User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Great Jaggi(4th Gen)/@comment-5020152-20150302220359

So, I got the idea to start doing proper reviews for each MAW, like what our friendly neighborhood admin, Aandrew07, used to do. Here's hoping I'm good at it...

GREAT JAGGI

Concept: In a nutshell, Great Jaggi is a hefty Utahraptor-type monster that typically builds its nest in canyon-like areas, leads a pack of smaller Jaggi, and commands them into battle. I'd say that's a pretty awesome trait. This goes double when you think back to MH3, which came after Velocidrome and how it was basically a big Velociprey. 7/10

Design: While he may look like a Utahraptor, which was a real-life pack-hunting animal, Great Jaggi is a very different creature, especially when compared to its smaller Jaggi minions. All things considered, G.Jaggi looks a little bit plain in comparison to other monsters, but it has several cool features that make him stand out. He has a mane of fur-like material down his neck and back, his tail is studded with spikes to make it look a little more threatening, and his head is decorated with awesome frills. The color scheme is really good - white mixed with a little pink and red to give him a really coral-y feel. He might be a really easy monster to defeat, but Capcom really went the extra mile to make G.Jaggi look pretty intimidating. 7/10

Sound: Okay, this is where the praise starts to falter. G.Jaggi doesn't have a very diverse or very memorable set of noises, tending to emit lesser growls and yelps when it moves about. However, when it calls out for his Jaggi cohorts, he does it with one of two noises, both equally as great - one is a long, high-pitched howl, and the other is a series of barks that resemble those of a howler monkey. I wouldn't expect such a bulky reptilian monster to make either one of those sounds, so extra points for originality. As far as music goes, G.Jaggi used to have a pretty good theme that fitted him well. I'd even go as far as to say that it made him seem like more of a threat. But in 4U, they've replaced it with Seltas' theme, which sucks. 6/10

Gameplay: G.Jaggi only presented a real fight in MH3 and 3U, especially if you were a beginner and had no idea what kind of territory you were going into. In 4U, it seems like they nerfed him significantly. Did G.Jaggi ever used to die in 5-10 minutes with non-upgraded starter equipment? I don't think so. The way G.Jaggi now seems so much weaker as a boss was a huge disappointment to me. 3/10

New Stuff: They have literally done nothing new with G.Jaggi. 0/10

Equipment: Back to the praise for a moment - G.Jaggi's equipment is actually really good. In fact, I don't think it was ever bad at all. It gives decent physical defense at lower tiers, as well as a useful set of skills (even though those skills were changed in 4U). G.Jaggi weapons always upgrade into something far better, but for beginner weapons, they're useful placeholders until you can get your hands on the good stuff. Not to mention, they look pretty cool to boot. 8/10

Summary: Then, Great Jaggi was the terror of newbie hunters, with an army of Jaggi and a great music theme to back him up. Now, he's a joke. His only real redeeming factors are his design and the equipment you can get by stepping over his corpse (in >5 minutes flat). Great Jaggi and his kin might be the lions of the Monster Hunter world, but hey, this is Monster Hunter - lions are nothing but snacks in this ecosystem. Overall 5/10

How'd I do, guys? Am I good enough to do more reviews in future MAWs?