RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2

Let’s kick things off with what’s probably the most prominent example of a great game with bad controls in recent years. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a jaw-droppingly impressive masterpiece in more ways than one, but its controls have, of course, been criticized widely, frequently, and persistently. As anyone who’s played the game will tell you, it’s not hard to see why Rockstar’s open world epic gets that criticism. On top of input latency and heavy in-game movement coming together for many to criticize the game’s controls as being cumbersome, the actual layout of Red Dead Redemption 2’s setup on a gamepad has also often come under fire at times, especially with unintentional inputs thanks to its weapon wheels, context-sensitive dialogue system, and what have you.

THE MAKO IN MASS EFFECT 2

Being able to move around on alien planets and moons in a massive tank sounds like such a great idea in paper- simple, yes, and not out-of-the-box by any means, but it’s something that just sounds appealing. Mass Effect’s Mako sections, however, were famously terrible. The environments were barren and repetitive, combat in the Mako felt rather uninteresting, and worst of all, actually driving the vehicle was a bit of a nightmare. The first game’s Mako sections were one of the few parts of the game that received heavy criticism, and of course, BioWare went on to drop it completely in Mass Effect 2, replacing it with the much more simplified probe mining mechanic- which wasn’t exactly a huge hit either, but at least it wasn’t actively obnoxious like the Mako sections tended to be. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition did end up making some improvements to the Mako, and Mass Effect: Andromeda’s open world driving was a step up over it as well, even though it wasn’t exactly spectacular. Even so, it’s fair to say that Mass Effect as a series has never really managed to do vehicles right.

Everything about the game was simply radiant. The multi-level environments which held untold possibilities for both discovery and hunting; the sheer ecosystem that these levels offered with various monsters fighting for turf when their paths crossed; the in-depth weapon system and sheer dedication required for mastering each type; the upgrade system which offered a strong amount of flexibility along with a clear path of progression; and most importantly of all, the hunts themselves.

"However, it felt like at the time – and now even more so – that the geniuses behind this stellar re-imagining for the franchise were running out of ideas."

Whether it was a story mission, an Arena quest, a 9 star quest or an Investigation with incredibly overwhelming odds, Monster Hunter World‘s hunts were (and still are) simply fantastic. The excellent feedback behind the combat system combined with the attention to detail and sheer diversity that many large monsters offered with their move sets was simply incredible. Yes, I found certain elements like roars, slight brushes resulting in knock-backs and interrupts to be incredibly annoying. When a Tempered Azure Rathalos easily dispersed of me, there was a good modicum of rage to be had.

But that was also part of the appeal for Monster Hunter World. Its challenge didn’t feel arbitrary – it was organic and seemed to progress in line with my own character’s power increase. So in the midst of all this praise, it’s probably funny to sit here and criticize this game which I’ve played for several hundreds of hours.

I haven’t played Monster Hunter World since embarking on yet another playthrough in the PC version which launched in August. That’s because, for all intents and purposes, I was done with the game. I felt like I had experienced everything it had to offer. Considering that Final Fantasy 14’s crossover event, which added Behemoth as a large monster to Monster Hunter World, was going on for consoles, it felt a little strange to be done.

However, it felt like at the time – and now even more so – that the geniuses behind this stellar re-imagining for the franchise were running out of ideas.

"More experienced, Tempered monster tracks for Investigations, currency, Gold Crowns – there seemed to be something available to grind out and feel intrigued by in the early going."

When Monster Hunter World first launched, there were so many things about it that we didn’t understand. The monsters, how they functioned and interacted with each other, how to manipulate the environment against them, how elements worked, what skills worked best, how to farm Investigations, Streamstones, melding and so on and so forth. It’s not like the game became any less deep when we fully grasped these concepts either. If anything, the full extent of what was possible in terms of combat builds was exposed.

Capcom would release Deviljho in March, bringing the stampeding and relentless brute into World for the first time. It was our first introduction to a new set of monster interactions, armour and weapons. The Tempered Deviljho quest still remains one of the toughest till this day. Meanwhile, several adjustments were being made to the various weapon classes, balancing them to feel better and eliminating any annoying bugs.

In April, Kulve Taroth arrived. This was fundamentally different from anything in the game till this point. Kulve Taroth introduced a new type of quest – the Siege – which required gathering tracks, breaking off parts and raising the Pursuit Level enough to effectively corner her. Once that was done, players had to progress through four different stages of the fight and finally break her horns. The quest took on deeper meaning when 16 players, four in each instance, were working cooperatively to bring about Kulve’s ruin. Random weapons were doled out, some being better than base game weapons and others presenting interesting new options for those who didn’t want to spend hours farming for a Light Bowgun or Greatsword. These new “Melded Weapons” sometimes carried cool bonuses and increments that weren’t present in base weapons.

It’s also worth noting that Capcom was adding different Event Quests in between for Layered Armour and new gear based off of properties like Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, Horizon Zero Dawn and whatnot. More experience for one’s Hunter Rank, Tempered monster tracks for Investigations, currency, Gold Crowns – there seemed to be something available to grind out and feel intrigued by in the early going.

"The Arch-Tempered monsters felt more damage-spongey than challenging with the increased damage feeling like a cheap challenge."

In May, Lunastra arrived. This Elder Dragon functioned differently from others as she fought alongside her mate Teostra. Aside from their team-up attack that was essentially a double Supernova, Lunastra also kept players on their toes with her tendency to leave fire everywhere. Oh, and her ultimate attack was like a massive damage-over-time from hell. It was awesome and along with some great gear with plentiful slots, Lunastra weapons would become some of the best in the game. They further introduced cool concepts like weapon skills – you could essentially use bonuses like Guts or Razorsharp from sets like Bazelgeuse and Xeno’jiva on a weapon. This changed up preexisting builds by a significant margin.

Then E3 2018 arrived in June and Monster Hunter World‘s presence was kind of…low-key. Yes, we got the announcement of Behemoth coming as a crossover event but no other information otherwise. Capcom had taken to introducing new Arch-Tempered Elder Dragons to keep fans busy. Arch-Tempered Kirin and Vaal Hazak came with their own Gamma sets and Layered Armour options. The sheer one-shot death risk of the former along with the environmental hazards and involvement of Tempered Odogaron in the latter made them feel interesting and challenging.

However, they were far from the G-rank beasts encountered in, say, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. They didn’t possess new attacks or patterns. Instead, they had more health and did more damage. You could point to any speed-running attempts by experts and see how trivialized some of these fights became. However, for the majority of players, they were a chore. The Arch-Tempered monsters felt more damage-spongey than challenging with the increased damage they could deal feeling like a cheap addition to their arsenal.

Of course, Behemoth would arrive in August. The mechanics behind his fight were interesting and something unseen in Monster Hunter World till that point. Players had to actually take on designated roles, draw the monster’s aggro, avoid its Ecliptic Meteor and the certain death it brought and so on. This was a group activity but soloing it didn’t feel terribly difficult. Again though, for many players, this felt like a fight with too many different elemental attacks, negative status effects and other nonsense to deal with compounded by a boss that did tons of damage and had tons of health.

"Many will point out that Monster Hunter World lacks a large selection of monsters like previous games and that hinders its replay value."

Extreme Behemoth seemingly doubled down on everything that made the regular version aggravating. While Behemoth did offer a good weapon and armour set, that was essentially it. Anyone who didn’t use an Insect Glaive could still utilize the set for interesting builds. But this was far from the influx of new items that Kulve Taroth, Lunastra and Deviljho brought in (unless you count new Layered Armour). It also didn’t help that Behemoth is a timed event while at least Lunastra and Deviljho are permanent additions to the game.

Heck, even the Arch-Tempered monsters failed to really ignite the loot pool with interesting new possibilities, forget memorable new mechanics. Teostra was next and functioned pretty much like regular Teostra except – you guessed it – more damage and health. Kushala Daora was also the same except – what a surprise – more damage and health. The scenarios weren’t even slightly altered to make the fights more interesting. Sure, Arch-Tempered Kushala came in to harass Arch-Tempered Teostra that one time but come on, Capcom. We’ve seen that trick already, especially among Elder Dragons.

Many will point out that Monster Hunter World lacks a large selection of monsters from previous games and that hinders its replay value. The fact that most of the best skills and weapons are restricted to certain monsters doesn’t help. If the gear pool was opened up to make almost everything viable in their own unique ways, we’d probably have something. If transmog was a thing, allowing players to actually create their own unique cosmetic looks from any monster’s armour, we’d have something. Maybe we just need more outlandish concepts for monsters like Valstrax from Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate.

However, this wasn’t huge problem in the beginning when Monster Hunter World was doling out interesting new fights and scenarios every month. Much as I disliked Behemoth, it was something new. When it came two months after Lunastra, the gap didn’t feel so pronounced. It’s now been more than two months since Behemoth’s addition and the solution for new, interesting scenarios seems to be just bumping up the damage and health for Arch-Tempered Elder Dragons. Cue the impending arrival of Arch-Tempered Lunastra and Arch-Tempered Zorah Magdaros (which should be interesting but only because he’s more of a scripted mission than actual hunt. Plus, aside from increased damage and health, a preview of Arch-Tempered Nergigante is probably all the intrigue it’s going to offer).

"Maybe Capcom has an entire end-game structured and ready that will keep players occupied for the better part of the next 12 months."

For the record, I’m happy that Capcom continues to support the game. I’m happy with the vast amount of content in the base release and how fun it can be. It’s great that you can invest so much time into the game learning so many different weapons and build combinations. The topic of something to grind towards or a proper end-game like G-rank continues to surge in the community and while that would be welcome, I believe the base package is well worth experiencing for many hack and slash fans.

However, Monster Hunter World seems to be lacking lately when it comes to interesting ideas. For me, being able to experiment and try out new things, further livening up hunts – both old and new – in interesting ways is what keeps me coming back. It also helps when grinding for gems and Streamstones.

Maybe I’m just being paranoid and there’s a whole well of new content on the way like a new area (and new ways for existing monsters to interact with it). Perhaps there will be new mechanics, new and returning monsters and even more interesting skills to grind towards. Maybe Capcom has an entire end-game structured and in development that will keep players occupied for the better part of the next 12 months. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll receive some new content that forces us to play a little differently rather than simply throwing a higher damage-dealing target with tons of health to hack and slash at.

It certainly doesn’t seem like Capcom isn’t busy. After all, just when things seemed silent following the game’s console launch in January, we received near monthly updates, Event Quests and Seasonal Events. If things have been relatively low-key for this long and the development team is simply churning out tougher versions of existing Elder Dragons to keep players busy, it has to be for a reason. Hopefully, that reason comes to light sooner rather than later…and it isn’t just an Arch-Tempered Nergigante and the inevitable Winter Festival as we head into the game’s first year anniversary.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Monster Hunter 4G (known as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate in the west) is rapidly approaching its Japanese release (its release in the west is scheduled for some time early next year), and to give gamers in Japan who must be anxiously waiting for the next installment in their favorite series (seriously, Japan loves Monster Hunter), Nintendo has announced a new Nintendo Direct, focusing only on Capcom’s upcoming title, for this Wednesday.

Presumably more details on this game, any changes that it might have from Monster Hunter 4 (of which it is an expansion), enhancements when it is running on the New 3DS (which it launches alongside; this will be the first New 3DS enhanced game), details on its multiplayer mode, possible bundles and themes, and more, will be announced during this stream. If you want to check it out, go to the Japanese Nintendo Direct website.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be launching exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS in the west some time next year.

Capcom has revealed its financial reports for the fiscal year ending on March 31st 2014 and it seems that the Xbox One-exclusive Dead Rising 3, which launched alongside the console in November, managed to sell 1.2 million copies. Sales for the fiscal year stood at ¥102 billion yen (£592 million) for an 8.6 percent while profit came in at ¥3.4 billion (£20 million) for an increase of 15.9 percent/

The real success story is Monster Hunter 4 though which released in September last year and sold 4.1 million units for the 3DS. Capcom spoke about the game’s “explosive popularity with long lines forming at major retailers across the nation since the release date” and how it is now the sixth best-selling game in the company’s history. The entire series has now averaged more than 28 million copies thus far.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen featured “firm sales”. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies saw its projected sales targets “basically achieved” while DuckTales: Remastered had an “over-performance”. Lost Planet 3’s sales were below expectations sadly.

Capcom’s Monster Hunter 4, the newest entry in its monster franchise, was a stupendous hit when it released in Japan last year, selling over 2 million copies. Western fans of the series eagerly awaited for news of the localization, but now it seems that Capcom is not interested in bringing Monster Hunter 4 to western shores at all.

Instead, they have something even better- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, the expanded re-release of the game (known as Monster Hunter 4G in Japan) will be releasing worldwide for Nintendo 3DS- Japan gets it later this year, the west gets it sometime next year.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will not only have all the content of the vanilla Monster Hunter 4, it will also be adding oodles of content on top of that. With the changes to the series’ long standing mechanics, the addition of the online mode, and much more, it will probably be as substantial of a release as Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was last year.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is due out exclusively for Nintendo 3DS as of right now; unlike Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, no Wii U version has yet been announced.

Capcom had a relatively bad year with titles such as DmC: Devil May Cry and Lost Planet 3 failing to meet sales expectations. Then again, Monster Hunter 4 on the 3DS was a smash hit and continues to sell well despite being available only in Japan and Korea. Hoping to build a strong development framework to bolster various aspects of the business, including mobile, Capcom CEO Kezno Tsujimoto outlined plans to hire at least 100 software developers every year.

In a recent investor’s note, Tsujimoto stated, “I believe that we have largely completed the framework needed for re-examining development operations and reinforcing marketing strategies. Our next objective is to provide to as many people as possible a variety of products that take full advantage of Capcom’s vast amount of content.

“I want to build a development framework that can put the right people in the right places. This process will reflect an understanding of what consumers want and what types of products have become hits. From now on, I plan to hire at least 100 software developers every year to give us an even more powerful development workforce. Furthermore, I want to establish clear targets for these developers so they can help make Capcom even stronger.

“I strongly believe that all of Capcom’s stakeholders have much to look forward to as we continue to leverage our resources to create new and exciting ideas and values.”

Capcom has plans to raise the number of development team members to 2500 by 2022. Will it provide a turn-around of sorts for home console and mobile business? Let us know what you think below.

In spite of a lot of early successes on the 3DS – Theathrhytm: Final Fantasy, Bravely Default, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and Dragon Quest VII – Square Enix mysteriously dropped support for the handheld pretty fast and went all in on smartphones instead. However, now it seems they have realized just how excellent and profitable the 3DS can be for high end games.

“Most people would probably go with Naoki Hanzawa and Amachan, but personally, I was most impressed by how smoothly Monster Hunter  sold,” says Akitoshi Kawazu, a high ranking Square Enix developer behind games such as Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Romancing SaGa. “I felt that Monster Hunter showed me the true powers of the Nintendo 3DS.”

He is talking about the 3DS’s insanely profitable market for high end games, unlike any handheld that came before. Monster Hunter 4 is just one such example – other games of this category include Square Enix’s own Dragon Quest VII, and Nintendo’s Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Pokemon, and The Legend of Zelda games.

Hopefully, this means a renewed effort from Square Enix on the handheld.

[Siliconera]

Monster Hunter 4 is a pretty big success and is quickly approaching 3 million units sold in its lifetime for Japan. However, it already hit another important milestone recently. According to Capcom, the hack and slash, monster murdering romp has sold 4 million units worldwide. And the game is only 3 months old, having released on September 14th. This figure includes both digital downloads as well as retail sales.

Capcom also revealed that the series as a whole has sold 28 million units worldwide. Think about that for a second – Monster Hunter 4 accounts for one-seventh of total sales for the entire series. And it’s still selling like crazy, having shipped 21,969 units in Japan in the past week alone.

As of now, there’s no Western release for the game planned but it will be heading to Korea on December 14th. Stay tuned for more details and we’ll see if Capcom can crack 5 million units sold worldwide by next year.

Grand Theft Auto V sold 88,219 units this week bringing its lifetime total to 448,334 units. The new releases this week include FIFA 14, which sold 26,170 units on release and Beyond: Two Souls which sold 22,481 units, both on PlayStation 3.

Hardware sales are also fairly typical with the 3DS XL on top with 94,988 units sold (down from last week’s 141,245 units) and the 3DS selling 59,590 units. The PlayStation Vita, which has its new 2000 model in circulation in Japan, maintained its spot in third place with 25,763 units sold, down from last week’s 60,166 units.