And the last good MonHun like that released. Not only was it inspired, but they created their own formula and game identity that it is quite unique on its own.
To me, God Eater and Monster Hunter are as similar as Soccer and Basketball. Sure, there are a few overlap but the experiment is so difference, though.
Short answer: They always forget the monsters. A monster hunter like game is nothing if their creatures are boring to look and hunting them down. In fact I've often see most marketing campaigns tend to emphasised too much on the human characters.
Yeah but they're still important. Character customization is a big thing in these games because you want to design your perfect cool badass armor set / appearance to display your trophies, and I think people were really excited about Minoto and Hinoa? They look amazing tbh and I'd say they were one of Rise's big appeals. Imo there should be main cast, usually a guild girl, smith and hunting buddy. Dauntless focused on the monsters and still failed tremendously
I hear ya. The monsters of MH seem to have genuine personalities, especially starting in the 5th generation (World and Rise). They don't act like just lumps of hit points and loot - they act like actual wild animals. They don't just walk around waiting for the Hunter to show up so they can fight - they do animal things when they're not fighting you, and you learn a lot about their character if you follow them around on their routines just as much as fighting them.
The biggest problem with Wild Hearts that killed the game was its bad performance. It doesn't have that great of an end game either, which definitely limits its longevity, but even then it would have been perfectly fine game with decent fun to be had if it wasn't for the performance.
Even though the game was fun, the bad reviews about the performance were and honestly still are totally deserved as even today it doesn't run that well on PC. And at this point I don't think they could fix the shader stutter even if they wanted to without making the game again from the scratch.
I want to play this game SO badly, but I just can't justify the purchase with how bad the performance is. If the performance was great, this would be up there with God Eater and potentially could've gotten a sequel.
@@thatonepenguinperson618 just get in on ps5 or something. runs 60 fps 4k for me after half a year of the games release, and its honestly some of the most fun ive had with a game in years besides dragons dogma 1 & 2 (i know the story of 2 sucks but the gameplay is amazing)
Yea on ps5 it runs great today, played it for the first time after wilds beta had me on withdrawal, and was very surprised how good it was and sad that I didn't try at launch and that it might not get a sequel, cuz it deserves is as the only real competitor to mh, imo
As a person who has at least 500 hrs i can say that old dauntless (2018 beta - 2019 epic games dauntless) was very good, it had all of it, rare monster parts, learning new monsters, unlocking new monsters, upgrading your weapons, getting perks and powerups, making builds and some super rare drops from monsters like cool dyes or secret weapons. It was very fun, but ever since they changed the crafting mechanism it was never the same, later they changed it again for some reason, they did make one of the coolest updates ever at the same time with escalation, I still remember the Torgadoro hype (huge lava/fire monkey, for all my non dauntless people), me and my friends were screaming at the screen of how strong he was and fun, especially when he did the one punch man move, super cool. They also had the problem, where they were too focused on the top 1% players, they created some very hard content which was very hard to get into, it meant grinding 100 hrs just for a build for a certain monster. So they had a problem with new players, no new players came, since the content for new players was none. And after that they did the worst update ever which made the game awful, an overhaul for some unknown reason, never understood why was it necessary, instead of making new monsters and new bosses, it was the moment i lost interest, horrible update. (i mean the moment where they changed the lobby world and changed the quest system). The last thing they had going for them were the escalations, but they changed them a little bit also, but thats harder to explain. And this video is the first time im hearing about the state the game is right now, very sad what happened to it. Early dauntless, being free to play was an amazing little brother to Monster hunter.
I'm strongly against that game, Dauntless. I dislike its art style, gameplay feel, and feedback. Even worse is its monetization and exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, which shows they don’t care about what consumers want. The nature of EGS is just awful for customers. And that's why when it launched on Steam, the reviews were like a storm of criticism hitting all at once.
God Eater is the Blazblue to Monster Hunter's Guilty Gear. I grew up playing that game alongside the Freedom Trilogy. I hope that I'm still alive by the time God Eater 4 came out.
I literally played and beat the main campaigns for Godeater2 RageBurst and God Eater3 after getting burnt out on Rise Sunbreak. Seriously makes me wish we got a God Eater 4 instead of the soulslike Codevein. Also Scarlet Nexus didn't really appeal either. Maybe if it had some characters that looked like those from Godeater 2 that would be cool. Like Ein or Livie.
@@dragonbladeiv9224 Not really. Besides, both BB and GG are very solid fighting games. God Eater is a good game, but it's not even on the same plane of existence as modern MH games are.
@@RiskOfBaer What do u mean not really? Op said absolutely nothing about the games being made by the same people. He was drawing comparisons between them because they're the same type of game (action game) that share some of the same aspects (the gameplay loop and some kind of fictional ecology among other things), while still having their separate strengths and weaknesses. ALMOST like GG and BB.
Let me tell you, you missed the era where Dauntless was a genuinely great game, the horrors only happened back in December as the game had a massive content drought for a while (there was still alot to do for new players but in general). They hyped up the "Dauntless: Awakening" Update for a while as the fables stoking of Dauntless's dying flames, all the changes they talked about in there devlogs were great on paper, better Monster AI, stronger versions of existing hunting grounds, better rewards for doing the harder things the game had to offer, reworking the tedious endgame loop. They gave a special cosmetic to players who had a set amount of weapon reforges before the update dropped, i played more than i ever had to get that cosmetic and i did. But as i stood there with my brand new shiny crown announcing "I am a longtime veteran player of this game", the game i loved for years had become something else. if it was possible to downpatch the game, or start over in some way i would do it, but Dauntless is an MMO you cant run private servers or anything of the like. As a true Master Slayer, someone who soloed all of this games hardest challenges, someone who was on par with actual speedrunners and top tier players. Dauntless died, and a horrible misshapen homunculus imitating it took its place
As a current MH player, I genuinely started out with dauntless almost 3 years ago. I wanted to get into the monster hunter series, but with no money i decided to try dauntless, and i absolutely loved what it used to be. It taught me weapon combo mechanics, monster interrupts, weapon building and more that i was able to use to learn how the games function. It was super helpful as a noob to any type of game like that, and since awakening dropped (altho i havent playd Dauntless for a couple months aleeady), i decided to fully transfer over to the MH Series, and its reminded me why i loved this style of game.
And yes, although current day Dauntless is bad, and it was mimicking a lot, I genuinely thank Dauntless for getting me into such games that i never experienced before, but leaving it still sucked, altho now i am much happier playing what i originally wanted to.
Like a lot of slayers out there I was hyped for this update, I had a large pause in between until around a month before the update. I was grinding and preparing my favorite weapons/armor for the the "update". I had completely misread when they mentioned the weapon removal, I thought some of the special weapons were getting removed and we'd keep the rest. Imagine my disappointment when I logged back in to see my beloved weapons gone.
@@tee-ravis no, you're definitely wrong and biased. Dauntless was in an incredible state pre-release game quality wise. With the promised changes, it was supposed to bring new and returning players by basically fixing every issue the game had. But Fortiche (a crypto scam company) had to buy the game and what followed is what we have now.....
What's even worse is that not only is it difficult to find a MonHun like, but if you just want a MMO or MMO-lite experience with good character customization, action combat, and enough challenge to be fun, your best option is pretty much only MonHun. I'd love to be incorrect, but I looked,
Which makes the end of Dragon's dogma online all the more tragic for me Fun action combat, great character customization with both a Skill tree, and various class based abilities which you could pick and chose, great class variety, a good take on the "holy trinity' of MMOs (Tank classes also buff allies/debuff enemies, healers can expose weakpoints, and damage dealer have a ton of various ways of fucking up a monster), a goods crafting system which was the best way to get the best gear (well the shop too, sadly) AND the option to play solo with your own customised NPCs (solo or any mix of 1 to 4 players) But Capcom fucked it up.
God Eater was better when it comes to character customisation and action combat(I like movement combat), it also once had an mmo but it was only for mobile and in Japanese so yeah. Almost everyone who played the game likes the game as much as they do with MonHun
For me, Wild Hearts is outstanding. There’s a flow to wild hearts combat where if you’re able to properly use your karakuri and effectively counter the kemono with the proper contraptions, you can take down a Kemono in about 5 minutes, and it feels incredible to pull off. There’s also the ability to literally create your own shortcuts and camps around the map, being able to set it up how you think is best. I love the combat, the exploration, the kemono and their armor designs, the challenge the later fights provide, the fact that the path in the weapon tree matters alongside the weapon you choose to make, and the world building and story. Genuinely my two gripes with the game are the smaller pool of monsters (which was being fixed by the content updates) and the performance issues (which I was lucky enough to barely have). It’s in my opinion a legitimate competitor to monster hunter that innovates on its formula, and is honestly better than monster hunter in a few aspects. A competitor to monster hunter which I lament every day for the fact that its publisher was EA…
Yeah, as soon as he said, that he stopped at fumebeak (which is essentially a completely different monster due to the mechanic it introduces) and never met the later kemonos (deathstalker, amaterasu, golden tempest, celestial dragon, Murakumo) it felt kinda thrown away. Thats like stoppping MHW when facing pink rathian the first time because "uhh subspecies". The peak starts later. Monster and armor design was incredible and the game but EA had to gut it
I always see comparisons of Dragons Dogma 2 to Monster Hunter, but they don't feel the same at all. Why do people compare them? Because they're both Capcom? The big monsters? They're really not all that similar
That's literally it from what I know. God Eater, Soul Sacrifice, Vindictus, etc would've been better games to compare with Monster Hunter than Dragon's Dogma where the comparisons end at "you fight big monsters and use their parts to make/upgrade your gear"
Yup, totally disagree if this both got compared. Of course DD2 fight against big monster just like DDDA, but this game was open world RPG just like Elder Scroll than MH games for me 😂
Petition to change the title to "Why are there no Monster Hunter likes as Good as Monster Hunter?" Cuz Toukiden and God Eater are great, just not as great.
Good is relative. It's pretty obvious we're evaluating games here through the prism of MH games, which are just so damn good even a good game looks poor in comparison.
I was with you until the Toukiden part. You first mentioned that you were looking for a monster hunter like not a monster hunter clone, but one of the downsides you spoke about for Toukiden was that its demons weren't grounded like the monsters. It kinda defeats your original point of not looking for a momster hunter clone. Unless I'm thinking about it wrong I'm open to hearing a clarification.
This is the issue I have with this whole topic. If it does anything different, it "lacks MH's appeal", but if it does everything the same it's "just a worse MH". There is no winning
When looking for a Monster Hunter-like, I was mostly focused on unique game play elements that spice up the experience, to which effect I think all of the games I played excelled at. I still find it very difficult to explain my feelings on why Toukiden specifically wasn't "grounded" for me, but I honestly think I just didn't 'jive' with the concept of Oni. It might be something like how people prefer fantasy over sci-fi and vice versa, but that's the best way I can explain it. I don't think it's bad, but the concept itself just might not be for me.
I havent played Toukiden but I think I understand what he was saying. Monsters in Monster Hunters are less monsters and more animals living in their environment. They are not evil creatures trying to destroy the world, just animals living their lives. While the monsters in Toukiden are bosses, thats it. The only reason they exist in the game is to be killed by the player. Dauntless also had this problem, the monsters would not move around or do anything. They would just wait in the obvious boss arena to be killed by the player. This is what I think he means by them not being grounded. Basically they are so high fantasy that what they are becomes pointless as in the end they just exist to be killed.
It's building, trap and camp systems are legit better than Monster Hunter's and I always hoped that Capcom would just straight up copy that stuff. Looks like MH Wilds will have some of it, but it's still not coming close to Wild Hearts.
@@MiguelRomines Freedom Wars got a remaster earlier this month. It's definitely the better than the original due to some quality of life upgrades, reworked weapon crafting and playable multiplayer. It's got some problems, but it's a solid B+ game and I absolutely adore it. I recommend it.
@@TonyRedgraveBeen dying to try it for years! Thank you for the heads-up! Also, people say it's like Monster Hunter, but to me it looks more like Lost Planet 2. While LP2 is similar to MH, it branches away from boss hunting and focuses more on shooter gameplay imo. What do you think?
God Eater, Toukiden, Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice, Final Fantasy Explorers and Wild Hearts are all good to amazing. Ofc they arent as great as MonHun but they’re super solid. I agree they dont scratch same itch tho. Dauntless was fun for awhile but man they decided to kill it haha. Praying Soul Sacrifice gets remaster next then all of them besides FFExplorers will be available on modern platforms. Also Granblue Fantasy Relink was a very awesome, unique game that scratched monster hunter itch. Also the fact you barely touched on the ones that actually are more MH-like is a lil odd
Yes I can’t stress enough how surprisingly awesome GBF Relink was. The multiplayer is super fun and every character felt like they had a different playstyle. That and freedom wars has been scratching my monster hunter itch for a while.
The point you make around 7 minutes in regarding Anjanath in World, I have some input on it to support you statement. As someone who discovered Monster Hunter through World, And have gone back and played previous titles and spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours on World itself, I can say without a doubt that regarding Anjanath, one thing has been solidified in my mind. That Monster is the first (notable) skill check of world. When you first fight Anjanath, it is easily the hardest monster by a notable amount compared to the previous monsters. In order: Great Jagras, Kulu-Ya-Ku, Pukei-Pukei, Barroth, Jyuratodus, Tobi-Kadachi, then Anjanath. My personal experience, as well as multiple of my friends (that I indoctrinated into the series lmao) Have shared very similar experiences to me. Great Jagras, Kulu, they were Small fry. Pukei-Pukei Teaches you the importance of managing status effects and truly avoiding attacks, as well as often being in areas with environments you can heavily capitalize on, falling rocks, vine traps, jumping and sliding points. Barroth teaches you the importance of sharpness, and targeting softspots, and both Barroth and Jyuratodus teach you about movement impeding abilities, Monster's displacement abilities. Tobi-Kadachi is tough, and uses it's environment immensely, but it isn't anything crazy. Then Anjanath shows up. Fire, that's new, stronger than poison. The attacks deal immense damage, you cant get hit often, but Anjanath is big, unpredictable when you don't know their attacks. High levels of movement, similar to Tobi-Kadachi, but doesn't need to use the environment to do it. Anjanath is a collection of almost every skill you learned up to that point. The Anjanath isn't THAT hard, its a kick in the pants for the first time experience, but you quickly learn and surpass it, a small hill. But just that is enough. It is the introduction to what the monsters will look like from this point forward. And it rewards you heavily with the gear, soon you kill it 3 or 4 more times and you have a set. You have become immensely stronger, the optional quests hand you some small fish to fry with your new items, you feel good, you feel accomplished. I think this is a shared experience amongst most western MH players who were introduced through world, which is probably most western players in general. The games have, for lack of better words, good pacing. This persists throughout the entire game, with monsters that stand as small pillars to your next achievement. The DLC doubles down on this, Velkhana, Shara Ishvalda, Alatreon, Safi'jiiva, and Fatalis. They all feel like huge achievements to surpass, Alatreon and Fatalis especially.
It's not a hard question to answer: Monster Hunter as a franchise is now 20 years old. That's 20 years of making many sequels, making new monster designs, improving old ones, polishing and perfecting the game design, and just in general perfecting the formula of a MH game. Plus there's also a team of devs with plenty of experience working on the franchise, along with many seniors with vast experience and understanding of the franchise. And the games themselves are extremely good, they are not only really good at making MH, they are really good at making games in general. Now ask yourself a single question: how are you supposed to compete with something like that? It's unfeasible. And that's your answer: There are no good Monster Hunter likes because it's virtually impossible to make a product that could be even unfavorably compared to a mainline MH game. Capcom has all the advantages and you have none, therefore you are bound to fail. Even if you make a good game, it will ALWAYS look poor when compared to a genuine article, the bar is just that high. There is only a single path to making a genuine MH-like that the fans of the original would consider worth bearing that name. You need to get yourself a solid team and then start from the ground up like Capcom did. Then make sequel after sequel perfecting your own spin on the MH formula, constantly improve it, and then maybe somewhere down the line you will end up with a high quality MH-like that people would deem adequate. Simply put: you need to put in a lot of time and effort (and money). In other terms: Wild Hearts might've not been that great, but maybe Wild Hearts 5 would have been good enough. And looking at the industry today I can guarantee you there is not a single game dev studio out there willing to try their hand at such a monumental undertaking.
I think the issue is that the MH-like games aren’t being developed with a core philosophy in mind: that monster hunter walked so they could run. Instead of looking at what changes and advancements monster hunter has made over its lifetime while developing their games, the publisher and devs for the MH-likes are trying to immediately grasp Monster hunter levels of success which makes the games fall way short in a direct comparison. Wild Hearts had potential but the rush for success made the quality of the game pale in comparison to Monster Hunter. I was able to play dauntless prior to the December update but the gameplay didn’t hook me in as I compared it unfavorably to Monster Hunter, a franchise I picked up almost 20 years ago and has watched grow better over that time.
I agree with both of these comments. Monster Hunter had so much time to cook. It's basically a colossal task to immediately get that type of quality, and even Monster Hunter itself still isn't immune to game mistakes (base sunbreak). I still try Wild Hearts, but the performance killed it for me. The only mistake it had was being made by EA...
The thing is there's a severely lacking in passion and dedication of those people been making monster hunter clones - there still no GE4, there still no Toukiden 3, no sequel to Soul Sacrifice, Wild Hearts is dead before they could fix it and added all the planned contents... They don't grown on their own over these years but looked at Monster Hunter and scared and dipped out because they tried and couldn't grasp that level of success and polish.
The MH dev team is basically made of MH scientists at this point because of how well they know and understand their own franchise. Yeah the genre should always have competition but it's nearly impossible for anyone to start from the ground up and expect to compete on even footing with a series that has 10+ games under its belt.
I agree with the comments morre than thee OP but yeah the gist is something I can say - there's no good MH-likes unlikee say, Pokemon, cause of how much care and lovee they take to actualy prosper. MH was a labor of love, you cant copy that by just trying to sshoot for the fame that came with the efforts put into it out of love. This is probably why the best MH-likes on the list seem to be around as old as MH or were simply not made direclty as a MH-likee at all - they were made back when games were more about the product than the money or were made by those inspired by MH and did some. . borrowing.
i think the one thing that toukiden was missing was the fact is there is no point in playing solo without your allies it doesn't change the hp of the oni and it makes quests easier, also with the realism part i think its because there is actual magic in the game with telepathy the shrine maidens and stuff like the armour saying it had a spell cast onto it or there are magic runes making it stronger so i think that's also something to think about when taking about realism
Large Oni were made to be fought with multiple people in your team. You should only do it by yourself if you want a challenging fight or have strong equipment.
Dauntless WAS in a pretty good state BEFORE the relaunch, there was hunting quests and expeditions, it had functionally become a game inbetween world and rise in terms of arcadiness. It had really cool generic weapons flavored to each monster and even more cool legendary weapons that you got for doing the end game content but ultimately felt really fun to play… now i feel all the life has been drained from it, a prime example that crypto ruins EVERYTHING even things that it‘s barely involved in
Dauntless was a fantastic game until December 5th 2024, i was a top player for years and now i cant even muster the strength to play the game out of grief, i will never become as good in Monster Hunter despite playing it since childhood as i was in Dauntless....
I think Dauntless is just waiting to be shutdown rn 😞 Im pretty sad to see it like this, I've been playing it since the time when Shrowd and Rezakiri are considered The last bosses of the game, time before Riftstalker, before Valomyr, before shock escalation. bought Ramsguard commander pack and all. The hunt was a lot more enjoyable back then, before everything turn to this speed running - dumping as much damage as possible - glass canon playstyle.
Fun fact: Omega Force made both Wild Hearts and Tokiden 2. Honestly that's the biggest disappointment of Wild Heart, It's a 3rd attempt, and considering their previous attempts it should have been MUCH better then it was
I think the most interesting thing about Omega Force is seeing them improve upon their own mechanics between each game. But then you hit Wild Hearts and the improvements only seem to go halfway. On one hand they learned from some elements of Toukiden, but on the other hand they ended up falling into new and different pitfalls some of which that they had avoided previously, and others that they had simply not had to engage with.
been a monster hunter fan since 4u and also looking the scratch the itch between releases. been super hooked on Rise and been playing waiting for Wilds to come out. loved your video and excited to see what you make next
If you ask me, one thing that MH has managed to perfect that no other game (whether it's a MH-like or not) comes close to achieving is translating the visual design of its monsters into their fights. The designs of each one is so interwoven into their attacks that you can tell what half of their moveset will be just from looking at them alone. Not only that, their attack animations and how they wind them up is so smooth, with each individual one so easily distinguishable, that it feels incredibly satisfying to observe and learn to recognize them. Thanks to this the MH series has managed to create fantastical creatures that feel grounded to reality. It's easy to imagine each one as an actual living creature because of how much sense everything about their designs make. This is such an incredible accomplishment that deserves so much more recognition than it gets.
There'll never be a modern MH type game, because AAA companies nowadays are about getting as much money as possible with the least amount of work. (While MH was always a good amount of money, but it'll do it for decades) And Wild Hearths is the perfect example of it. EA seen that Capcoms makes really good money with World and they wanted a slice of that sweet pie. And when they released WH, they realized that it won't be that easy. Capcom spent 20 years polishing this genre of the games, where they were more or less the only one participants. They've raised the bar really high over the years, what is really not that easy to jump, especially for publishers like EA, who just want fast money. Wild Hearths was a decent-ish game, but it lacked the polish and the further support, what is needed for a game like this to succeed on the long term. Daunless was nice for what is was. A F2P alternative for MH, but they really just had to blow up everything what they've been building up.
I still hold that the biggest thing Monster Hunter has over many of its imitators is that the weapon mechanics for all of its weapons are just so good and nuanced. Games like Dauntless and Wild Hearts just felt so simplified by comparison. For example just take the Greatsword in MH, it's a pretty common archetype of having just a big slow weapon that does a ton of damage. But they add some nuance to it by making it need to build up to the true charge slash across multiple hits. But on top of that you can cancel out of a charge to do a shoulder tackle as a form of offensive defense, but it also doubles as a way to shortcut to more powerful charged attacks, giving the move multiple uses. Then on top of that there's still different finisher moves and ways to loop your combos and Wilds is only adding more to this with Focus attacks and that rad Offset attack and so on and so forth. Despite being MH's "Simplest" weapon it still has a ton of depth and gives the player a lot of different "tools" to work with. Meanwhile every other version of the greatsword archetype I've seen in these other games is just braindead. Wild Hearts lets you move and even attack while charging your sword up so there's no real tradeoff for trying to find an opening you can just casually charge up your sword while still fighting and dodging attacks no problem. And Axe has the charged attacks but none of the nuance with ways to cancel your charges into counters or other moves or anything like that. I haven't played Toukiden personally but your problems you mentioned with the weapons feeling samey give me a feeling that I would likely have similar problems with that weapons too Another good example of how the weapon designs fall short for me in these games is Wild Hearts' Katakuri Staff weapon. Based on videos it seemed like an insanely complex weapon, like it was charge blade on steroids with 4-5 different forms you could swap between on the fly and all these moves. But when you actually play it, it's completely braindead. You have a meter you build up to do your SAED equivalent, but you charge that meter by just swapping between the different forms as fast as possible. This means that there's almost no meaningful distinctions between the different forms because the proper way to use the weapon is to swap to a form, only do like 1 or 2 attacks, and then move on to the next form. There's no real combos or nuance to it, you just spam swapping forms until you can turn your staff into a building-sized sword before you rinse and repeat. Do I even need to bring up how much more interesting the design of Swtich Axe and Charge Blade are by comparison? There are people who play only a single weapon in MH for hundreds if not thousands of hours without even trying. People might play a weapon for all that time and still be learning some nuances of the moveset like how it often takes Charge Blade users a long time to even learn that Guard Points exist and how to use them properly. But I just can't see myself using a single weapon type in any of these other games for nearly as long. There just doesn't feel like there's enough depth to actually explore for all that time
accidentally clicked on this video but happy i stayed, solid video, solid quality and solid commentary. excited to see where this channel goes in the future! edit: i had no clue you did the frontier video as well!! great content for such a small channel
Okay c'mon. Dragons Dogma 2 isnt even REMOTELY a 'Monster Hunter-like' Thats like calling Bioshock a 'COD-like' because they both have shooting. Why not God Eater...that's LITERALLY a monster-hunter like. One of the first ones even.
Im not sure if the YT algorithm is actually working, or its a 'clock is right twice a day' thing. But I had to sub as soon as I heard *Excitedly* "I get to use my degree~!" Hilarious, keep up the solid work Eco!
Great video man! Finally someone who picked out unique elements in monster hunter likes, and compared it to the OG. Some cool things are are Wild Hearts and Toukiden 2, I would never learned, cause the styles and aesthetic just doesn't grab me at all. So thanks for showing that :D Cant wait for wilds, and to easy the itch I started to concept a monster hunter like. Focusing more on prep and tracking, but learned the hard way, that tracking is a very hard thing to make satisfying and fun at the same time. Maybe a good topic to dive into, tracking in video games, would like to hear your opinion what is good and how to make a cool system!
Heres a list of every Action Hunting games in existence (and recommended platforms to play): == Bandai Namco == God Eater (2010 / PSP) God Eater Burst (2011 / PSP) God Eater 2 (2013 / PSP, PS Vita) God Eater 2 Rage Burst (2015 / PS Vita, PS4) God Eater Resurrection (2015 / PS Vita, PS4. ※Remaster of the first game with new mechanic and _"content"_ ) God Eater 3 (2018 / PS4, PC, NS) Freedom Wars (2014 / PS Vita, PS4, NS, PC) == Koei Tecmo == Toukiden (2013 / PSP, PS Vita) Toukiden Kiwami (2014 / PSP, PS Vita, PS4, PC) Toukiden 2 (2016 / PS Vita, PS4, PC) Wild Hearts (2023 / PS5, XB4, PC) == Square Enix == Lord of Arcana (2010 / PSP) Lord of Apocalypse (2011 / PSP, PS Vita) Final Fantasy Explorers (2014 / 3DS) == Konami / tri-Ace == Frontier Gate (2011 / PSP) Frontier Gate Boost+ (2014 / PSP) ※This is a turn-based but still worth mentioning == Sega == Phantasy Star Nova (2014 / PS Vita) == Sony == Soul Sacrifice (2013 / PS Vita) Soul Sacrifice Delta (2014 / PS Vita) == Cygames == Granblue Fantasy: Relink (2023 / PS4, PC) ※Ok, this is an Action JRPG, but fights are very Action Hunting game coded with Bayonetta sprinkled in
Why even include DD2 when it’s literally no where close to any MH game?? I was so confused seeing Grigori on the video’s picture and expected some good comparisons, but I feel the creator just wanted to talk about it as it literally shares the most basic vague topics. Both of them having big hostile creatures doesn’t mean DD2 is a monster hunter like and the comparison where he talks about them both having classes to fight is so broad he couldve done that with literally any other game like R6Siege having classes that work together or like ghost of tsushima having different fighting styles. Its just so incorrect calling it a “monster hunter like” it wouldve made more sense putting palworld 💀
You should try soul sacrifice delta if you can (it's sadly relegated to the ps vita) it's the best monster hunter like I've played. Instead of weapon types you have a wide variety of spells and you bring a loadout of 6 iirc to every hunt. Each spell has a few limited uses per hunt and you have to kill small monsters or find nodes around the map to refill them, or use it all and actually break the spell. The story is actually pretty good too. I don't normally read in-game lore but I've read the lore of most of the monsters and arenas in the in game lore book. Which is also the quest log (and the equipment screen, it's all the UI) and basically the main character.
Love dragons Dogma, but in a video like this i would have replaced that section with God Eater 3 maybe. On a side note i LOVE the iron sand Badger Kimono from wild hearts. So neat. Also your take on Immersion is fantastic
God Eater series, Toukiden, Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice were all good monster hunter-likes, if you are willing to be less strict about the comparisons. We just haven't had many in recent years. I think the main issue is that monster hunter is building on a legacy of developed content over so many generations. Trying to compare the weapon kits and variety (along with monster variety and depth) for a new series to monster hunter really isn't fair. And the two that were building up to be somewhat comparable (god eater and toukiden) both got abandoned (or revamped into something completely different in the case of toukiden -> wild hearts). Had they continued to build up I think they could have had sufficient depth, but really this was before MH got big in the west. Developers were just more likely to build something like a souls-like which is way easier to build from scratch compared to the depth of weapon and monster variety in monster hunter. If you want another game that was surprisingly more fun than I expected and is still loosely similar to monster hunter, give granblue fantasy re:link a look. I expected it to be a very shallow comparison to monster hunter and it definitely had some different progression systems but it was still a very fun game that surprised me in many good ways.
God Eater series should be in here Good thing you mentioned Toukiden the series is rather fun. Still holding out hope for a Toukiden 2 Kiwami edition. Soul Sacrifice is also kind of a monster hunter like.
long time dauntless player here, and I wanted to add something to the whole 'none of the behemoths stick in your mind' thing you mentioned. the rock behemoth that you said was your favorite is named skarn, and it actually had a pretty well crafted identity that has stuck in my mind since launch. at launch, there were 3 Terra behemoths. Skarn being the only one of them with the rock shield gimmick with the other 2 having quick movesets with an invisibility mechanic or an area hazzard that can slow you down and disable your dodge. the three behemoths all needed a different approach; skarn needed heavy or blunt weapons like the hammer to break its armor to deal damage, the invisible one needed weapons with high stun and high part damage like the axe to keep it in one place, and the area control one bennefitted from weapons with more mobility or range like the repeaters and chain blades to work around its movement restrictions. these three behemoths all had different styles of fighting it because while originally you were able to specfically target a single behemoth, that wasn't the only way. you were also able to do something called a patrol, which set you against a random behemoth of a specific type(either an element or a higher level behemoth of any element for higher levels). that's why the 3 terra behemoths were so different, because you needed to plan ahead and consider which of the 3 might be fighting and tailor your loadout to it. the biggest death nail for dauntless's monsters feeling unique is that when they updated the game to add the hunting grounds, they kneecapped the behemoth's unique mechanics and gimmicks because they HAD to, otherwise you'd be stopping to redo your loadout every five seconds. there are still higher leveled behemoths that require some specific requirements to spawn(mostly the keystone behemoths at the end of escalations) and who put up significantly more of a fight, but that requirement is almost always "kill some other behemoths then i'll spawn" and then all that's left is trials, which is the challenge mode of the game where behemoths again still put up some fight, but its always because of the stat bumps and modifiers of the trials format. never the actual mechanics of the behemoths themselves. the behemoths were designed for a game that dauntless isn't anymore, and they had to have all the edges sanded off to fit the new game more, with all of their gimmicks more or less removed for the sake of making sure the player never really has to think about their loadout much for which behemoth they're fighting. there's never a reason to change your loaout based on the behemoth anymore, because your loadout doesn't really matter. even in a heroic escalation, a very difficult high level activity, I can go in with armor and weapons that give me a disadvantage against the behemoths in that escalation and still be fine. dauntless HAS cool monsters, VERY cool ones. but there's no reason, or even opportunity, to actually engage with those cool monster's mechanics and think about them at all. pretty much the only one who's gimmick has stayed relevant is Skarn, which I assume is why it was your favorite. but back in the day, every behemoth was as cool as skarn before they all got kneecaped.
Freedom Wars Remake just came out a few days ago. It's not exactly like Monster Hunter but it has the same core principles in gameplay and has a grappling hook/wire bug.
Also, just have to shout out the music in MH:W, im not a music nerd by any means but they somehow managed to envelope each elder dragon's lore and mindset into their theme/fight music. I think that the certain level of respect and dedication paid to the craft of actually creating the monsters, their lore and music in world specifically is another reason for the game's success. Theres a dude on yt who reacts to the boss themes in MH:W and without knowing the game or monster, he is able to describe the monsters mindset and lore to a pretty accurate extent JUST from the music alone. Its so cool.
It's not only world that has great music, the dread that themes like gogmazios brings or the feeling like the end of the world from a monster like dire moralis comes to mind for me when I think of monster hunter's music. If you haven't already I encourage you to listen to some of the older themes as Capcom doesn't seem to miss
As a big fan of Toukiden 2 I can confirm the story is so much better than anything Monster Hunter has to offer same with God Eater 3 as well I'd say. Since let's all be real here MH has one weakness; The story is kinda ass usually we can all agree on that. I love Toukiden 2's plot and characters from beginning to end every cast member has a personality and reason for actually being there (Homura is the goat by the way) and are just so enjoyable to watch even more so since you get to actually fight beside them during story fights instead of them just sending your ass out to do it while they sit on their lazy asses and do fuck and all like in MH. IF you're like me and you think story and plot is just as important if not more than gameplay at times, please give Toukiden 2 a chance! It is legitimately that good!
@@RonHumangus gawd, the OPs talking about stories, narratives and character building comparison, Im a huge ass MH fan but you're going sideways, so you admit MH has an ASSwipe lore storytelling and NPC character building then?
As someone who USED to play a lot of Dauntless, it peaked right before the update that made it so you couldnt fight a specific monster (I think it changed Ramstead (The hub) too in that update). It used to be SO much fun and ill be honest, other than a very small amount of issues I had with it (at the time), I liked it better than MHW. I loved to play almost all the different weapons because they were all pretty unique and had WILDLY different playstyles. Same for the monsters. Unlike in MH where I used to only stick to a weapon or 2, in Dauntless I used to use a different weapon for every monster because some might have more telltale *bonk* windows where another had more windows open after each attack if you dodged it right. I really liked the telltale *bonk* windows tho, glad that MHWilds is kinda adding that with offset attacks. I hurt to see that you played it before its peak, and after its downfall. And on Wild Hearts, love the game, IF I COULD RUN IT! (thankfully I can now that I built a new PC, still really like it actually!)
The Ramsgate update was actually the update right before the reforged update, (the bad one you're thinking of.) But you're right. After reforged, everything went downhill.
The main difference between Monster Hunter and all the Monster Hunter likes is that Monster Hunter is much more grounded, monsters are realistic, which makes you love them much more.
28:46 The imaginative realism is one of the things I really love about Monster Hunter. The monster designs, especially the amount of detail they put into the ecology of the monsters is amazing. It makes them feel real and a part of the environment they’re in and world at large.
The CLOSEST MH-like that is of a high quality imo is Wild Hearts. Yes the framerate isn't good, but the rest of the game is really charming and well designed. It's probably the best one I can recommend (Fuck EA)
I understand your opinion on Wild Hearts, but the thing I love is that they gave me the Wagasa. The feeling of knowing monster patterns felt great when you got it, and if you're sharp with parries, you're nearly invincible. Despite the longsword being similar, it felt more interactive for me, and I'll always hope something similar comes out.
Genesis game called Soul Sacrifice Delta it released on the PS Vita is probably one of the best games on that console it is so amazing and it's pretty much like a Monster Hunter like game I highly recommend anyone who sees this checks it out
Bro, did you make a monster hunter like video, but not include the god eater series or soul sacrifice in favor of Dragon's dogma 2? DD2 isn't even the good one, Dark arisen is. Bruh. Nice Toukiden 2 lampshading, Omegaforce made that and Wild hearts, but Toukiden is way better. Godeater 2 rageburts is my favorite.
Wrong as someone who played alot of dd1 and dd2 dd2 is better overall dd1 does some stuff better but the open world not as good sure dd1s story better but dogma was never about it's story I find it funny when newcomers come into dogma and act like they now what there talking about just bc they hear other ppl saying it both games are better in there own ways and both are worth playing.
@@Gems56 Listen, kid, I'm no new comer to dragon's dogma, so you can shove it. Also you sound like a tourist trying to appear like he knows the series, "Erm, as a long time fan of X, I actually think the worse entry is better"; The consensus for people who played Arisen and DD2 is that DD2 is a half baked remake that takes a lot of steps backwards mechanically with a worse story. It's pretty easy conclusion to come to independently. Also the "DD was never about the story" is the most cope comment ever; The story is just as important as all the other main elements of the game, otherwise they wouldn't bother writing it or the lore. Go on and eat your slop somewhere else, buddy. DD online is more a sequel than DD2.
@@neurosis51 whatever you want to tell yourself but dd2 does have a better open world with more enemy variety in the open world better weather new region and better endgame in my opinion.
I think Dragon's Dogma 2 is great. Just a shame that there are a few things that hold it back, especially with its more simplified armor system compared to the first. Also, will never forget how they accidentally teased a monk class, just for it to never be in the game at all 💀
I replayed DD2 a while back and it only cemented how much i think Capcom was always the problem. They've never had faith in Dragon's Dogma as a series. It's not a series that lends itself very well to monetization despite their attempts, there's a reason why Dark Arisen removed it. Dragon's Dogma Online could have worked but guess what? They didn't want to release it overseas where it probably would have been more successful. Then with Dragon's Dogma 2 it not only got rushed but it had a smaller team iirc. The game is pretty but the writing is quite bad, there's not much enemy variety, and personally i think that the map is genuinely too big. There's also a lot of systems that feel half baked like camping and cooking.
@Foogi9000 I can only hope they'll announce a DLC for it. I remember someone saying that DD2 was a tech demo for Wilds and honestly? I can see it lol which is a shame because I still want to have faith for the series to grow, just want them to try different things with the story. There's a reason why people still make fnaarts and memes about the characters in the MH games despite having less story than Dragon's Dogma.
@@theoneandonly2441 I hope they announce a dlc soon too. Like the first game DD2 has potential but moreso than even the first game it's frustratingly not being utilized. First thing they need to do is add proper dungeons and temples to the map. Secondly they need to increase enemy variety, give players a reason to use all of the tools at their disposal and be creative. Lastly add more depth to the systems that you are forced to interact with like cooking and camping. I don't understand why Dragon's Dogma 2 couldn't have had a system like MH or BotW instead.
36:01 I feel like a consequence for having to access your storage in the field could be as simple as a zenny cost (or increased zenny cost with a smaller buff in the case of food), it would incentivize preparing beforehand to save the zenny but keep the flexibility of having access to your stash if you happened to equip the wrong item preset or just forgot to restock. Could even be explained with it having to be a contingent of palicos that needs to bring your items/gear out to you, instead of a minecraft ender chest-esque magic portal box that just has all your stuff.
Wild Hearts was very cool and a lot of fun. Don’t be a Monster Hunter fanboy, just like From Software fanboys. And while it’s not a Monster Hunter-like, there’s Granblue Fantasy Relink, which has a very similar progression system that’s also really great.
Both MH team and Fromsoft have such certain vision, passion, and dedication to their stuffs, which other developers don't tho. While it's also very good, Wild Hearts is prime example of why MH clones sucks, they dropped the support when the game not making as much as they expected, still broken (my friend literally lost her 200 hours after the game made her PC crash with the save corrupted got uploaded to cloud) and missing some planned update/kemono seem planned for a long run.
A highlight for wildhearts for me was the music! The freaking subspecies spore rat has one of the best themes for some reason. Seriously if you haven't yet listen to the ost some of the themes are outstanding!
unironically, something ive had in my mind for a long while is a metroidvania 2d style game with heavy monster inspiration. having each monster be integrated into its given area gives them a lot of flexibility and identity. the monster hunter style of hunting a monster throughout the area also makes it much more memorable and allows for different ways to take down a monster based on what gear youve unlocked throughout your playthrough and/or what specific areas you fight in. of course, the monsters themselves would be the key to new gear and playstyles, giving it that monster hunter progression. to aid this, your glimpses and short combat sessions throughout an area can give you a lot of insight into a monster in order to decide what tools youre going to use. also, not to mention, the 2d metroidvania style allows for something unique; good siege fights... since the genre often heavily uses movement and platforming, it slots in much more naturally. but yeah, point being, theres a lot more ways to take inspiration from monster hunter than trying to copy its formula 1-for-1, and a lot of devs dont really take advantage of that.
Dogma isn't trying to be MH at all. What are you on about? You ignored some of the most popular MH likes to make a point that would be undone if you did even some research. This is a shit video
@maybeimortal5697 how are the games similar besides fighting monsters and weighty combat? I guess dark souls is monster hunter too. How about the witcher? Shadow of the colossus? They are completely different genres and diverge greatly in gameplay. However if we go by these rules, my point is made even stronger. Now there's dozens of great MH likes according to this logic. I don't care if that was their plan internally. Maybe it worked. Good. Doesn't mean the games are in the same genre let alone sub genre. This doesn't make your point the way you think it does and shows you have a shallow understanding. If internally Capcom added coop to resi 5 partially to try appealing to MH fans would you say it's a MH like?
Whats giving it for MH is that it refined it's story and it's player keep returning for that. Since they never stopped refining the formula there is always a good balance between familiarity and innovation. Once you start a MH game for a first play, if you ever played an MH before, you aren't starting from 0, you bring your experience with you and you will never stop improving. When I play MH, it0's muscle memory, I don't need to think of when to dodge, when to block, and if I make mistakkes I understand what I did wrong and can correct for the next hunt. I played world after Rise, bcs I didn't have a PC at the time, so I fought Velkana in world way after doing it in rise and I KNEW how to fight it, it was absolutely gratifying to tackle it again after maybe 1.5 years and absolutely remembering how it moves, how it fight. Experience is never lost in MH. Thats goes also with the game mechanics. MH3 underwater fighting ? You love it or you hate it, but it was the first time we were introduced to fighting in a 3D environment and that helped shape MH4 and the climb and ride mechanics, up to World maps and Rise complete free flying. I love these games, they gave so much to their players
Missed the best MH inspired game-- GOD EATER. There are 3 and all of them are pretty good. You get a melee/gun combo as a weapon, with different types of both to pick from. You make custom bullets which can do insane things like 'fly into the sky and rain down meteors', or any other thing you yourself can think of. There are big tits. Then there's the monsters, they're crazier looking than MH and are, as the name suggests, based on Gods, and like MH, you make things from them and can break parts during battle. The story is dark and gory. You can craft clothes purely for style. It's not MH. But it's inspired by it and borrows enough from it that it's got a relatively large loyal following. It's definitely the second best monster hunting game out there and the second oldest.
@@methanoI I’ve never played LotF so I have no opinion on those games. But I was actually thinking of stuff like Black Myth Wukong or Code Vein, where they seemingly carry themselves off as spectacle action games like your Ninja Gaidens, God of Wars or Devil May Cries, but gimp themselves with Souls mechanics and as a result have a horrible case of identity crisis. Stellar Blade didn’t fall into the same trap as Wukong and made up its mind on being a challenging action game (honestly it felt like playing Metal Gear Rising again and I enjoyed it for that). Code Vein I enjoyed, but what hurt the immersion was when the characters themselves admitted they don’t feel exhausted because of their vampire powers (which made the existence of the dreaded stamina bar even more pointless). Honestly I feel Dark Souls mechanics only work when a game is trying to be more grounded in its approach, they don’t work when it’s trying to be more stylized (the Nioh games especially annoyed me by the end because your slow @$$ protagonists start getting pitted against what are essentially super-fast Ninja Gaiden bosses).
@@alexkogan9755 Ah, completely fair point on Code Vein. I mostly enjoyed it due to how well the area design was. (Cathedral of Blood shouldve been Anor Londo.)
I cant stress enough how fun dauntless used to be man. Some of the best Boss designs I've seen with super fun game play. Like one of my favorite was this giant cat thing that could make portals. It could take you to a pocket dimension mid fight where it would open a ton of portals and fake attack out of a few before doing a real one and you could tell which portal it was buy the color. The weapons felt unique and all fun. The sword was a jack of all trades with consistent damage if you knew the combos. The spear did wound damage which would debuff the monster. The hammer dealt posture damage that knocked it out. The axe could interrupt the monster mid attack if you timed it right. Everyone had their own role. One of my favorite thing were the legendary monsters that felt so damn fun to figure out and they were genuinely tough too. Or the world bosses that took like 15 people. Man such a shame what happened to it I wish everyone could experience if they wanted but no one can 😢
To me, there's no point in playing a Monster Hunter-like. The gameplay loop is so solid that I could always just come back to World, Rise, GU, or hell even FU and play around with different weapons and fight different monsters. MH is special because of many many things, and it's hard to replicate it without it feeling clunky or boring.
Maybe you can do a part 2 with a couple of games the comments suggested. My suggestion would be Gran Blue Fantasy Relink. This is actually a really good MH Like Game. After like 50 Hours of Playtime and reaching the Endgame, its almost only gamble for the right crystals and right attribute things. But nonetheless its crazy good
Now i will say, even though it a dead game now (for some reason), wildhearts was one the best monster hunter likes ever. I think its biggest issue was the endgame grind after you beat the story was transmog. Once it got some updates i thiught it was picking up again. The new variants/ kamono were absolutely fantastic challenges.
I mean, World did make a siege fight fun. They made it fun by just hunting the giant dragon directly. Safi'Jiva is genuinely the highpoint of iceborne for me.
Would be cool if you did a part 2 of this series covering Soul Sacrifice and Freedom Wars but maybe your goal was to compare games that were the closest in being a Monster Hunter-like instead of games that just exist in a similar genre.
My build in Monster hunter was revolved around using the Kulve Taroth's Satiated to my advantage. I combined max satiated with max fast eater and max friendship allowing me to spam heals to my friends at max speed without ever running out of heals. It got to a point where when we fight lunastra or other enemies with intense tick damage type moves I was just hanging back and drink spamming as my allies continiuously healed through it. I think i even managed to save my entire team from an Escaton Judgement. The build possibilities for Monster Hunter and fluidity are amazing.
I expect it to be at least properly researched because Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't even an MH-Like 😭 It baffles me that DD2 is on here but nothing related to God Eater.
Holy shit, I remember Toukiden 2! I genuinely loved the game and the open world. I totally enjoyed story, the side quests, and the character lore. I really wish the game would get a sequal one day. If Okami and Onimushi can get a sequal, this game should too!!
I'm surprised you didn't mention Granblue Relink. Granted, you use characters instead of weapons, but since each of them is unique they are equivalent to weapons.
I've been using the wait for Wilds in order to play other monster hunter like games, and actually found so much to love in Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice, and God Eater. They may not be as complex but each has systems that Monster Hunter doesn't or cannot have whether it be the settings/plot, combat mechanics, ect. I think people SHOULD give these games a real chance for when they want a little break from Wilds.
One of the best games I ever played in the hunter genre was Soul Sacrifice Delta on the PS Vita back during college around 2015. It was a really good game with an immersing story and interesting combat mechanics and gameplay loop. It may be old but I recommend looking into it.
I'm a big DD2 fan but I'm more lukewarm on Monster Hunter, and I remember the director for Dragon's Dogma was actively talking with the director of Monster Hunter for advice on the second game. You can definitely see it if you've played both the first and second game AND a monster hunter game, particularly in the Warrior class with its chargeable abilities, but there are little things here and there too. I've even seen some monsters in DD2 have a rudimentary turf war! Except in DD2 it has you shitting your pants a whole lot more than in Monster Hunter. Because my girlfriend is a HUGE MH fan and will drag me to play Wilds far more than I would otherwise, I'm really hoping to see some design choices taken from Dragon's Dogma as well. Sadly, it seems the director for Dragon's Dogma has left Capcom, so I don't expect we'll be getting more games in the series with quite the same vision. Hopefully it doesn't mean the series is entirely dead, though.
Wild Hearts was a very good game. The whole time I played it, all I could think was "if they get to do Wild Hearts 2 its' probably going to be a great game. I didn't find the monster design or variety very compelling, but the Kurikuri building added to the uniqueness of different weapon playstyles and team composition and really made the game a MH "similar" that had it's own unique feel. I did not play the game through to the end because some of the bugs and design choices didn't keep me interested. Also, learning all the systems for crafting and equipment was a bit much.
It's a good thing MH is one of capcom's most successful franchises ever or we wouldn't have much in the way of content in this genre. Such a unique concept it's pretty shocking that basically nobody else can replicate that magic
The fact that you didn't mention God Eater is outrageous,it's one of the first franchises to try and make a Monster Hunter-like and it's really good overall I recently played God Eater 3 and was so invested i actually got the Platinum for it
Since a lot of people already mentioned God Eater, i'd also like to introduce you to Soul Sacrifice, which is monster hunter but with witchcraft and sorceries, and the monster you fight are eldritch monstrosity that used to be human that got cursed (each of them have interesting lore on how/why they got cursed). There used to be a lot of good MH-likes back when MH is still a niche handheld titles (GE, Toukiden and Soul Sacrifice was first released on portable consoles). All of them are interesting and fun in their own way, but in my opinion there haven't been a game that matched the vibes and feel of slaying dragons with a giant sword as satisfying and as authentic as Monster Hunter is
I remember in Old Monster Hunter actually not being able to do a quest again after leaving because I forgot to stock up because I couldn't afford the Quest Fee. I had to get Money before being able to head out again and it really made me think about preparing.
God Eater 1&2 (fun, a bit grindy) Soul Sacrifice (Could not recommend more) The latter is only on PSP and VITA. Loved it and I try to share it with others. Really deserved a new gen sequel or just even a remaster.
The immersion talk is a good segway into the title of the video actually. [[ Just saying this is long and anything after the "Core Loop" mark is kinda extra :P ]] 25:30 Immersion is both. People have different things that they naturally gravitate towards getting super into. farming games, simulators, and other natural activities etc. The key word is Demographic. It is the the developers job to recognise the vibe of the game and the rough demographic that they would match best, and then implement aspects that engage those. When that's matched and done well, you achieve the effect that someone would have of being immersed. There is a big overarching number of reasons(and 4 paragraphs) why more likely there cannot be a Monster Hunter-like. I think you would get it though because you brought up that aspect of pre-hunt preparation. That's an example of the depth of knowledge CAPCOM designs pretty much everything in MH around, and what most others that attempt to create a "Monster Hunter-like" or really just piggyback off of another game will fail to know and use. Pre hunt prep made sense and did have value in the experience, but it was the concept of prep implemented in a way that would just reduce as much value as it gave. For the same reason that would take again paragraphs, that is also why I would say the Dragon's dogma version of the mechanics you talked about is also not good UNLESS the player can reasonably avoid taking damage unless they specifically mess up. OR most cases are that you end up retreating to a different town(if it's the same one or you can't avoid damage then it's a mechanic that basically just stops you from playing). The max health from dying and then save scumming is !debatably! not good because it's a diabolically subtle way of putting a player on a frustration educing negative feedback loop. But if you save scum that's funny. IF the game did the not good case that I mentioned with health and damage, and then implemented this punishment for save scumming then I would not support that game because that(design mentality and philosophy)if implemented in a multiplayer environment is how you cultivate toxicity from educing personal frustration. Which btw is exactly why today's PvP scene feels the way it does. Knowing the difference In those design choices are what make MH King of it's own loop right now. They have a vision and they are willing to center an entire title around new ideas that they want to test, because they already know the difference between good and bad mechanics and it's more of a question of which mechanic between two good ones get the bigger majority of majority players :P There is a Monster Hunter-like. It's called Monster hunter _________ because every title they are essentially now adays introducing entirely new structural mechanics that completely change the dynamic of the core game systems, If you reskinned and themed it you wouldn't even be able to tell it was a MH. But that's where the point is. Another MH is doable, developers just arent really good enough to know how, mainly because MH devs are already operating above a norm but the combination of both make the whole thing like if you were a noob VSing a pro; size of gap. Instead of average vs pro. Given all that, it'll be king until someone comes up with something that wouldnt be recognisable as MH like Helldivers 2 Warbonds vs the traditional Battlepass. Exactly the same result for both(arguably better profit for warbonds)definitely better satisfataction from players. but it's such a paradigm shift that I know at least one person that cannot see them as the same system functionally at all.
I'm surprised you didn't talk about God Eater, the first game that tried to be a monster hunter like
And the last good MonHun like that released. Not only was it inspired, but they created their own formula and game identity that it is quite unique on its own.
God i missed those games they where and still are so fun to play!
@@axelgarcia4188Bandai please hear our prayers 🙏😭
To me, God Eater and Monster Hunter are as similar as Soccer and Basketball.
Sure, there are a few overlap but the experiment is so difference, though.
@@Koscacio eh i would say its more like baseball and criket where the games play the same but completely different in a lot of ways
Short answer: They always forget the monsters.
A monster hunter like game is nothing if their creatures are boring to look and hunting them down.
In fact I've often see most marketing campaigns tend to emphasised too much on the human characters.
God Eater actually has memorable Aragami that are also iconic, which I think is a good contender for Monster Hunter if Bandai Namco actually cared.
This, it's about the characters, never about the monsters that get hunted
Monster hunter likes have all had plenty of focus on monsters
Yeah but they're still important. Character customization is a big thing in these games because you want to design your perfect cool badass armor set / appearance to display your trophies, and I think people were really excited about Minoto and Hinoa? They look amazing tbh and I'd say they were one of Rise's big appeals. Imo there should be main cast, usually a guild girl, smith and hunting buddy. Dauntless focused on the monsters and still failed tremendously
I hear ya. The monsters of MH seem to have genuine personalities, especially starting in the 5th generation (World and Rise). They don't act like just lumps of hit points and loot - they act like actual wild animals. They don't just walk around waiting for the Hunter to show up so they can fight - they do animal things when they're not fighting you, and you learn a lot about their character if you follow them around on their routines just as much as fighting them.
The biggest problem with Wild Hearts that killed the game was its bad performance. It doesn't have that great of an end game either, which definitely limits its longevity, but even then it would have been perfectly fine game with decent fun to be had if it wasn't for the performance.
Yeah. Wild Hearts got a lot of bad reviews about performance at the start, so it got a Mixed rating and, as a result, bad sales.
Even though the game was fun, the bad reviews about the performance were and honestly still are totally deserved as even today it doesn't run that well on PC. And at this point I don't think they could fix the shader stutter even if they wanted to without making the game again from the scratch.
I want to play this game SO badly, but I just can't justify the purchase with how bad the performance is. If the performance was great, this would be up there with God Eater and potentially could've gotten a sequel.
@@thatonepenguinperson618 just get in on ps5 or something. runs 60 fps 4k for me after half a year of the games release, and its honestly some of the most fun ive had with a game in years besides dragons dogma 1 & 2 (i know the story of 2 sucks but the gameplay is amazing)
Yea on ps5 it runs great today, played it for the first time after wilds beta had me on withdrawal, and was very surprised how good it was and sad that I didn't try at launch and that it might not get a sequel, cuz it deserves is as the only real competitor to mh, imo
dragon's dogma is a completely different thing, is like saying that gta is a racing game cuz it has vehicles
Exactly I was so confused seeing the title and then grigori like what 💀
or saying Rocket League is a racing game because you drive a car the whole time.
Lol what dragons Dogma? What a weird addition. Makes no sense.
Crapcom has always treated the Dragon’s Dogma IP as a tech demo and playtest for Monster Hunter stuff.
@@The_Original_ZacBarton k cool 👍
As a person who has at least 500 hrs i can say that old dauntless (2018 beta - 2019 epic games dauntless) was very good, it had all of it, rare monster parts, learning new monsters, unlocking new monsters, upgrading your weapons, getting perks and powerups, making builds and some super rare drops from monsters like cool dyes or secret weapons.
It was very fun, but ever since they changed the crafting mechanism it was never the same, later they changed it again for some reason, they did make one of the coolest updates ever at the same time with escalation, I still remember the Torgadoro hype (huge lava/fire monkey, for all my non dauntless people), me and my friends were screaming at the screen of how strong he was and fun, especially when he did the one punch man move, super cool.
They also had the problem, where they were too focused on the top 1% players, they created some very hard content which was very hard to get into, it meant grinding 100 hrs just for a build for a certain monster. So they had a problem with new players, no new players came, since the content for new players was none.
And after that they did the worst update ever which made the game awful, an overhaul for some unknown reason, never understood why was it necessary, instead of making new monsters and new bosses, it was the moment i lost interest, horrible update. (i mean the moment where they changed the lobby world and changed the quest system). The last thing they had going for them were the escalations, but they changed them a little bit also, but thats harder to explain.
And this video is the first time im hearing about the state the game is right now, very sad what happened to it.
Early dauntless, being free to play was an amazing little brother to Monster hunter.
I'm strongly against that game, Dauntless. I dislike its art style, gameplay feel, and feedback. Even worse is its monetization and exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, which shows they don’t care about what consumers want. The nature of EGS is just awful for customers. And that's why when it launched on Steam, the reviews were like a storm of criticism hitting all at once.
The torgadoro and thrax hyper was insane. What happend to those days man...
Same, I used to grind dauntless day in and day out, even had tons of fun during the reforged update, but once awakening dropped all fun was gone
I remember playing old Dauntless. It was pretty good. I haven’t played it in a long time so I had no idea it had gotten this bad. Sucks.
Youve clearly never played the old Dauntless... @@ScarletwingRuri
also don't know why Dragons dogma 2 is on here, the horizon games is more monster hunter like than DD 2.
agreed, i think horizon games are surprisingly a good mh-like, even without the coop.
@@tipsy634 It's the part breaking and watching the giant monster get visibly weaker or react to the broken parts.
@ exactly. every fight is a lot like barioth who starts off really strong and gets weaker the more parts you break
What really capstones the experience with Horizon is that EVERY machine has a purpose in the world’s ecology.
yeah DD2 makes no sense. DD2 is not even close to being a MH-like
God Eater is the Blazblue to Monster Hunter's Guilty Gear.
I grew up playing that game alongside the Freedom Trilogy.
I hope that I'm still alive by the time God Eater 4 came out.
not at all, God Eater wasn't made by capcom bro...
Blazblue and Guilty Gear were literally made by the same exact team.
@@ArmegisMy brother, you're focusing on the wrong comparison here lol..
I literally played and beat the main campaigns for Godeater2 RageBurst and God Eater3 after getting burnt out on Rise Sunbreak. Seriously makes me wish we got a God Eater 4 instead of the soulslike Codevein. Also Scarlet Nexus didn't really appeal either. Maybe if it had some characters that looked like those from Godeater 2 that would be cool. Like Ein or Livie.
@@dragonbladeiv9224 Not really. Besides, both BB and GG are very solid fighting games. God Eater is a good game, but it's not even on the same plane of existence as modern MH games are.
@@RiskOfBaer What do u mean not really? Op said absolutely nothing about the games being made by the same people. He was drawing comparisons between them because they're the same type of game (action game) that share some of the same aspects (the gameplay loop and some kind of fictional ecology among other things), while still having their separate strengths and weaknesses. ALMOST like GG and BB.
Let me tell you, you missed the era where Dauntless was a genuinely great game, the horrors only happened back in December as the game had a massive content drought for a while (there was still alot to do for new players but in general).
They hyped up the "Dauntless: Awakening" Update for a while as the fables stoking of Dauntless's dying flames, all the changes they talked about in there devlogs were great on paper, better Monster AI, stronger versions of existing hunting grounds, better rewards for doing the harder things the game had to offer, reworking the tedious endgame loop. They gave a special cosmetic to players who had a set amount of weapon reforges before the update dropped, i played more than i ever had to get that cosmetic and i did.
But as i stood there with my brand new shiny crown announcing "I am a longtime veteran player of this game", the game i loved for years had become something else. if it was possible to downpatch the game, or start over in some way i would do it, but Dauntless is an MMO you cant run private servers or anything of the like.
As a true Master Slayer, someone who soloed all of this games hardest challenges, someone who was on par with actual speedrunners and top tier players. Dauntless died, and a horrible misshapen homunculus imitating it took its place
As a current MH player, I genuinely started out with dauntless almost 3 years ago. I wanted to get into the monster hunter series, but with no money i decided to try dauntless, and i absolutely loved what it used to be. It taught me weapon combo mechanics, monster interrupts, weapon building and more that i was able to use to learn how the games function. It was super helpful as a noob to any type of game like that, and since awakening dropped (altho i havent playd Dauntless for a couple months aleeady), i decided to fully transfer over to the MH Series, and its reminded me why i loved this style of game.
And yes, although current day Dauntless is bad, and it was mimicking a lot, I genuinely thank Dauntless for getting me into such games that i never experienced before, but leaving it still sucked, altho now i am much happier playing what i originally wanted to.
Idk what you think you’re talking about, but Dauntless hasn’t been good since the last time I played in like 2017
Like a lot of slayers out there I was hyped for this update, I had a large pause in between until around a month before the update. I was grinding and preparing my favorite weapons/armor for the the "update". I had completely misread when they mentioned the weapon removal, I thought some of the special weapons were getting removed and we'd keep the rest. Imagine my disappointment when I logged back in to see my beloved weapons gone.
@@tee-ravis no, you're definitely wrong and biased. Dauntless was in an incredible state pre-release game quality wise. With the promised changes, it was supposed to bring new and returning players by basically fixing every issue the game had. But Fortiche (a crypto scam company) had to buy the game and what followed is what we have now.....
What's even worse is that not only is it difficult to find a MonHun like, but if you just want a MMO or MMO-lite experience with good character customization, action combat, and enough challenge to be fun, your best option is pretty much only MonHun.
I'd love to be incorrect, but I looked,
Wildhearts itself is pretty good, but the performance alone managed to sadly ruin it
Which makes the end of Dragon's dogma online all the more tragic for me
Fun action combat, great character customization with both a Skill tree, and various class based abilities which you could pick and chose, great class variety, a good take on the "holy trinity' of MMOs (Tank classes also buff allies/debuff enemies, healers can expose weakpoints, and damage dealer have a ton of various ways of fucking up a monster), a goods crafting system which was the best way to get the best gear (well the shop too, sadly) AND the option to play solo with your own customised NPCs (solo or any mix of 1 to 4 players)
But Capcom fucked it up.
God Eater was better when it comes to character customisation and action combat(I like movement combat), it also once had an mmo but it was only for mobile and in Japanese so yeah. Almost everyone who played the game likes the game as much as they do with MonHun
There is the original that inspired monster hunter: Phantasy Star Online.
Pso2 ng scratches that itch for me.
For me, Wild Hearts is outstanding. There’s a flow to wild hearts combat where if you’re able to properly use your karakuri and effectively counter the kemono with the proper contraptions, you can take down a Kemono in about 5 minutes, and it feels incredible to pull off. There’s also the ability to literally create your own shortcuts and camps around the map, being able to set it up how you think is best. I love the combat, the exploration, the kemono and their armor designs, the challenge the later fights provide, the fact that the path in the weapon tree matters alongside the weapon you choose to make, and the world building and story. Genuinely my two gripes with the game are the smaller pool of monsters (which was being fixed by the content updates) and the performance issues (which I was lucky enough to barely have). It’s in my opinion a legitimate competitor to monster hunter that innovates on its formula, and is honestly better than monster hunter in a few aspects. A competitor to monster hunter which I lament every day for the fact that its publisher was EA…
Yeah, as soon as he said, that he stopped at fumebeak (which is essentially a completely different monster due to the mechanic it introduces) and never met the later kemonos (deathstalker, amaterasu, golden tempest, celestial dragon, Murakumo) it felt kinda thrown away. Thats like stoppping MHW when facing pink rathian the first time because "uhh subspecies". The peak starts later. Monster and armor design was incredible and the game but EA had to gut it
100% to both these comments. I absolutely loved Wild Hearts and strongly feel it's been the only genuinely competitive entry to the genre.
Wildhearts was killed by EA and the developers. But it had the chance to actually become a contender in the long run.
Unfortunately, contraptions are really lame as a core mechanic.
Agree hate em@@XistenceX1
I always see comparisons of Dragons Dogma 2 to Monster Hunter, but they don't feel the same at all. Why do people compare them? Because they're both Capcom? The big monsters? They're really not all that similar
That's literally it from what I know. God Eater, Soul Sacrifice, Vindictus, etc would've been better games to compare with Monster Hunter than Dragon's Dogma where the comparisons end at "you fight big monsters and use their parts to make/upgrade your gear"
And it was literally made by the same company as Monster Hunter.
Yup, totally disagree if this both got compared. Of course DD2 fight against big monster just like DDDA, but this game was open world RPG just like Elder Scroll than MH games for me 😂
Cus you can climb the monsters, break or sever parts of them
It's because mh and DD1&2 has the same team of developers, so core gamplay and philosophy of it the same in each game.
Petition to change the title to "Why are there no Monster Hunter likes as Good as Monster Hunter?"
Cuz Toukiden and God Eater are great, just not as great.
Good is relative. It's pretty obvious we're evaluating games here through the prism of MH games, which are just so damn good even a good game looks poor in comparison.
he establishes this at the very start of the video 1:06
those are good games, yeah, but theey aren't good representations of "MH like."
@@yarro7428 Wtfdym those are one fo the few games that can be called that
@@RiskOfBaer That's just exaggerating it tbh
I was with you until the Toukiden part. You first mentioned that you were looking for a monster hunter like not a monster hunter clone, but one of the downsides you spoke about for Toukiden was that its demons weren't grounded like the monsters. It kinda defeats your original point of not looking for a momster hunter clone.
Unless I'm thinking about it wrong I'm open to hearing a clarification.
This is the issue I have with this whole topic. If it does anything different, it "lacks MH's appeal", but if it does everything the same it's "just a worse MH". There is no winning
Yeah pretty much@@mandrakeking
Glad you noticed that too. I was with this video until this part. Now its kinda hard to take him serious.
When looking for a Monster Hunter-like, I was mostly focused on unique game play elements that spice up the experience, to which effect I think all of the games I played excelled at. I still find it very difficult to explain my feelings on why Toukiden specifically wasn't "grounded" for me, but I honestly think I just didn't 'jive' with the concept of Oni. It might be something like how people prefer fantasy over sci-fi and vice versa, but that's the best way I can explain it. I don't think it's bad, but the concept itself just might not be for me.
I havent played Toukiden but I think I understand what he was saying. Monsters in Monster Hunters are less monsters and more animals living in their environment. They are not evil creatures trying to destroy the world, just animals living their lives. While the monsters in Toukiden are bosses, thats it. The only reason they exist in the game is to be killed by the player. Dauntless also had this problem, the monsters would not move around or do anything. They would just wait in the obvious boss arena to be killed by the player. This is what I think he means by them not being grounded. Basically they are so high fantasy that what they are becomes pointless as in the end they just exist to be killed.
Wild Hearts for me is the best MH-like so far. I just wished they continue supporting it, it has huge potential.
I played it recently did everything wish ea didn't publish it
i hate EA
I hate the tools system, think a lot of people do.
They made the Toukiden games too.
It's building, trap and camp systems are legit better than Monster Hunter's and I always hoped that Capcom would just straight up copy that stuff. Looks like MH Wilds will have some of it, but it's still not coming close to Wild Hearts.
Monster Hunter addiction and withdrawal effect is real.
If only there were hundreds of MH likes instead of thousands of the same shooter titles being released over and over
monster hunter fans and souls like fans are going through it rn
@@GhostMan407oh ? How are mon hun fans going through it
@ ? there’s nothing to play
"hehehe i get to use my degreeee" is the funniest thing you've said and im so sorry that this is your peak
0:12 it's not like we get a new monster hunter every 3 years 💀
Never seen someone not just self report they didn't finish the video but didn't finish the title too
And that's not counting the expensions lmao
Has only 3 videos, and I can't stop rewatching them. Please keep creating when you have the time
You also got god eater,freedom wars, and soul sacrifice! God eater and soul sacrifice are so fun to play i highly recommand!
Yo I'm interested in freedom wars but the combat looks iffy? What's it like? Trying to cop one for my vita
Holy fuck I had a very vague memory of playing Soul Sacrifice years ago and couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the game, thank you!
@@MiguelRominesit’s also on switch now if you have a switch
@@MiguelRomines Freedom Wars got a remaster earlier this month. It's definitely the better than the original due to some quality of life upgrades, reworked weapon crafting and playable multiplayer.
It's got some problems, but it's a solid B+ game and I absolutely adore it. I recommend it.
@@TonyRedgraveBeen dying to try it for years! Thank you for the heads-up! Also, people say it's like Monster Hunter, but to me it looks more like Lost Planet 2. While LP2 is similar to MH, it branches away from boss hunting and focuses more on shooter gameplay imo. What do you think?
God Eater, Toukiden, Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice, Final Fantasy Explorers and Wild Hearts are all good to amazing. Ofc they arent as great as MonHun but they’re super solid. I agree they dont scratch same itch tho. Dauntless was fun for awhile but man they decided to kill it haha. Praying Soul Sacrifice gets remaster next then all of them besides FFExplorers will be available on modern platforms. Also Granblue Fantasy Relink was a very awesome, unique game that scratched monster hunter itch. Also the fact you barely touched on the ones that actually are more MH-like is a lil odd
Really surprised he played Toukiden 2 and not god eater
Yes I can’t stress enough how surprisingly awesome GBF Relink was. The multiplayer is super fun and every character felt like they had a different playstyle. That and freedom wars has been scratching my monster hunter itch for a while.
Love you mentioned Soul Sacrifice.
Heck yeah FFExplorers! That game was actually pretty fun, though not without its issues. Adding new abilities to spells was cool though
The point you make around 7 minutes in regarding Anjanath in World, I have some input on it to support you statement. As someone who discovered Monster Hunter through World, And have gone back and played previous titles and spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours on World itself, I can say without a doubt that regarding Anjanath, one thing has been solidified in my mind. That Monster is the first (notable) skill check of world. When you first fight Anjanath, it is easily the hardest monster by a notable amount compared to the previous monsters.
In order: Great Jagras, Kulu-Ya-Ku, Pukei-Pukei, Barroth, Jyuratodus, Tobi-Kadachi, then Anjanath.
My personal experience, as well as multiple of my friends (that I indoctrinated into the series lmao) Have shared very similar experiences to me. Great Jagras, Kulu, they were Small fry. Pukei-Pukei Teaches you the importance of managing status effects and truly avoiding attacks, as well as often being in areas with environments you can heavily capitalize on, falling rocks, vine traps, jumping and sliding points. Barroth teaches you the importance of sharpness, and targeting softspots, and both Barroth and Jyuratodus teach you about movement impeding abilities, Monster's displacement abilities. Tobi-Kadachi is tough, and uses it's environment immensely, but it isn't anything crazy. Then Anjanath shows up. Fire, that's new, stronger than poison. The attacks deal immense damage, you cant get hit often, but Anjanath is big, unpredictable when you don't know their attacks. High levels of movement, similar to Tobi-Kadachi, but doesn't need to use the environment to do it. Anjanath is a collection of almost every skill you learned up to that point. The Anjanath isn't THAT hard, its a kick in the pants for the first time experience, but you quickly learn and surpass it, a small hill. But just that is enough. It is the introduction to what the monsters will look like from this point forward. And it rewards you heavily with the gear, soon you kill it 3 or 4 more times and you have a set. You have become immensely stronger, the optional quests hand you some small fish to fry with your new items, you feel good, you feel accomplished.
I think this is a shared experience amongst most western MH players who were introduced through world, which is probably most western players in general. The games have, for lack of better words, good pacing. This persists throughout the entire game, with monsters that stand as small pillars to your next achievement. The DLC doubles down on this, Velkhana, Shara Ishvalda, Alatreon, Safi'jiiva, and Fatalis. They all feel like huge achievements to surpass, Alatreon and Fatalis especially.
It's not a hard question to answer:
Monster Hunter as a franchise is now 20 years old. That's 20 years of making many sequels, making new monster designs, improving old ones, polishing and perfecting the game design, and just in general perfecting the formula of a MH game. Plus there's also a team of devs with plenty of experience working on the franchise, along with many seniors with vast experience and understanding of the franchise. And the games themselves are extremely good, they are not only really good at making MH, they are really good at making games in general.
Now ask yourself a single question: how are you supposed to compete with something like that? It's unfeasible. And that's your answer: There are no good Monster Hunter likes because it's virtually impossible to make a product that could be even unfavorably compared to a mainline MH game. Capcom has all the advantages and you have none, therefore you are bound to fail.
Even if you make a good game, it will ALWAYS look poor when compared to a genuine article, the bar is just that high.
There is only a single path to making a genuine MH-like that the fans of the original would consider worth bearing that name. You need to get yourself a solid team and then start from the ground up like Capcom did. Then make sequel after sequel perfecting your own spin on the MH formula, constantly improve it, and then maybe somewhere down the line you will end up with a high quality MH-like that people would deem adequate. Simply put: you need to put in a lot of time and effort (and money). In other terms: Wild Hearts might've not been that great, but maybe Wild Hearts 5 would have been good enough. And looking at the industry today I can guarantee you there is not a single game dev studio out there willing to try their hand at such a monumental undertaking.
I think the issue is that the MH-like games aren’t being developed with a core philosophy in mind: that monster hunter walked so they could run. Instead of looking at what changes and advancements monster hunter has made over its lifetime while developing their games, the publisher and devs for the MH-likes are trying to immediately grasp Monster hunter levels of success which makes the games fall way short in a direct comparison. Wild Hearts had potential but the rush for success made the quality of the game pale in comparison to Monster Hunter. I was able to play dauntless prior to the December update but the gameplay didn’t hook me in as I compared it unfavorably to Monster Hunter, a franchise I picked up almost 20 years ago and has watched grow better over that time.
I agree with both of these comments. Monster Hunter had so much time to cook. It's basically a colossal task to immediately get that type of quality, and even Monster Hunter itself still isn't immune to game mistakes (base sunbreak). I still try Wild Hearts, but the performance killed it for me. The only mistake it had was being made by EA...
The thing is there's a severely lacking in passion and dedication of those people been making monster hunter clones - there still no GE4, there still no Toukiden 3, no sequel to Soul Sacrifice, Wild Hearts is dead before they could fix it and added all the planned contents... They don't grown on their own over these years but looked at Monster Hunter and scared and dipped out because they tried and couldn't grasp that level of success and polish.
The MH dev team is basically made of MH scientists at this point because of how well they know and understand their own franchise. Yeah the genre should always have competition but it's nearly impossible for anyone to start from the ground up and expect to compete on even footing with a series that has 10+ games under its belt.
I agree with the comments morre than thee OP but yeah the gist is something I can say - there's no good MH-likes unlikee say, Pokemon, cause of how much care and lovee they take to actualy prosper. MH was a labor of love, you cant copy that by just trying to sshoot for the fame that came with the efforts put into it out of love.
This is probably why the best MH-likes on the list seem to be around as old as MH or were simply not made direclty as a MH-likee at all - they were made back when games were more about the product than the money or were made by those inspired by MH and did some. . borrowing.
i think the one thing that toukiden was missing was the fact is there is no point in playing solo without your allies it doesn't change the hp of the oni and it makes quests easier, also with the realism part i think its because there is actual magic in the game with telepathy the shrine maidens and stuff like the armour saying it had a spell cast onto it or there are magic runes making it stronger so i think that's also something to think about when taking about realism
Large Oni were made to be fought with multiple people in your team. You should only do it by yourself if you want a challenging fight or have strong equipment.
Dauntless WAS in a pretty good state BEFORE the relaunch, there was hunting quests and expeditions, it had functionally become a game inbetween world and rise in terms of arcadiness. It had really cool generic weapons flavored to each monster and even more cool legendary weapons that you got for doing the end game content but ultimately felt really fun to play… now i feel all the life has been drained from it, a prime example that crypto ruins EVERYTHING even things that it‘s barely involved in
Dauntless was a fantastic game until December 5th 2024, i was a top player for years and now i cant even muster the strength to play the game out of grief, i will never become as good in Monster Hunter despite playing it since childhood as i was in Dauntless....
I think Dauntless is just waiting to be shutdown rn 😞
Im pretty sad to see it like this,
I've been playing it since the time when Shrowd and Rezakiri are considered The last bosses of the game, time before Riftstalker, before Valomyr, before shock escalation.
bought Ramsguard commander pack and all.
The hunt was a lot more enjoyable back then, before everything turn to this speed running - dumping as much damage as possible - glass canon playstyle.
Fun fact: Omega Force made both Wild Hearts and Tokiden 2. Honestly that's the biggest disappointment of Wild Heart, It's a 3rd attempt, and considering their previous attempts it should have been MUCH better then it was
Would have played Wild Hearts more if it wasnt for the poor optimization and bugs
I think the most interesting thing about Omega Force is seeing them improve upon their own mechanics between each game. But then you hit Wild Hearts and the improvements only seem to go halfway. On one hand they learned from some elements of Toukiden, but on the other hand they ended up falling into new and different pitfalls some of which that they had avoided previously, and others that they had simply not had to engage with.
been a monster hunter fan since 4u and also looking the scratch the itch between releases. been super hooked on Rise and been playing waiting for Wilds to come out. loved your video and excited to see what you make next
If you ask me, one thing that MH has managed to perfect that no other game (whether it's a MH-like or not) comes close to achieving is translating the visual design of its monsters into their fights. The designs of each one is so interwoven into their attacks that you can tell what half of their moveset will be just from looking at them alone. Not only that, their attack animations and how they wind them up is so smooth, with each individual one so easily distinguishable, that it feels incredibly satisfying to observe and learn to recognize them. Thanks to this the MH series has managed to create fantastical creatures that feel grounded to reality. It's easy to imagine each one as an actual living creature because of how much sense everything about their designs make. This is such an incredible accomplishment that deserves so much more recognition than it gets.
Good job man only 3 videos and each did amazing I gotta learn this secret
Only here to tell you to chill on wildheart🤝🏾 thank you for understanding ea is a hellspawn of a company and wildhearts deserved better
Excellent video. You speak with such clarity I’d love to see more content of the sort.
There'll never be a modern MH type game, because AAA companies nowadays are about getting as much money as possible with the least amount of work.
(While MH was always a good amount of money, but it'll do it for decades)
And Wild Hearths is the perfect example of it.
EA seen that Capcoms makes really good money with World and they wanted a slice of that sweet pie. And when they released WH, they realized that it won't be that easy.
Capcom spent 20 years polishing this genre of the games, where they were more or less the only one participants. They've raised the bar really high over the years, what is really not that easy to jump, especially for publishers like EA, who just want fast money.
Wild Hearths was a decent-ish game, but it lacked the polish and the further support, what is needed for a game like this to succeed on the long term.
Daunless was nice for what is was. A F2P alternative for MH, but they really just had to blow up everything what they've been building up.
I still hold that the biggest thing Monster Hunter has over many of its imitators is that the weapon mechanics for all of its weapons are just so good and nuanced. Games like Dauntless and Wild Hearts just felt so simplified by comparison.
For example just take the Greatsword in MH, it's a pretty common archetype of having just a big slow weapon that does a ton of damage. But they add some nuance to it by making it need to build up to the true charge slash across multiple hits. But on top of that you can cancel out of a charge to do a shoulder tackle as a form of offensive defense, but it also doubles as a way to shortcut to more powerful charged attacks, giving the move multiple uses. Then on top of that there's still different finisher moves and ways to loop your combos and Wilds is only adding more to this with Focus attacks and that rad Offset attack and so on and so forth.
Despite being MH's "Simplest" weapon it still has a ton of depth and gives the player a lot of different "tools" to work with.
Meanwhile every other version of the greatsword archetype I've seen in these other games is just braindead. Wild Hearts lets you move and even attack while charging your sword up so there's no real tradeoff for trying to find an opening you can just casually charge up your sword while still fighting and dodging attacks no problem. And Axe has the charged attacks but none of the nuance with ways to cancel your charges into counters or other moves or anything like that. I haven't played Toukiden personally but your problems you mentioned with the weapons feeling samey give me a feeling that I would likely have similar problems with that weapons too
Another good example of how the weapon designs fall short for me in these games is Wild Hearts' Katakuri Staff weapon. Based on videos it seemed like an insanely complex weapon, like it was charge blade on steroids with 4-5 different forms you could swap between on the fly and all these moves. But when you actually play it, it's completely braindead. You have a meter you build up to do your SAED equivalent, but you charge that meter by just swapping between the different forms as fast as possible. This means that there's almost no meaningful distinctions between the different forms because the proper way to use the weapon is to swap to a form, only do like 1 or 2 attacks, and then move on to the next form. There's no real combos or nuance to it, you just spam swapping forms until you can turn your staff into a building-sized sword before you rinse and repeat.
Do I even need to bring up how much more interesting the design of Swtich Axe and Charge Blade are by comparison?
There are people who play only a single weapon in MH for hundreds if not thousands of hours without even trying. People might play a weapon for all that time and still be learning some nuances of the moveset like how it often takes Charge Blade users a long time to even learn that Guard Points exist and how to use them properly. But I just can't see myself using a single weapon type in any of these other games for nearly as long. There just doesn't feel like there's enough depth to actually explore for all that time
accidentally clicked on this video but happy i stayed, solid video, solid quality and solid commentary. excited to see where this channel goes in the future!
edit: i had no clue you did the frontier video as well!! great content for such a small channel
Okay c'mon. Dragons Dogma 2 isnt even REMOTELY a 'Monster Hunter-like' Thats like calling Bioshock a 'COD-like' because they both have shooting. Why not God Eater...that's LITERALLY a monster-hunter like. One of the first ones even.
1:42 Milo is peeking around the corner
Just saw him too
I saw him at 1:39
Im not sure if the YT algorithm is actually working, or its a 'clock is right twice a day' thing. But I had to sub as soon as I heard
*Excitedly* "I get to use my degree~!"
Hilarious, keep up the solid work Eco!
Granblue Fantasy Relink was great, and Soul Sacrifice too
GOAT
So much incredible monster hunter content in the past 2 weeks man 🤩
Wild Hearts (on PS5) was amazing.
Great video man!
Finally someone who picked out unique elements in monster hunter likes, and compared it to the OG.
Some cool things are are Wild Hearts and Toukiden 2, I would never learned, cause the styles and aesthetic just doesn't grab me at all. So thanks for showing that :D
Cant wait for wilds, and to easy the itch I started to concept a monster hunter like. Focusing more on prep and tracking, but learned the hard way, that tracking is a very hard thing to make satisfying and fun at the same time. Maybe a good topic to dive into, tracking in video games, would like to hear your opinion what is good and how to make a cool system!
31:15 "being monster hunter's cousin from the same mother" ...dude what?
Alabama
Heres a list of every Action Hunting games in existence (and recommended platforms to play):
== Bandai Namco ==
God Eater (2010 / PSP)
God Eater Burst (2011 / PSP)
God Eater 2 (2013 / PSP, PS Vita)
God Eater 2 Rage Burst (2015 / PS Vita, PS4)
God Eater Resurrection (2015 / PS Vita, PS4. ※Remaster of the first game with new mechanic and _"content"_ )
God Eater 3 (2018 / PS4, PC, NS)
Freedom Wars (2014 / PS Vita, PS4, NS, PC)
== Koei Tecmo ==
Toukiden (2013 / PSP, PS Vita)
Toukiden Kiwami (2014 / PSP, PS Vita, PS4, PC)
Toukiden 2 (2016 / PS Vita, PS4, PC)
Wild Hearts (2023 / PS5, XB4, PC)
== Square Enix ==
Lord of Arcana (2010 / PSP)
Lord of Apocalypse (2011 / PSP, PS Vita)
Final Fantasy Explorers (2014 / 3DS)
== Konami / tri-Ace ==
Frontier Gate (2011 / PSP)
Frontier Gate Boost+ (2014 / PSP)
※This is a turn-based but still worth mentioning
== Sega ==
Phantasy Star Nova (2014 / PS Vita)
== Sony ==
Soul Sacrifice (2013 / PS Vita)
Soul Sacrifice Delta (2014 / PS Vita)
== Cygames ==
Granblue Fantasy: Relink (2023 / PS4, PC)
※Ok, this is an Action JRPG, but fights are very Action Hunting game coded with Bayonetta sprinkled in
Why even include DD2 when it’s literally no where close to any MH game?? I was so confused seeing Grigori on the video’s picture and expected some good comparisons, but I feel the creator just wanted to talk about it as it literally shares the most basic vague topics. Both of them having big hostile creatures doesn’t mean DD2 is a monster hunter like and the comparison where he talks about them both having classes to fight is so broad he couldve done that with literally any other game like R6Siege having classes that work together or like ghost of tsushima having different fighting styles. Its just so incorrect calling it a “monster hunter like” it wouldve made more sense putting palworld 💀
You should try soul sacrifice delta if you can (it's sadly relegated to the ps vita) it's the best monster hunter like I've played.
Instead of weapon types you have a wide variety of spells and you bring a loadout of 6 iirc to every hunt. Each spell has a few limited uses per hunt and you have to kill small monsters or find nodes around the map to refill them, or use it all and actually break the spell.
The story is actually pretty good too. I don't normally read in-game lore but I've read the lore of most of the monsters and arenas in the in game lore book. Which is also the quest log (and the equipment screen, it's all the UI) and basically the main character.
32:41 Gravios came to say hello
Love dragons Dogma, but in a video like this i would have replaced that section with God Eater 3 maybe. On a side note i LOVE the iron sand Badger Kimono from wild hearts. So neat. Also your take on Immersion is fantastic
Wild Hearts actually came closet, but damn it's got really rough lauch and the still rough now
God Eater series, Toukiden, Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice were all good monster hunter-likes, if you are willing to be less strict about the comparisons. We just haven't had many in recent years. I think the main issue is that monster hunter is building on a legacy of developed content over so many generations. Trying to compare the weapon kits and variety (along with monster variety and depth) for a new series to monster hunter really isn't fair. And the two that were building up to be somewhat comparable (god eater and toukiden) both got abandoned (or revamped into something completely different in the case of toukiden -> wild hearts).
Had they continued to build up I think they could have had sufficient depth, but really this was before MH got big in the west. Developers were just more likely to build something like a souls-like which is way easier to build from scratch compared to the depth of weapon and monster variety in monster hunter.
If you want another game that was surprisingly more fun than I expected and is still loosely similar to monster hunter, give granblue fantasy re:link a look. I expected it to be a very shallow comparison to monster hunter and it definitely had some different progression systems but it was still a very fun game that surprised me in many good ways.
God Eater series should be in here
Good thing you mentioned Toukiden the series is rather fun. Still holding out hope for a Toukiden 2 Kiwami edition.
Soul Sacrifice is also kind of a monster hunter like.
long time dauntless player here, and I wanted to add something to the whole 'none of the behemoths stick in your mind' thing you mentioned.
the rock behemoth that you said was your favorite is named skarn, and it actually had a pretty well crafted identity that has stuck in my mind since launch.
at launch, there were 3 Terra behemoths. Skarn being the only one of them with the rock shield gimmick with the other 2 having quick movesets with an invisibility mechanic or an area hazzard that can slow you down and disable your dodge. the three behemoths all needed a different approach; skarn needed heavy or blunt weapons like the hammer to break its armor to deal damage, the invisible one needed weapons with high stun and high part damage like the axe to keep it in one place, and the area control one bennefitted from weapons with more mobility or range like the repeaters and chain blades to work around its movement restrictions.
these three behemoths all had different styles of fighting it because while originally you were able to specfically target a single behemoth, that wasn't the only way. you were also able to do something called a patrol, which set you against a random behemoth of a specific type(either an element or a higher level behemoth of any element for higher levels). that's why the 3 terra behemoths were so different, because you needed to plan ahead and consider which of the 3 might be fighting and tailor your loadout to it.
the biggest death nail for dauntless's monsters feeling unique is that when they updated the game to add the hunting grounds, they kneecapped the behemoth's unique mechanics and gimmicks because they HAD to, otherwise you'd be stopping to redo your loadout every five seconds.
there are still higher leveled behemoths that require some specific requirements to spawn(mostly the keystone behemoths at the end of escalations) and who put up significantly more of a fight, but that requirement is almost always "kill some other behemoths then i'll spawn"
and then all that's left is trials, which is the challenge mode of the game where behemoths again still put up some fight, but its always because of the stat bumps and modifiers of the trials format. never the actual mechanics of the behemoths themselves.
the behemoths were designed for a game that dauntless isn't anymore, and they had to have all the edges sanded off to fit the new game more, with all of their gimmicks more or less removed for the sake of making sure the player never really has to think about their loadout much for which behemoth they're fighting. there's never a reason to change your loaout based on the behemoth anymore, because your loadout doesn't really matter.
even in a heroic escalation, a very difficult high level activity, I can go in with armor and weapons that give me a disadvantage against the behemoths in that escalation and still be fine.
dauntless HAS cool monsters, VERY cool ones. but there's no reason, or even opportunity, to actually engage with those cool monster's mechanics and think about them at all. pretty much the only one who's gimmick has stayed relevant is Skarn, which I assume is why it was your favorite.
but back in the day, every behemoth was as cool as skarn before they all got kneecaped.
Freedom Wars Remake just came out a few days ago. It's not exactly like Monster Hunter but it has the same core principles in gameplay and has a grappling hook/wire bug.
Also, just have to shout out the music in MH:W, im not a music nerd by any means but they somehow managed to envelope each elder dragon's lore and mindset into their theme/fight music. I think that the certain level of respect and dedication paid to the craft of actually creating the monsters, their lore and music in world specifically is another reason for the game's success.
Theres a dude on yt who reacts to the boss themes in MH:W and without knowing the game or monster, he is able to describe the monsters mindset and lore to a pretty accurate extent JUST from the music alone. Its so cool.
It's not only world that has great music, the dread that themes like gogmazios brings or the feeling like the end of the world from a monster like dire moralis comes to mind for me when I think of monster hunter's music. If you haven't already I encourage you to listen to some of the older themes as Capcom doesn't seem to miss
@kphuts815 Will do! thank you for the suggestions
As a big fan of Toukiden 2 I can confirm the story is so much better than anything Monster Hunter has to offer same with God Eater 3 as well I'd say. Since let's all be real here MH has one weakness; The story is kinda ass usually we can all agree on that. I love Toukiden 2's plot and characters from beginning to end every cast member has a personality and reason for actually being there (Homura is the goat by the way) and are just so enjoyable to watch even more so since you get to actually fight beside them during story fights instead of them just sending your ass out to do it while they sit on their lazy asses and do fuck and all like in MH. IF you're like me and you think story and plot is just as important if not more than gameplay at times, please give Toukiden 2 a chance! It is legitimately that good!
Toukiden kiwami is also good, and also has 2 stories in it.
As a monster fan who played toukiden I've played 1n2 no it's not not even closed the combat is allover the place but it's kinda nice
@@RonHumangus gawd, the OPs talking about stories, narratives and character building comparison, Im a huge ass MH fan but you're going sideways, so you admit MH has an ASSwipe lore storytelling and NPC character building then?
@@RonHumangus Fair enough but I was mainly focused on the plot not the gameplay but I think I can see where your coming from.
@ I haven't played Kiwami yet but I'm sure I'll go back to it!
As someone who USED to play a lot of Dauntless, it peaked right before the update that made it so you couldnt fight a specific monster (I think it changed Ramstead (The hub) too in that update). It used to be SO much fun and ill be honest, other than a very small amount of issues I had with it (at the time), I liked it better than MHW. I loved to play almost all the different weapons because they were all pretty unique and had WILDLY different playstyles. Same for the monsters. Unlike in MH where I used to only stick to a weapon or 2, in Dauntless I used to use a different weapon for every monster because some might have more telltale *bonk* windows where another had more windows open after each attack if you dodged it right. I really liked the telltale *bonk* windows tho, glad that MHWilds is kinda adding that with offset attacks. I hurt to see that you played it before its peak, and after its downfall.
And on Wild Hearts, love the game, IF I COULD RUN IT! (thankfully I can now that I built a new PC, still really like it actually!)
The Ramsgate update was actually the update right before the reforged update, (the bad one you're thinking of.) But you're right. After reforged, everything went downhill.
The main difference between Monster Hunter and all the Monster Hunter likes is that Monster Hunter is much more grounded, monsters are realistic, which makes you love them much more.
more like mh do good job with monster design and fight
28:46 The imaginative realism is one of the things I really love about Monster Hunter. The monster designs, especially the amount of detail they put into the ecology of the monsters is amazing. It makes them feel real and a part of the environment they’re in and world at large.
Guess who's back❓
Back Again
i love toukiden 2 and freedom wars so i avoided this video because of the title, but well said all games have there flaws great video :3
i recommend trying soul sacrifice delta and freedom wars :b
The CLOSEST MH-like that is of a high quality imo is Wild Hearts. Yes the framerate isn't good, but the rest of the game is really charming and well designed. It's probably the best one I can recommend
(Fuck EA)
I understand your opinion on Wild Hearts, but the thing I love is that they gave me the Wagasa. The feeling of knowing monster patterns felt great when you got it, and if you're sharp with parries, you're nearly invincible. Despite the longsword being similar, it felt more interactive for me, and I'll always hope something similar comes out.
Genesis game called Soul Sacrifice Delta it released on the PS Vita is probably one of the best games on that console it is so amazing and it's pretty much like a Monster Hunter like game I highly recommend anyone who sees this checks it out
Awesome vid, you got a new subscriber.
Minor complaint: the yellow text you use would be better in white.
Bro, did you make a monster hunter like video, but not include the god eater series or soul sacrifice in favor of Dragon's dogma 2? DD2 isn't even the good one, Dark arisen is. Bruh. Nice Toukiden 2 lampshading, Omegaforce made that and Wild hearts, but Toukiden is way better. Godeater 2 rageburts is my favorite.
All the more reason to make a second video lol
Wrong as someone who played alot of dd1 and dd2 dd2 is better overall dd1 does some stuff better but the open world not as good sure dd1s story better but dogma was never about it's story I find it funny when newcomers come into dogma and act like they now what there talking about just bc they hear other ppl saying it both games are better in there own ways and both are worth playing.
@@Gems56 Listen, kid, I'm no new comer to dragon's dogma, so you can shove it. Also you sound like a tourist trying to appear like he knows the series, "Erm, as a long time fan of X, I actually think the worse entry is better"; The consensus for people who played Arisen and DD2 is that DD2 is a half baked remake that takes a lot of steps backwards mechanically with a worse story. It's pretty easy conclusion to come to independently.
Also the "DD was never about the story" is the most cope comment ever; The story is just as important as all the other main elements of the game, otherwise they wouldn't bother writing it or the lore.
Go on and eat your slop somewhere else, buddy. DD online is more a sequel than DD2.
@@neurosis51 wrong.
@@neurosis51 whatever you want to tell yourself but dd2 does have a better open world with more enemy variety in the open world better weather new region and better endgame in my opinion.
Thank you, I rly enjoy this video.
I think Dragon's Dogma 2 is great. Just a shame that there are a few things that hold it back, especially with its more simplified armor system compared to the first.
Also, will never forget how they accidentally teased a monk class, just for it to never be in the game at all 💀
I replayed DD2 a while back and it only cemented how much i think Capcom was always the problem. They've never had faith in Dragon's Dogma as a series. It's not a series that lends itself very well to monetization despite their attempts, there's a reason why Dark Arisen removed it. Dragon's Dogma Online could have worked but guess what? They didn't want to release it overseas where it probably would have been more successful.
Then with Dragon's Dogma 2 it not only got rushed but it had a smaller team iirc. The game is pretty but the writing is quite bad, there's not much enemy variety, and personally i think that the map is genuinely too big. There's also a lot of systems that feel half baked like camping and cooking.
@Foogi9000 I can only hope they'll announce a DLC for it. I remember someone saying that DD2 was a tech demo for Wilds and honestly? I can see it lol which is a shame because I still want to have faith for the series to grow, just want them to try different things with the story. There's a reason why people still make fnaarts and memes about the characters in the MH games despite having less story than Dragon's Dogma.
@@theoneandonly2441 I hope they announce a dlc soon too. Like the first game DD2 has potential but moreso than even the first game it's frustratingly not being utilized. First thing they need to do is add proper dungeons and temples to the map. Secondly they need to increase enemy variety, give players a reason to use all of the tools at their disposal and be creative. Lastly add more depth to the systems that you are forced to interact with like cooking and camping. I don't understand why Dragon's Dogma 2 couldn't have had a system like MH or BotW instead.
36:01 I feel like a consequence for having to access your storage in the field could be as simple as a zenny cost (or increased zenny cost with a smaller buff in the case of food), it would incentivize preparing beforehand to save the zenny but keep the flexibility of having access to your stash if you happened to equip the wrong item preset or just forgot to restock. Could even be explained with it having to be a contingent of palicos that needs to bring your items/gear out to you, instead of a minecraft ender chest-esque magic portal box that just has all your stuff.
Wild Hearts was very cool and a lot of fun. Don’t be a Monster Hunter fanboy, just like From Software fanboys.
And while it’s not a Monster Hunter-like, there’s Granblue Fantasy Relink, which has a very similar progression system that’s also really great.
Both MH team and Fromsoft have such certain vision, passion, and dedication to their stuffs, which other developers don't tho. While it's also very good, Wild Hearts is prime example of why MH clones sucks, they dropped the support when the game not making as much as they expected, still broken (my friend literally lost her 200 hours after the game made her PC crash with the save corrupted got uploaded to cloud) and missing some planned update/kemono seem planned for a long run.
A highlight for wildhearts for me was the music! The freaking subspecies spore rat has one of the best themes for some reason. Seriously if you haven't yet listen to the ost some of the themes are outstanding!
My dumbass thought you were going to talk about why there are no “good” positive steam reviews for monster hunter
Ngl same
unironically, something ive had in my mind for a long while is a metroidvania 2d style game with heavy monster inspiration. having each monster be integrated into its given area gives them a lot of flexibility and identity. the monster hunter style of hunting a monster throughout the area also makes it much more memorable and allows for different ways to take down a monster based on what gear youve unlocked throughout your playthrough and/or what specific areas you fight in. of course, the monsters themselves would be the key to new gear and playstyles, giving it that monster hunter progression. to aid this, your glimpses and short combat sessions throughout an area can give you a lot of insight into a monster in order to decide what tools youre going to use.
also, not to mention, the 2d metroidvania style allows for something unique; good siege fights... since the genre often heavily uses movement and platforming, it slots in much more naturally. but yeah, point being, theres a lot more ways to take inspiration from monster hunter than trying to copy its formula 1-for-1, and a lot of devs dont really take advantage of that.
Closest thing to what you described is Salt & Sacrifice, but imo it's not very good.
Dogma isn't trying to be MH at all. What are you on about? You ignored some of the most popular MH likes to make a point that would be undone if you did even some research. This is a shit video
Dont even say that
@horatio2560 what are you offended?
Capcom literally internally attempted to use dragons dogma to gateway players into monster hunter wtf are you talking about
@maybeimortal5697 how are the games similar besides fighting monsters and weighty combat? I guess dark souls is monster hunter too. How about the witcher? Shadow of the colossus? They are completely different genres and diverge greatly in gameplay. However if we go by these rules, my point is made even stronger. Now there's dozens of great MH likes according to this logic. I don't care if that was their plan internally. Maybe it worked. Good. Doesn't mean the games are in the same genre let alone sub genre. This doesn't make your point the way you think it does and shows you have a shallow understanding. If internally Capcom added coop to resi 5 partially to try appealing to MH fans would you say it's a MH like?
Whats giving it for MH is that it refined it's story and it's player keep returning for that. Since they never stopped refining the formula there is always a good balance between familiarity and innovation. Once you start a MH game for a first play, if you ever played an MH before, you aren't starting from 0, you bring your experience with you and you will never stop improving. When I play MH, it0's muscle memory, I don't need to think of when to dodge, when to block, and if I make mistakkes I understand what I did wrong and can correct for the next hunt. I played world after Rise, bcs I didn't have a PC at the time, so I fought Velkana in world way after doing it in rise and I KNEW how to fight it, it was absolutely gratifying to tackle it again after maybe 1.5 years and absolutely remembering how it moves, how it fight. Experience is never lost in MH.
Thats goes also with the game mechanics. MH3 underwater fighting ? You love it or you hate it, but it was the first time we were introduced to fighting in a 3D environment and that helped shape MH4 and the climb and ride mechanics, up to World maps and Rise complete free flying. I love these games, they gave so much to their players
Missed the best MH inspired game-- GOD EATER. There are 3 and all of them are pretty good. You get a melee/gun combo as a weapon, with different types of both to pick from. You make custom bullets which can do insane things like 'fly into the sky and rain down meteors', or any other thing you yourself can think of. There are big tits. Then there's the monsters, they're crazier looking than MH and are, as the name suggests, based on Gods, and like MH, you make things from them and can break parts during battle. The story is dark and gory. You can craft clothes purely for style.
It's not MH. But it's inspired by it and borrows enough from it that it's got a relatively large loyal following. It's definitely the second best monster hunting game out there and the second oldest.
underrated channel
Same problem exists for Souls likes. It’s just really hard to recreate the magic it seems
It’s especially annoying when games that have no reason to be Souls clones hobble themselves into being them.
@@alexkogan9755 Is this a jab at Lords of the Fallen?
@@methanoI I’ve never played LotF so I have no opinion on those games. But I was actually thinking of stuff like Black Myth Wukong or Code Vein, where they seemingly carry themselves off as spectacle action games like your Ninja Gaidens, God of Wars or Devil May Cries, but gimp themselves with Souls mechanics and as a result have a horrible case of identity crisis. Stellar Blade didn’t fall into the same trap as Wukong and made up its mind on being a challenging action game (honestly it felt like playing Metal Gear Rising again and I enjoyed it for that). Code Vein I enjoyed, but what hurt the immersion was when the characters themselves admitted they don’t feel exhausted because of their vampire powers (which made the existence of the dreaded stamina bar even more pointless). Honestly I feel Dark Souls mechanics only work when a game is trying to be more grounded in its approach, they don’t work when it’s trying to be more stylized (the Nioh games especially annoyed me by the end because your slow @$$ protagonists start getting pitted against what are essentially super-fast Ninja Gaiden bosses).
@@alexkogan9755 Ah, completely fair point on Code Vein.
I mostly enjoyed it due to how well the area design was. (Cathedral of Blood shouldve been Anor Londo.)
@@alexkogan9755 What kind of trap did Wukong fall into if this game is actually one of the best-selling game on Steam? 😆
I cant stress enough how fun dauntless used to be man. Some of the best Boss designs I've seen with super fun game play. Like one of my favorite was this giant cat thing that could make portals. It could take you to a pocket dimension mid fight where it would open a ton of portals and fake attack out of a few before doing a real one and you could tell which portal it was buy the color. The weapons felt unique and all fun. The sword was a jack of all trades with consistent damage if you knew the combos. The spear did wound damage which would debuff the monster. The hammer dealt posture damage that knocked it out. The axe could interrupt the monster mid attack if you timed it right. Everyone had their own role. One of my favorite thing were the legendary monsters that felt so damn fun to figure out and they were genuinely tough too. Or the world bosses that took like 15 people. Man such a shame what happened to it I wish everyone could experience if they wanted but no one can 😢
To me, there's no point in playing a Monster Hunter-like. The gameplay loop is so solid that I could always just come back to World, Rise, GU, or hell even FU and play around with different weapons and fight different monsters. MH is special because of many many things, and it's hard to replicate it without it feeling clunky or boring.
Maybe you can do a part 2 with a couple of games the comments suggested.
My suggestion would be Gran Blue Fantasy Relink. This is actually a really good MH Like Game. After like 50 Hours of Playtime and reaching the Endgame, its almost only gamble for the right crystals and right attribute things. But nonetheless its crazy good
Now i will say, even though it a dead game now (for some reason), wildhearts was one the best monster hunter likes ever. I think its biggest issue was the endgame grind after you beat the story was transmog. Once it got some updates i thiught it was picking up again. The new variants/ kamono were absolutely fantastic challenges.
Im glad im not the only one that get excited when the chance to use their degree shows up
I mean, World did make a siege fight fun. They made it fun by just hunting the giant dragon directly. Safi'Jiva is genuinely the highpoint of iceborne for me.
Safi is such an underrated monster
Dahrenn Mohran is awesome too
Would be cool if you did a part 2 of this series covering Soul Sacrifice and Freedom Wars but maybe your goal was to compare games that were the closest in being a Monster Hunter-like instead of games that just exist in a similar genre.
It's budget. The answer is always budget.
It's "I'm the son of the president of one of the biggest gaming companies in Japan" kind of budget.
My build in Monster hunter was revolved around using the Kulve Taroth's Satiated to my advantage. I combined max satiated with max fast eater and max friendship allowing me to spam heals to my friends at max speed without ever running out of heals. It got to a point where when we fight lunastra or other enemies with intense tick damage type moves I was just hanging back and drink spamming as my allies continiuously healed through it. I think i even managed to save my entire team from an Escaton Judgement. The build possibilities for Monster Hunter and fluidity are amazing.
Lol at the people acting like this video is supposed to be comprehensive and not a personal experience
shouldnt have a wack clickbaity title then
I expect it to be at least properly researched because Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't even an MH-Like 😭
It baffles me that DD2 is on here but nothing related to God Eater.
Holy shit, I remember Toukiden 2! I genuinely loved the game and the open world. I totally enjoyed story, the side quests, and the character lore. I really wish the game would get a sequal one day. If Okami and Onimushi can get a sequal, this game should too!!
I'm surprised you didn't mention Granblue Relink. Granted, you use characters instead of weapons, but since each of them is unique they are equivalent to weapons.
I've been using the wait for Wilds in order to play other monster hunter like games, and actually found so much to love in Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice, and God Eater. They may not be as complex but each has systems that Monster Hunter doesn't or cannot have whether it be the settings/plot, combat mechanics, ect. I think people SHOULD give these games a real chance for when they want a little break from Wilds.
My favorite part is when you couldn't play the game due to excessive gaming injected straight into you via longsword
You are the reason why flinch free exists
One of the best games I ever played in the hunter genre was Soul Sacrifice Delta on the PS Vita back during college around 2015. It was a really good game with an immersing story and interesting combat mechanics and gameplay loop. It may be old but I recommend looking into it.
I'm a big DD2 fan but I'm more lukewarm on Monster Hunter, and I remember the director for Dragon's Dogma was actively talking with the director of Monster Hunter for advice on the second game. You can definitely see it if you've played both the first and second game AND a monster hunter game, particularly in the Warrior class with its chargeable abilities, but there are little things here and there too. I've even seen some monsters in DD2 have a rudimentary turf war! Except in DD2 it has you shitting your pants a whole lot more than in Monster Hunter. Because my girlfriend is a HUGE MH fan and will drag me to play Wilds far more than I would otherwise, I'm really hoping to see some design choices taken from Dragon's Dogma as well.
Sadly, it seems the director for Dragon's Dogma has left Capcom, so I don't expect we'll be getting more games in the series with quite the same vision. Hopefully it doesn't mean the series is entirely dead, though.
Wild Hearts was a very good game. The whole time I played it, all I could think was "if they get to do Wild Hearts 2 its' probably going to be a great game. I didn't find the monster design or variety very compelling, but the Kurikuri building added to the uniqueness of different weapon playstyles and team composition and really made the game a MH "similar" that had it's own unique feel. I did not play the game through to the end because some of the bugs and design choices didn't keep me interested. Also, learning all the systems for crafting and equipment was a bit much.
It's a good thing MH is one of capcom's most successful franchises ever or we wouldn't have much in the way of content in this genre. Such a unique concept it's pretty shocking that basically nobody else can replicate that magic
3U and 4U alone will be enough to last me a lifetime. great video btw.
The fact that you didn't mention God Eater is outrageous,it's one of the first franchises to try and make a Monster Hunter-like and it's really good overall
I recently played God Eater 3 and was so invested i actually got the Platinum for it
Since a lot of people already mentioned God Eater, i'd also like to introduce you to Soul Sacrifice, which is monster hunter but with witchcraft and sorceries, and the monster you fight are eldritch monstrosity that used to be human that got cursed (each of them have interesting lore on how/why they got cursed).
There used to be a lot of good MH-likes back when MH is still a niche handheld titles (GE, Toukiden and Soul Sacrifice was first released on portable consoles). All of them are interesting and fun in their own way, but in my opinion there haven't been a game that matched the vibes and feel of slaying dragons with a giant sword as satisfying and as authentic as Monster Hunter is
I remember in Old Monster Hunter actually not being able to do a quest again after leaving because I forgot to stock up because I couldn't afford the Quest Fee.
I had to get Money before being able to head out again and it really made me think about preparing.
Great video man but one question what's the name of that great sword shown at 14:36
God Eater 1&2 (fun, a bit grindy)
Soul Sacrifice (Could not recommend more)
The latter is only on PSP and VITA. Loved it and I try to share it with others. Really deserved a new gen sequel or just even a remaster.
The immersion talk is a good segway into the title of the video actually. [[ Just saying this is long and anything after the "Core Loop" mark is kinda extra :P ]]
25:30 Immersion is both. People have different things that they naturally gravitate towards getting super into. farming games, simulators, and other natural activities etc. The key word is Demographic. It is the the developers job to recognise the vibe of the game and the rough demographic that they would match best, and then implement aspects that engage those. When that's matched and done well, you achieve the effect that someone would have of being immersed.
There is a big overarching number of reasons(and 4 paragraphs) why more likely there cannot be a Monster Hunter-like. I think you would get it though because you brought up that aspect of pre-hunt preparation. That's an example of the depth of knowledge CAPCOM designs pretty much everything in MH around, and what most others that attempt to create a "Monster Hunter-like" or really just piggyback off of another game will fail to know and use. Pre hunt prep made sense and did have value in the experience, but it was the concept of prep implemented in a way that would just reduce as much value as it gave. For the same reason that would take again paragraphs, that is also why I would say the Dragon's dogma version of the mechanics you talked about is also not good UNLESS the player can reasonably avoid taking damage unless they specifically mess up. OR most cases are that you end up retreating to a different town(if it's the same one or you can't avoid damage then it's a mechanic that basically just stops you from playing).
The max health from dying and then save scumming is !debatably! not good because it's a diabolically subtle way of putting a player on a frustration educing negative feedback loop. But if you save scum that's funny. IF the game did the not good case that I mentioned with health and damage, and then implemented this punishment for save scumming then I would not support that game because that(design mentality and philosophy)if implemented in a multiplayer environment is how you cultivate toxicity from educing personal frustration. Which btw is exactly why today's PvP scene feels the way it does. Knowing the difference In those design choices are what make MH King of it's own loop right now. They have a vision and they are willing to center an entire title around new ideas that they want to test, because they already know the difference between good and bad mechanics and it's more of a question of which mechanic between two good ones get the bigger majority of majority players :P
There is a Monster Hunter-like. It's called Monster hunter _________ because every title they are essentially now adays introducing entirely new structural mechanics that completely change the dynamic of the core game systems, If you reskinned and themed it you wouldn't even be able to tell it was a MH. But that's where the point is. Another MH is doable, developers just arent really good enough to know how, mainly because MH devs are already operating above a norm but the combination of both make the whole thing like if you were a noob VSing a pro; size of gap. Instead of average vs pro. Given all that, it'll be king until someone comes up with something that wouldnt be recognisable as MH like Helldivers 2 Warbonds vs the traditional Battlepass. Exactly the same result for both(arguably better profit for warbonds)definitely better satisfataction from players. but it's such a paradigm shift that I know at least one person that cannot see them as the same system functionally at all.