Summary
- Monster Hunter Wilds director says that while the addition of a new weapon type is not ruled out, it is very difficult.
- Devs prioritize improving the existing 14 weapons over adding new ones to maintain balance.
- Long Sword supremacy!
Monster Hunter Wilds is now only a few days away, and is already being touted as a Game of the Year contender. While the issues on PC still haven’t been sorted out, even in the second beta, fans are looking forward to the February 28 launch date. Hopefully, the jokingly dubbed Polygon monster won’t make an appearance in the final build.
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However, despite the two open beta tests, there’s plenty about the game we still don’t know. Like with every new entry, the community is abuzz about what new monsters we’ll see, which ones will return, and of course, will we finally get a new weapon type to join the traditional 14 we’ve seen over the years.
Monster Hunter Devs On Creating A New Weapon Type
While there hasn’t been a concrete yes or no from the devs, director Yuya Tokuda weighed in on the conversation about new weapon types. In a conversation with PCGN, he said that there is no hard and fast rule against having a new weapon type, but, given how much the current ones have evolved with each new entry in terms of technique, conceptualizing a new one would prove to be difficult.
“When we start development of games such as World and, recently, Wilds, we always consider whether or not this is the time to add another weapon type,” he said [via translator]. “It’s not off the table for any particular reason, it’s just that we never really decided that we wanted to for the recent titles.”
Tokuda explained that it’s not enough to simply create a new weapon and techniques for it, but it would have to “feel equally as valid as the other weapon types while also not overlapping with them too much.” Currently, Capcom has hit a balance when it comes to the 14 weapon types, each suiting a particular playing style. A 15th one could possibly throw this equilibrium off.
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“It’s a very difficult thing,” he continued. “With each title we always adjust all the weapon types and maybe bring new concepts to them and their relationships with each other to make them feel fresh. We also bring new depth with new combos and moves.
“The resources and time that it takes to do that is something that, in every case since the last weapon was added, we’ve always decided were better spent bringing the whole lineup to a better place than to simply start adding another new one in.”