Monster Hunter Wilds: Weapon Tweaks Revealed

With each new *Monster Hunter* release, players eagerly anticipate experiencing their favorite weapons in a fresh context. All 14 weapon types retain their unique characteristics while adapting to the design of each new game. *Monster Hunter: World* removed segmented quest areas, while *Monster Hunter Rise* introduced the dynamic Wirebug mechanic. In *Monster Hunter Wilds*, aiming for a seamless hunting experience, how were these weapons tuned? To explore the design concepts behind these crucial gameplay elements, we spoke with *Monster Hunter Wilds* Art Director and Executive Director, Kaname Fujioka (also director of the first *Monster Hunter* game), and *Wilds* Director, Yuya Tokuda (involved since *Monster Hunter Freedom*).

IGN First Monster Hunter Wilds Oilwell Basin Artwork

Our interview revealed the concept and development process for each weapon, offering insights into player-favorite weapons and adjustments made based on feedback from the November 2024 Open Beta Test.

Adjustments for a Seamless World

Tokuda explained that *Wilds’* seamless map and dynamic weather necessitated significant weapon adjustments. The Light and Heavy Bowguns, and the Bow, underwent major changes. Previous titles required returning to base to replenish resources; *Wilds* eliminates this, potentially burdening ranged weapons reliant on consumable ammo and coatings. Tokuda explains: "That's why we designed it so that basic damage sources can be used without expending resources. We balanced it around the idea that things like normal, pierce, and spread ammo for Bowguns and coatings for Bows can fire unlimited times while managing your gauge. But we still wanted it to be possible to use what you’ve prepared ahead of time or what you find in the field on top of that, and so our balancing took into account the presence of design that allows you to create powerful ammo with attributes from gathered materials."

Weapon changes extended beyond mechanics, influencing design. Fujioka states: "We had the idea of wanting to properly show the movement of charging a Bowgun for a special shot. Shots that cancel out a monster's attack look properly convincing as they perform that canceling. Ever since the previous game in the series, we've put a lot of work into making it visually clear to the player what they're doing in the moment."

Technological advancements enabled these animation improvements. The ability to seamlessly swing, stow, and switch weapons, along with refined transitional animations, expanded hunter capabilities. Tokuda emphasizes a design principle: "One common concept shared by all weapons is that we made sure it's possible for hunters to use them in a natural way given the situation at the moment. Our goal was to do this particularly when you can't make any inputs."

Fujioka adds: "The Focus Mode that we added to *Wilds* is something we put a lot of work into when it comes to action. You can move while facing a specified direction, making continuous attacks possible while on the move but slightly off-center from your target. Players can properly go in the direction they want. We wanted to make a game that made possible the image players have in their minds about how they want to play. There have been incredible technical leaps for the development environment in recent years, such as in managing animations, and there have been even greater changes in how games themselves are played. For action games, in particular, the question of how you meet the players’ desires to play in a certain way in the moment they actively want to make a movement is an important one. During development, we're always conscious about not being left behind by changes in the times."

Focus Strikes

Wilds introduces a system for wounding monsters through sustained attacks on specific body parts. Wound formation depends on accumulated damage, with environmental factors enhancing the effect. Focus Strikes, activated in Focus Mode, deal massive damage to wounded areas. Unique animations for each weapon type were created, although the open beta revealed imbalances. Tokuda clarifies: "For Focus Strikes, we wanted to have animations that show each weapon's uniqueness. But I admit that this also created a variation between weapons during the open beta test where some were far too strong, while feeling the strengths of others was difficult. Though we do allow differences between weapons in order to give them personality, we don't want the disparity between weapons to be too extreme, and so we're tuning them to be more standardized for the official release of the game."

Wounds create strategic opportunities; targeting a head wound with a Focus Strike, for example, creates a scar, preventing further head wounds. Tokuda highlights the dynamic nature of wounds: "Monsters are unwounded when a quest begins, but you can hunt monsters as you explore the locale in *Wilds*, so as the situation in the locale changes, monsters can have turf wars even without a hunter's involvement. This means that a monster may already have multiple wounds by the time it interacts with the player. You can think yourself lucky and hunt a monster when it's in that state. There may also be special additional rewards for felling monsters wandering the locale. In some cases, there are even monsters that give gems as additional rewards."

The Focus Mode and wound system enhance powerful attacks like the Great Sword's Charged Slash. Monster health and toughness were adjusted to maintain appropriate playtime and player satisfaction. Tokuda explains: "It's not as if that was our intention from the start, but health did end up being a little bit higher than *World* once we thought about maintaining appropriate playtimes and player satisfaction, compared to past titles. Elements like flinch resistance are also higher, but this doesn't mean that hunts will be tedious. Part of the purpose of Focus Mode is to allow players to feel more accomplished through shorter loops. We tried to design it so that the time they spend hunting is even more concentrated than before."

The Tempo of the Great Sword

Balancing 14 weapon types is a significant undertaking. Tokuda describes the development process: "There are some staff members who oversee multiple weapon types, which ultimately makes for about six individual planners, who are responsible for player experience. We don't just have game designers, of course. We include artists and animation designers to discuss details like what kinds of movements would be good and how that may mean a weapon could be better off used in a different way as we polish the weapons. We didn't have staff members assigned to weapons from the start; their number grows as development progresses. We generally begin by developing the Great Sword as a prototype, then verify weapons like the Sword and Shield and Heavy Bowgun, applying the knowledge we get from there to the other weapons as we create them."

Designers and artists collaborate, focusing on both functionality and aesthetics. Focus Strikes inspired the art team. Fujioka explains: "Attacks like the Focus Strike didn't exist in the series before, so now that we had this new form of expression available to us, we began by coming up with ideas while focusing on making it feel good over anything performance related. The Great Sword is an all-rounder weapon, so we generally begin with it when creating animations. It's one of the first weapons we created for the original *Monster Hunter*, and there's a strong sense of wanting to challenge ourselves with the Great Sword first. We felt excited when we first made the Focus Strike for the Great Sword, thinking that if we were able to create something that feels this good, we'd be able to do even more with the other weapons."

Tokuda adds: "I feel like weapons with a sense of heavy tempo like the Great Sword are rare in other action games. That's why it's a *Monster Hunter* standard to begin by making sure that the Great Sword is fun to use. The concepts for the other weapons come together in part by placing the Great Sword at the center and seeing how we can differentiate each of the other weapons from it. I guess you could say that once you're used to the game, you'll have noticed that the Great Sword is the most rounded of them all. While the speed of weapons like the Dual Blades or the Sword and Shield will always result in there being technical elements needed in order to earn damage in small ways, you're able to go straight to defeating a monster once you're good at using the Great Sword's style as it exists. It can even block, it has area of effect attacks, and it can create moments where you can deal solid damage. It's actually made so that you can go back and forth with a monster in the most straightforward way if you can just get used to its weight."

Fujioka continues: "Creating a game that's fun to play using the Great Sword's weight makes it easier to create weapons that fight with a quicker tempo. If high-tempo weapons become the focus, or if we match the speed of the monsters to them, movements will just get quicker and quicker. I think that we're able to create a game that feels like *Monster Hunter* when you play it by making sure that both sides are properly tuned with a weapon that has the Great Sword's tempo."

Weapons with Personality

While player preferences inevitably lead to some weapons being more popular than others, the developers prioritize unique weapon design over uniform ease of use. Fujioka explains: "We always think that it's better to focus on how to design what makes a weapon unique rather than trying to make all weapons equally easy to use. That said, we do think it's a problem if players can't have the gaming experience we want them to have. Of course, it's not a good thing to have a weapon that's both easy to use and overpowered, so there are weapons we've made a lot of changes to for the release version of the game given what we saw in the open beta."

Tokuda uses the Hunting Horn as an example: "At the outset, I told the team that I wanted the concept of this weapon to be that it can produce proper amounts of damage when used where it performs best, the area around you. Instead of being able to unleash one attack after the next, you can use something like an Echo Bubble to deal damage by controlling the area. Since we have this element of sound that other weapons can't produce, how do we make use of that while outputting damage? That's the kind of thing we challenged ourselves to do with the weapon. Instead of thinking that it's all about damage, we care more about making the most out of each weapon's personality."

While acknowledging inherent weapon-monster matchups, the developers aim to avoid overly efficient builds that trivialize the challenge. Fujioka states: "While I think that weapons that stand at the top in terms of time efficiency–ease of use and ease of hunting–are going to see more popularity, we have made it so that if you really care about a weapon type, you'll be able to beat a monster through enough trial and error."

Tokuda highlights the dual-weapon system: "Even if you have somewhat specialized weapons, it'd make me happy if players brought two in order for them to complement one another as they play."

Build Your Own Skills

The decoration system, impacting skill builds, remains similar to *World*, allowing for separate weapon and armor skill activation. Tokuda explains: "Decorations are currently similar to the system in *World*, with decorations having specific skill abilities. These skills are still activated by placing them into weapon or armor slots (In *Wilds*, weapon and armor skills can each be activated separately). However, you can make single-skill decorations through something like alchemy. So in *Wilds*, players won't have the issue of never being able to get a specific skill."

Fujioka shares a personal anecdote about *World*: "I never ended up getting it once. My Shield Jewel 2... I ended up finishing the game without having completed my build."

Regarding weapon preferences, Tokuda favors ranged weapons and the adaptable Sword and Shield, while Fujioka remains a dedicated Lance user. Fujioka comments: "I'm a Lance main, or rather, I only use the Lance. I think that the Lance is a weapon where positioning is very important, as you stick to a monster's feet or some other part. Until now, you had to perform this kind of positioning by walking or sidestepping, but in *Wilds* it's now a lot easier to make minor adjustments, like shifting over slightly as you attack. It's a simple change, but it's important for players to have more choices, so in that sense I think that's one of the positives for Lance users in this game."

The Lance received significant beta feedback: "We received a lot of feedback during the open beta test, and to be honest, one of the largest reactions we got was that the Lance isn't embodying its concept as a weapon. Our intention was for players to guard in a variety of ways, sticking to a monster as required and counterattacking. But there were a lot of actions that weren't working properly, such as it being hard to use and perform the right action at the right time, actions going off by mistake, actions coming out late, and so on. Surrounded by so many other actions that worked properly, it ended up feeling like a pretty dull weapon. We're now making major improvements to this for the release version, and we hope you look forward to that."

The *Wilds* creators are committed to delivering the best possible experience, incorporating player feedback. The enduring success of *Monster Hunter* is a testament to both player passion and the developers' dedication.

For a detailed look at the changes, including performance enhancements and weapon adjustments, watch the official community update video featuring Tokuda.