"They won't just bring back a monster for the hell of it" Ryozo Tsujimoto on Monster Hunter Wilds' balancing classic and fan-favorite foes (Exclusive)
Monster Hunter Wilds' producer Ryozo Tsujimoto was in attendance at Gamescom Asia, and we had the good fortune to chat with him about the upcoming game. This next entry into the popular monster-slaying franchise promises to be massive, with a wide variety of monsters for people to defeat.
One of the things we brought up specifically was the fan sentiment around the monster selections. There are often complaints that certain monsters always seem to return, instead of others who are seen less frequently.
Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto gave us some insight into what the selection process is like in Monster Hunter Wilds, through his translator. Though I was not there in person, Angshuman Dutta posed the question to the legendary video game developer for me.
Ryozo Tsujimoto opened up on how monsters get picked for Monster Hunter Wilds and other franchise entries
We had a chance to ask Ryozo Tsujimoto a few Monster Hunter Wilds-related questions while at Gamescom Asia 2024. Our own Angshuman Dutta posed the first question for me, asking the game developer about monster selection:
“With Monster Hunter’s extensive roster of unique and memorable monsters, how do you approach the balance between fan-favorite creatures like Rathalos or Rathian and introducing less frequently seen monsters from past games or spin-offs like Monster Hunter Frontier?”
Despite Monster Hunter’s popularity as a franchise, there’s always a bit of a heated discussion around who gets in, and who doesn’t. Seeing familiar faces like Rathalos and Rathian everywhere - with Rathalos even showing up in Final Fantasy 14 has irked a few fans. Through a translator, Ryozo Tsujimoto explained that there’s a selection process for all games in the franchise, even Monster Hunter Wilds:
“So, some of the factors that go into the decision-making process of whether or not the monster comes back or not or whether or not we're adding new monsters is really, for each title, there is that kind of core concept that exists when developing the title itself. Looking at what monsters will fit the type of mechanics that they want to express or the type of new elements that they want to express in the game and looking at the fit there.”
However, this isn’t the only hard requirement for a monster making its way into Monster Hunter Wilds, according to Ryozo Tsujimoto. Popularity is taken into account, and can affect whether or not a particular creature shows up in one of the franchise’s entries:
“And also, of course, they do take into account the popularity of the monsters themselves. So, if fans have been really asking for a monster to come back or if fans are really, really expecting this type of monster, then they also do take that feedback in as well. So, those are kind of the two things that they do look at when deciding the monsters.”
Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that many of these games, like Monster Hunter Wilds, have particular concepts at their base. So, even if we want a particular creature to come back, it may not fit the mold of the game. That. in-turn would make things awkward and the game less fun in the end:
“But it all comes down to whether or not the monsters themselves fit within the core concept of the game, fit within the environments that they want to express in the game. So, they won't just bring back a monster just for the hell of it. It has to fit within the actual game.”
The excitement and hype for the next entry in the popular monster-slaying franchise is already on the rise. Still, fans have a few months before the release of Monster Hunter Wilds as it launches on February 28, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.