Monster Hunter Wilds is absurdly popular, but depending on who you talk to, it might’ve gone a little too far in its quest to reach the widest audience possible. The latest installment in the storied series about bonking big boys until they suffer from irreversible brain trauma has trimmed so much fat that there’s nothing left but muscle and bone. Some have suggested that the series is losing its soul, or that Capcom has removed the hunting from Monster Hunter. But on this week’s Aftermath Hours, we talk about the ways in which streamlining improves the series.
First, though, we discuss two Twitch dramas that broke containment and produced consequences that reverberated into the wider world: Several female streamers, Valkyrae, Cinna, Emiru, and Amouranth, found themselves in severe mortal peril during the same night, and Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker was briefly banned for suggesting that if Republican lawmakers really wanted to act on their principles, they’d “kill Rick Scott,” a current senator and former healthcare CEO who oversaw what the Department of Justice called “the largest health care fraud case in US history.” In more ways than one, how is Twitch meeting our current moment? And what are the real-world consequences of the culture surrounding the platform?
Then we get a Chris Person twofer in characteristically detailed breakdowns of Monster Hunter Wilds, a game so insanely popular that it nearly doubled Street Fighter 6’s lifetime sales in a few days, and a fancy headphone convention during which he learned that the real optimal picks are the budget pairs you find along the way. Finally, we discuss what gamers should give up for Lent (gacha games, at which point maybe they’ll just leave them behind forever, like Dry January for waifus).
You can find this week's episode below and on Spotify, Apple, or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can add a legally distinct Chocobo to Aftermath that will take you to the article of your choosing without you even having to click on it.
Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:
Nathan: I saw a lot of people espousing the idea that [Monster Hunter] has stripped away too much of itself – streamlined too many things – and it’s partially lost its identity. Do you feel that way, or do you think they made the correct choice in paring it down?
Chris: I think they made the right move. I’m sorry. So in this one you have a legally distinct Chocobo. Basically, you can whistle and get your mount, and if you want it to, you can just press up and it’ll go to the monster. It’ll just figure it out. It’ll do full self-driving to the monster.
Nathan: Even on the first try? You don’t have to find it yourself?
Chris: Nope, you don’t have to do that shit. And the thing that’s cool about that – what I will say – is that you have a little grappling hook that lets you kinda Pokemon Snap materials from the environment. So you can aim down sight and be like “Hey, I would like that [item].” You’re just Spider-Man zapping shit to you. I gotta say: I really like doing that.
It streamlines stuff, and it does it in a way that allows you to actually look at the environment in ways that I think people aren’t interrogating enough. There’s a question of whether or not you’re as engaged with the world when you can let your mount autopilot, and I think that as with many things, there’s a degree to which people should interrogate the amount of friction the game gives you generally.
But also this game sold so fucking well.
Nathan: Yeah, it’s a record-setting launch on Steam, right?
Chris: I think it’s [Capcom’s] best-selling game, period.
Nathan: Whoa, it nearly doubled Street Fighter 6’s lifetime sales in a matter of days!
Chris: People want to play video games! And I mean this, because we talk about the sort of market of games, and then Monster Hunter comes around, and everyone’s like “Hey, this is the one we’re all playing now.” And everyone’s like “Oh, OK.”
That’s what happened with Helldivers 2. I think they’re actually similar, because Monster Hunter is kinda co-op, but it’s not a monthly fee thing. You can kind of play with your friends. It’s this ideal middle zone.
The thing about it is, I’m not precious about what Monster Hunter is to the same degree that other people are. I remember it on the PSP. I never got really into it on the PSP. I dipped in and out. I think that it has scaled in specific ways that are interesting. Some of the actual combat mechanics feel really nice. The hammer in this is a slower weapon that lets you give CTE to a dinosaur. It just lets you fucking give it a concussion. What’s cool about that is, over time the dinosaur starts getting shitty and slow. It will start drooling; it will clearly not be in a good way. It shouldn’t be funny to do that to a dinosaur, but it limps around because it’s clearly got a brain disorder now.
Nathan: I don’t know if I could do that.
Riley: A bit too realistic.
Chris: It’s a little sadistic! I get it. But also it feels really nice when you slam it. You know what I mean?
It’s fucking Monster Hunter. You know what it is. I think I like the streamlining because I’ve played so many Monster Hunter games, and I don’t have time for the bullshit involved in Monster Hunter games. The ability to be like “I’m just gonna grab that; I don’t have to get off [my mount], I don’t have to pick it up” – I kinda like that. But I’m also older, and I’m tired. [Streamlining] helps widen your base a little.
Nathan: That’s a good point. Monster Hunter in particular is a series that’s been around for decades. And so it makes sense that they’d say “OK, we have a lot of players who are a bit older now, because they were there for the first games, and they’re still around. How do we cater to the fact that they don’t have infinite time in their days anymore to do all of the things that comprise – or used to comprise – a hunt?”
Chris: This is sorta downwind of a lot of changes that were happening in previous games. This is not a thing that’s just suddenly out of nowhere. It’s the iterative process of “Do we really need this? Do we tweak this a little bit?” Etc. Also some people have said it’s a little too easy, but the campaign for Monster Hunter is a tutorial. Once you beat the campaign, that’s teaching you how to play Monster Hunter, and then the real game starts. It’s how MMOs work, except it’s weird when you do it with a game that’s not really an MMO. But everything that happens before the last boss is kinda pretend in some ways. It can be easy at that point, to me.
Wilds makes the hunts more digestible, and it feels good. These games have always felt a little utilitarian to me, so I don’t have grander expectations of them. I just think the hammer feels fucking great. I think the weapons feel good. When it looks good, it looks really good, and you can see the sales figures from Mars, so who gives a shit – except people who are really, really precious about the series, and it means a lot to them?
