In each Monster Hunter game, the creatures have unique behaviors. These can vary, depending on which parts of their body are broken or unbroken. With Monster Hunter: World, it can feel like these characteristics are amplified. After all, we are able to see them in greater detail than ever before. Plus we have all new creatures to battle. It is like this installment gives us even more of an opportunity to appreciate these characters’ natures and tendencies. Especially since it makes them seem more realistic.
Let’s start with Barroth. One of the things I love about Barroth is how it rolls in the mud. Do you know what real world animal does that? Rhinos. Of course, we know the reason they wallow in Monster Hunter: World is to alter their defenses. A dirty, mud-coated Barroth has stronger elemental defenses, being better able to withstand water. Considering they are in the desert ecosystem, it could be that they are like rhinos that need to wallow in mud to regulate their body temperatures. It makes them seem more lifelike, rather than an implausible titan.
It makes me wonder if there is a similar motivation behind Dodogama’s rock attack.Yet another wyvern, it is basically an alligator or crocodile monster. One of its main attacks is to eat rocks, then spit them out at you. Real crocodiles need to swallow stones to help them digest their food. Seeing as how the Barroth uses a practical animal behavior to aid it in battle, it seems like this is another Easter egg reference to a real world creature that again makes the Dodogama’s unconventional behavior make more sense.
Tobi-Kadachi is another great monster that is improved by its unique traits. This is a wyvern with an electrical affinity and flying squirrel tendencies. One of its favorite things to do is dash up a tree, rub against the trunk to build up static electricity, then swoop down on you. If you break its head and tail parts, this become a little more entertaining. I noticed that it would look flummoxed when it tried to pull off this move after I had broken both parts. It seemed a bit shocked that the plug had been pulled on its formerly electric personality.
The Jyuratodus is another interesting new monster in Monster Hunter: World with some behaviors that call to mind a certain sort of fish. There are no underwater fights here, as there were in Monster Hunter 3 and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, but this still lets us fight an aquatic creature that looks like a lungfish. These are a sort of fish that are actually able to breath fine both in and out of water. Considering how much time the Jyuratodus spends out of the water fighting us and how it is comfortable being submerged when it is in its den area or underwater waiting to sneak up on you or perform a special attack, it clearly features a similar biology.
Monster Hunter: World is a game that relishes in its details. Even though these are intimidating titans we are facing, ones we would never see in the real world, the traits they take from actual animals make them seem as though they could actually exist. It makes them seem like more than made-up bosses. It lends authenticity to both them and their world.
Monster Hunter: World is available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will come to the PC in Fall 2018.
