“I wanted players to feel the threat more”

Meinmmo editor Alexander Schürlein was very impressed by the world in Monster Hunter Wilds. An innovation particularly sneaked into his heart. And their impact on the hunts could be far greater than many had guessed so far.

Monster Hunter Wilds places a big focus on a coherent world and a coherent ecosystem. A point that personally addressed me personally from the start. That is why I also put a special eye on it in my play session at the event in Hamburg.

This feeling of a coherent, lively world in which you can immerse yourself for hours was captivated immediately. Above all, the innovations related to the behavior of the monsters have attracted their attention.

I was particularly fascinated by one aspect: the new herd mechanics. Since their announcement, my thoughts have been about how they might change the game.

During the allusion session I was able to get to know some different herds and test their impact on solo hunts. But my thirst for knowledge was not breastfed. I wanted to know how the whole thing affects the multiplayer and what thoughts were important to the developers when creating this mechanics.

So I had to use my chance in an interview with Game Director Yuya Tokuda and producer Ryozo Tsujimoto to learn more about it.

You can see a compilation of the gameplay material for my hunt for Rompopolo here:

In the middle of trampling herds and threatening packs

While I immersed in the world of Monster Hunter Wilds for around 4 hours, I meet various monster groups. So I encounter within the history of a group of Doshaguma, which is led by a powerful and aggressive alpha that needs to be done.

I already know the pack from the beta, but I have decided to pay more attention to how to deal with this kind of hunt. While I just knocked it on in the beta, I now wanted to take the whole thing a little more tactical.

At first I don’t think much – after all, there are just several big monsters in a heap. But the closer I get to the situation, the more it dawns: it probably won’t be that simple.

The situation looks extremely threatening and presents me with the problem: How do I get to the Alpha-Doshaguma without being completely torn? Can I somehow drive the group apart? Lure him out? What do the other doshaguma do? Can you somehow distract them?

So I try to separate the alpha from the group so as not to get between the other doshagumas. However, this is more difficult than expected and I immediately want other hunters to be aside with whom I can consult and share the monster’s attention.

After some back and forth, I manage to fulfill the quest more badly and I notice that I may have underestimated this new aspect of the game a little too much. In me the question remains how to solve the whole thing in a group with other teammates.

When reading my article, I was then opened that I should simply have used dung capsules to scatter the herd. If I had listened to Alma both in the beta and when playing, I would have known that too. Be it, I am probably not the only one who ignores shouts in the game like a true player … right?

When my play -time time comes to an end and I met a few other groups and herds, there are still a few questions to be open to me and I decide to take you into the upcoming interview.

Stronger together

I excitedly step into the room in which the interview takes place and go through my questions again in my head, which I would like to ask especially with the herds. After we have greeted each other, I start the interview with some more general questions about the new monsters and the ecosystem.

Where we are with the new monsters, would it fit if I ask my questions directly about the herds?

So I ask my first question on the topic of Yuya Tokuda, the Game Director of Monster Hunter Wilds and would like to know what was particularly important to them when developing herd mechanics:

My goal with this title was to create a more dynamic and – in the truest sense of the title – wilder ecosystem. I wanted the players to feel the threat from nature more. If suddenly a whole herd of monsters appears, it can have an overwhelming effect. This makes their behavior less predictable and, in a way, more terrifying. The idea that a group of monsters come directly to you seemed to be an exciting way to raise the feeling for the creatures in the game to a new level. So I wanted to further develop the technical side in order to be able to display more monsters on the screen at the same time. I think that changes the perception of the monsters and their ecosystem enormously.

But I also wanted to avoid that herds always act the same and thus become predictable. The AI ​​is very intelligent – it ensures that the monsters do not simply move in a straight line in a row. There can be a leader in the group that follows the rest. But depending on what the player is doing – for example, if you try to drive the herd apart – you can panic. This creates unpredictable game situations that make the gameplay even more interesting.

This also confirms my sensations in the allusion session. The threat that should be created here is clearly recognizable for me and immediately throws me back to my fight against Alpha-Doshaguma.

So I ask my second question. I would like to know what you believe, how the new behavior of the monsters affects the multiplayer. Would like to know whether the hunts have to become more strategy in their view and whether hunters will take new roles within hunting groups:

Definitely! Now as a group you can develop completely new strategies. One of you could concentrate on the alpha, which is the main goal of the quest. But if you do this, the herd could panic and run apart – then the other players have to take care of the remaining monsters.

You could even find an even stronger apex monster and lure it to the herd with a special item so that the monsters fight against each other and decimate each other. How you divided your hunter friends and decides who takes on which task brings a completely new strategic depth into play.

An answer that makes me very happy because she confirms that it was also discussed during the development. That it was not just about creating threatening and impressive herd images that simply make the fight more difficult. But that attention was taken to bring a new strategic depth into the game with the new mechanics.

After the interview, my thoughts continue to circle around the different herds and what options they will bring in the finished game. Which monsters will we still encounter in groups? How will you react? And how will we be able to influence it as a hunter?

For my part, I’m looking forward to the release again. To put myself with other hunters of a new hunting dimension and again (and this time longer) to go to the living world of Monster Hunter Wilds, whose ecosystem has done it to me: After 4 hours with the full version, I now know what monster Hunter Wilds does so much better than his predecessors