke Bombs Have a Much Larger Radius
This is a small change, but a welcome one. Vespoids and Hornetaurs have delicate shells; belting them with your weapon will usually destroy them utterly, leaving no body to carve. Farming them means deploying poison gas bombs to gently nudge their health down to zero. Now the radius of said bombs is far more generous – you might bag five of these giant bugs in one go!54 - Completely Re-Worked Fishing System
It's actually quite relaxing now, too. Yoko Taro was right when he tweeted “JRPG needs fishing.”55 - The Cat-apult!
When your Palico chum aids you in battle he'll sometimes deploy a crude little siege engine to bombard the monsters. It's smeared with Felyne war paint, and it looks like a catapult. A cat-apult. Get it?!56 - Investigations
Farming a monster used to mean doing the same quest over and over. But Investigations make this process far more interesting. They are disposable, limited-use quests (typically performable 3~8 times) which guarantee extra rewards – and extra challenges. They usually have more onerous completion requirements: failure after two faints, or sometimes only one! Some have time limits as small as 15 minutes.You can unlock Investigations by breaking monster parts, or you can simply browse the SOS Flares and drop in on someone else's.
57 - Damage Numbers
This was a controversial inclusion, but a logical one. The new colour-coded damage numbers give explicit feedback when you're hitting a monster's weak points, resulting in an easier learning curve and less aggravation. If you really want to, you can turn them off.58 - More Explicit Combat Feedback Re. Monster Part Breakage
Likewise, little messages will pop up on the side of the screen every time you break a monster part, and when an Investigation has been triggered.59 - Glorious Pyrotechnics for Bow & Bowgun Damage
When they first showed up in Monster Hunter 2 bows were seriously under-powered. Now not only are they viable, but their charged-up arrows sparkle and scream like skyrockets. Land a slicing shot from your bowgun and a cascade of damage numbers will spurt from the monster's flesh. Positive feedback is abundant.60 - No More Quizzical Expression When You Try to Fire an Empty Bowgun
It used to be that if you tried to fire your bowgun when the ammo had run out it would trigger an animation where your hunter would look quizzically at his firearm and shake it. Often you'd be trapped in this animation just long enough for a monster to belt you. Now, your bowgun simply reloads instead.Bowguns can now be fired on the move, too.
61 - The 'Capture Guru' Armour Skill is Obsolete!
A little flashing skull will now automatically appear next to a monster's icon on the mini-map when it's weak enough for capture. A godsend.62 - You Can Now Meld for Many Common Materials!
Located at a giant cauldron in the Astera Tradeyard, the Elder Melder can transmogrify your surplus of mats into a variety of common gems and consumables.63 - Limited Bounty Rewards Let You Meld for Those Ultra-Rare Carves!
Limited Bounties are new, shopping list-like challenges (eg. Slay five Elder Dragons) that refresh every week. Completing them nets you special vouchers that can be traded at the Elder Melder for some of the more infuriatingly rare monster drops, like Rathalos Rubies.64 - Meet NPCs in the Field
The intrepid Field Researchers of the Commission can often be found out and about, dispensing upbeat advice and the odd fetch quest. This feature makes the levels feel much more alive.65 - Recruit Friendly Tribes of Kitty Cat Warriors!
Once you figure out how to befriend them, the Grimalkynes, the kitty-cat tribesmen of the New World, will lend a hand on quests. You can sometimes recruit one as an additional AI pal, or a group might spring out of nowhere and restrain a monster for a few seconds; effectively deploying a free pitfall trap. Convenient!66 - Your Palico Can Learn New Skills from the Grimalkynes!
It's not exactly game-breaking, but seeing your loyal cat servant ride on a lizard like something out of Golden Axe certainly adds levity to a fight.67 - A Plausible Explanation for the Distinction Between Low and High Rank Quests
Without getting into spoilers, the story in World actually bothers to explain why High Rank monsters are more dangerous than their Low Rank counterparts.High Rank quests aren't just tougher; they actually feel more chaotic – especially when a Bazelgeuse shows up...
68 - Face Up to Three Large Monsters at Once!
Having three large monsters belting you and each other in the same zone doesn't just make it a challenge to stay alive – it makes you feel like you're trapped in a primordial world gone mad.69 - Turf Wars: “Let Them Fight”
With all those large monsters traipsing about they frequently clash, resulting in the new Turf War feature. These duels are quite the spectacle, but they also afford you some time to slurp your potions and sharpen your weapon. The monsters will usually knock bits off each other, too – pick up the shiny drops for some cheeky extra carves.70 - Drop-In Gameplay via SOS Flares
The rigmarole of finding a decent room, agreeing on what to hunt, and synchronising at the departure gate is thankfully behind us.71 - Scumbag Reward Leeching via SOS Flares
Sometimes you crave the honour of receiving a generous reward for a job well done. And sometimes you want something for nothing. If you browse through the available SOS Flares, and see a quest with, say, three high-level hunters who've been playing for eight minutes, it's a safe bet that their prey is on its last legs. So swoop in and nab those carves. Go on. Treat yourself!72 - You Can Dodge Roll to Cancel Actions
It might mean losing the effects of half of a Mega Potion, but that's preferable to taking even more damage.73 - A Lot Less Regulation of Body Temperature via Hot & Cold Drinks
Once upon a time you needed to periodically guzzle cold drinks on desert maps and hot drinks on ice maps, otherwise you'd suffer the indignity of constantly depleting health or stamina (respectively). And if you were playing co-op, and one player forgot their precious drinks, that often meant abandoning the whole quest and starting over.74 - Daily Log-In Bonuses
Each day you play online you get some goodies for free. The odd Max Potion doesn't go astray.75 - Lucky Vouchers = More Cash, More Loot Drops
Part of your Daily Login Bonus is a Lucky Voucher. If you activate one when you start a quest you're guaranteed more rewards (should you succeed).76 - A Superior Training Area
Previously, learning a new weapon meant equipping it, going out on a quest, and getting slapped silly by a Great Jaggi. Now you can practice in a more clinical and less humiliating environment.77 - The Plunderblade
It's a pain to unlock, but once your Palico is equipped with this weapon he'll be able to nab several additional monster carves per quest.78 - The Mantle System Allows for Far More Specialised Equipment Sets
The Ghillie Mantle renders you invisible to monsters (until you attack them). The Glider Mantle lets you ride the air currents in the Coral Highlands. Etc. Mantles are a tad gimmicky, but they offer some welcome new variety.79 - The Bandit Mantle
For example: Activating this magic cloak turns monsters into broken ATMs. Your damage will chip off yellow shiny collectable items that are redeemable for 1000 or 2000 zeni apiece.And if one player is using this mantle, everyone else playing in co-op can collect those shinies too.
80 - Customisable Radial Menus
These allow for much, much faster item selection and combining.81 - Game Code Built to Allow for DLC Monsters Down the Track
Capcom has already announced the first major free DLC monster: that insatiable slavering sausage beast, the Deviljho. But this new game architecture (presumably) allows for them to design and implement entirely new monsters well into the future. Limitless potential!82 - Familiar Monsters Re-Mixed in Refreshing New Ways
Only a handful of classic monsters return in World – the majority are new. But many are effectively remixes of old favourites. Eg. The poison-spitting Pukei-Pukei draws more than a little inspiration from the Gypceros and the Yian Kut-Ku.83 - Minions Now Have Distinct and Plausible Behaviour Patterns
In the olden days, most minions were little more than velociraptors painted different colours. Now they all feel very different – the creepy little Girros of the Rotten Vale stand out in particular, slithering and slinking about. Atmospheric!84 - No More Charm Farming!
In the old system, some charms were incredibly powerful, and most were useless. This led to a degenerative play style where players would obsess over 'farming' them, in the hope of stumbling across one of the coveted 'God Charms'. Players would squander countless hours doing this instead of, you know, hunting monsters and actually enjoying the game.In the olden days, most minions were little more than velociraptors painted different colours. Now they all feel very different...
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85 - The Monster Field Guide
As a rule, you'll want to hit a monster's weak spots for massive damage. But where exactly are those weak spots? Once upon a time you'd have to go to a wiki to find out. World has a built-in guide, and the more you 'research' a monster (by tracking it and breaking its body parts), the more details get filled in. This is particularly useful for deciding on which elemental weapons to use.86 - The Rotten Vale Theme
From its opening flurry of sinister organ riffs, the battle music for The Rotten Vale is perhaps the most evocative theme music in the series to date, adding an extra-thick miasma of mucus-like menace to this perfidious wyvern warren.87 - You Can Let Wild Animals Loose in Your Quarters
While every specimen of Endemic Life you capture nets you a small bounty of resource points, they have another purpose: You can let them loose in your room!88 - Harp-Playing Cats
Progress far enough in the game and you'll unlock a very posh private suite. Wafting through the air is melodious, gentle harp music. And over in the corner: an actual harp, being played by your loyal Felyne servants.89 - You Can Now See Captured Monsters Sleeping in Astera
Down at the Tradeyard there's a loading dock where the last monster you captured can be seen snoozing away under the watchful eyes of the Commission's researchers. Those wyverns all look so adorable when they're sleeping.90 - The Kulu-Ya-Ku!
All the giant creatures in Monster Hunter have an aspect of tragedy and pathos to them, but none more so than this bird-like wyvern. Kulu's fore-legs have evolved into hand-like appendages capable of holding large rocks, and Kulu is forever burrowing through the ground in search of more. He's always perplexed, and he's always distressed, and no matter how much he acquires, happiness is always beyond his grasp. Truly, the most human of all the monsters.91 - A New-And-Improved Fish A**hole!
The gigantic, fish-like Plesioth was notorious for spitting infuriating torrents of water and sending hunters flying with its over-sized hitbox. Some called it 'Plessy' – others called it 'The Fish Asshole.' The Jyuratodus manifests the same sense of fish-out-of-water tragi-comedy, but is far, far less of a maddening troll.92 - The Meowscular Chef!
Customisable pre-quest buffs in the form of meals prepared by intelligent kitty-cats are a hallmark of the series, but the head cook in Astera is something else.He never plateaus – he only makes gains!
93 - The Huntsman!
Never revealing his face, this grim NPC magnifies the import of any cut scene in which he appears with his powerful presence. Chat with other NPCs and the flavour text will drop a few hints as to his true identity...94 - An End to the Tyranny of Urgent Quests
Stepping up to a new tier of multi-player quests used to mean completing an 'Urgent Quest'. You usually needed help, and only the quest poster would progress. So for a group of four, you'd have to complete your Urgent Quest four times. Completing a quest now always counts towards your own game progress, no matter who posted it.95 - A Simultaneous Worldwide Launch!
Traditionally, the Western release of a new Monster Hunter title trailed the Japanese launch by around nine months – if we got it at all. An interminable wait, during which series aficionados would seriously weigh the cost of importing the game, a console to run it on, and learning Japanese.96 - No Loot Boxes!
Admittedly, this has been a consistent feature throughout the franchise's history. But in an age when other big publishers are shamelessly inserting this soul-sucking, cash-extracting system into every conceivable title, Capcom's restraint is laudable.97 - The Paid DLC is Purely Cosmetic!
While there is paid DLC (this is Capcom we're talking about) it's all cosmetic. Gestures and face-paint patterns and the like. A couple of the haircuts are free downloads, too – presumably to remind players that the cash shop items exist.98 - Patchable Code Ensures That Game Balance Can Be Tweaked
At launch, Slicing Shot was completely broken. Players soon discovered that the end-game Elder Dragons became a joke when subjected to fusillades of this over-powered ammo. Capcom swiftly put a stop to this, buffing Normal and Elemental Shot by way of compensation.99 - A Critical Mass of Mainstream Acceptance Essentially Guarantees the Future of the Franchise
Monster Hunter was once a niche property in the West – very niche. As beloved as it was, fans knew in their hearts that every game in the series could well be the last.But Capcom's patience in building up the brand has paid off. With six million copies of World shipped (and counting!) the series has reached critical mass. Monster Hunter has been around for 14 years, and it'll probably be around for 14 more.
100 - Above All, Monster Hunter World Respects Your Time
The designers at Capcom clearly looked at every single rusted-on game mechanic in Monster Hunter and asked themselves: 'Is this actually fun?'The results speak for themselves. It's a whole new World. There you have it: 100 of the most salient improvements evident in the newest Monster Hunter. But what struck you the most about World? What did we miss? List your favourite new features in the comments!
James Cottee is a veteran of both the Australian games industry and the art of Monster Hunting. You can find him on Twitter.