Monster Hunter
If someone asked me where to find the best creature and environment art in this industry, I would point them to this game.
It's huge in japan.
The kind of runaway sleeper success that any game dreams of. A recent version of it on PSP even won the Game of the Year Grand Award at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show.
It doesn't do so well in the states. My thoughts on why could probably fill another entry completely, but I will just say that it probably had a lot to do with its lack of marketing over here more than anything else. (I practically bought the game by accident myself.)
What really attracts me to it is how well executed their world is, and the beings that inhabit it.
I suppose I should explain briefly what the game is about for anyone that doesn't know what it is. You make a character who lives in a small bustling town. You pick one of several possible available missions that are posted on a board in the tavern, then travel to an area and fulfill the requirements for the quest. repeat.
sometimes its gathering something found somewhere within the landscape, sometimes its kill a group of monsters, sometimes kill a singular more predatory monster. the game is very exploratory, as a major aspect is harvesting raw materials within those areas. Cracks in the cliff-side can be mined for ores, plants can be harvested off the ground, fish caught from local watering holes, and everything you kill you can cut pieces off of. Taking these materials back to town between quests, you use them to craft better weapons, armor and items for your character. The more you make, the more your character's attire begins to take on the aesthetic of the monsters you have slain. The meat of the experience is developing your character, exploring landscapes of the different areas, and combating inhabitants within those lands.
What the game does so well is establish an ecology that feels like it could very well exist. Most of the monsters are dragons, but not the same cliche dragons you have seen in every fantasy fiction this side of Lord of the Rings. Their physiology reflects the natural environment around them, which then dictates their unique methods of aggression and defense. Subterranean dragons have no eyes, magma dwelling dragons have skin thats as tough and thick as rock to cope with the heat, aquatic dragons have a streamlined form like a fish, and so on. Every monster looks as if it has evolved to function in the environment around it.
Much of these monsters borrow from our own paleontological records, and as a result, there is a huge dinosaur influence in many of the creature's design and look. Its the kind of researched aesthetic a paleontologist or biologist could easily respect. Thats saying a lot for an industry that usually goes with simply what looks cool, throwing feasibility out the window.
Some examples, placed next to real world biological reference or naturalist art:
This dragon is the subterranean one I spoke of. Drawing inspiration from the Lamprey, and other eels, its one of the best examples of contextual, naturalistic design in the game. It rarely travels in light, so it has no developed eyes. Like many water eels, it can release a surge of electrical energy around itself to stun and damage it's prey.
For many, its easy deduce their habitat and influence, from common animals such as fish:
to more extinct examples, again mainly drawing from the prehistoric era for influence:
The range established in the fiction of the ecology ranges from a heavy dinosaur physiology with a small influence of traditional dragons, like above, to more fantasy heavy monsters, with a bit of dinosaur influence:
Many monsters draw from the transitionary stages of evolution from dinosaur, to feathered dinosaur, to common birds:
Or take a cue from the larger, wingless herbivores:
Even a food chain is established, as the world is populated with passive, to mildly aggressive herbivores that are more abundant than the larger predators. True to form, many of these species will flee if provoked, rather than confronting you directly. Some only fight when attacked and cornered:
With these co-existing animals, a believable food chain is established, with you as the player trying to claw your way to the top of it...
When the creature isn't as heavily drawing from specific examples, it takes more broad concepts of adaptation, and applies these to the design.
Take the example of dragons that live in the volcanic areas of the game. Due to the heat, their skin is rough, craggy, and thick. Allowing thick coating to protect from the magma pools that speckle the area, it also acts as a natural camoflauge amidst the grey and rocky terrain.
These elements not only make the ecology so believable, but directly translate into the experience as well. In order to find the dragon, you have to figure out which rocky outcropping in the area isn't just rocks, but the spiky back of the burrowed dragon.
Again, this type of natural camoflauge is an element common in the everyday biological world we live in.
Much like the Hermit crab thrives by inhabiting the abandoned shells of dead snails, a similar relationship is established with Monster Hunter's "Hermitaur," which lives in a multitude of hollow remains of the environment, included large shells, dragon tail bones, and larger skulls.
As time goes on, and you harvest more and more scales, fangs, bones, horns, and other materials from these beasts, a multitude of different armor and weapons become available for you to have made. This makes the idea of "the Hunt" so appealing, that those monsters could yield the next part missing in order to make a new, stronger helmet or chestplate. these articles reflect the look of the monsters themselves, and the act of creating them becomes an exploratory adventure all it's own. In this sense, elements of fashion are very strong in this game, and play directly into the enjoyment of developing your character. Armor looks different for both male and female genders, and between the blade wielding and gunner classes.
The fictional ecology is simply the best I have ever seen in a game, by a longshot. Each monster has its own behaviors and personality. All of which translate someway into the experience. Either in the aggressive or passive nature of the monster, to their own unique biological advantages and disadvantages that can be exploited to take the beast down. Kudos to Capcom for such a well researched and executed ecosystem.
The personality of any given creature is what makes the hunt so fun, and what makes battling these wyverns some of the most intense, and well constructed boss fights I have ever played. You die in this game. A lot. But with each death, you learn more about the nature of the respective monster. You learn it's quirks and mannerisms, and know more fully what they monster has at it's disposal. Soon enough, you know the timing of using items, engaging attacks, jumping out of the way, as well as the timing of the wyvern's unique set of attacks and charges. To a seasoned player, the game begins to take on a feel similar to chess, knowing what moves you have at your disposal, and gauging the timing of the enemy attack. If you can approach it like what it is, a learning process, you get better at the battle, and ultimately, know the inside and out of what makes any given dragon tick. This makes the subsequent victory so fulfilling, and makes each wyvern unique. It doesn't divide levels of difficulty merely into another creature that deals more damage, and has more hit points.
The Tigrex is one of the more dexterous dragons you battle. It charges fast at you from a distance, and sometimes even wheels around after passing you to suddenly charge again. This makes simply jumping out of the way of the initial charge not a guaranteed breath of safety. For most other dragons it would. It prefers to begin a faster attack at a distance, like a cheetah or lion, and getting right up close to this guy often times causes him to try and back up and get away from you. Other dragons may use that proximity to their advantage, whipping you fiercely with their tail, or releasing a burst of noxious gas from their bodies to damage or poison you. These are good examples of how a combat approach that works wonders on one type of wyvern may kill you when battling a different type. In this sense, much of the success of the gameplay experience hinges on not just how powerful your in-game character is, but how knowledgeable you are as a player of the monster you are battling.
These enormous mountain dwelling boars are a whole different battle. Performing quick, fast charges, and gorging you with their tusks, their approach to combat is a great deal simpler than most dragons. They have no breath weapon, nor do they have any tough scales that would cause your weapons to deflect off their skin.
The volcanic black dragon Gravios, on the other hand, DOES have thick skin, and only the underside of his belly will not deflect attacks like most other areas of his body. He often runs into the shallow pools of magma, where you cannot go, and blast you over and over with his fiery breath attack. The Gravios, like certain other types of wyverns, can have his tail cut off. Causing enough damage to the tail will slice it off. Not only does this render his tail attacks much weaker from then on out, you may also harvest parts from the dismembered appendage.
The Gypceros dragon is one of the more dominant predators in the swamp area. Something he does that is unique unto him is a sneak attack. When close to death, he will keel over and collapse onto the ground. A player that doesnt know any better may go up and attempt to start carving pieces off his body, only to be devastated by a sudden unexpected attack from a wyvern that was only playing dead to his advantage.
These are examples of just a few of the multitude of factors that may play into engaging any one of these monsters. Their is TONS of depth to the combat system, and many tricks and secrets (such as cutting off the tail, or breaking a chunk of chest plate off a Gravios) to taking down a monster that are especially satisfying when discovered for the first time, and always cataloged in your mental arsenal for next time.
The creatures are perfect, but would easily fail if they didn't inhabit equally well crafted environments.
This is where the franchise strikes gold a second time. Each area reflects a distinct ecological influence, from forest and hills, to jungle, beach, desert, snowy mountain tops, and smoky volcanoes. Almost any screenshot in this game could hang framed as a landscape painting. Not only are the vistas breathtakingly beautiful, but often times stretch for miles into the distance.
Elements of the environments directly affect your character as well, and must be carefully considered before going out to quest there. Unless you take the right precautions and travel prepared, some extreme environments like desert and snowy mountain tops will themselves be harmful to you.
Out into these sprawling vistas, passing clouds will cast shadows onto the hills in the distance.
Journeying deeper into the forest, the sky will bloom out to bright white, as the abundant tree canopy makes the color and details of the sky above hard to see. Its subtle details like this that make the areas feel very real.
The beach scenery is done well too, and when its raining, the sandbar that normally stretches out giving access to these long forgotten ruins is underwater, and impossible to reach.
Desert areas stretch out for miles into the distance, and heat waves bounce off the ground, making these landscapes undulate and breath.
Many of the creatures that live here burrow into the sands, and detect the vibrations of you feet. This gives a rather unique element to fighting monsters in the desert.
Volcanic mountains are just as hot as the deserts, and just as potentially deadly. Near the mouth of the volcano itself, thousands of particles of brightly colored embers and ash will rain down on you, carried by the winds in the area.
Swamps are bathed in a thick white mist, and the trees look twisted, as if they are barely clinging on to life. Pockets of occasional swamp gas will sicken the character if they are breathed in. As this area is so abundant with toxic vapors, many of it's inhabitants are also poisonous, as evolution and adaptation within a given area is paid special attention to.
As an area is reflective of the beings that live there, the cold weather of the sonwy mountains is inhabited primarily by mammalian animals, and not the more common cold blooded reptilian creatures found elsewhere. Towards the peaks of the mountains, snow and ice whips through the air, and everything is covered in a thick layer of snow.
Only Shadow of the Colossus, and the ocassional area in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater come to mind when trying to think of an environment that feels this real and alive, and gives a sense of intrusion to the player adventuring through the landscape.
Even in the ways one would assume the tendency of a japanese developer to incorporate overly cutesy characters, like Final Fantasy does with the Mog for example, Monster Hunter does succesfully. In line with keeping things within the established context and world, these cultural quirks aren't as damaging to the seriousness of the rest of the game like they normally are.
The Felynes are a species of catlike bipeds that inhabit the world. Keeping with their theme, even these cute creatures are cute in the ways that real animals are cute, not in the way that an animated cartoon is cute. They look and sound like real cats, which makes them digestible next the more seriously themed creatures in the game.
If most games would approach their character and environment design with as much respect, research, and seriousness as Capcom has done with Monster Hunter, Games would most certainly be a more heavily respected media.
It's huge in japan.
The kind of runaway sleeper success that any game dreams of. A recent version of it on PSP even won the Game of the Year Grand Award at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show.
It doesn't do so well in the states. My thoughts on why could probably fill another entry completely, but I will just say that it probably had a lot to do with its lack of marketing over here more than anything else. (I practically bought the game by accident myself.)
What really attracts me to it is how well executed their world is, and the beings that inhabit it.
I suppose I should explain briefly what the game is about for anyone that doesn't know what it is. You make a character who lives in a small bustling town. You pick one of several possible available missions that are posted on a board in the tavern, then travel to an area and fulfill the requirements for the quest. repeat.
sometimes its gathering something found somewhere within the landscape, sometimes its kill a group of monsters, sometimes kill a singular more predatory monster. the game is very exploratory, as a major aspect is harvesting raw materials within those areas. Cracks in the cliff-side can be mined for ores, plants can be harvested off the ground, fish caught from local watering holes, and everything you kill you can cut pieces off of. Taking these materials back to town between quests, you use them to craft better weapons, armor and items for your character. The more you make, the more your character's attire begins to take on the aesthetic of the monsters you have slain. The meat of the experience is developing your character, exploring landscapes of the different areas, and combating inhabitants within those lands.
What the game does so well is establish an ecology that feels like it could very well exist. Most of the monsters are dragons, but not the same cliche dragons you have seen in every fantasy fiction this side of Lord of the Rings. Their physiology reflects the natural environment around them, which then dictates their unique methods of aggression and defense. Subterranean dragons have no eyes, magma dwelling dragons have skin thats as tough and thick as rock to cope with the heat, aquatic dragons have a streamlined form like a fish, and so on. Every monster looks as if it has evolved to function in the environment around it.
Much of these monsters borrow from our own paleontological records, and as a result, there is a huge dinosaur influence in many of the creature's design and look. Its the kind of researched aesthetic a paleontologist or biologist could easily respect. Thats saying a lot for an industry that usually goes with simply what looks cool, throwing feasibility out the window.
Some examples, placed next to real world biological reference or naturalist art:
This dragon is the subterranean one I spoke of. Drawing inspiration from the Lamprey, and other eels, its one of the best examples of contextual, naturalistic design in the game. It rarely travels in light, so it has no developed eyes. Like many water eels, it can release a surge of electrical energy around itself to stun and damage it's prey.
For many, its easy deduce their habitat and influence, from common animals such as fish:
to more extinct examples, again mainly drawing from the prehistoric era for influence:
The range established in the fiction of the ecology ranges from a heavy dinosaur physiology with a small influence of traditional dragons, like above, to more fantasy heavy monsters, with a bit of dinosaur influence:
Many monsters draw from the transitionary stages of evolution from dinosaur, to feathered dinosaur, to common birds:
Or take a cue from the larger, wingless herbivores:
Even a food chain is established, as the world is populated with passive, to mildly aggressive herbivores that are more abundant than the larger predators. True to form, many of these species will flee if provoked, rather than confronting you directly. Some only fight when attacked and cornered:
With these co-existing animals, a believable food chain is established, with you as the player trying to claw your way to the top of it...
When the creature isn't as heavily drawing from specific examples, it takes more broad concepts of adaptation, and applies these to the design.
Take the example of dragons that live in the volcanic areas of the game. Due to the heat, their skin is rough, craggy, and thick. Allowing thick coating to protect from the magma pools that speckle the area, it also acts as a natural camoflauge amidst the grey and rocky terrain.
These elements not only make the ecology so believable, but directly translate into the experience as well. In order to find the dragon, you have to figure out which rocky outcropping in the area isn't just rocks, but the spiky back of the burrowed dragon.
Again, this type of natural camoflauge is an element common in the everyday biological world we live in.
Much like the Hermit crab thrives by inhabiting the abandoned shells of dead snails, a similar relationship is established with Monster Hunter's "Hermitaur," which lives in a multitude of hollow remains of the environment, included large shells, dragon tail bones, and larger skulls.
As time goes on, and you harvest more and more scales, fangs, bones, horns, and other materials from these beasts, a multitude of different armor and weapons become available for you to have made. This makes the idea of "the Hunt" so appealing, that those monsters could yield the next part missing in order to make a new, stronger helmet or chestplate. these articles reflect the look of the monsters themselves, and the act of creating them becomes an exploratory adventure all it's own. In this sense, elements of fashion are very strong in this game, and play directly into the enjoyment of developing your character. Armor looks different for both male and female genders, and between the blade wielding and gunner classes.
The fictional ecology is simply the best I have ever seen in a game, by a longshot. Each monster has its own behaviors and personality. All of which translate someway into the experience. Either in the aggressive or passive nature of the monster, to their own unique biological advantages and disadvantages that can be exploited to take the beast down. Kudos to Capcom for such a well researched and executed ecosystem.
The personality of any given creature is what makes the hunt so fun, and what makes battling these wyverns some of the most intense, and well constructed boss fights I have ever played. You die in this game. A lot. But with each death, you learn more about the nature of the respective monster. You learn it's quirks and mannerisms, and know more fully what they monster has at it's disposal. Soon enough, you know the timing of using items, engaging attacks, jumping out of the way, as well as the timing of the wyvern's unique set of attacks and charges. To a seasoned player, the game begins to take on a feel similar to chess, knowing what moves you have at your disposal, and gauging the timing of the enemy attack. If you can approach it like what it is, a learning process, you get better at the battle, and ultimately, know the inside and out of what makes any given dragon tick. This makes the subsequent victory so fulfilling, and makes each wyvern unique. It doesn't divide levels of difficulty merely into another creature that deals more damage, and has more hit points.
The Tigrex is one of the more dexterous dragons you battle. It charges fast at you from a distance, and sometimes even wheels around after passing you to suddenly charge again. This makes simply jumping out of the way of the initial charge not a guaranteed breath of safety. For most other dragons it would. It prefers to begin a faster attack at a distance, like a cheetah or lion, and getting right up close to this guy often times causes him to try and back up and get away from you. Other dragons may use that proximity to their advantage, whipping you fiercely with their tail, or releasing a burst of noxious gas from their bodies to damage or poison you. These are good examples of how a combat approach that works wonders on one type of wyvern may kill you when battling a different type. In this sense, much of the success of the gameplay experience hinges on not just how powerful your in-game character is, but how knowledgeable you are as a player of the monster you are battling.
These enormous mountain dwelling boars are a whole different battle. Performing quick, fast charges, and gorging you with their tusks, their approach to combat is a great deal simpler than most dragons. They have no breath weapon, nor do they have any tough scales that would cause your weapons to deflect off their skin.
The volcanic black dragon Gravios, on the other hand, DOES have thick skin, and only the underside of his belly will not deflect attacks like most other areas of his body. He often runs into the shallow pools of magma, where you cannot go, and blast you over and over with his fiery breath attack. The Gravios, like certain other types of wyverns, can have his tail cut off. Causing enough damage to the tail will slice it off. Not only does this render his tail attacks much weaker from then on out, you may also harvest parts from the dismembered appendage.
The Gypceros dragon is one of the more dominant predators in the swamp area. Something he does that is unique unto him is a sneak attack. When close to death, he will keel over and collapse onto the ground. A player that doesnt know any better may go up and attempt to start carving pieces off his body, only to be devastated by a sudden unexpected attack from a wyvern that was only playing dead to his advantage.
These are examples of just a few of the multitude of factors that may play into engaging any one of these monsters. Their is TONS of depth to the combat system, and many tricks and secrets (such as cutting off the tail, or breaking a chunk of chest plate off a Gravios) to taking down a monster that are especially satisfying when discovered for the first time, and always cataloged in your mental arsenal for next time.
The creatures are perfect, but would easily fail if they didn't inhabit equally well crafted environments.
This is where the franchise strikes gold a second time. Each area reflects a distinct ecological influence, from forest and hills, to jungle, beach, desert, snowy mountain tops, and smoky volcanoes. Almost any screenshot in this game could hang framed as a landscape painting. Not only are the vistas breathtakingly beautiful, but often times stretch for miles into the distance.
Elements of the environments directly affect your character as well, and must be carefully considered before going out to quest there. Unless you take the right precautions and travel prepared, some extreme environments like desert and snowy mountain tops will themselves be harmful to you.
Out into these sprawling vistas, passing clouds will cast shadows onto the hills in the distance.
Journeying deeper into the forest, the sky will bloom out to bright white, as the abundant tree canopy makes the color and details of the sky above hard to see. Its subtle details like this that make the areas feel very real.
The beach scenery is done well too, and when its raining, the sandbar that normally stretches out giving access to these long forgotten ruins is underwater, and impossible to reach.
Desert areas stretch out for miles into the distance, and heat waves bounce off the ground, making these landscapes undulate and breath.
Many of the creatures that live here burrow into the sands, and detect the vibrations of you feet. This gives a rather unique element to fighting monsters in the desert.
Volcanic mountains are just as hot as the deserts, and just as potentially deadly. Near the mouth of the volcano itself, thousands of particles of brightly colored embers and ash will rain down on you, carried by the winds in the area.
Swamps are bathed in a thick white mist, and the trees look twisted, as if they are barely clinging on to life. Pockets of occasional swamp gas will sicken the character if they are breathed in. As this area is so abundant with toxic vapors, many of it's inhabitants are also poisonous, as evolution and adaptation within a given area is paid special attention to.
As an area is reflective of the beings that live there, the cold weather of the sonwy mountains is inhabited primarily by mammalian animals, and not the more common cold blooded reptilian creatures found elsewhere. Towards the peaks of the mountains, snow and ice whips through the air, and everything is covered in a thick layer of snow.
Only Shadow of the Colossus, and the ocassional area in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater come to mind when trying to think of an environment that feels this real and alive, and gives a sense of intrusion to the player adventuring through the landscape.
Even in the ways one would assume the tendency of a japanese developer to incorporate overly cutesy characters, like Final Fantasy does with the Mog for example, Monster Hunter does succesfully. In line with keeping things within the established context and world, these cultural quirks aren't as damaging to the seriousness of the rest of the game like they normally are.
The Felynes are a species of catlike bipeds that inhabit the world. Keeping with their theme, even these cute creatures are cute in the ways that real animals are cute, not in the way that an animated cartoon is cute. They look and sound like real cats, which makes them digestible next the more seriously themed creatures in the game.
If most games would approach their character and environment design with as much respect, research, and seriousness as Capcom has done with Monster Hunter, Games would most certainly be a more heavily respected media.
Labels: Aart, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Environments, games, Monster Hunter, Video Games
