Why Monster Hunter World Pisses Me Off

This column is a reprint from Unwinnable Monthly #185. If you like what you see, grab the magazine for less than ten dollars, or subscribe and get all future magazines for half price.

———

Here’s the Thing is where Rob dumps his random thoughts and strong opinions on all manner of nerdy subjects – from videogames and movies to board games and toys.

———

As I’m writing this, Monster Hunter Wilds is less than a week away and I’m very excited about it. The PS2 original (which is over 20 years old at this point, damn) got its hooks into me after a couple of tries and I’ve pretty much been there for the launch of every other U.S. release ever since. Including World, of course, and I’ve been reacquainting myself with its systems in preparation for the newest entry.

But here’s the thing: For as much of a Monster Hunter fan as I’ve been over the decades, there’s one thing in particular that World does that has royally pissed me off ever since 2018.

The Monster Hunter series has always had an interesting and robust (and constantly growing) ecosystem of creatures – from small prey animals like kelbi to much larger snacks such as popo, and of course Yian Kut-Ku style introductory wyverns all the way up to behemoths like Shen Gaoren and Zora Magdaros. But of course, my favorites have always been the Felynes.

Felynes are basically bipedal, sentient cats that sometimes antagonize but often help human hunters (companion Felynes are called “Palicoes”) throughout the series. They’re adorable, to be sure, but they also became a fairly constant part of character creation since the handheld days. This includes World, where you can spend almost as much time customizing your own Palico as you do your hunter character.

After creating your duo, World tosses you into the most cinematic opening I’ve ever seen in a Monster Hunter title (save for Wilds, which I haven’t played as of yet). Your ship runs aground of a surprise volcano – which is actually a really big monster – and in the chaos your Palico falls overboard.

From there you have to learn the basic controls by running around and climbing over the volcanic monster land mass, eventually making a daring escape with another human (the person who will become your handler for hunts) by hitching a ride on a flying critter and somewhat awkwardly touching down in “The New World.”

A bit more basic tutorial stuff follows, complete with a couple of brief introductions to some larger monsters, and then it’s on to the home hub. You meet the guy in charge, get a quick guided tour, and finally reach the canteen where, wouldn’t you know it, your Palico is safe and sound! Looking for you, even!

What comes next is what I’ve been holding a grudge over for more than six years.

So, as a player and cat lover, I’m relieved to see our Palico is okay and touched to see how excited they are to find us again. But then they bound off and hug the handler. And all our character does is give the Palico a smile and a nod!

This was confusing and infuriating back then, and I hate it just as much now. In the context of the story the handler only just met us and our Palico at the very beginning, while me and my cat buddy have been presumably working together for much longer. Why the ever-loving hell was it decided that the Palico wasn’t going to hug our hunter? The fuck??

I desperately want to know that Capcom won’t ever make such a bafflingly ridiculous choice (we’re talking Sony business decision levels of absurd) ever again. It won’t stop me from being salty about this blatant butchering of World’s opening moments, but maybe a lesson was learned for Wilds and beyond. Like I said, I haven’t played Wilds yet (I’ve been purposely avoiding as much info as possible outside of the first announcement trailer), so I don’t know if we get to customize a Palico again, whether or not they play into any of the story beats, or if there’s a dedicated hug/pet button, though I sure hope there is; I want to believe.

———

Rob Rich is a guy who’s loved nerdy stuff since the 80s, from videogames to Anime to Godzilla to Power Rangers toys to Transformers, and has had the good fortune of being able to write about them all. He’s also editor for the Games section of Exploits! You can still find him on Bluesky and Mastodon.