User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Fatalis (4th Gen)/@comment-5020152-20160221143724

So here's my review for Fatalis. I've got two more for White and G-Rank Crimson coming up.

FATALIS

Concept: The final boss of the original Monster Hunter game, Fatalis is just as scary as he was back then. In a game bursting at the seams with all kinds of dragon-like monsters, Fatalis stood alone as the dragon to rule them all. Awaiting the strongest and most daring of hunters inside his decimated fortress, he was – and still is – the ultimate challenge for a Monster Hunter to overcome. 8/10

Design: When it comes to being plain, Fatalis is #1. But just like with Deviljho and Cephadrome, he doesn’t need any flashy colors or fancy frills. Capcom wanted a dragon, so they went ahead and made one. With horns, wings, a long neck and tail, and devastating fire breath, Fatalis is the classic Western dragon through and through. He even lives in a castle, and spends most of his time fighting knights (sort of). Does he hoard gold and eat princesses, too? I hope to high heaven that he does. 8/10

Sounds: While Fatalis does roar like a dragon, he also has an eagle-like scream that, admittedly, sounds pretty awesome and gives him an additional dose of majesty. However, Fatalis still has the same boring music that he’s always had. It’s a half-baked remix of the garbage Forest + Hills theme, the only difference being the added chanting in the background. I guess I can give an ‘A’ for effort, but really, nothing will ever make the Forest + Hills theme sound any good. 4/10

Gameplay: Here’s a pretty good summary of what Fatalis was like in the past. It was like a game of tag that went on for three or four thirty-minute cycles – in other words, it was slow, boring, and if the dragon touched you, you were out. No joke, even getting hit with Fatalis’ pinkie toe was a one-shot. In 4 Ultimate, though, Fatalis has been revamped big-time in order to make him feel less annoying and more like the dragon of legend he was meant to be in the first place. Once one of the worst monsters in the series, and now a beast that I always jump at the chance to hunt, Fatalis represents what is perhaps the biggest and best change from game-to-game in all of Monster Hunter. Overall, he might not be my favorite monster to hunt, but he comes pretty close. 9/10

New Stuff: Where do I even begin? As the monster that needed an overhaul the absolute most (aside from Khezu, and let’s be honest, he never really changed at all), Fatalis has a ton of new features that combine together to make him more of a boss and less of an unfair cheapskate. New attacks he is fond of performing are a Flamethrower, Blast Wall, and Nuke, all of which I have given fairly self-explanatory names. Even better? His tail and legs will only deal minor chip damage instead of one-shotting you, and even most of his actual attacks have been toned down so that they’re no longer instant death. And dare I mention the updated arena of Castle Schrade, which looks epic instead of plain and boring? It’s safe to say that everyone probably welcomed these much-needed changes. 10/10

Equipment: With Razor Sharp and Weakness Exploit, but horrible elemental resistances and only being available at the end of High-Rank, the Dragon armor set is, in my opinion at least, not worth the effort to make unless you plan on farming Armor Spheres so that it becomes comparable with most G-Rank sets. On the other hand, Fatalis weapons have good attributes all around and deal Dragon-element damage, and also end up among the best G-Rank weapons when fully upgraded. Well worth challenging the Black Dragon for, wouldn’t you say? 8/10

Cutscene: The demolished fortress of Castle Schrade is empty when the hunter(s) start to walk amongst the ruins, but unbeknownst to them, they are being stalked. Abruptly, the elder dragon Fatalis pokes his head around a corner and roars at them, before coming around and standing tall in all his glory. His tongue flicks out at the thought of a hunter barbeque, and he roars his battle challenge. This cutscene is miles better than the original Fatalis cinematic. Unfortunately, I still think it’s pretty lame. 5/10

Summary: Originally the final boss of the first Monster Hunter game, Fatalis has since descended from his throne and reappeared as a dragon among dragons. While nowhere near as unfairly powerful as in the past, Fatalis still packs a serious punch and can deliver damage from a wide variety of new Fire-element attacks. It’s high time the king of elder dragons was changed to be a fun kind of challenging, not a rage-quitting kind of challenging. Overall 7.5/10