Hey everyone, hope you all had a great weekend. To start this week off right, I'll be fielding the latest edition of DOTW. This time, I thought it might be interesting for us to take a look at some in-game features that have since been ditched (or at least, not used in a very long while) by Capcom.
Let's get to it!
Monster Hunter 3's Bowgun Customization & Medium Bowgun[]
Call me crazy, but I thought this was a really cool idea. Putting together a custom bowgun out of a variety of different parts was a creative and unique direction for the developers to take this weapon. In the end, I understand the transition back to the standard separate classes, as it's less complicated and you don't end up with a weird, jumbled concoction of a weapon.
On a similar note, we also barely even got to know the Medium Bowgun, which only ever appeared in MH3 and will presumably never be seen again. This is the only case of a weapon type appearing for a single game and then being scrapped. Rest in peace, friend, we hardly knew ye.
Treasure Hunting Quests[]
These neat little quests haven't been seen since Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Something of a precursor to the resource collection seen in the third and fourth generations. Maybe one day Capcom will take us back to Pokke village in a similar vein to their handling of Dondruma in MH4U, so that we might pay Treshi a visit once more.
Torches/Darkness[]
I think it's safe to say: Good riddance. Though an admirable effort to make the maps more dynamic in third generation, the darkened cave areas which required the use or torches and braziers for light were cumbersome and annoying to many. These days, torches are still around, with their most useful application being the ability to draw in those pesky Bnahabra in for a poison bomb.
WARNING Quests[]
Appearing only in Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, these special quests had a chance of spawning an additional monster (Hideously biased towards being Deviljho though) once the target quest monster in defeated. Upon victory over this bonus beast, the hunter is rewarded with oodles of cash and bonus rewards. Kind of a cool addition if you ask me, although I myself rarely ever felt like fighting a whole other monster after I had finished my quest.
Seasons[]
Though they live on in MHFG, seasons were a concept introduced in Monster Hunter 2, and have not been seen in the main series since. Perhaps Capcom just decided that it made things too complicated. Nevertheless, this feature was one of MH2's most unique.
Pet Monsters/PvP[]
Both of these still exist in MHFG, but, like seasons, have been absent in the main series since MH2. Might be the most awesome way they could have implemented player-vs-player in MH. Two hunters, two monsters. Each hunter must try to kill the other's monster first. Sounds like great fun, and I would really like to see this come back sometime. In addition, MH2 also featured pet monsters, which could be fed and otherwise interacted with.
I'm sure there are many more, so feel free to let me know what I missed in the comments section. And now, some questions!
- What's your favourite lost feature/which lost feature would you most like to see return?
- Are there any of these that you are glad have been scrapped?
- Are there any features in current MH games that you feel should be scrapped in the next generation?
Thanks for reading, have a great day!