Monster Hunter and FFXIV

[Zantetsuken]

I don't know how many of you are avid Monster Hunter fans, but I find it to have a fantastic balance of addicting content and at the same time it is very accessible for players that only have an hour at a time to play. It also has a role system based off of weapons - which is similar in a way to the FFXIV armory system.

Now granted, MH is an action/strategy game and FFXIV is a MMORPG, but I wonder if some game-play elements in MH could enhance the FFXIV experience in some way.

One basic concept (that other people on the forums have spoken to already) is the toughness of monsters in the FFXIV. Put simply, Most monster HP is far too low and battles end quickly with very little gained in the way of player personal experience or strategy. In contrast, Monster Hunter pitted players against monsters with abnormally high HP, extremely powerful yet avoidable attacks, hidden weaknesses and a limit on both time and deaths.

Imagine if the guildleve or behest system was revamped to work more like Monster Hunter. After signing up, you (and your party) travel out to a somewhat isolated section of the map (instanced?) to face down a single large monster (or a tight party of smaller ones) that would require strategy, study, coordination, and most of the time limit to kill. Rewards for the leve should mainly be exp/sp and potentially rare crafting materials based on damage to specific parts of the monster. In addition, there could be a limit on the total amount of player deaths during a leve, after that limit is reached, the leve ends in failure. I think this would give players a real sense of challenge in keeping themselves alive and would eliminate zerging.

Other elements of Monster Hunter that might work well in FFXIV is the way that armor-based skills/attributes functioned. Every piece of armor had skills with a positive or negative value attached to it, but in order to activate that skill, you needed a value of 10 or more. Conversely, if the value of a skill was -10 or less you received a penalty in that skill or attribute.

In FFXIV this could be done quite easily first with attributes, and later with buffs and penalties to class skills. Imagine if all mage gear had penalties to combat stats like VIT, STR, DEX, or HP, in addition to the boosts to MP, INT, Casting Speed, etc.. A helm for Marauders might a bonus to attacking speed but have a penalty that caps MP at zero.A set of Light Armor could give a VIT and HP penalty but enhances casting speed and DEX (RDM anyone?) The possibilities are almost endless...

Just some thoughts. Any other MH players out there with ideas?

[Xquiel]

Like it!, I dont like the FF battles, it`s doesn`t have any tactics!!. This would be a great idea n__n

[Lamhirh]

well Funcom just announced they are working on server side PhysX. Wonder how this will work. probably destructable enviroment will be in effect. wish they did that for FFXIV

[Ranka]

Pretty sure we have those, called Notorious Monsters(NM) xD However, I do agree for the most part monsters are far to easy to kill at times, but for guildleve's you can always make it harder, if its to easy at 5 star, then maybe you should go to the next ranked camps. As for behest, ya I would love to see a change in that where its a single mob or a select few for a large group, like a few mini-bosses then a boss spawns after you kill the mini-bosses maybe. However on World map mobs, I do not agree a lot of mobs should be harder, need to keep solo-ability at a good point for the more casual players.

You did bring up some interesting points though, good post.

And sorry no, I do not play Monster Hunter.

[Jinrya-Geki]

But Monsters, in Monster Hunter were really easy. It was actually pretty one-sided. All the monsters have a pattern. The only time they break their pattern, is by some miracle they manage to pin you into a wall, they will never let you up.

[Zantetsuken]

But Monsters, in Monster Hunter were really easy. It was actually pretty one-sided. All the monsters have a pattern. The only time they break their pattern, is by some miracle they manage to pin you into a wall, they will never let you up.

True, but discovering that pattern was a great part of the MH experience. Once you figured out the pattern and the tells, you still had to master the execution side of it and the high HP, powerful attacks, and limited time didn't leave much room for error (especially for G-rank Monsters). It was only easy after spending a long time upgrading your gear and getting accustomed to that particular monster's pattern of attack over the span of many battles. The 'easyness' was a reward in and of itself, and after mastering one fight, there was always another challenge waiting for you.

FFXIV could push this concept further with the amount of variety in different classes, elements, etc, and requiring coordination to exploit weaknesses or defend against certain Monsters.

I think FFXI did some of this with the ENM, and BC fights, but it would be nice to see the concept become a the normal experience for FFXIV players.

[Jinrya-Geki]

I used Narga Kuga U set! Any set with evade +2/Evade Distance up was so awesome! There was only one monster I couldn't evade. Akantor, it actually made me have to use a defensive set, like Shen Goaren's X set, and steel uragaan U to be able to not be hurt by it.

[Zantetsuken]

I used Narga Kuga U set! Any set with evade +2/Evade Distance up was so awesome! There was only one monster I couldn't evade. Akantor, it actually made me have to use a defensive set, like Shen Goaren's X set, and steel uragaan U to be able to not be hurt by it.

Yes, the Narga gear rocks, but (I assume) you played the majority of the game without it so you must understand MH's depth of game-play and challenge.. I wouldn't call the game 'easy' even after you get the Narga gear as an inexperienced player will die just as quickly with it as without it.

This 'personal experience' aspect to MH would also be nice in FFXIV. No matter how good your gear is, It would be nice to have some mobs that really put your playing and teamwork skills to the test.

[Jinrya-Geki]

Me and my friends came up with a small joke from Monster Hunter 1, and it actually became a serious saying. "If you can beat a kut-ku, you can beat anything". Because that is the only point in the game you have absolutely nothing. Once you beat you have the tools to beat any monster to improve your gear. The Kut-ku was also the only wyvern without a pattern.

Tri and Portable 3rd are joke games, if you step into those games brand new, never playing the other and think it's hard, it really isn't.

Sorry to get back to the topic, I think the carving system would be awesome in this game after killing a NM.

As for leve's the time limit would be cool, but the number of players to die wouldn't work. That means it could possibly fail with one good aoe damage.

A idea: I am sorry I forgot the name, gunners, should have special bullets that allow them to blow off certain monster's body parts. Like the Great Buffalo Horns.

[Zantetsuken]

The idea of a heavy gunner class in FFXIV is a cool one on its own. It's could be like the Engineer or Chemist Jobs in other FF games (FFVI, FFTactics). As Eorzea technology is more along the lines of FFVI, I don't think the weapon would be out of place at all in this game.