What's a "Moral Compass Cricket Thingy"?

[Moonface]

If you had to pick between keeping only the handheld titles, or the mainline titles, which for Monster Hunter would it be?

[Maniakkid25]

As a medium-sized fan of the series since Monster Hunter World, I'd keep the mainline series. Those are the ones that really innovate what the portable games develop on top of, so keeping the mainline games would make the most sense.

[Moonface]

Oh wow you got into Monster Hunter later than I thought you did. I thought you had probably played a few of the games before World came out.
A few of the streamers I follow have been playing through Wilds and most of them all at some point expressed that the story of that game (and other MH games) is rather meh and nothing they can bring themselves to care about, so I'm curious what your thoughts are on the stories in any of the MH games you've played enough of to give an opinion on it?

[Maniakkid25]

I actually think the story in Wilds is the strongest of the series from what I've played. Then again, that bar is pretty goddamn low -- not because they've been bad, but because they've often had basically no plot at all. I've played a little of Generations Ultimate on Switch, and that's part of the generation before World and Rise. That game's story is quite literally "You're a hunter; go hunt shit." Wilds has, you know, characters and a story where things happen! Crazy concepts, I know! Now, sure, the story as I have seen has some problems, but it at least TRIES!

[Moonface]

Ah, so story is somewhat new to the series then. That might explain why the streamers I watched playing Wilds weren't keen on the story because they were more interested in just hunting shit, which sounds like what the series only focused on once upon a time; kinda like older games that don't really bother to tell much story because besides a few genres it wasn't really a thing like it is now.

What's your favourite monsters to hunt down (either per game or the whole series if it doesn't change between any games you've played)?

[Maniakkid25]

So, I can't immediately think of favorites to hunt, but I can think of some dishonorable mentions as far as hunting the monster goes:

• Rathalos: specifically in Monster Hunter Rise. I main Long Sword (formerly mained Heavy Bowgun, but now I just use that when I'm feeling the mood), so the fight is me screaming "STOP FLYING AROUND AND POISONING ME!" Not nearly as bad a fight in Monster Hunter World; he only has burn damage there, no poison claws.
  
• Hirabami (Wilds exclusive monster): "STOP FLYING AROUND AND FREEZING ME!"
  
• Rajang: No tricks; just a bastard-coated bastard of a fight. Bring lots of Electricity resistance, aim for the tail, and hope your weapon doesn't just bounce the hell off.
  
• Shara Ishvalda (World exclusive monster): This fight has two phases, because screw you. There's also a part that you have to obtain by cutting off the dude's forehead, and that sucks because it has NEARLY as much health as the actual monster! And that part is necessary (AND RARE) for most upgrade paths!
  
• Lavisioth and Magma Almudron (World and Rise, respectively): I'm lumping these two together for the same reason: I don't do magma. Nope. No. You can't make me fight these things. Nuh-uh!
  
• Lunastra (World exclusive monster): Another bastard-coated bastard of a fight, this time with fire! And don't get me started on if Teostra is around the fight, too...
  
• Basarios (Rise exclusive monster): It's a dragon covered in rocks. How do you think a sword handles that fight?! One of the reasons I minor in Hammer.
  

There are others, I'm sure, but those are the ones that come to mind. I haven't done any of the super-duper raid bosses like Alatreon or Safi'Jiiva, so I can't say how much they suck, but I imagine the answer is "Very!"

[Moonface]

I find it funny the first two are just exacerbated by your choice of a weapon that doesn't go well up against flying types.
Shara sounds just downright mean by basically doubling that bosses health bar if you're going for the upgrade material from its forehead. If only game logic could go away and let you hack off its forehead once it's dead like what would probably happen in reality.

How would you feel if Monster Hunter ever tried to add in fights where you go against monsters that live in bodies of deep water, either by swimming underwater to get to them or just having something like the iron boots from LoZ to just walk along the floors? I was trying to think of what the series could do to expand on monster fights in a way it doesn't seem to have covered yet and it didn't look like there was any cases where you deal with monsters that live in oceans and such to the same extent as those living on land.

[Maniakkid25]

Funnily enough, the game series has already tried underwater combat. I don't know how it works (it was before my time), but I can confirm that the game has already done underwater combat. Must have sucked, if they didn't bring it back for World onwards...

[Moonface]

Ah, yeah I didn't know that.
Is there anything the Monster Hunter games haven't done (or done to the fullest extent it could be) that you'd want to see in a future game?

[Maniakkid25]

Not that I can immediately think of? It's kind of hard to say, though.

Sorry it took so long to respond. I wanted to give it some thought, but then I forgor x.=.x