Bird wyvern ecology : the dromes and the greats of Monster Hunter
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2024
- Are the various pack leading raptors just large individuals of their species? Maybe in first and second gen, but here we'll explore potential aspects of their behaviour and ecology to see what may cause such great sexual dimorphism.
Игры
Great Wroggi has ALWAYS been my favorite. I love the fact that it’s leathery hide is more analogous to a frog’s skin. It almost implies a more amphibious style of life, perhaps it and its pack live in shallow waters, acting like vipers by lunging out and spewing poison on prey. This way they avoid land locked predators AND their amphibious nature means they can evade more aquatic predators like Gobul and Jyuratodus.
Wroggi kings rise up! And yeah I also feel they may be more aquatic than their fight implies.
Something about his flat head makes me want to pet him. He looks cheery and cute!
Same here but I find it strange to have a weakness to the Water element, Ice is understandable.
It also have the best looking armor out of all.
I like it cause cowboy armor and the combination of its chubby venom-filled cheeks and pig nose makes for just the cutest face ever
Just wanted to give a quick shoutout to Great Maccao. I'd argue its the greatest introductory fight in the entire series. Unlike most intro monsters, which seem to have like 1-2 moves and/or rely on the pack gimmic to be 'hard', Great Maccao is essentially an "actual fight". Great Maccao is both fast AND has knockback moves, which makes just buttom mashing lockdowns hard to do compared to basically any other starter monster. On-top of that, Great Maccao actually has a "big attack" that players need to learn to avoid OR it can be exploited for a knockdown if they're good enough, which is a important mechanic in many later-game fights.
Great Maccao is an amazing monster and definitely the best starter fight Monster Hunter has ever gotten. I have a bit of a distaste for GU as it generally feels quantity over quality to me, but Great Maccao alongside Tetsucabra was definitely the highlight of the early game. I adore that they put in the effort to create a starter monster that actually has the proper structure of a monster fight that punishes you hard enough for your mistakes but lenient enough to be a good teacher, his flying kick attack having a huge windup but being able to do up to two thirds of your hp immediately shows you not to be greedy and commit too hard without being wary of your opponent's capabilities.
Agreed with both of you, Great maccao is objectively the best raptor fight and one of the best starters for sure. And said re: GU Chemi, wasn't a fan of it really.
Oh man, I remember going from World to GU all cocky and getting my ass kicked to Bherna and back by Maccao, as I'd never played a switch game before, much less a MH game. I've still got a love/hate relationship with him bc of that, but yeah, I wish more early game monsters were a challenge. Izuchi's actually pretty decent imo, the combo attack shit is cool and his tail has great hitboxes!
Agree, I think it could be that way since Gen/GenU as an anniversary game was made entirely for experienced players with little to no consideration for new fans. Because of that, they made the new early-game monster a lot less of a tutorial punching bag and more of an actual fight.
I started in MH generations. The Maccao was my first "big" hunt! I loved seeing a reptilian with feathers .
Good video, agree with the point at the end about early game needs to be harder.
Not a fan of great izuchi either but atleast first to pull off synchronized attacks with underlings well. Great Girros tried but world AI wasn’t quite able to use the system or died too fast.
Not included because no pack but Tzitzi is quite an underrated bird wyvern. Built to abuse a game mechanic in an area of flying monsters. Would enjoy more bird wyvern talk or maybe break down ecosystems like Coral/Vale.
Cheers! More bird wyvern talk will indeed occur, and whilst I'm not sure I have plans for specific ecosystem videos certain ones will be discussed heavily in various monster vids.
The one thing I wish would happen is for every bird wyvern in a pack to attack like a pack, However the attacks should be unique as their designs are.
Great Jaggi would command the attacks as one after the other knocking you over or flinching you for the big hit from the leader to do the remaining amount of your health along with the smaller pack members constantly harassing you when Great jaggi is almost dead (in lore they throw their lives down for the leader, so it only makes sense to try and stop you from killing the leader any way they can).
Great Wroggi would comand coordinated poison attacks that surround you, along with blocking your view with poisonous mist so that you can't see the following attacks coming at you from him or his pack.
Great Baggi would be the hardest of the greats as he would fight you normally, but the smaller baggi would constantly be trying to put you to sleep and have Great baggi do 3 times as much damage with his hip check that he follows up with when you get hit with the sleep status (when enraged he would start trying to put you to sleep himself for the big damage along with the smaller baggi doing it as well).
Velocidrome would command his pack to swarm you, attack in waves and have his pack members pin you for a follow up attack as well at the end of his pin he would call pack members to do a massive amount of damage depending on his pack memebers (Velocidrome would also very often call more velociprey if you constantly kill his entire pack which feeds into his lore of rarely fighting alone, possibly hinting that all you need to do is lower the number of pack members and keep it that way).
Gendrome would fight you normaly with his pack surrounding you, constantly trying to knock you back into the center with gendrome, occasionally trying to paralyze you with their fangs while your focused on gendrome with gendrome doing a very specific damaging attack if you get paralyzed by a genprey (gendrome would be comfortable fighting alone as well as they exhibit the dispersing behavior young male lions have to live through).
Giadrome would be the most physical drome with the most health using shoulder tackles and sweeping bites and normal bites as his main attacks with giaprey attacking with him giving the physical attacks much more range than there was previously.
Iodrome would act similar to Great wroggi, but with the added benefit of ioprey being able to ambushing you with poison making it seem like there was more than just you and the Iodrome as the environment they thrive in would be almost the exact same color as them.
Great Maccou would be the same as in game as the pack only helps while hunting, however he can command an all out kangaroo kick box attack with his pack when enraged to make the range of the attack massive with small gaps between them that you'll need to roll through to be safe from the onslaught.
Tl:DR every bird wyvern that has a pack system should be unique based on how they act and execute orders while fighting or hunting so that every single one feels unique in their own way.
Send this to capcom!
I feel like Great Izuchi could be improved too by doing some changes (while retaining the core aspect of their theme as a tactic and fast hunter)
-Have the two Izuchi make more damage (as if inspired by their boss) and dodge the majority of incoming attacks (unless they are stuck in the ground after a tail slash)
-It could be possible that the Great Izuchi pins down a hunter with its scythe tail in some telegraphed attacks and while the other two immobilize down the target, the Great prepares a devastating slash, punishing for not paying attention at the monster
-And because I'm a bastard, give them wind pressure at the end of their big attacks
The Great Jaggi pack was an actual threat in Tri and responded to the Great Jaggi's commands. I don't know why they were nerfed in 3U and onwards
BRING GREAT JAGGI BACK BOYS
You're thoughts on Monster Hunter's difficulty are really good. I think that topic deserves it's own video.
Jaggi: male
Jaggia: female
Great Jaggi: alpha male
the smaller male Jaggi are known to hunt fish when their numbers are low, only hunting larger prey when their number swell to a large enough size.
the larger females, Jaggia, however have the bulk to hunt larger prey like kelbi. they will then bring their food back to the nest for the rest of the pack to eat.
The Great Jaggi always eat first, then the Jaggia, and the Jaggi gets the scrapes.
When a male Jaggi gets large enough, they will leave their pack and live alone for a few years. During this time they grow much faster and become a great Jaggi, however, only a few of them survive their time away from the pack. Once a Jaggi becomes a great Jaggi, they will return to their home and challenge the current Great of the pack. The winner will become the new alpha of the pack while the loser will be forced to leave.
interestingly, both the lesser Jaggi and Jaggia have a fear of fire, But in the presence of a Great Jaggi, they will overcome this fear.
Some researchers theorize that jaggi are smaller than the rest of their pack due to a lack of nourishment. And when they leave, they are able to get the nourishment needed to grow into a Great.
Even your name is great evidence to trust you
Is is possible a Jaggia is just a alpha female while the Jaggi's are a mix of both genders?
@@cro-magnoncarol4017 jaggia are very common in nesting areas, and despite their size, have small underdeveloped frills that can't fully open.
@@grantflippin7808 To be fair, IRL animals can resorbed their secondary features as they age. For example, Dinosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus grew long spikes when it was young but upon reaching adulthood they resorbed & became small bumps.
Edit: Not to mention, Jaggias can just be the breeding females like in wolves & mole rats. Where the alpha female prevents the other females from breeding.
@@cro-magnoncarol4017 wolf packs have multiple mated pairs that all have cubs
Starting with Tri, Great Jaggi was actually a wall. I remembering trying to use Hammer as my starter weapon, but I was just so bad with it that I actually did lose to it. It's what got me to switch to Long Sword, though Tri is the only game I've used Long Sword given I main Dual Blades in every other game. I also feel like the Jaggi in Tri were actually an important part of the fight, as their constant hopping around and general swarming did make it tougher. I think that swarming aspect is what could be used to improve starter raptor fights. Instead of the specific, lackluster pack attacks like with Great Girros and Izuchi, have the small monsters really act on their own, and give them unique AI when with their large alpha. Perhaps combine the grab attacks of Wulgs to immobalize the hunter, biting their arms and legs, so the alpha can get a big hit in. That way deal with the smaller ones is more necessary than just ignoring them.
I also always wanted a high-tier raptor. Something on the level of Rathalos or Nargacuga. Similar to how Goss Harag added a high-tier bear-type fanged beasts. And with some other monsters being based off hunter weapons, like Glavenous to Great Sword and Duramburos with Hammer, a high-tier raptor could be based off Dual Blades, having very large, flexible sickle claws that it uses for combat with great speed and agility.
The Goss Harag analogy is a good one, and agreed. Just need more bird wyverns of every form really.
The idea of the small ones holding down the hunter is a nice one too, and the pack just being more active is also a good way to improve difficulty without artificial health inflation as well.
This is why I keep saying that the greats and dromes have so much potential that no one is realizing because they cater towards the larger monsters
Surprisingly i had a very difficult time trying to learn longsword against Great Jaggi in 3u. I ended up switching to switch axe after a long tedious fight and had lots of fun against Arzuros.
My wall was barroth and barioth
its why I'm a little sad the 'boggi's' didn't get a drome equivilent, they're clearly very Hyena/goblin inspired design wise and both are known for pack/swarm tactics which would fit well for a higher tier raptor, just imagine a psychopathic 'great-boggi' doing a crazy laugh like roar as swarms of regular boggi's just mob you down while he gets ready to pounce you.
I love monster hunter and ecology so this channel is an absolute godsend! Speculative ecology is always fun to explore especially in a world as rich and diverse as the monster hunter series.
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying!
Part of the reason why great maccao has feathers (especially on its head) is to properly control a swarm of maccao as alphas don’t live with packs but instead call on them during hunting or fighting if my memory serves me right. Also about the raptors becoming easier, I really do think they should put more aspect on the pack mentality of the raptors, they all have a chance to be difficult monsters if they actually attacked together in most of their attacks.
Izuchi is using pack mentality
@@marcusgo6784 yea but they're pitifully easy to deal with
@@lavabender572 so is great jaggi
@@marcusgo6784 I kind of wanted Great Jaggi in Rise so that it could get some new moves and behaviors with its pack to take advantage of the more complex AI. It's descriptions hype it up as a competent leader who is able to issue complex commands to its subordinates, but that amounts to nothing in gameplay. All of the other Greats/Dromes can do the exact same thing, with the only thing unique the Great Jaggi does is call in reinforcements quicker if you slaughter them. It is the most vanilla out of all of the Greats/Dromes by far.
Like, Velocidrome has the acrobat gimmick and is the most agile, constantly jumping around and hard to pinpoint, and also has a pin attack. Give Great Jaggi a bark that commands the normal Jaggis to pin the hunter for a few seconds to set up a hip check. In High/Master Rank, have the Jaggis wake up Great from sleep or smack out of paralysis earlier than normal. Have them guard/meat shield the Great while its preparing for a big attack/bite, then jump out of his way at the last second when he's ready to strike.
Not saying this would make him tougher, but it would definitely make his fight more unique and give him a more memorable gimmick that lives up to his flavor text.
@@CoolxBreese
actually G-jaggi have some sort of pack attack
when the G-jaggi roars its attack call
the Jaggi will most likely start jumping extremly wierdly around you shirping (making these noise they normaly dont do)
and then they will do a "hipcheck" where they throw theyr whole body against the hunter making you fall down
the fun part on it is when they get hit while they do so
they have theyr own animation where they fall on theyr "face" then standing up extremly slow before continuing what they where doing
mostly G-jaggi combos this with his own hip-check
thats actually how i found out the jaggis have a unique animation when they get hit while doing theyr own
cause the g-jaggi hit 3 with his hip-check sending them flying XDD
Having returned to Tri recently, that point about difficulty hits hard. Though even more than difficulty is just the time things take. In Tri I'm doing hunt prep, like actual prep, collecting materials to have enough healing, I'm doing hunts for the sake of getting money and just in general spending more time preparing before I head into my next big hunt because I know I need to.
Yeah this is definitely something I miss.
A video on kecha wacha and bishaten would be pretty cool to see, since they are the two only "flying" fanged beasts, and they both have interesting mechanics, such as kecha's mask and bishaten's arm-tail and fruit throwing.
When I get round to them they will likely be done as a duo indeed!
These were _exactly_ the monsters I wanted to see you cover next, how did you read my thoughts?
I also have to admit I really miss Jaggi being in the games, since I've always loved their design as a kid and they stand out from other bird wyverns in that they have more pronounced sexual dimorphism than other species with the Great Jaggis/Jaggis and _Jaggias_ (the females).
I love these! Are you gonna make a separate video on Great Jagras, Great Girros and Dodogama?
Likely at somepoint, although with Jagras in particular I'm unsure if I should combine him with the other lizards or maybe Zamtrios on a gluttony-based theme.
Great jagras os the best pack monster
I agree completely agree on the point of difficulty. One of the reasons I hold Tri above World and Rise is because of the how they leveraged difficulty with their small roster.
I've had a thought about that difficulty leverage, and I think I've come up with a solution that I think many veteran players would find as a bit of fresh air, and give new players a bit more of a challenge: Keep the Dromes/Greats, but don't have them appear as the first fight.
You keep those monsters as a part of the environment, but make it clear to the hunter that there are bigger threats in the area. For example, let's say you have a gathering mission which requires you to scout the land to find the items you need. But after the mission is selected, it's shown that there's, say, a Great Jaggi in the area. The tutorial dialogue says there's a Great Jaggi in the area, but prioritizes the gathering. They also mention that they will try to attack the hunter if they get too close. Since it's the first mission, it's likely the map screen will be fogged up, so the hunter doesn't know the landscape yet. And it just so happens that the Great Jaggi patrols the areas you need to get to in order to collect the items. So the hunter has to deal with getting in and out of the area without taking too much damage, because with the starting armor equipped, the hunter can't take (or shouldn't be able to take) as many big hits. Additionally, you could also have a second, even more dangerous monster (like, say, an Anjanath), in the area that doesn't get introduced and could take the hunter by surprise. So, now the hunter has to think even harder on their feet so as not to have to fight the larger threat with insufficient weapons.
As for the first actual hunting mission, make it a monster that the hunter will have to get to know a little more intimately, and know what it can do or else get knocked out over and over. Preferably something that the Drome/Great introduced during the gathering mission could be resistant too. This gives the hunter insentive to go back to the wilds and hunt the Drome/Great as practice for the bigger threat, and to get it's part to craft the more resistant armor and stronger weapons. This keeps these monsters as nessesities to the environment, but isn't as much of a crutch for first starting the game. It's still recommended that you fight them to get their parts, but as long as you're learning the ins and outs of each fight, and it gives the player a sense of progression. Once they have the smaller monster figured out, they can go back to the hunting mission a little more ready for the tougher fight.
I had a theory that Velocidrome was not closely related to the other gen 1 raptors due to the structure of its claws:
Velocidrome has 7 "fingers" which are only claws sticking out from the hand, this is similar to some true wyverns like Rathalos than it is to Gendrome & Iodrome which both have pretty normal looking fingers.
Unfortunately this isn't the case, all raptor monsters are listed as sister taxa on the official phylogenetic tree.
(Though with that said, the same tree considers elder dragons to be a monophyletic grouping, so it kinda sucks)
Elder dragons are soeficually outside of the known tree of life and as such are exceptionally mysterious. They can guesstimate the relative closeness but really not much more than that has been able to be judged.
However with the MH teams love of using old concepts in lore, a early flying drome type build Bird wyvern has all the traits of Velociprey/drome from the wack hands and toothed Pelagornis style beak face.
It's kinda...weird, I personally dislike their attempt at using old Generation 1 concepts in their in world taxonomy
I mean... they are a society with very limited scientific understanding.... we though hyena were canines for a long ass time... and we barely got dinosaurs right until a short time ago (and still dont always).
Yeah the general attitude to MH taxonomy is best summed up as 'interesting'.
@@KatsuhiroHebi they have microscopes. Understand cells. Wyverians handle most of the taxonomy.
@@dilophoraptordouble I find it more realistic for them to go gen 1 for world taxonomy only because most of the time the tree of life is never going to cater towards what people think. A lot of the time nature does what it wants, leaving alot of theories in the dust for real life animals that exist.
Really great video once again, I love the mix of Monster Hunter and real world biology. But Damn, I've never seen the dromes and greats getting annihilated back to back, they really get slaughtered by the large wyverns don't they haha.
I really wish Giadrome had been given a more striking design than just "white-ish Velocidrome with an ice spit", the same way Gendrome and Iodrome look unique.
Speaking of competition and niche partitioning amongst the raptors and the larger wyverns, you got me thinking, I think that Nargacuga may actually have the most competition with the Dromes out of the large wyverns (Velocidrome specifically since they overlap in environment a lot), because Nargacuga seems to be well adapted for taking smaller prey like Kelbi alongside the larger aptonoth since we even see it attacking kelbi in its older intros, which would put it directly in competition with the more gracile dromes in my opinion and it is also nocturnal just like you theorised the Dromes to be so they couldn't avoid it by hunting at night/in dark areas. Nargacuga's ability to fire quils and rattle its tail would also be very useful for warding off the Dromes without directly engaging in combat with them (I realise I got a bit off topic and have started discussing Nargacuga, but it's an interesting thing I noticed).
Not to mention the fact that Nargacuga could easily hunt the Dromes as well, outside of competing for food.
That's a good point, and with the habitat overlap too + the low densities of herbivores in such areas...Narga may well quite frequently eat dromes and greats.
And same with Giadrome, but then he was effectively replaced with great baggi, And thank you!
Is that where the “drome” suffix in Monster Hunter comes from? Dromaeosaurus? Also, great to see this channel get more views and subscribers :)
Actually not a bad theory. I don't where the term came from but I always thought it may have been based on drone, as in the role bees have.
I always loved all the Greats. They are in my opinion some of the best examples of creatures that took inspiration from Jurassic Park without feeling like ripoffs. I also love the Great Wroggi's stingray-like tail.
I would like to see another raptor monster in the future, but preferably at a higher rank, like say, taking the same place as something like Zinogre, like a giant Utahraptor-like monster that can really punch above its weight.
Agreed, a lot of nice suggestions like corvid or therizinosaur wyverns too. We'll have to see what they come up with!
Definitely gonna go through and watch all these monster ecologies, I've always wanted to hear what someone more scholarly had to say about these creatures. Also thank you for acknowledging the fact that lower rank monsters have been getting easier, I miss how threatening Barroth used to be.
This is everything I want in a channel and I love it.
I've gotten back into MH with rise recently and I've been thinking incessantly about the world and the monsters and this big wonderful ecosystem. This is perfect, can't wait for more quality content from this channel, Monster Hunter or not!
Thank you so much! More to come!
I like to think of Great Jaggi as a megaraptoran, and Great Baggi and Wroggi as noasaurines.
You could make a case for Great Baggi being a derived proceratosaurid with the feathers and massive crest
@@thegardenofdagon good point.
I would love to see a rathalos tier raptor bird Wyvern that was a solitary hunter or a therzinosaur brute wyvern that a rival to anjanatn.
It'd be nice indeed, bird wyverns need more representation in later game.
@@unnaturalhistorychannel you know why don’t we have turf wars with the greats/drones monsters.
Great jaggi really has a characteristic look
wroggi is definitely nice, i'll like jaggi more out of the trio forever because he doesn't rely on chemical attacks
Great jaggi uses a lot of attacks or at least attack ideas you see in the later monsters too, which makes him a really good intro imo
like what monster doesn't use their double tail swipe and there's plenty of hipchecks too
compared to just being jumpy like -dromes and -prey, though you could say that teaches you a more fundamental skillset of moving first
You brought up a lot of really good points towards the end. World felt challenging enough to be really enjoyable still, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying story-wise as the older games due to how easily you can plow through things early on.
Monster hunter rise is way easier than monster hunter world even, and the environments dont feel very alive or atmospheric. I literally did the entire launch campaign without failing a single quest, we need a game with a much more stable difficulty curve.
Are you implying rise is bad? If so you need a medication
@@marcusgo6784 rise was really fun, but I burned through it way too quickly
@@lorengarms9836 we will have g rank which it WILL get a huge difficulty spike
@@marcusgo6784 see, a difficulty spike is fine, but it would have been nice if the game had a steep enough difficulty slope at the start to actually feel challenging enough to make it worth grinding and learning the monsters, especially with how few there were at launch.
Of course the game cant change that now, and I still love it as it is, but I hope in future games it feels a bit more stable and complete before they release it.
@@lorengarms9836 ok, puts fatalis in mr 24
are you ever gonna talk about monkey-man rajang? Just a question. (btw i love your MH and JP videos)
I'll likely get to big monke some day, but not for a while. And thanks!
@@unnaturalhistorychannel Nice to know 👍
Hi!
I have a theory about the Dromes and the Greats, more specifically about how they evolved (could evolve), the basis of my theory is based on the hybrid creature from Jurassic World Alive, exactly Alloraptor and Allodrigues.
First of all, about these 2 hybrids: the Alloraptor is a hybrid dinosaur that was created from a Velociraptor and an Allosaurus, and the Allodrigues was created from the Alloraptor and the Rodrigues Solitaire (the Rodrigues Solitaire was an existing species of bird... was the 1700s)
It is natural to ask the question: "okay, but how do these come to the topic?" the answer is simple: the In-Game description of the 2 hybrids, as it includes the following:
-Alloraptor: "The Alloraptor prefers to hunt alone, and normally targets smaller prey that can easily be transported back to its pack."
-Allodrigues: "the Allodrigues hunts alone, stalking prey it can easily transport back to its flock"
This (to me at least!) sounds a lot like the behavior of Dromes and Greats, just not to the same level and with not as physical changes as Dromes and Greats.
I don't think I need to explain this any further, so I'll end it here, thank you for reading!
I’ve been looking so long for monster hunter videos that go into how the Monsters biology and evolution works, this video was awesome very in depth and Informative, I’m definitely subscribing
Thank you so much! Glad to have you on board.
Just as a response to the bit at the end, I went back to play Tri which was my first game and though it wasn't too hard, I remember why Barroth was so intimidating, there definitely a difficulty problem in the later games, not just Barroth, all the early monsters just feel more imposing than they do in later games. One thing I really miss from older monster hunter is the nature documentary vibe and the atmosphere of the wild, and how every monster got time to shine, it feels like now the games want to rush you to G Rank and make the combat as dps heavy as possible while removing the need to scavenge and survive in the wild.
Speaking of dromes/greats, it would be interesting to take a look at the social fanged wyverns and how they may have excluded the bird wyverns from occupying the low trophic level pack hunting niche in the new world, and how that may have occurred to the jagras in the old world, due to at the moment there are regular jagras but no greats. Perhaps the selective pressure in the old world is too great and so the jagras remain small to not compete with the packs of bird wyverns.
I wonder if Anjanath is actually an advanced member of the Greats, or at least the most basal member of the the brute wyverns with traits similar to their possible ancestors. Anjanath has a large middle claw, much like Great jaggi, it is also one of the most plain looking brute wyverns in comparison to an actual tyrannosaur. Most of it’s moveset is also similar to those of the greats.
I feel Anja, whatever he is, is probably jho's closest living relative. But with such dodgy taxonomy in MH it could be possible the raptors are actually closer to brutes than other wyverns.
They are a missing link between bird and brute wyverns.
We basically share the similar thoughts we had in our thread back in the bird wyvern ecology video, and the part about the drones/greats filling like wasted fodder and untapped potential in early game hunts is really a sentiment I still agree with. Where’s the cases of solitary species, coalition packs, or even where wyverns actually hunt together or cooperate effectively in a hunt whether by gregarious means or proper group/pack hunting? Give other classes some spotlight Capcom, damn. But you also gave me insight on how expansive they are and how complex & variable their social systems could be alongside their ontogenetic pressures. I have tons of ideas for many different raptorial bird wyverns such as ones based on phoruschracids, paravians, megaraptorans, tyrannosauroids, and even outside that with mythological ties like griffins, legendary birds, etc. (We can have much more specialized discussions like these if you do that discord thing everyone does nowadays 🤔😏)
Also sorry I didn’t share my thoughts on the last video (super busy week), but I’ll say that the cave wyvern video really shows what is capable in cave living animals and the advantages that’s shown with Khezu & Gigginox. Also about their classification, while I do agree they could be still be proper wyverns (or reptiles, if you interchange the two really). I have suspected a case if they maybe could be in a ghost lineage alongside…hehe….Pukei-Pukei. This is because they’re the only known wyverns that actively expel substances, from their caudal regions. Maybe the current cave wyverns may possibly be a very derived family of taxa that actively utilized their tails for an active appendage, weapon, and reproductive organ in their life. And Pukei Pukei, while being are more basal relative to the Khezu+Gigginox clade, is also not a good proxy of their ancestors or extinct relatives as it’s very specialized for what it does in modern day. I will go with this hypothesis with my cladograms at least and speculate further, but that is essentially my headcanon about them. But yeah, that was a good one regardless!
The comments are growing a lot and getting quite massive, I really do need to get that discord thingy indeed really. And it is a shame. Both the raptorial and bird wyverns have so much untapped late game potential and now we have to wait at least over another year to see what may come next.
The Pukei-pukei one is really interesting. The notion of them sharing a common ancestor is quite intriguing, especially as you say it does share a few traits with them. And yeah it's now very specialised, but also interesting to think almost all flying wyverns in the new world may still have old world origins. And thank as ever!
I definitely agree on Monster Hunter getting easier. I wouldn't like to go back to early MH's clunkiness, but I feel like Rise was a step in the wrong direction as the hunters feel so fast and like they have so many attacks and gimmicks to use while it doesn't feel like the monsters were actually adjusted for it. I think that World is closer to a better balance (closer, not perfect, as I agree that there should be harder lower-rank monsters) so I'm hoping that the next game in the series follows more in World's footsteps than in Rise's when it comes to the game feel of the hunters.
Some new attacks in Rise are very fun, but it's notable that most returning monsters don't have new attacks to counter them. I think that Mizutsune is the most successful because it has quick sliding movements but it's also the only grandfathered-in monster that I can think of that feels like a match for the very mobile hunters of Rise.
I'm personally not a fan of the monster riding in Rise, as it does just feel like a simple (and not especially fun) way to do extra damage in a game that already gives you a lot of opportunity for more damage. I would've joined mounting and monster riding into the same base mechanic instead probably. It would at least make fights less formulaic as you're not so consistently guaranteed to take control of a monster.
Watching this just makes me want the great jaggi to return even more. Sure he was boring and didnt have much diversity in attacks but i always saw him as a good introduction to hunting big monsters and the mh mechanics. Plus saying his name was always a treat for me.
I myself don’t play the monster hunter games, as I don’t think I really have enough time to commit myself to the grind and truly master hunting the monsters. I instead fell in love with the series due to the monsters and the world they themselves live in, as well as the amazing themes. Because of this I may be a bit biased, but I tend to find most of the monsters pretty interesting, even things like the vespoid queen and giaprey. With that in mind, I find all of the raptorial bird wyverns pretty interesting to look at and seeing how they move. I find it a bit of a shame you seemed to leave Izuchi out of the video until close to the end. I think it may be the species that probably uses their packs in the most organized manner, as it’s said the great izuchi will take two or three of the best hunting izuchi in its pack on patrols. When they fight the hunter they also seem to perform combos with one another, while it looks like most of the other bird wyverns sort of just have a mobbing strategy. Of course they can’t exactly pull these combos off most of the time because the hunters have so many gimmicks that, like you said, hunting the early game monsters is just a slaughter house.
I also have a theory that the Izuchi and Maccaoo are closer related to one another than either are to the other raptorial bird wyverns(though I think they are also distant cousins to the dog wyverns like jaggi). They both have many features in common but modified in different aspects, for example:
Both have a covering of downy feathers over the majority of their bodies.
Both have large scutes on their hands, feet, and tail
Both do not rely on poison-related attacks(though the Izuchi is capable of vomiting at a threat, likely to serve as a distraction)
Both of the species have large males with unique decorative structures that are feathers(those giant eyebrows in the Izuchi and the crown of feathers in the Maccaoo)
And both species rely on their tails for combo, whether as a sharp blade to slice things or to use as a standing prop so they can use their limbs to deliver powerful kicks.
This is mostly just speculation on my end, but I would like to hear what you guys think of both theories, both that the Izuchi may have the most organized pack of the raptorial bird wyverns and that the Maccaoo and Izuchi may be close relatives
It's quite reasonable they make be relatively closer related, at least more so than other bird wyverns for sure and you make a good argument for them. I also agree I like a lot of the monsters aesthetically...game play wise some of them haven't aged well though.
just stumbled into you channel this past monday. i love it! Watching this vid i couldnt help but think that capcom should add turf wars between packs of these bird wyverns.
Just discovered this channel today, and loved the video. I recently got a friend who majored in wildlife studies into the series, and she will eat this kind of content up just like me!
Thank you! Hope you both enjoy!
Excellent vid as usual. I myself think that feathers are ancestral to bird wyverns, and maybe are ancestral to brute wyverns.
Thank you! And reading many comments is really making me wonder how close bird and brute wyverns may actually be.
@@unnaturalhistorychannel You're welcome! I myself think Brute wyverns may just be gigantic bird wyverns, perhaps increasing in size due to the extinction of something else, hence leading to the giants like Deviljho, and Glavenus.
P.S-My name is prounounced Mah-see-aka
it really does say a lot about the series difficulty when we look at how the walls have moved (I'm only going to be talking about offline/village quests here)
3 Ultimate was my first game in the series, that game had a lot of walls for me. Great Jaggi, Qurupeco, Gobul, Duramboros, Uragaan, Purple Ludroth, Pink Rathien, Zinogre, and Alatreon all acted as walls for me though I think I might've just sucked at the game
my next game was Freedom, the only monsters that really acted as a wall for me here were Yian Kut Ku and Gravios
next was Freedom Unite. Congolala, Blangonga, Tigrex, Rajang and Akantor acted as walls
then came 4 Ultimate. the only monsters I really felt were walls were Gore Magala, Shagaru Magala, Brute Tigrex, frenzied Brachydios, Furious Rajang and Crimson Fatalis
going to be honest, I've not finished Generations Ultimate but I've yet to encounter any walls
then comes World. not a single wall there for me until Iceborne's Alatreon. the second to last monster in the game...
and finally Rise. I know we're still waiting for the DLC but currently that game is devoid of anything even aproaching a wall for me. I forgot to restock my items or eat before Magnamalo and I still beat it without fainting even once.
And you're sure it isn't you just getting better at the games?
@@handtomouth4690 I'd say that Freedom Unite to 4 Ultimate was just a change in weapons to the Insect Glaive, I kind of sucked with all of the weapons in the earlier gens with me only being half decent with the Sword and Shield, Duel Blades and Hammer.
I've gone back to old games a few times (particually 3 Ultimate since it's still my favourite game in the series) and if anything I've gotten worse, I'm rather sloppy and get hit by stuff that I never used to, meanwhile I'm still able to breeze through the newer games. I'll still struggle to beat 4U Crimson Fatalis at all (and I mean the high rank village quest version, not the G rank version) but I can basically no hit Velkhana, Namielle and Blackveil Vaal Hazak which are supposed to be Master/G rank
The thing about Great Jaggi, is that it laughs at you after you fall for the hipcheck.
The Jaggi set of monsters has always been one of my favorite monsters, it just feels like such a nostalgia trip since it was my first big guy I ever defeated. I wish Great Jaggi had a little more going on
I really like Great Jaggi's roar.
The turf wars got me wishing Dromes came back as a middle ground between small and large monsters.
As in they would lock and target you, but they would not immediately go fight the other monster if they showed up. And even ambush you while you were fighting another monster like in older games.
Having the Bird Dromes, Bulldrome, Vespoid Queen, King Shakalaka and maybe a new mid-size capapaceon all behave like this and guide their packs to attack you while you're trying to take down a Rath would be cool.
They could still have turf wars with smaller monsters like the Greats, the bears, Kut Kus and Congalala.
I like the video and you made some great points. Great Maccao and Great Izuchi are my two favorites of the starter mons. I never really cared for Great Jaggi when I started in 4U.
I hope to see a video on Aknosom or Bishaten eventually.
100% agree with you on the izuchis, i feel like they replaced great jaggi for the whole Yokai gimmick which I don’t agree about. The game wouldn’t change one bit with them being gone. and never realized how well they blend in with ice age. Lol
You Forgot to mention Jaggias,
I like the new rise monsters
And also are you saying izuchi fits in ice age ehile we have the gen 1 and 2 dromes, because they also fit in ice age
I did indeed forget them. Their role as the adult females of the species I just sort left as is as I don't think it'd differ too much from other females of the raptors.
@@marcusgo6784 more or less like early Jurassic park games, Turok especially
@@marcusgo6784 me too. most of them I do like but izuchi is just forgettable and not as fun of a fight like I have with prior doggis
It is worth noting how Great Jagras was given an event quest where it was basically arch-tempered and dropped decorations when it used the spit attack.
God darn it out of all your videos this one is my favourite, I don' know why but I just love it
Amazing video! I especially like wrogii and great maccao. They have very pleasing design.
kutku was a wall in the first monster hunter game
then, garuga was just plain insane. The angles of the camera in the places that you were forced to fight that bastard...
My love goes for Velocidrome and Gendrome. Iconic guys.
Loved the video, also awesome to find someone else who considers wroggi their favorite of the raptors.
As for the Maccao feather thing, in my personal taxonomy I made for MH monsters (because as you said guild taxonomy is iffy at best, I also consider the cave wyverns to be amphibians) I placed them next to Kulu and TziTzi, as both seem to have advanced feathers like maccao, unlike Baggi and Jaggi who posses more Quill/hair-like feathering, which would make the feathering ancestral rather than derived. Kulu's lack of full body cover could be explained by the heat of the desert, as for the flashy boy I have no explanation for the lack of it.
Another thing is how people tend to differentiate the raptor-like bird wyverns from the "true" bird wyverns, while I myslef placed them between the raptors. The appearance of complex feathers in them could be ancestral along with Maccao and actual birds, and then later on lost by species like the Yians and Gypceros, making maccao closer to them than to the other rpack hunters. Some of the canon "extinct species" suggest bird wyverns descended from actual wyverns, but I personally just consider the winged ones to have descended from arboreal raptor-like species who later took to the skies.
I have more things to say but this is already rather long for a RUclips comment. If you do one of those "discord thingies" I'd happily join and occassionally go on ramblings about MH taxonomy.
Wroggi kings forever!
And yeah the comments are really making me review the possible place of brute wyverns taxonomy re: bird wyverns too .
A discord thingie will hopefully be soon to come!
I think the raptorial Bird Wyverns might be my favorite group of monsters overall, I'm a sucker for mesopredators they are usually my favorite animals in an ecosystem.
Watching this video helped me realize that pack tactics are much more than "apes together strong" and it also supplies logic for why a predator cooperates sometimes, but not other times. I am currently working on two predator designs; The Diatorleon and Sirush.
The original concept of Diatorleon was that it's a T-Rex crossed with a Chameleon, with a gladiator theme. While the tongue does stick, I wanted it to use it more like a blunt weapon that occasionally sticks.
After iterating upon the design recently, I realized based on your videos that the zygodactyl feet I had made based on the chameleon would indicate a predator that uses terrain very actively, climbing trees or other similar formations. While the Diatorleon can still engage in combat with hunters, the main strategy is for it to snipe prey from afar and while it can do so effectively with smaller prey, if it makes use of it's environment, then perhaps it can take down larger prey with a bit of patience and careful planning. Perhaps spending more time setting up different 'sniper positions' by building rudimentary nests that, occasionally, may also contain prey animals unaware this is a Diatorleon perch.
Which lead me to the idea that maybe it uses the hunts of other chasing predators to snipe prey and then bully the other predators away from the kill. Basically, a kill stealing strategy. But now that I've watched this video, I think that this very naturally sets it up for having younger members of the same species chase the predators into the trap set by the dominant. This arrangement may be only temporary, but it would suggest a lifecycle in which the Diatorleon's territory swells after it has young, but then shrinks again when the young leave the supervision of a dominant, naturally partitioning off the territory that the dominant will no longer be able to manage on their own, while the young inherit the perching spots dug by their parents and learning what the qualities of a good perching spot looks like.
For Sirush, the pack tactics would be more rudimentary. The basic concept was based on the babylonian dragon, which was said to be tamed. Cheetah were at one point tamed as well as coursers, so I chose to make it based on a cheetah with elements of a pelican, a vulture and a bush viper; Pelicans stretch their necks through their lower jars, leading to the myth that pelicans do this to lose weight (which is incorrect and they couldn't do), but I wanted to make something similar by having Sirush unhinge it's jaw and vent heat to fight heat exhaustion caused by their sprints, creating an interesting fight mechanic.
A creature with such extreme heat exhaust issues, though, may work together with other animals of it's species to help it's cool down. So now my idea is that a Great Sirush does the bulk of the hunting, while regular Sirush serve as a kind of pit crew; Cooling the Great Sirush down after a hunt attempt. If I lean into the pelican motif, this might lead to sex dimorphism that selects for larger neckpouches in one sex and smaller neckpouches in another.
These videos just make me bubble with design ideas.
From what I've seen (and played), Rise's first wall is Khezu
Another great video, I've always liked the boss raptors, especially the Greats. The Dromes are alright, their proportions just felt a bit off with the oversized heads and tiny limbs and neck. Besides that, I like the progression the designs have had over the generations, even if they're getting a bit overdone. The interpretation of the alphas based on living pack hunters was especially interesting and fits well with them. One thing I've thought weird was referring to them all as dromeosaurs, when only 3 of the original dromes actually have the killing claws dromeosaurs are known for. The rest of the raptor and dog wyverns take more inspiration from other groups of small theropods, with Iodrome coming off the most as an oviraptorid, and the dogs could fit into any group of small bodied theropods.
I should add referring to them as dromeosaurs was more just to try and avoid the overuse of the term 'raptor', which I really shouldn't use at all as it refers to avian predators and not non-avian dinosaurs really.
But thanks as ever too!
@@unnaturalhistorychannel That's perfectly understandable, "small non-descript theropods" can get a bit tiring to use, I'm sure.
Can't wait to see what comes next, couldn't quite discern the roars at the end of this episode.
One thing I'm surprised you didn't mention about Great Wroggi is its snout. It very much resembles pigs and even soft-shelled turtles and could be an important foraging tool, probing soft mud and leaf litter in forest and swamp habitats, digging out burrowing prey, and maybe even function as a snorkle when crossing water. I personally can envision Great Wroggis foraging underwater water with their flattened hands and feet to paddle and prevent them from sinking into mud while digging out benthic prey with their snout. Their large size would allow them to enter deeper water and possibly hold breath longer than their subordinates, accessing access a different food source to prevent competition with subordinates when large prey is not as available.
11:05
I can just imagine 🎵 it’s the hard-knock life for us🎵 Playing in the background as these smaller predators just get demolished like that
I often wondered why these monsters had the "drome" suffix... Makes sense that they are named for the dromeosaurs. I would have not made that connection! Thanks for these awesome videos!
14:24 I've actually noticed that in World and Rise, pack hunting monsters often have a few individuals who are slightly larger and/or brighter in color than the others, like Jagras, Girros and all of Rise's Bird Wyverns. I think that aligns perfectly with your theory here.
Great Macco was the first monster I fought in the series (I started with generations) and boy were it and later Tetsucabra walls in the early game, and coincidentally both are some of my favorites
Great stuff! Always nice to see discussion about the Dromes and Greats.
3:58 Also, never thought I'd see others using clips from one of my videos lol. I'm all for it though. That's kind of why I made it in the first place
Thank you for creating them! It helped a lot!
I was so proud of myself the first time I killed giadrome in MHFU. I was like 9 years old
Same but with Velocidrome in MH1...felt like such a challenge back then.
I think it’d be great if they could add more cooperation between greats and dromes and their subordinates. As raptors I think you could add a pin down for the dromes where they pounce on the hunter and the preys could do something similar where they latch onto to hunters like raptor dinosaurs were thought to do. Giving some of them like velocidrome the bleed status effect would make them feel like more of a threat.
What I found odd was the lack of the usual Dromes in the New World. Their roles, in certain areas, were taken over by the large lizard-like Jagras, Shamos, and Girros. The Dromes that were present were the Kula Ya-Ku and Tzitzi Ya-Ku, which seemed to be solitary and opportunistic species. I wonder what could have caused such a striking trophic turnover?
I lost myself when he mentioned great izuchi from ice age omg now I cant unsee it
I don't know how people find Great Wroggi forgettable as it has a very interesting design. I like Jaggi for the same reason, especially with the smaller ones having sexual dimorphism.
Personally Giadrome is hands-down the most forgettable as it's just a palette/element swap of Velocidrome. I have mixed feelings on Gendrome, as I think it's too close to a Velocidrome palette swap, but I also think the design is better than that of the first monster.
Heavily agreed
The point of packs not favouring a great or drome leader when there is a high density of small prey and low density of large prey makes me think that this is a good explanation for the lack of a Great Shamos in the Coral Highlands. While having a leader probably would help their rivalry and competition with Tzitzi, the only prey animals seen the Coral Highlands are Kelbis and Raphinos which wouldn't require an especially strong individual to hunt. Sadly this doesn't explain why the Wulgs lack an alpha leader though.
Also "both of these monsters are now considered fodder" my horrific flashbacks of Yian-Kut Ku's constant tail spinning in GU say otherwise.
Yeah i'd really like a wolverine-like great wulg. And that's a spot on point re: shamos too!
Maybe I should retract the statement re: kut ku too then...
I feel like great Izuchi's eye brows are used in mating, the bigger the eye brows the more likely chance of mating
The fact I didn't even realize that you edited G. Izuchi into the cover art for Ice Age when I first watched this when it came out proves your point lmao (Not that I have a problem with G. Izuchi myself; I'd rather not dislike monsters)
I always love velocidrome, looks so cool
I love raptorial bird wyverns. I have two requests for them. One that is a mid or high tier that can compete with things like Raths or Nargas (maybe not win, but compete) and then a mid tier raptor that takes heavy inspiration from prehistoric dromeosaurs like Microraptor where it has large wings but can't fly, so they glide in forests and have very high arboreal mobility
Funny enough, as a first-time player in Tri, Great Jaggi was actually my first wall. Also my favorite monster, because I had that experience of "oh god how do I fight this thing" to "I can dodge your attacks while dealing with another monster and then steal your lunch money". And his laugh is just charming. Infuriating, but then charming. :3 I hope Monster Hunter doesn't lose it's scaling too much...playing through Tri for the first time and going from A to Q like that was one of my favorite experiences in a video game, easy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if anjanath was a relative to these guys here.
A video on brute wyverns would be pretty cool, maybe the ones with utilities such as glavenus and brachydios, but anjanath would be cool to mention as well.
All three will likely be covered in future!
11:04 You could also add Great Wroggi's only two turf wars in MH Rise: vs Anjanath and vs Rathalos
They both go about as well for Wroggi as you'd imagine.
i just yesterday talked about how awesome it would be if there was a more gradual scale of monsters between the "small" and "drome" models. but would probably be way to much work.
What you said about habitats with low density of large prey actually kinda legitimizes the lack of Great Jaggi in Rise
Smaller Jaggi and Jaggia are present, but without Aptonoth, they have little need for the bulk of the GJ, and smaller prey such as fish or other endemic-sized creatures would keep them decently fed, I'd imagine
I like great izuchi and great macoa because I have a soft spot for monsters that use their tails more as tools or weapons rather than counter balances that could be a weapon (and they have the more unique raptor fights out of them all)
Something that blew my mind is I realized an average Great Jaggi is the size and weight of Carnotaurus, the size scale of megafauna in the MH universe is ludicrous lol
I love them all, but that Sword and Shield named Viper Bite will always be my favorite weapon in the franchise
Epic first gen creation!
MORRISON FORMATION LORE in a game vid!!! This is too good
My first of the “Drome” style monsters was Great Maccao, and I honestly don’t think there could have been more fun starter fight.
On that note, the feathering of great maccao might have been developed as a primarily defensive structure, and the Jurassic Frontier, their primary home, have a large number of high tier non-elders, most specifically Glavenous and Tetsucabra. And while Tetsu isn’t exactly a high tier monster, the feathering, and in particular the articulation of the head feathers might make a Tetsu think twice about attacking a Maccao
I always hoped that the monster hunter team would make an encounter where there was a coalition of Greats, like there have been with some male lions that were kicked from the overall pride. In this case, the greats that were not able to best the alpha Great and were forced again to solitude, end up meeting other solitary Greats, and end up creating a small coalition of 2-3 Beta Greats, that through their teamwork, find that they can take down larger monsters than they ever could alone, and the hunter is sent to deal with a larger monster, to come upon said monster being absolutely mauled by these Greats teamwork, and the hunt turns into taking down the bigger threat of this coalition of Greats. This gives into the Greats having something else to bring to the table that they excel at, which is pack tactics, while also making them harder to fight when you have to deal with multiple big targets.
Mechanically however the trouble is having 3 monsters end up hitting each other because of the ai... but i can hope one day it can work
If we can get more monsters like izuchi but harder I would love that
An upgrade on the actual packs would be good for each to go at you with different hunting styles
Surprised with the topic of boars to wroggi you never brought up the tusks and very pig like snout of wroggi, I am unsure if much information exists but I wouldn't be surprised if wroggi espectially had some fungivorous part of their diet to even some decent herbivory.
I know Basarios eat alot of plants and some minerals. And I think Gravios feed on minerals and other monsters, and I know they can eat Basarios (But i forget if it maybe because of mimicking rocks or not)
I was considering featuring some stuff about the star-nosed mole, but overall it wound up being cut as I was unsure how much rootling and ground foraging Great Wroggi would do. But it could be a notable source of food for the smaller females.
In regards to these critters being reduced to mobs I will have to agree. At least as far remember i have to agree, whereas ive only played world the playing field of what your fighting escalates rather fast. I dont remember which monster hunter but i remember watching my younger brother play one on the ps2 where taking down velocidrome multiple times and able to make a big weapon from the carvings felt like a big deal when i saw it.
At the same time having seen these I never really cared much for them but maybe that will change since i recently got Monster Hunter Generations. Reading the comments I am really interested to see if they make an impression on me through that game.
Tardy to the party but Great Jaggi's robust appearance isn't without merit. They do not have the breath attacks of the Baggi and Wroggi nor are their claws well adapted for slicing open prey as those of Velocidrome, meaning that their hunting power is likely based on ability to pin down and tear at their prey, and with large prey like Aptonoth or Apceros to hunt or large wyverns to compete with for food, that means bulkier is better.
Further, a bulky adult form but gangly adolescent form is something we've learned is not uncommon in theropod dinosaurs. Famously, the Tyrannosaurus rex is theorized to start out as a spindly creature built for high speeds to hunt prey like ornithomimids, while the adults are bulky to tackle larger prey like hadrosaurs and ceratopsids. This ontogenic niche partitioning is also the theorized reason for why there are so few medium sized carnivores in the Hell Creek formation; their niches were stolen by young T. rex.
Though Jaggi live in packs, they seem to largely be r-selected given the vast numbers they occur in. Their hierarchy may be rather strict and brutal from what VERY LITTLE Capcom has assured we see of them given they appear in so few games...
I'd theorize that there's even rather "sexist" methods of the young being raised. We never see juvenile Jaggia, and Jaggi are said to ALL be juvenile males. So it seems that Jaggia will provide extended protection and child care for their female offspring in the nest since they're so comparatively rare, while the young males are forced out to fend for themselves, vying for whatever scraps they can find or helping the Great tackle large prey like Aptonoth in the hopes that it'll be large enough for there to be scraps to fight over after the Great and Jaggia eat.
Since this obviously can and does result in high mortality for the young males, it ensures that those that do survive to the age where they begin to develop into a Great are the most fit and, even nominally, intelligent, at least compared to those who leap into the middle of a herd of stampeding Aptonoth to be crushed or leap onto the back of one when they're right next to a cliff only to fall off into the sea and be eaten by Ludroth.
It also seems unlikely that a male would return to challenge the resident Great since they would be related to some or even all of the females, if Jaggia stay in their natal groups like lionesses, so I would figure that new Greats disperse into neighboring territories to instead challenge males for unrelated females.
I have a soft spot for Great Jaggi. It does look dopey and gaudy but 3U was my first Monster Hunter game, meaning Great Jaggi was, of course, my first large monster hunt. It's one of my favorites and it makes me sad that Capcom hates it so much that its last main series appearance was in 4U.
my 1st mh game was tri and i have a soft spot for the jaggi and great jaggi, kinda sad they haven't brought the great jaggi back, or gobul... or lagiacrus for that matter.
Capcom seems to treat these early game monsters as fodder you burst through really quickly to get to the real monsters. But some of these are a player's first and what introduces us to the combat of the game.
I started in 3rd Generation myself, and both Great Jaggi and Arzuros are hugely memorable monsters that taught me how to play. While yeah Great Jaggi became a pushover by the end of the game, it still has its place.
I really hope Capcom does beef these monsters up again to make them fit the new standard. Especially in Low Rank so that players have to learn to defeat them. In my opinion, none of the Fanged Wyverns in World did even a satisfactory job of this other than Tobi Kadachi and that's a shame because they replaced the Bird Wyverns of previous games for that title.
Seeing that picture of the wolf reminds me of the pet wolf i had.
She was an Alaskan Timber wolf and of course big and she made it to 15 years old.
Seeing how you missed the Great Apiposu, will you ever go over them (maybe along with some other Monsters from either the Sandy Plains or Great Desert and/or spinoffs in general), or are you mainly just focusing on main series Monsters?
For now at least I'm focusing on main series monsters.
Great jaggi is my fav- mostly cos it was my first.
It would be amazing if you talk about how due they are so few Raptorial Bird Wyverns in the New World, Fanged Wyverns taken the opportunity to claim new ecological niches previously occupied.
Can confirm it is not me getting better. I was a lance main until Rise but CANNOT use it in Rise at all. Although that did ironically make Rise harder for me, but I attribute that more to the game generally getting faster and lance guard (which was my particular specialty) not getting boosted to match the speed. Either way I swapped to SA and dominate with its crazy spin attacks. It's fun sure, but it's not the same feeling I had and requires a different mind-state than my guard lancing.
P.S. I like Wroggi best too
World did have a good change swapping off the Here is a raptor get to fighting intro like the other games, I also agree they need to scale up the lower monsters difficulty the first challenge shouldn't be half way or later into the game.
Sometimes I do wish we could see a mob of small monsters with their alpha, like a Great Jaggi leading like 10 or 20 Jaggi and Jaggia to harass large monsters like wolves
Great jaggi will always be my favorite to just be a good monster to beat on when im annoyed by a powerful monster (like when your air juggled by kushala in 4u in fully upgraded g-rank chameleos armor)
You mentioned you think there should be more low-rank predatory monsters for a more organic progression right?
Played world, had a decent difficulty curve, but rise, rise was straight up just a low plateau with the occasional hill
Kut ku was my first wall. Damn time flies
Fully agree on your final thoughts about no more new ones of these but to beef up and make better what we have. And I also agree that Rise has made it way too easy. Like Rise is...the easiest of the series and while fun it's too fricking easy and I'm super salty and kind of mad that my main weapon since 3U, Horn has been made the new LongSword with how busted strong and mildness they made it >:,(
And they made so many previously strong to medium strong monsters compelte pushovers. Like Barroth as you said.