Monster Hunter Wilds Ascendance - Why Won’t Capcom Add a New 15th Weapon? New Hub, Switch & Monsters — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Monster Hunter has had the same 14
2. 0:02weapon types for over a decade, and it
3. 0:04looks like that's not going to change
4. 0:05anytime soon, as Capcom have explained
5. 0:07why we're not getting a 15th weapon. And
6. 0:10one of their reasons is that they're not
7. 0:11convinced enough players would actually
8. 0:13use a new weapon, which considering how
9. 0:15long people been asking for a new one,
10. 0:17is actually surprising to hear. But
11. 0:19that's not the only new info we've had
12. 0:20over the last few weeks. There's a bunch
13. 0:22of stuff you may have missed, and 26 has
14. 0:24gone through some of the more recent
15. 0:26developer interviews and put this video
16. 0:28together for you guys. And alongside
17. 0:30with that, we also got a look at Madoy
18. 0:32Stronghold, the fortress hub being built
19. 0:34to defend against Lao Shanlong that
20. 0:36we've seen in the trailers. So, let's
21. 0:38get into everything that's been
22. 0:39revealed. Starting with the 15th weapon
23. 0:41info. The gaming website WCCF Tech
24. 0:44recently spoke with the developers
25. 0:46behind Ascendants. And one of the most
26. 0:48interesting questions was whether Capcom
27. 0:50had considered introducing a completely
28. 0:51new weapon type or even bringing back
29. 0:53something like the tofers from Moltz
30. 0:55Hunter Frontier. According to Fujioka,
31. 0:57the director of Ascendants, adding new
32. 0:59weapons is something that the team does
33. 1:00consider with every Monster Hunter game,
34. 1:03but they keep running into the same
35. 1:04problem. Whatever they introduce needs
36. 1:06to feel different enough from the
37. 1:08existing 14 weapons to justify its
38. 1:10inclusion without overlapping too much
39. 1:12with what players already use. They also
40. 1:15have to consider whether enough people
41. 1:16want to actually use it, because there's
42. 1:18not much point spending all that dev
43. 1:19time on a weapon if it doesn't offer
44. 1:21something new. And while we understand
45. 1:23that reasoning, we do find the idea that
46. 1:25people might not use a new weapon a
47. 1:26little funny because at this point,
48. 1:28whatever they introduce would probably
49. 1:30become one of the most popular weapons
50. 1:31in the game, at least initially, because
51. 1:33everyone would want to try it out and
52. 1:35learn the move set and see what they
53. 1:37could do with it. It's kind of nuts that
54. 1:39we haven't had a completely new weapon
55. 1:40type since Monster Hunter 4 introduced
56. 1:42the chargade and the insect glaive back
57. 1:44in 2013. And of course, while we love
58. 1:47what we have, getting something
59. 1:48completely new would be pretty exciting.
60. 1:51What makes this funnier is that Monster
61. 1:52Hunter has already experimented with
62. 1:54weapons outside of the mainline games.
63. 1:56For example, Frontier had both the
64. 1:58Tonfers and the Magnet Spike. And while
65. 2:00they'd need some adjusting for a modern
66. 2:02Monster Hunter game, something like the
67. 2:03Magnet Spike would feel different enough
68. 2:05from the existing roster. Even Monster
69. 2:07Hunter Wilds dipped in its toes and
70. 2:09experimented with this a little bit when
71. 2:10they introduced Akuma through the Street
72. 2:12Fighter collaboration. Technically, that
73. 2:14was an item, but it replaced the
74. 2:16appearance of several attacks with
75. 2:18punches, kicks, and special moves. There
76. 2:20was actually enough depth in that that
77. 2:22we made a whole tutorial on it. So,
78. 2:24while it wasn't a whole new weapon, it
79. 2:25did show how much you can change your
80. 2:27gameplay experience when they add these
81. 2:29new things in that mix things up. You
82. 2:31also have games in the same genre
83. 2:32introducing new weapons like Wild
84. 2:34Hearts, which introduced weapons such as
85. 2:36the clawblade. And that was really cool
86. 2:38because it let players attach themselves
87. 2:40to monsters and swing around them with
88. 2:42these attack on Titan style aerial
89. 2:44attacks. We guess you can say there is a
90. 2:46bit of overlap with the jewel blades,
91. 2:48but it felt like a completely different
92. 2:49thing to actually play and it was
93. 2:51exactly the kind of thing we would love
94. 2:53Hunter to actually experiment with. It
95. 2:54does sometimes feel like Capcom is
96. 2:56playing it a bit safe and not iterating
97. 2:58or dramatically trying new things. We'd
98. 3:00love to see Capcom take a few more risks
99. 3:02with their mainline games. If you look
100. 3:04at their other big franchises, they are
101. 3:06always switching things up, like
102. 3:08Resident Evil going from third to first
103. 3:10person. But we're curious, what do you
104. 3:12guys think? Would you rather Capcom keep
105. 3:14improving the existing weapons or is it
106. 3:16about time for something new? And if you
107. 3:18could add any weapon to Monster Hunter,
108. 3:20what would it be? Tell us down below in
109. 3:21the comments. And before moving on,
110. 3:23there's another detail from the
111. 3:24interview and that is that Capcom have
112. 3:26confirmed that the Switch 2 version of
113. 3:28Monster Hunter Wilds will be released as
114. 3:30a game key card rather than having the
115. 3:32full game on the cartridge. So, while
116. 3:34you can still buy a physical copy, you
117. 3:36will need to download the actual game to
118. 3:38play it. And with how many people are
119. 3:40out there pushing for proper physical
120. 3:41releases at the moment, we just wanted
121. 3:43to add that in for those looking to pick
122. 3:45up the game on Switch and if you're a
123. 3:46collector. Another question from the
124. 3:48interview was about the overall
125. 3:50direction of Ascendants and what the
126. 3:52developers wanted to achieve beyond
127. 3:53introducing just mastering. According to
128. 3:56the director, Takoro Hiro, the goal was
129. 3:58to create a natural evolution of what
130. 4:00starter Wild's base game. So rather than
131. 4:02changing everything, they wanted to
132. 4:03build on what worked in the original
133. 4:05while improving the areas that needed
134. 4:07more attention. And this includes things
135. 4:08like expanding on the story and the
136. 4:10explorable parts of the forbidden lands.
137. 4:13In particular, the history of the region
138. 4:15and its connection to Elder Dragons.
139. 4:17They even mentioned that some
140. 4:18information was deliberately held back
141. 4:20from the original game so it could be
142. 4:21explored more in the expansion. Now,
143. 4:23overall, we actually kind of like this
144. 4:25approach because despite some of the
145. 4:27criticisms surrounding Wilds, there was
146. 4:28a lot to enjoy. The combat was great,
147. 4:31the environments were interesting, and
148. 4:32there were some really good ideas. For
149. 4:34us, the biggest problem was the amount
150. 4:35of content and its replay-ability.
151. 4:37Because once you finished the story and
152. 4:39spent a little time in the endame, there
153. 4:40just wasn't as much incentive to keep
154. 4:42playing until the updates properly
155. 4:44started dropping, which is where we saw
156. 4:45a big falloff in players around launch.
157. 4:48So, if Ascendants can take that
158. 4:50foundation and give us a lot more
159. 4:51meaningful content to work through, it
160. 4:53could make a massive difference, much
161. 4:55like the other expansions from what stun
162. 4:56generally do. All in all, we are really
163. 4:58looking forward to trying it out. And
164. 5:00talking about that during Paris games
165. 5:02week, Capcom showed Madoy Stronghold for
166. 5:04the first time, giving us the new hub
167. 5:06area of Ascendants. This one is
168. 5:08chunkier. Unlike the smaller camps that
169. 5:10we had as some of the hubs in the base
170. 5:11game of worlds. The reason behind this
171. 5:13is that it's a massive base built
172. 5:15specifically to prepare for the return
173. 5:17of Lao Shanlong. This is going to be a
174. 5:19key part of the expansion, as a big part
175. 5:21of the story revolves around the
176. 5:22appearance of it. As the description on
177. 5:24the website says, the expedition team
178. 5:26are facing a threat far beyond what
179. 5:28they've encountered before. And with
180. 5:29ascendants taking place several years
181. 5:31after wilds, the guild and the people of
182. 5:33the forbidden lands have worked together
183. 5:35to build MOI stronghold, creating a
184. 5:37defensive position capable of
185. 5:39withstanding another Elder Dragon
186. 5:40attack. It is a pretty cool setting for
187. 5:43a new hub, and we like the more military
188. 5:45feel here rather than the usual village
189. 5:47style. The gameplay from the stream also
190. 5:49gave us a look inside the stronghold,
191. 5:51and with this being a hub, several
192. 5:52familiar characters have been relocated
193. 5:54here. This includes Tetusen and Fabius
194. 5:57who are now based in Madoy alongside
195. 5:59other members of the guild and the
196. 6:00expedition team. As for the facilities,
197. 6:02we've seen a merchant, a forge, and a
198. 6:04tent area. So, it looks like you'll be
199. 6:06able to do most of the things you would
200. 6:07expect you can in a normal Monster
201. 6:09Hunter hub. Alongside that, we also
202. 6:11actually have some new additions. One of
203. 6:13those is a feline called Niata. They are
204. 6:15taking over Nata's previous
205. 6:17responsibilities. And if you remember,
206. 6:18Nata helped manage communication between
207. 6:20the different villages and settlements
208. 6:22in wilds. With Ascendants being placed
209. 6:24several years later, he's now grown up
210. 6:26and will be taking on a different role
211. 6:27within the expedition team. So, Niata is
212. 6:30stepping up to replace him. And there's
213. 6:31actually a pretty funny interaction
214. 6:33where he acts as though nobody can tell
215. 6:35the difference between the two with him
216. 6:36being feline. The developers also tease
217. 6:38that Nata's growth will have an
218. 6:40important part in the story, although
219. 6:41they haven't said exactly how just yet.
220. 6:44Another addition is the new excavation
221. 6:46system involving the Woodwards and
222. 6:47they've set up an operation around Midoi
223. 6:50stronghold. It was explained that during
224. 6:51the construction of the fortress,
225. 6:53valuable materials and other objects
226. 6:55were discovered underground which
227. 6:56attracted the attention of the
228. 6:58Woodwards. After learning excavation
229. 7:00techniques from the people of Isuz,
230. 7:01they've started digging around the
231. 7:02stronghold in search of more treasure.
232. 7:04This new system is called the shiny miny
233. 7:06crew, and it sounds similar to the
234. 7:08expedition teams and farms that we had
235. 7:10in previous Monster Hunter games, where
236. 7:11you could send out characters to go
237. 7:13gathering useful materials while you're
238. 7:14off hunting. And it's great to see a
239. 7:16more traditional system like this
240. 7:17return, especially when you're
241. 7:19constantly gathering materials for
242. 7:20crafting and upgrading gear. It will
243. 7:22also be interesting to see what other
244. 7:24systems Capcom has planned for the
245. 7:25expansion because it feels like they're
246. 7:27keeping their cars a little closer to
247. 7:28their chest this time around,
248. 7:30particularly when it comes to monster
249. 7:31reveals. Honestly, we actually love this
250. 7:34because some of the previous games, it
251. 7:35felt like we'd seen the entire roster
252. 7:37before it even launched, which meant
253. 7:38there was fewer surprises when we
254. 7:40actually got to play it. So hopefully
255. 7:42they're saving a few monsters for us to
256. 7:43discover ourselves in game. And speaking
257. 7:46of monsters, there was another
258. 7:47interesting question in the developer
259. 7:48interview, but this time about Monster
260. 7:50Hunter Stories 3 and whether any new
261. 7:52subspecies and variants introduced in
262. 7:54that game could make their way into
263. 7:56Ascendants. Rio Sujimoto explained that
264. 7:58stories 3 has its own unique final boss
265. 8:01alongside several new variants of
266. 8:03existing monsters, but these were
267. 8:05designed around the systems and gameplay
268. 8:06of stories rather than the mainline
269. 8:08Monster Hunter games. So bringing them
270. 8:10into Wilds would require a different
271. 8:11approach, which does make sense
272. 8:13considering how different the combat is
273. 8:14between these games. But what caught our
274. 8:16attention is that he mentioned that
275. 8:18these monsters could potentially appear
276. 8:19in different forms in action focused
277. 8:21games before stopping himself and saying
278. 8:23he probably shouldn't say too much. Now,
279. 8:25this clearly isn't a confirmation that
280. 8:27we're getting any of those monsters in
281. 8:28Ascendants, but it is an interesting
282. 8:30response, especially when he could have
283. 8:32just ruled it out, and we would love to
284. 8:33see some of these designs make their way
285. 8:35into the mainline games. Honestly, we've
286. 8:37been begging for Alura from Monster
287. 8:39Hunter Stories 2 to make its way into a
288. 8:40game for ages. So, yeah, there's a lot
289. 8:43happening in Mortun Wilds ascendants,
290. 8:44and it's good to see Capcom starting to
291. 8:46show more of the expansion. We're a
292. 8:48little disappointed about the lack of a
293. 8:50new weapon type, but Madoy Stronghold is
294. 8:52looking pretty cool and hopefully
295. 8:54Ascendants can address some of the
296. 8:55issues that we had with Wilds because
297. 8:57there's a great game under there. We're
298. 8:59looking forward to see what else Capcom
299. 9:00has planned for 2027. So, let us know
300. 9:03what you guys think about this and as
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