Why is Sunbreak's story the best in the series?? - Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak
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- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
- Short answer; the story is vague and simple, but the characters actually have a bit of depth for once and that elevates the story. It's very different from the rest of the series.
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Short answer; the story is vague and simple, but the characters actually have a bit of depth for once and that elevates the story. It's very different from the rest of the series.
Also Jakob you can have more confidence in your analysis, your a smart guy don’t overthink things.
@@lucaspittman9067 second this. You’ve got well-thought out takes, Jakob. Some may not agree with them, but I think we all appreciate your insight and look forward to you speaking your mind.
I'm glad this comment is here. I LOVE your videos but haven't played Sunbreak yet and am probably months out from playing it. Just wanted to drop a comment to help the Algorithm and I'll be back to watch this when I finally play Sunbreak.
The only thing that was odd that the new monkey guy and wolf r kinda weak like those r supposed to be the top apex leaders but 1 has lower rank armour and is called clam and peaceful and the other one is cool but ya figure they would be a lot more threatening. Like there the weak version then u fight the true pack leader. Also the follower hunts and hunters r actually pretty cool they made the story a lot better
yeah. really agree with this. personally this is even better than 4u.
I realized what they did here with the wandering felyne.
If you talk to him, over multiple master ranks, you feel like he has an actual story.
He is a wandering cat, going from place to place looking for essentially a family. Somewhere to fit in and he never found any real friends or home. After you finish the story he talks to you about being his first real friend in years and that he loves Elgado and the people which we can see by him interacting with Chichae alot.
That is just a trashy side NPC and i got this much out of it.
It sounds an awful lot like what was done with the NPCs in Sonic Adventure. Most people don't talk to them, but there's a new line of dialogue between every stage and is character dependent. Biggest examples are a woman trying to get the courage to talk to a guy at a burger shop and inching closer and closer as you clear stages and the strike that occurs at the train station that prevents you from changing hubs which is entirely foreshadowed beforehand and resolved afterwards if you talk to them (if you talk to them during their strike as Gamma, they'll even bemoan the idea that the government would send armed robots at them).
hes so dam cute. especially when he appears beside Chichae
cuteness overload
Aw man, I missed that one. Guess I'll have to pay more attention to the NPCs when I eventually do some kind of challenge run of the game. Granted 4U is the only game in the series I've done that in to date, where I only used relics after unlocking GQs (and basic gear up to that point) and only used weapons I didn't usually use like Gunlance and Greatsword, so that may be a while.
@@JohnDoe-yp3zv I seem to remember Game Grumps talking to NPCs all the time in Sonic 06 and the NPCs actually having something similar there despite how shitty the game was otherwise, too. That was a bunch of years ago now, though, so I may be inventing the memory. Maybe I should rewatch that series, I lost interest in game grumps around the time they finished Dark Souls 3 but I've been nostalgic for the Jon era lately especially with Jon's own uploads being so slow.
I generally feel that Sunbreak treats Felynes with a lot more respect. They appear to be much more involved in the world and this time they're more like companions instead of slaves and a comic relief where the punchline 99% if the time is "and then the cat got hurt". Not only that but the Palicos in Rise are probably the most useful out of all games with some really OP skills. They were useful before, especially in World, but Rise really cranked it up. I'd really like if in the next MH game a Felyne was a major character and its name WASN'T Navirou.
Another thing I want to add is that I like the Impact of Malzeno and Gaismagorm more than Narwa and Ibushi since they are made to seem more like imposing threats from the text and the cutscenes. Combined with the fact that the Qurio literally drain monsters of all their life and share their power as a symbiosis with the two elder dragons gives more of a motive as if why they need to be stopped. Literally in the afflicted Lunagaron quest before Gaismagorm, every living creature in the Citadel is dead except for a Lunagaron who is trying to withstand the Qurio before they drain it dry like every other creature around. You are shown the disaster these things will cause if the host is not eliminated.
No cap that lunagaron quest is my favorite urgent bar none
That quest was so disturbing, dead monsters everywhere and the music sets the atmosphere perfectly
that quest was phenomenal and truly atmospheric... i want more stuff like this
Yeah, I admit even the atmosphere of just seeing no endemic life, and no spiribirds (except those hiding in bushes) on the Citadel, a place you would come to recognize and enjoy with it's vast array of creatures and terrain. Yet take away those small critters, large monsters, and endemic life, and suddenly the atmosphere is dreary and unnerving (and the music helps with this too, since there is basically none at all). All of this is emphasizing the empty husk the Citadel became when the Qurio drained everything.
This actually sacred me a bit because EVERY CREATURE whether large monster, small monster, or endemic life they are all gone. It absolutely set a mood with the creepy bgm too.
The reason why Chichae is the quest receptionist is because she didn't feel right doing nothing while the brave hunters risked their lives to save the kingdom. Knowing that she isn't nearly at that level yet she accepted the job as quest gal to do her part and pull her weight, and honestly that just adds more depth to her character.
She was also well-known in the kingdom for her beautiful hair but cut it off as a symbol of her dedication. I know it doesn't mean a lot to everyone but to some of us hair is important, so that one hit me hard.
@@vitriolicAmaranth nah I felt that, my hair is as important to me as any of my body parts
@@vitriolicAmaranth and also that she started wearing glasses because of how much books she read in order to become a realized quest receptionist
@@vitriolicAmaranth The reasoning is even more strong among Japanese audience, since long hair is a symbol of beauty, and shedding it for practicality is a symbolic sacrifice made by any woman for practical reason. That was also why Japanese loved Handler and Fiorayne. For them, assertive and tomboyish women makes for perfect adventure partner, while long haired waifu is associated with damsel in need of rescue. (Not that the *Kamura twins* need help lmao, but traditional badass miko is separate archetype)
During the loading screens there is a little blurb to why the princess is the quest receptionist, and while I don’t remember all of it, she basically did all this training and shiz to become one so she could help out. It feels pretty fitting because obviously as a princess she can’t endanger herself as a hunter
The informant/spy cat in your quarters tells you more about her story actually (as usual indirectly through some silly gossip). He says she used to have a gorgeous mane of hair but trained diligently to become a quest receptionist when she was told she couldn't be a hunter, then cut off her hair herself to show solidarity with the Guild Hunters when she finally became one. It made me feel bad because from the start of Sunbreak I thought her hair was really ugly.
@@vitriolicAmaranth Cutting your hair symbolizing growth is a Japanese trope I believe. I like to believe she also wanted to look more like Florayne
Damn never thought about it but yeah the rampage did never really feel like a threat because everyone is just kind of happy go lucky in kamura
While in sunbreak it really feels like if you and fiorayne(who is like the true main character) fail you are actually screwed
Yeah, and the threat feels actually terrifying too, the fact that Kamura lived through the last rampage shows that it's more of an inconvenience for the village, whereas the Qurio are life or death
Kamurans are desensitized to the rampage as it happpened repeatedly over the generations.
@@XShadowzVarcolac it should still feel like a huge threat they are trying to overcome not just a game for them a lot of characters are in there first rampagw
And the twist isn't just "oops, you killed the wrong monster," it's "if you hadn't killed Malzeno, there would have been casualties, but it would have overcome the mind control and saved everyone itself like it has repeatedly in the past." Turns out you didn't just have the wrong guy, you killed a hero who was protecting everyone. If they executed that in a way that was emotionally manipulative it would have made me roll my eyes, but because they downplay it and let you deduce it yourself once you have all the information about what the Qurio actually are, I think it's much more impactful.
@@vitriolicAmaranth and it’s not just oh malzenos just such a nice guy
malzeno is just defending its territory cause it’s a smart animal
Pew pew pew! Yeah! Pewpewpewpewpewpew!
rondine actually explained why kamura’s technology is so advance is because the threat of the rampage has pushed them into innovation thats also why kamura has a unique hunting style with the wirebugs theyre basically prepared for the rampage
I actually wasn’t surprised the way the people of Kamura act. They have been preparing for this day for 50 years. It actually symbolizes what people can do when they work together with one purpose. Which is why the Kingdom went to Kamura to get the Hunter. He epitomizes what one elite Hunter can do when he has the support around him. Something the Kingdom doesn’t always have. Yes they care for each other, but they don’t always act on the same page. Kamura is the epitome of everyone is on the same page for the benefit of everyone. Monster Hunter story never tends to be “amazing” it is really more meta and you have to look it what it says in a big picture sense. The people of Kamura made preparations for this day, they faced this day with confidence and their hard work paid off. I really think Rise in hindsight will be looked on more fondly than people realize. There were game decisions that didn’t work out as hoped, but Sunbreak fixes a lot of things and I think it is an amazing game. My two cents.
Even the characters that aren’t too important feel very real, like I mentioned on your preliminary review I feel like the two sailors and the juice seller and the cats all have great personalities that really make me care about the residents of elgado
in Sunbreak an NPC actually references the player protagonist of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, which is pretty cool
@@unicorntomboy9736 yes I saw this in one of the dialogues with gallius he talked about gore magala briefly and the devastation of that event
@@reallargefungus4555 If I recall correctly, that referenced those events in MH 4U as decades ago, which was interesting
@@unicorntomboy9736 yeah that’s what I thought too I’m not sure if they meant gore magala or malzeno but the way i read it, it sounded like they were talking about gore which is cool
@@reallargefungus4555 I do think the Monster Hunter developers (at least the portable team) at Capcom don't care about consistent worldbuilding in these games. For example they dump half the new world monsters in the old world without any In-universe explanation, among other things which bothers me a bit
When you mentioned Chichae, I immediately remember the first time she says "Chat with Chich for all your questing needs!" and thought to myself...
"This adorable cinnamon roll needs to be protected at all costs!"
Lucky, all I thought was "haha cheech and chong." She grew on me, though.
I think follower guests are a great addition to making you feel more connected to the characters in the story but from purely the story of the game and how its told i think 4U is still the best story there are so many cool cutscenes and moments like when gore fights you out of nowhere in a storm on the boat you just made and it's the 1st time you ever fight him and it feels like it's on his terms I think Sunbreaks greatest strength to its story is that it allows you to hunt with NPC's which makes it far easier to connect with them and just the fact they actually have voice lines makes it so you can't skip through a character's personality like in an old MH game where it was all text.
tldr: I think Sunbreaks story is definitely one of the best stories in MH but its biggest advantage is being new and the features that brings, I think if 4U would get a remaster with follower quests and voice lines it would be a far greater story experience than Sunbreak
4U had pretty much all of these elements save character development, and it still had some of that
YES. I prefer 4U just because it feels more like an adventure (both village questlines, even the one where you're in Dundorma playing second fiddle to Ace Commander and Ace Cadet the whole time while they experience character growth; obviously the guild "stories" are almost nonexistent, it's just "hey did you hear the legend about dalamadur? oops dalamadur is real go fight it" and "a while back a mysterious monster put everyone to sleep and stole our dragonator, hey, that monster has a dragonator, go fight it"), but follower quests really give Sunbreak's characters an extra dimension. 4U actually did something similar with the high rank village Kushala fight, but that was very scant by comparison; Sunbreak's followers feel totally like Dragon's Dogma's pawns, and I feel like it's almost impossible to dislike those.
I've always advocated for characters > story and this video puts very succinctly exactly why I prefer that.
character driven stories are nearly always more engaging than plot driven stories. To me Monster Hunter has always been the latter
Oh hell yes. Some plots for the Yakuza series ain't much but the characters are so memorable!
@@boitaho What about Judgement and Lost Judgement?
Incidentally I've heard the claim several times in literary criticism circles that Japanese fiction tends to be character-driven while western fiction tends to be environment-driven (and since most native English speakers grew up with mostly western fiction, what we call "story-driven" is actually environment-driven, eg there's little focus on who the characters actually are and a lot of focus on the things that happen to them and how they interact with the world). Though of course on the philosophical level characters tell you a lot about the world and the way characters interact with the world tells you a lot about the characters, so they deliver the same information, just from different perspectives.
That quest before the final boss was where I was personally convinced on this expansion as a meaningful improvement on Rise. Tells a pretty compelling story on its own just via the environment and atmosphere rather than being told stuff. World's actual main narrative was some ass sure but the details and immersion found within the maps and environments themselves was something it had in spades that I sorely miss in Rise which can often be ludonarrative dissonance one after the other (Elders getting wiretoppled by rando monsters that are even in the area at all to aggro on them? Come on Rise.) It may have been for just one quest but I appreciated the effort and it did have a good impact.
I was a little disappointed you couldn't at least get one carve each off all the dead monsters, though, like the dead Legiana in the Vale in World.
still didn't hit me the way 4U did but i can appreciate the writing.
Agreed
Also can we talk about how epic and climactic the final boss was? The build up towards the fight, the cinematics, even the fight itself in my opinion, all of it was awesome and terrifying
All thought up to the actual fight it felt TENSE. It kinda felt like that one scene in Avengers Endgame where the three heroes slowly go up to face Thanos and defeat him once and for all
I completely agree. As corny as it sounds, “the power of friendship” was really what MH stories needed. People have always hunted animals to provide for and protect their loved ones. No reason the Player Hunter shouldn’t have the same motivations.
I also think that they did a bit of justice with some of the kamura characters by giving them motivations that you learn about while doing the follower quests!
One thing I loved is they saw that people didn't like the rampages and gave us something better: Follower Quests. These really helped us get to know and care about the characters by fighting alongside them, and by not dumping a cutscene on how much they love and care about each other. This should definitely return in the next game!
I hope Follower Quests is carried into Monster Hunter 6, as well as Switch Skills
I've to disagree, you say basically that Monster Hunter characters hadn't anything more than "Hi hunter, go hunt, buy items upgrade weapons". They had many interesting dialogues and we can know them by reading those dialogues, I'm talking especially about Monster Hunter Dos and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, those are the games I played the most and I read many, if not all of the dialogues (at least for Freedom Unite, 'cause MHDos is a japanese release only and the patch doesn't translate everything).
Maybe Sunbreak does this differently or does it better, but the previous games had some of this. MHWorld didn't, it was (or at least it felt like) only exposition.
This is an example from the Wyverian Lady in the Gathering Hall.
After defeating Ukanlos she says this:
Thanks to you, dear hunter, our village has been saved!
You even saved me!
To be honest, when the evacuation order came from the Guild, I was planning to desert my post.
"I have to get out of here, now! " I thought to myself.
I was all ready to leave when the Guild's leader approached me and said that should I run away, I'd be putting the hunters in a very bad position.
I admitted that it was true, however, I said I didn't see a point in dying either. Then I when to talk with the Village Chief and everyone else.
They're all so calm and at ease, "It'll all be OK, " they said.
They felt that there was nothing to fear, since you were out there, protecting us.
Everyone had such a faith in you, and oddly enough, just hearing their words, filled with such confidence... I found my fear melting away.
I didn't end up deserting my post thanks to you. Truly, thank you.
Yes she talks about the hunter, but she talks about what she felt and how the villagers are when you are in the field.
Sunbreak certainly does it better by doing it in cutscenes and having the small convos in follower quests. Sometimes quest dialogue just doesn't hit as hard as voice acted cutscenes ya know?
@@shidanslair damn I feel bad for skipping that dialog at light speed😐
I think the diffreance is that since the games have become more modern, we can have this important dioluge delivered to us through cutscenes of chracters and more considerate UI. How something is presented is just as important as what is being presented imo. MH 4 did this ,but it was mostly in monsterhunter language , Now you can play the game however you want, but its known that listening and understanding something in your own language is more emotionally impactful than one you dont understand.
Did you find a fan-translated version of Dos or do you speak japanese? I've been interested in playing it for a long time now but I've been too lazy (read: too busy learning other skills like drawing and programming, playing videogames and doing my day jobs) to learn Japanese.
I agree btw. I think most MHs have at least a few very memorable characters, and 4U was rife with them. Ironically the game that was most in-your-face with both characters and storylines (World) also did the worst job with both.
I didnt really recognize these things so im glad you were able to somehow form your thoughts into a video form. I really did enjoy this story as well. The entire game I had been taking my time, doing every quest and whatnot. Then suddenly I just really wanted to get through the story. I wanted to see what happens next. I wanted to see how the characters reacted to stuff in the story. Its bizarre because I knew exactly what would happen. Malzeno isnt actually the big bad yada yada, but the way they made me care about the characters forced me to want to see how it would happen. I think the Lunagaron semi afflicted quest was the best environmental storytelling monster hunter has ever done. It genuinely freaked me out and made scared for the npcs I didnt know what was gonna happen next.
Glad to see ya putting out vids Jakob.
"Enjoy the Hunting Life! G!!!" -Instructor
I think it's a good thing that the scenario of this game brings a little touch of politics. It proves that the world of MH is not utopian, where all people get along well and without tension. Like we go to Elgado to investigate but also to reconnect with the neighbors.
I mean I always thought like everyone was to busy surviving to have conflict with each other since everyone did something for the survival of the village etc. but I can see where you could view it as a utopia ^^
@@Knitmur You are right, but at the same, people not always agree over what is needed to be done to survive and that can create conflict too. MH Stories sort of deals with that with the conflict between Hunters and Riders, and ots cool to see them come to understand one another.
I think people underestimated Rise writing team and some overlooked the SHEER difference of attitude between Kamura and Kingdom people. Kamura is written pretty much like actual Japanese, community driven with less focus on individualism and personal conflict, and while Westerners found that boring (some say even creepy/unsettling) this is what makes them incredibly relatable and realistic. However, Sunbreak brought people with the opposite attitude which feel like a fresh air to them.
I think one other small thing to help with Rise and especially Sunbreak is that unlike World or older MH games the characters have names, which to some is like "big woop, that make's them special" but I think that's the entire idea. Even just giving the quest receptionists the names Hinoa, Minoto and Chichae gives them a far more notable memory in your head. Like would you remember a random receptionist in an old MH game, or heck even The Handler in World, she is just rather plain and having no real name to herself is a bit of a reason why she isn't to fondly remembered. And heck if you were to say to someone "You know who is The Receptionist is?" before Rise you would most likely be asking them back with "from which game?"
Gonna be honest, that Quest when you hunt an afflicted Lunagaron without any music neither any other living form in the entire map, its probably my favourite quest in the entire game. its just so unsettling and gives a "this quirio problem is wild".
It's very hard to make a story that hasn't been told before. Ultimately a story is about characters though, so if the characters are good the story will be good, even if it doesn't reinvent the wheel.
i swear if monster hunter 6 doesnt have this kind of character crafting i swear to god capcom will have not learned a thing, i have loved 4 characters in all of monster hunter history, 2 from rise, but in sunbreak i have loved near every single character
I disagree, but I have to admit, that one quest that sends you to hunt a lunagaron and there isn't any wild life and everything is dead including big monsters and seeing their corpses just laying around gave me chills
that's the best quest ever in any mh setting
Will this certainly came as a suprise from *you* Jakob! But really, great content as always! Keep it up.
you know Fio has been hitting on you the entire play through
the one thing I love about Sunbreak's story alongside this is that, unlike other big budget games that tried to have their story, it didn't discard the optimism and positive vibes that these people in MH tend to have.. There's something infectious about that in these characters that makes it feel like a MH game and while too much can become bad, I think characters like Aiden and the Admiral are some that World showed that were pretty good, characters that could have become their own and were driven by their own motivations.
That said, I won't defend the the story telling of World much at all, they should definitely take a closer look at how Sunbreak managed to make a simple, yet effective story, but I think that even World could've had this too.
It's funny you say that because it has one of the darkest, most tragic and pessimistic stories of any MH to date, while World is the game that to date casts humans in the most positive light, subverting the usual "you killed the wrong monster" "twist" with Zorah being already on the brink of death and diverting it to somewhere where its death won't wreak havoc on other monsters, and the actual threat being a potentially world-ending one that needs to be addressed no matter what.
These are the pieces to put together:
-Malzeno shows up every time a calamity befalls the Kingdom, but it is actually Gaismagorm that causes those calamities.
-The Qurio mind-control monsters (driving them into killing rages) while it drains the life from them, but Malzeno turns out to not actually be their primary master (rather, it simply has enough ~elder dragon power~ to give them simple commands sometimes)
-When Malzeno dies, Bahari believes he has somehow resonated with them similar to how the Wyverian Twins resonated with Narwa and Ibushi, and that they feel proud, as if they're showing off something they've done to their parent
-While Gaismagorm has caused craters and calamities in the past, it surfaces for the first time after Malzeno is gone, and the NPCs say explicitly that with Malzeno gone the barrier that prevented Gaismagorm from fully surfacing is also gone
It's pretty obvious that Malzeno was the protector of the kingdom and, entirely on its own, fought with Gaismagorm for _centuries_ (near the beginning they mention the earliest recorded crater occurring 300 years ago) to prevent it from destroying surface life, including human beings. Yet in Sunbreak we kill it (because the Qurio mind control tricked us into believing it was actually hostile, because they forced it to attack nearby organisms), pleasing the Qurio and allowing Gaismagorm to surface, and forcing humanity to take up the role Malzeno had been filling all along of subduing Gaisma. Assuming Gaisma is not a one-of-a-kind monster, everything is actually _worse_ by the end of Sunbreak than when it began.
@@vitriolicAmaranth Exactly. Because now the Qurio are free to propagate and attack whatever they see fit. In the most recent title update (T2), Tadori has the Hunter go out and get certain materials because a few people got sick with an even more potent form of Bloodblight that resists Tadori's original treatment for it.
@@vitriolicAmaranth That's actually my problem with Sunbreak. The ending is quite bleak because Qurio situation was never resolved and it doesn't feel right to think that Sunbreak story is *done*
I did think the reveal of Giasmagorm was a little too rushed. Perhaps if they had an entire mystery similar to the frenzy arc where they've beaten Malzeno, "Wohoo! The day is saved" But then the repercussions of displacing Malzeno begin happening slowly. Afflicted monsters begin popping up here and there until there are tons of them leading to the reveal of Giazmagorm and the revaluation that Malzeno and Gia have been in a long running turf war with Malzeno more or less keeping the Quiro from running as amok and intentionally driving away monsters from the citadel to keep Gia from getting too strong and we made a mistake.
It and 4u were probably the best stories so far. Because of certain ways they sold the Sunbreak story, though, I'll have to give my vote to Sunbreak. I felt creeped out towards the endgame, and 4U didn't do it like SB did.
4U has the advantage that it had a second storyline as a sequel to the first (with the Ace Commander facing his childhood fear of Kushala, almost retiring the same way his master did because of the Ace Cadet's lapse in judgment, and the Chad Lancer saving everyone's ass so it just became a heartwarming moment instead of a tragedy). Both give unique spins on the default MH story formula ("this monster is unusually active/outside of its usual territory, and we fear it's going to destroy this human settlement. We need to figure out what's up with it and kill it" "oh good we killed it" "wait, it was innocent, it was just fleeing from this much bigger threat"), and are different from each other as well, so while I think it's hard to argue against them being the two best, it's also hard to say which is better. I agree with someone else in these comments that if 4U were remastered and got Sunbreak's follower system it would probably put 4U ahead in terms of characters, too, but the follower system is a huge asset to how you feel about the characters in Sunbreak.
This reminds me of those Mr Plinkett (RedLetterMedia) Star Wars prequel reviews. Love how you deconstruct everything and analyze them piece by piece
@The Stonefish hahahaha
Just want to start off by saying this is a great analysis. Loved the video
But that radial menu at 10:50! "MH4U was better" "Nah, MH3U better" "MHFU called, it's better" and "Ummm MHWorld is best"
That's golden!
In most cases of any narrative entertainment, good characters can carry bland plot, but good plot can't carry bland characters
Base rise had a issue where I didn't feel too attached to magna because his involvement in the story was miniscule. Malzeno completely fixes that because we actually see him a bit before fighting where he interacts with us directly but also we see the actual consequences of killing him. Something that should've been fine with Magna where you realize he was more beneficial then harmful for the rampage because he was culling their numbers, not leading them
Also really liked the story for this game, all the characters felt real and there were genuine moments where I thought the dialogue was excellent. What I’m most interested in is how they will build upon the story with the title updates, hopefully getting to go to an actual kingdom like dondorma again and super interesting places like the tower map have me exited for what they’ll do.
I never thought I’d say this but maaaaaaaybe a grand philosophical narrative having to do with nature? I’d never expect this before but I think they could pull it off now. At least in some capacity. Also what I mean by the philosophical nature thing is something like chimera ant arc from hunter x hunter but mh flavor.
I highly doubt we'll get a new hub, and I'd be surprised if we even got more maps to fight monsters in. Elgado being the only part of the Kingdom we see besides the Citadel does feel a little bit like they ran out of time, but oh well.
Something I find interesting is that Jumbo is near the Kingdom, since the Jungle is said to be within the Kingdom's territory while it's the closest wilderness to Jumbo as well. I don't think the geography of MH is well-defined despite some conflicting official maps coming out over the years, so I wouldn't count on that being "canon," but it's still interesting to think about.
Actually, since Dundorma is the online hub in Dos (where Jumbo was the singleplayer hub), I wonder if Dundorma is literally _the capital of the kingdom._ It would explain why the Knights are allowed to exist when, unless they were Guild members, they'd be poachers. I think every government employee in Dundorma is technically a licensed hunter. But that begs the question of who "her majesty" is, since I'm pretty sure His Immenseness runs Dundorma. Hope our boy didn't die.
i haven't played Sunbreak yet, but damn, seeing how you've pretty much totally changed how you feel about this game after actually getting it, thanks to its story of all things, makes me curious about actually getting it. i still don't think it's gonna be what i personally am looking for in terms of gameplay, but if they've got a good story, i'm really interested.
I'll throw my lot in that while I don't feel like it's the best MH to date or anything, and I still don't think it actually feels like MH (as with World, Iceborne and Rise, and to a lesser extent Generations/GU), it is definitely a good game and WAY better than Rise. I also thought Iceborne was way better than World, though, trying my best to ignore the shitty clutch claw and the jankiness of the mod to remove it meaning it negatively impacts gameplay no matter what.
In the case of both Iceborne and Sunbreak, a big part of what sells it for me is not just the way the story is presented, but the monsters (both new ones and updates to old ones). They fight hard enough to offset some of the new cheese and they feel very unique, and the powerful ones actually feel powerful, even ones that were a letdown in the past like Shagaru (who is now quadruped Godzilla).
I didn’t mind World’s story that much, but the lack of names on any of the characters was a constant annoyance. What I did love was seeing my character in most of the cutscenes which added to that game’s replayability for me with the gallery, especially the scenes where she (or he) would run into certain monsters for the first time and being able to watch them with whatever armor I have equipped at any given time. Base Rise didn’t do it for me from both a story and replayability standpoint, particularly with regards to the cutscene gallery, because there wasn’t enough scenes of my character running into things. And that’s on top of the fact that, besides the tone, the pacing was absolutely awful. If they take what I loved in World’s presentation with regards to the cutscenes (having my character interacting with every new monster introduced) and combine that with the flow of Sunbreak, then I’ll be very happy.
The first 2 seconds are gold 👌🏽
Great video :)
the queen should know everything that is happening. Her as a quest giver is really good
Story is getting better but needs more.. i want them to show in cutscenes more character drama.. like the time when admiral shouted at fiorayne..
most players didnt see this cause it was behind a text which is a shame..
You know what? I'm noticing a particular thing in common that suddenly made these blank-slate-protagonist story a lot more interesting. Its when your character became a supporting character.
- I didn't play sunbreak, so i can only infer from your video, but the story is basically about the rebuilt kingdom trying to prevent another disaster, and your kamura hunter is just there to help them figure things out. And you liked it.
- MH4 is about the Caravaneer searching for the source of his scale fragment. You're there to clear the way for him and the team.
- F/GO's "Lost Belt 6", is about you helping Castoria to fulfill her seemingly impossible duty.
- GBF's "What Makes the Sky Blue", is about Sandalphon's redemption arc and finishing off what Lucifer couldn't, and you're there to assist him.
SUNBREAK BROKE ME
Can't wait to play sunbreak after my exams are over
3 hour retrospective on "Why Luchika is Best Girl" when, Sir Jakob?
I may be new to the MH universe, being that my gf convinced me to at least buy World (at launch) now I love the series and the lore. I do like the depth of the characters in Rise, in World I ended up not caring much about the characters, just all do this, do that, DRAGONATOR.
When they added Fatalis (personally should've made a new title with him being last boss or something) I started to feel they put more effort into the characters, like we're going to war and we may not make it back. The Handler sounded kinda sexy when she was being serious for once lol.
Rise/Sunbreak shows potential for future titles, gives me hope that maybe the best MH is yet to come :D
Good pacing (plot progress every 2 quest on average).
Plus it has some foreshadowing and tension (danger).
Differents characters with their own stories.
Sadly the final boss feels quite appearing out of the blue..
My hope is that monster hunter world 2 COULD give a story where you are from the new world and because of some new prophecy thing you are asked to contact the kingdom and kamura village and be a key character in making they work together and have the follower system where each region has one with a different focus but also with their own questline, story and progression for you to take they to the game. The thing I REALLY LOVE about rise is the contrast between the Japanese village and the kingdom knight style. Also each region could be having their own shit to deal so they don't want to work together but you help them to trust each other I dunno just would seen cool a expanded universe with more profound characters and interactions
That's actually MH4. :P
Replying just to the title, but it really is. It's the same _basic_ story as over half the series, the whole "this monster is terrorising us! kill it! oops, wait, that monster wasn't responsible, this other one that was fucking with it is," but it's a new twist on it like we haven't seen since, of course, MH4.
In MH4, Gore Magala is the red herring monster. It actually turns out to be the _real_ threat, Shagaru Magala, too, but it turns out that it would have been a very temporary threat if we simply left it alone; A Gore Magala, left to its own devices, mutates and dies before it becomes fertile. But if it is slain, it simply metamorphoses into a Shagaru Magala, which is far more dangerous and can produce offspring, so by killing it we don't just kill the wrong target, we make everything far worse- Because of the plot of MH4, Magalas now populate the world and are a serious and persistent problem.
In Sunbreak, Malzeno turns out to be naturally _completely non-hostile to humans_ and misunderstood because it always shows up when things start to go bad (because it's literally there to fix things and to protect all living things, including humans), and it looks scary. It only attacks hunters because of the Qurio mind-control it's struggling to resist, and Bahari says after you kill it that he gets the sense the Qurio are "proud," like they're showing off to a parent, even though the monster believed to be their host and master is dead; Of course, it turns out the Qurio were _deliberately making Malzeno attack humans against its will_ so that a hunter would kill it, getting it out of Gaismagorm's way. Malzeno itself is probably one of the most sympathetic monster in the franchise since literally Lao Shan Lung in MH1, where it turns out it's a juvenile fleeing for its life from Fatalis, a genuinely evil dragon, except this time the red herring monster wasn't just on our side in that it was also being attacked by the true evil, it was on our side in the sense that it had been fighting the true evil by itself for centuries before we killed it and had to take over its role in the ecosystem.
Also the spy cat tells you that Chichae used to have long, beautiful hair but cut it off to show symbolic solidarity with the hunters, which made me feel bad for thinking that her hair was ugly.
Edit: Seems like we have similar opinions, but you're more concerned with the characters. Personally, I think a few MHs have had very distinct and likeable characters (keyword likeable- The Handler was distinct but intensely loathesome), including base Rise and MH3U, though of course also MH4(U), the crowning achievement of the series to date. I think something that helps put Sunbreak over the others, though, is the adaptation of the Ally system from Frontier, where many of the key NPCs are available as "offline coop" partners, each with their own personalities and playstyles. They remind me so much of pawns from Dragon's Dogma that I can't help loving every one of them, though of course I prefer some over others. Funnily enough even though she's supposed to be the annoying one and the other NPCs dislike hunting with her because she never heals herself or anyone else, Luchika is probably my favourite after the Wyverian twins (who are just too cute). She just reminds me the most of my own full-aggro tactician Strider pawn from DDDA, except not a loli.
9:13 that's some nice cherry picking you got going on, show literally any other characters dialogue during the rampage and your point completely falls apart. And overall the bit about everyone in kamura being all smiles despite the dire situation is no different in Elgado; Chich at one point even makes a point of saying how everyone in Elgado is always happy and optimistic despite the situation so I'm not sure where the distinction is supposed to be here
It definitely is. Damn it even let us bring NPC to quests to have side narratives!
How can you open the files for the Lego builds?
I updated the Patreon for you. You should be able to open the files now.
Completely agree with you with you!
you made me buy it and im not happy about that
EDIT: actually I take that back. The story was good. The characters were good. The moment our friend got injured I really wanted to get shit done to fix her up, I kept wanting to do key quests to push the story further. I kept talking to the npcs in elgado often to just immerse myself more. wow
Yeah let's be real, the story is never gonna be complex in these games, cus what would you do? It's always a natural threat and aside from uncovering the reasons behind it there's not much to even delve into. So what's the solution? Write the character motivations and relations stronger so that barebones plot has some meat to sink your teeth into. There was a bit of it in Iceborne with Handler and Trackers relationship and Aiden during Fatty, but not enough to make anyone interested. In short, steps in the right direction.
Stories in Monster Hunter never really matter, Sunbreak's story and characters are like the icing on the cake which makes it a much better experience IMO
Please talk about the Hell Hunters
"Hello main character you are the best " is all I need as a Story in a MH game 😂😂😂
for the pricess its says in game that she wanted to help. which is a reason ngl.
Chich its a quest maiden just because she wants to be in frontline, but she cant take weapons and fight because.... she is a princess
The shop guy stay there because he is a great fighter and its a secret job mantain the princess safe (the cat inside the painting say this)
Is that about Oboro? I didn't get 2 and 3 of the information from the cat, so I'd just like to ask what info the cat says between Luchika being like Hinoa, and the final one with Tadori being made food packs by Bahari.
I've always wanted the stories to focus directly on the characters, because it's the world building they continue to neglect. I want MH6 to be globe trotting between various villages and cities, to get a better understanding of the actual world the humanoids live in. The monsters still get the spotlight, in combat and as being threats to humanity, but the player would actually care if we got the bigger picture of how the world operates. So many throw away lines in all of the games hint at what could be an epic story that could span a much longer runtime, side quests that have real depth could be introduced. I think as do many others than MH6 will be a "true" open world game, and I would like to see that. Not just in terms of gameplay, but what it could do for the world building the games deserve.
Ngl when Sunbreak was first announced, I was VERY apathetic initially. But as trailers rolled out and I saw more things that appealed to me, ESPECIALLY Seregios and Gore Magala, my excitement grew and grew. Now I can say that Sunbreak definitely surpassed expectations.
I still think mh4u overall story is better, the characters and cutscenes are really good in sunbreak (not to mention I love the atmosphere in the citadel sections) but the quests in between are so random and disconnected from the plot (until you get to the citadel) which is not something I can say about mh4u.
The story and quest progression, and the reasons to hunt were incredible in 4U, however Sunbreak has way stronger characters
@@peridrawland5955 yea personally I think it would have been better to combine the story quests and the follower quests as one in the same, imagine if fiorayne accompanied you through most of the game with the other characters being optional additions, basically allowing you to form a party throughout the game. It would have made her getting sick and being unable to attend quests for a while a lot more impactful I think.
I think the voice acting makes a big difference. I was using the “monster hunter language” setting and the voices aren’t nearly as expressive.
With this said I also had the exact opposite experience. I dislike how everyone in Sunbreak is super rigid and reluctant to show emotion. In retrospect I can see that in Rise they’re *too* happy, but I think it’s also important to show a wide range of responses to difficult situations. Some people *do* smile when everything’s going south. Some people don’t and they get bottled up and stiff, and focus all their energy on pulling through. I think Rise had too much of the former and Sunbreak had too much of the latter.
Here's to hoping future Monster Hunter release include more cutscenes.
Seeing my character interacting with characters i actually care about as well as the monsters are things i genuinely love and gives me excuse to use the gallery.
Monster Hunter 6 narrative should have a meta-narrative and delve Into and explore the very ethics of hunting monsters. We could have characters go through an arc and question whether hunting monsters is morally right? That would be a compelling story, in addition to exploring political intrigue with the Hunter's Guild
was it just me or was there a lore thing that wyverians didnt hunt why did they remove this?
The characters help the story a lot.
surely it's the funniest combat though
not to mention, the most power crept game by a couple of landslides
bruh, it's monhun. the story is inoffensive and tolerable but it's nowhere near good
Sunbreak is a good mh im glad I can say this and not much people will disagree
to be fair during the rampage if the main gate starts getting DMG the dialogues are pretty desperate and full of terror
"This terrifying monster".
(Me who savagely hunt all this so called terrifying monster just to wear their skin.)
For me it's the characters that make Sunbreak the best story and stuff. The story is similar to a lot of MH plots but think it's just done better. It's definitely way better than world lol. I like the new focus on characters in this game and the follower quests really develops them. I hope this is a staple going forward. It's a growth to the franchise i didn't expect
Although the story of sunbreak is great, I still prefer 4u. MY taste in story's has always been how we interact with the world, so traveling to multiple places and solving those places problems really made me feel like a hunter. We truly need a mh game that is like generations, making us go through every location of past mh games, but with a story to back it up
I hope the story gets better for future monster hunter games. The idea of monsters and humans coexisting as long term rivals, being just as smart and destructive as each other has tons of potential in a storyline. Otherwise just drop easter eggs and some deep lore to chew on.
Edit: I actually do want monsters to be given characteristics, and make them feel like characters too. Make us the player feel guilt or empathy or appreciation or love towards them whenever go out and hunt them. The mh4u gendrome cutscene really shows how loving and caring a gendrome is to its pack, putting itself first against danger before the rest of the pack. It really made me love an otherwise easy low level monster that isn’t even a focus of the game.
After all, the Monsters need characterization too, not just the humans.
Speaking of which, I have one issue with the Nargacuga. It is suggested and implied to be a nocturnal animal, that is primarily active and hunts at night (since it's based off of real life Jaguars, which are nocturnal predators). However a lot of Nargacuga quests are set during the day, which confuses me.
it's jet black fur would obviously aid it blend into the forest environments during the dead of night when it ambushes prey like Kelbi and Aptonoth.
@@unicorntomboy9736 nocturnal doesn’t mean they’re not there during the day. You see owls all the time during the day. Nargacuga hunts during the night and chills during the day. You threatening them forces them to be active during the day.
@@somedude2468 Maybe so. Maybe In-universe that is why Nargacuga hunts are set during the day, since Nargacuga are maybe weaker during that time. It's black fur would cause it problems during the hot mid-day sun, and potentially cause heatstroke during a fight against human hunters (since the color black more easily absorbs heat)
I am only saying all this because it's overall appearance and design suggests that it prefers to be active at night. Otherwise the show conflicts with the tell.
@@unicorntomboy9736 just because you’re black doesn’t mean you will get a heatstroke or have any kind of heat problems. The opposite actually. Africans for example, having darker skin means having more melanin pigment, which blocks the sun’s UV radiation. Hunting narga during the day is only a disadvantage to it because it is easier seen. That’s it. Plus, you’re trying to hunt it, it’s not trying to hunt you. So even if it had heat problems during the day, it can just hide and fight in the dark and shade (which gives back its advantage of camouflage).
Monsters need characteristics
Monsters do not need storyline
Each time a Kamura character would come to Elgado I thought like, get outta here vapid character. Btw Chichae actually has a very nice reason to be here. She's become a quest receptionist because it's the only way she thought she could help defend her kingdom.
Litterally copy and pasted frenzy virus
The key thing about sunbreak is that the characters introduced are really really good. The characters carried the whole feel and plot of sunbreak. The characters are the best written in any mainline monster hunter game thus far.
Hachaama?
Did you just claim a story was better than 4's? Pray to god for mercy cause the 4 fans wont have any
Nah, I am MH4 fan, and I think MH3 have the best story. (haven't play sunbreak yet though.)
Yes, i love 3U and 4U bc the game made me love about the characters, the Chief of Moga, Junior, that annoying kid, Chacha and Kayamba of course, and some other NPCs of Moga, and of course i love everyone in the Caravan and the Elite Hunters. Rise was mostly at Tri level of charm while World had 0 charm with the characters. I haven't played Sunbreak yet, but with what i see it clearly look like a evolution of what 4U did.
PD: never noticed those points you made about how rampages breaks the game's narrative.
No handler taking credit for your accomplishments.
I don't think it was bad necessarily but to me It really felt like they didn't even begin to try this time when it comes to story. I think that 4U and World did its story justice the best in the series.
This is great hope for the future of the franchise! I can definitely say that THE "MH doesn't need a good story" is already dead. All action adventure games should have good stories period.
Haachama?
The story in this game has me conflicted.
Yes, the characters have cool backstory and feel different (unlike boring base Rise) and I like that they have some moments of difference and learn from each other. Also I like how the history is tied in, I know MH has always done this but Sunbreak does this more directly like Stories which I like.
No, I hate that someone else is hunting with me, I am the badass... go away Fio. She also stole arguably the most badass moment in the final boss hunt.
And its a bit too anime for me. I know MH has always been kinda like this but it seems to lean into it too much. Like Paz and her stupid voice change, feels too forced and stupid imo. (But I'm open for criticism on this point.)
Its mainly just cause I wanna be the badass and dont want someone else taking any of my glory, that is all lol.
Everyone saying tha Sunbreak is better than Rise, and now this video. I'm very interested in play it. I was going to play it anyway just to see how I don't enjoy it, but maybe I'll enjoy it.
If you enjoy monster hunter games and not just World, you should like it
@@david_8916 I enjoyed every Monster Hunter from MHFreedom, MHDos, MHFreedom Unite, MHFrontierZ, MHTri, MHP3, MH3U and MH4U (haven't played MHXX yet), World is the only one I didn't like :P
@@shidanslair you are missing out the best XX (GU outside japan).
You can simply spend a lot of hours in it, even before sunbreak is out, XX is so active rather than world
Man I didn't even pay attention to any of the dialogues or the plot of sunbreak. I just speedran the game to mr 100 so I could go back to iceborne ASAP.
Tbh, 4U has the best story for me, but all of it comes together in sunbreak.
I’d you don’t explain why you need to kill the elder dragon why tf would I want to hunt it just to make some people in a village happy the games need a balance of both
I’m sorry but I just can’t agree monster hunter 4 will always have the best story hands down game great don’t get me wrong and the story is surprisingly better than normal but 4 is better
9:59 Sunbreak is for me much easier than rise.
(spoiler warning)
i have a serious question capcom needs to answer. It’s clear that the older games aimed to be more like manga than anything so text bubbles were perfect because they could portray everything while being cheap for the company so they could put more time and money towards the other aspects of the game. However rise and most importantly sunbreak seem to be aiming at a more western audience and capcom seems to want to leave the whole “japanese portable game” theme for a more triple a console experience. If so why are there still text bubbles when major things are going on in the story. For example, at some point fiorane says something about the capital and then immediately apologizes to the chief for being offensive. Literally 5 seconds before that convo there was a cleverly directed cutscene and then we are thrown to this text bubble bs. the conversation i mentioned had so much potential, we could have had a glimpse on how the citadel was destroyed or why the chief was so distraught by it, but no. I am all in for text bubbles if capcom wants to do that, after all text can make the reader find their own conclusions, however it’s sad that they just use an amalgamation of both, it’s either the obscure japanese game or the western triple a experience.
This is the only thing close to a good take on this entire channel
While the follower quests do flesh out the characters, they also contain a similar DNA to Rise, in that the characters talk as if they're going in to hunt for sport and fun rather than any real purpose. While I don't need everyone to be deowntrodden, that part still gives me "Yomogi pewpwpew" vibes and it's weird. I mean, sure, the player is supposed to enjoy the game and have fun, but the characters ingame don't need to have the same attitude to achieve that. Even the funnier characters in the series like "I wanna get pounded by Brachy" Guildmarm, "I'm scared of mushrooms" Guild Sweetheart and "I'm gonna pun you to the ground" Ace Cadet/A-lister don't treat hunting as a fun activity.
If that can go, I think we have a good direction.
Not really? The only character that hunts "for fun" is Luchika. The others are out hunting with you because they want to train their hunting skills to protect what they care about.
Idk, hearing Fiorayne saying "she's looking forward to it" counts to me. But maybe I'm being pedantic there.
@@justsomejojo She's a combat trained knight that wants to go on a hunt with you so she could train her hunting skills. You think she should say "I'm dreading it" ?
@@justsomejojo She's looking forward to it because she is doing it with you the player, the one who she clearly admires so much that even the chadest Admiral eventually points it out too.
I wouldn't say it was the best story, but having us actually connect with npcs, giving them decent personalities rather than "generic super hungry smol anime girl" "excited A lister* and "edgy stoic sword guy"
I don't understand why the writers at Capcom cannot come up with a good narrative for these games? The world of Monster Hunter has so many possibilities for compelling character driven, hero's journey stories. I want to see a Monster Hunter game with a narrative or characters as good as God of War or The Last of Us.
My issue with the Capcom developers is that I get the impression that they don't care about consistent worldbuilding in these games. For example, they just dump half the new world monsters in the old world without an In-universe explanation, among other things. They are the video game developer equivalent of Michael Bay's Transformers movies - as in they just do things because they are superficially cool when you're 12 years old and because they just feel like it one day without much thought put into its In-universe worldbuilding.
because that's not MH dev team's priority? MH's first priority is always to bring players a game that challenges them and gives them the thrill of the hunt. Unless there's another game series that can compete with MH in terms of gameplay and gameplay loop while also deliver god of war levels of story Capcom will only use a story mainly as a tool to get newer players to stick to the game long enough hopefully so they get into the gameplay loop of hunt make equipment repeat.
In Japan, those are the works of players to tell a story
developers just need to put enough mysteries in it
@@XShadowzVarcolac "because that's not MH dev team's priority?"
Yes that is quite evident. I just wish the writers at Capcom cared about consistent worldbuilding like in Avatar The Last Airbender.
What do you think of me comparing the MH developers with Michael Bay and his Transformers movies?
@@user-yu9mf2ob1z At the moment, I am working on a Monster Hunter novel, and I aim to write the characters, especially the protagonist, to be as well written as Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us.
@@unicorntomboy9736 So? I'm not disagreeing with the idea of MH having a great story but again its should never be their main priority. Every dev team has a limited budget, and telling MH team to put more significant effort into the story would mean they'd have to spend more resources away from what's actually important for a MH game. Storywriters don't work for free you know.