Headscratchers / Monster Hunter

As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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• How the hell can throwing a paintball at something mark its position on a map likely made of paper, papyrus, or something similar?
  • The flavor text for the paintball mentions that it is scented, and that that is how you track the monster.
• Guns in the series. In the first one, they were absurdly primitive, but were anachronistic for just existing in a Bronze Age (or so) tribal society. In Freedom 2 and Freedom Unite, they have what look like late 19th-century/early-20th-century guns in what appears to be medieval times in a Northern Mongolian (Chinese?) mountain village. 3 takes place in what looks to be a small fishing village during the setting equivalent to the Age of Exploration, and the screenshots featuring guns show things that look almost exactly like modern firearms except for their crude assembly with materials and techniques that are in line with the setting. If there's a 4, will they be using particle beam and projected energy weapons? Although Victorians (or whatever they decide on for the next game) fighting dinosaurs and dragons with lasers and plasma weapons would be awesome.
  • Or what about the fact that said guns shoot giant cartoonish bullets, despite generally having barrels that look to belong to normal firearms. Even the bowguns that actually have the weirdly unnecessary looking crossbow bits that justify the 'bow' part of bowgun still tend to have normal gun barrels. Of course, this is a series in which you have giant swords that suddenly become longer than you when you draw them.
    • This troper always thought that the crossbow parts were simply the analogue to the spring and firing pin in a modern firearm's bolt assembly, seeing as the player character even draws the bowstring lever back when loading a Bowgun. The Schizo Tech might have been such that the helical spring may not have been developed fully yet, with simpler, more familiar leaf springs and toughened bowstrings in place of the coils modern firearms use (note that in real life the helical spring wasn't developed until the 15th Century CE). Otherwise, Artistic License simply comes into play for many of the designs, and In-Universe the terminology may simply have stuck with the weapon despite technology advancing to greater levels.
    • This troper, on the other hand, assume all the games happen all at the same timeline, and that the games aren't a generation per game.
    • Most likely, the giant bullets are for gameplay visibility purposes. Given the scale of 3D models in MonHun, you'd have a hard time seeing your shots and whether they hit your targets if they were realistically-sized. The weapons being as big as or bigger than yourself can be explained with the same reasoning.
  • I just say it's post apocalyptic earth (apocalypse happening very far in the future), and everything is explained. Huge strength = Genetic enhancements, Guns = ancient tech that people are re-discovering, monsters = mutated earth wildlife with millions of years of evolution to a new environment etc.
  • Ultimately, All There in the Manual shows that you are mostly correct. They're the surviving remnants of human beings After the End, descended from super soldiers created to fight off the dragons as a world-enveloping war destroyed almost all life on the planet. The ancient civilization that predates the current era of the games used monsters as test subjects For Science! only for it to bite them in the butt. There are some implications (though unconfirmed) that the monsters were created by the ancients using cloning and genetic manipulation of dinosaurs. It's basically what Ian Malcolm warned about actually coming to fruition.
  • Or it could just be that in the Monster Hunter world, they discovered gunpowder before us, technology wise, therefore, they'd have guns at more "primitive" stages of technology. Besides, given what you're fighting, it WOULD make a lot of sense to develop more powerful weapons sooner than it would to say, invent things that DON'T help against monsters.
  • The early discovery of gunpowder makes way more sense considering the world MH takes place - there are not only naturally occurring monsters and animals that can create explosions (meaning you can harvest their organs and study them) but even plants with explosive properties. As such it was much easier to figure out 'stuff goes boom' and actually get it to work because unlike in our world, you don't have to go through the scientific process of discovering and mixing charcoal,saltpeter and sulfur - you can pretty much literally pick up gunpowder from the ground!
  • The current society of the Monster Hunter world are the descendants of a long lost ancient civilization that was far more advanced. After it fell thanks in part to its hubris most of its technology was lost The survivors decided to rebuild as best they could and live their lives more in harmony with nature, eventually leading to what we see now. However, not all technology was erased. The more advanced weapons like the Switch Axe, Charge Blade, Bow Guns, and Dragonators were created based off of artifacts and blueprints recovered and studied from the surviving ruins of the ancient civilization. There are probably plenty more around that the current society just isn't able to replicate on a large scale yet, conveniently leaving the door open to add new weapon classes in the future.
• Weak monsters, "Minions", during boss fights. Baggi and Rhenoplos in Monster Hunter Tri are good examples; the former can cause sleep, and the latter is infamous for running into the hunter and sending them flying. It makes sense in some fights, such as the Great Jaggi and its regular Jaggi underlings, but for others it doesn't. One example is with the Rathalos; if Rhenoplos are in the area, they mindlessly attack the hunter even though the Rathalos likely preys on them.
  • Felynes (the light colored cat monsters) will not attack unless one is attacked. The catch is they will always attack the hunter even if he was not the source of the original damage.
  • Not always true. When I played the single player first Rathalos hunt, the Rhenoplos there would charge Rathalos more than they charged me.
  • Well, what's the most dangerous enemy there? Their natural predator, or the superpredator who regularly massacres everything on a map, skins their corpses, and uses the body parts to make himself even more dangerous. If they help the Rathalos kill you, then the Rathalos will likely go back to preying on them, but at its own pace. If you kill the Rathalos, you're quite likely to go on and kill the rest of them to make hats. Then come back to do the same thing over and over again. Long story short, Hunters are dangerous.
  • And as we all know, monster are intelligent enough to realize it!!! Oh wait....
    • They're intelligent enough to get away when you start killing their mommies and stuff, or to attack you to make you stop. I figure after a few hunts, the few survivors would realize that "This hairless ape is the most dangerous f***ing thing that's ever walked in here. He killed a Querepeco in fifteen minutes".
    • The only ones that run away are Aptonoth and Popo, which are harmless. The others attack out of stupidity, as anything that sticks around is either killed by the hunter or the monster he's fighting.
  • Also, Rhenoplos running headlong into me sending me flying just makes this troper want to kill them MORE. If they were doing it out of some sense of self-preservation, they are sadly mistaken if it will help.
    • This troper had a bit of a laugh at one time thanks to the Rhenoplos. While I had bigger fish to fry, they were just as much of a threat to me as they were with the Barroth I was fighting - one even knocked the Barroth down and I got a clear shot at its tail afterwards! Ah, the wonders of friendly fire.
  • Of course, there is a logical explanation given by the game which states that the Rhenopolos are quite territorial but have poor eyesight.
• The way the Kirin and Yamatsukami are lumped in with the Elder Dragons, is really annoying. All the "real" Elder Dragons are the true bosses of the game, with so much health that they require multiple missions to take down, with damage that carries over across missions. These two don't exhibit that behavior because, well, they aren't Elder Dragons. They don't even look remotely draconic - Kirin is a unicorn-like creature (which would put in the Pelagus category, if anything) and Yamatsukami is an Eldritch Abomination (specifically a Starfish Alien). Would it have been too much effort to list them as Unique, or even Unclassified?
  • Consider for a moment; Kirin clearly has scales, and originates in the first game, where the only elder dragon with wings was Fatalis. And anyway, Elder Dragons is a catch-all for things that clearly aren't wyverns of any sort.
  • Hold a moment there. Just what do we consider as "dragons"? We do not have a standard for these creatures at all, because we do not have these creatures at all in this world. Maybe, in the Monster Hunter world, they do have that standard. Or, they could just be categorizing the Kirin and the Yama Tsukami as "Elder Dragons" because, maybe, in their language, Elder Dragon means anything older or as old as the world. Or there could just be a gigantic shortage of information and knowledge that the authorities just categorize them as such. Whatever is the case, it all points out to the fact that the world of Monster Hunter is so vast, it reaches out to them and teaches them things about the world itself.
  • According to canon, Elder Dragon is any monster powerful enough to bring destruction to whole ecosystems. So Elder Dragon is actually "this shit will mess everything up", not really being an old dragon.
  • According to Eastern folklore and myths, particularly in Japan, the Kirin is a super powerful creature distantly related to dragons. Some versions of it have it as the weakest variation of dragon while others have it as the strongest thing in existence, surpassing even the divine dragon used to represent the Emperor. That it is an Elder Dragon is meant to relate that it is a true draconic being and not simply a wyvern. That it is weaker than most other Elder Dragons is because by the time you fight it, you've got endgame equipment. Imagine a naked run with only basic weapons.
  • It's been confirmed in-game that Kirin and the like (Nakarkos and Yama Tsukami for example, as they're a giant cuttlefish and octopoid abomination respectively) are only considered Elder Dragons by the Guild because their body shape and biology are so radically different from any of the known monster families. Elder Dragons are less "dragon-like creatures" and more "creatures we have absolutely no freaking idea where to classify them".
• Some weapons in 3 state in their description that they're ancient. But, I collected the materials and watched them forge it myself...
  • There's the possibility that the blacksmith had it with him all along, and just wanted those Heavenly Scales/Gems/Rubies to screw with you.
  • Some of those are ancient for good reason - they started out as Rustshards or Ancientshards, which have to be restored before they can be effectively used. Additionally, some weapons are based on ancient designs.
  • I think the official explanation is that the design of the weapon is ancient, your new weapon is a replica.
  • We have a trope for that.
• The Jhen Mohran is a dragon that lives in the sandsea, a massive desert. However, the spines on its back can be mined to find Pelagicite and Bathycite ore. Both of those ores are predominantly found in aquatic locations. Bathycite in particular is said to never be found out of the ocean. So, what is it doing on the Jhen Mohran's back?
  • The sandsea area might have been an ocean in the past and may still retain some minerals found in this environment. The amount of sand in these areas suggest a huge amount of erosion took place, and this erosion might have been caused at least partially by water, so deposits of these minerals could be buried beneath the sandsea and the Jhen Moran might be able to feed on these mineral deposits.
  • Alternatively, the flavor text for both materials state they are formed from compressed bone material. Depending on just how great the pressure gets under the sandsea, that could very well be geologically metamorphosed Jhen plating.
  • And for the record, how do Sandsea physics even work?
• How do hammers and horns lose "sharpness"? They're blunt objects!
  • Jokingly, you could substitute "sharpening" with "tuning" in regards to the horn. In seriousness though, you've got me.
  • Perhaps the catch-all term could be 'tempering'. Blunt objects can only take so much punishment, so the 'sharpening' reinforces them to make them last longer.
  • Hammers and Horns have edges and points used for inflicting damage, much like real-life war hammers. It is presumably those sharp areas that are being measured.
  • If you beat the living daylights out of a hammer onto something that's supposedly stronger than tempered steel, you're going to notice the metal/bone/scales/whatever getting warped and chipped, making it weaker. Sharpening is more akin to reshaping the weapon to its previous, maximum potential form when it comes to blunt weapons.
• Drops can get funny in this game. For example, if you carve a horn, you may get two horns. Alternatively, you may get two heads from one monster. Similarly, that tail you chopped off may not gave you the tail item itself.
  • Perhaps you don't get the whole part, just the best chunk of a given part. Getting two heads may actually mean getting two useful parts of the head.
• How the hell do shields and the Great Sword class's blocking ability block flashes and roars?
  • The flashes are easy enough. By holding the shield over your eyes, you block out the light. The roars, I would have to say they're Bracing themselves. Since they're trained to withstand sundering blows while defending, they reflexivly lock up at the roar as if they had been hit.
  • It's also possible that what actually makes the hunters cringe isn't the sound of the roars, but the sheer magnitude of them. We do know a few monsters can scream so loud that they can actually destroy ships (Akantor) so it's pretty reasonable to assume that they aren't blocking the sound so much as the concussive force of it. So blocking a roar is more like bracing against a concussive explosion with the alternative being to clap their hands over their ears and bunker down to avoid being knocked away and deafened.
• There are switch-axes, weapons that change from a long single-sided axe to a greatsword and then there are charge-axes, which change from a sword&shield to a long double-sided axe...but given that there is no axe weapon, one wonders how the technology was even planned to begin with.
  • This troper theorizes that axes were once a weapon, since it's clear it's a tool in human culture in the game. I would guess that as the other weapons evolved, the axe followed suit until they were so developed that primitive axes simply faded out due to obsoletion. Three games from now it's likely the Gunlance will completely replace traditional Lance weapons in time.
  • Remember, the Switch Axe starts in axe mode. So, here's a bit of WMG for you: Regular axes used to exist, but then some weapon designer said "hey, what if my axe could become a sword?". If it worked (which it did), it would make regular axes obsolete, thus why we never get them ingame: the Guild would want to keep up with the latest & greatest monster-hunting tech. The Charge Axe, meanwhile, is a "spin-off", if you will.
  • There are some types of Sword and Shields/Dual Swords that swap the swords out for axes. The Switch Axe was probably just a scaled-up and improved regular axe.
  • Axes would have originally been tools, not weapons, used for cutting down trees and the like. At some point, people would have went "I bet you can kill monsters with these things," which is hardly a leap of logic—the same would have happened with knives evolving into various swords. But since we never got a regular axe as a weapon class, what probably happened was that axes by themselves were not considered a good enough weapon for hunting monsters by the Guild. It wasn't until the development of the Switch Axe and Charge Blade that an axe-style weapon was officially sanctioned.
  • Look at weapons like the Axeblade◊ from Rise, a Great Sword. That's just a Switchaxe's ax part without the sword morph. Similar designs for Great Swords, Dual Blades and Sword and Shields (and even Longswords) exist in all games in the series. They are just not considered unique enough by Capcom to have their own movesets, so they get lumped into the "sword" categories.
  • What we have access to aren't all the weapons that exist in the world. The fourteen weapons we have now are more like broad categories of weapons sorted by both base function and the ability of the available smiths to forge. A hand axe is different than a similarly sized sword, but they're close enough to still be used with a shield, so they are considered parts of the same weapon class. Frontier had more exotic weapons like the Magnet Spike and Tonfas that were exclusively available there because the techniques to make them are known only to a rare few smiths while the training to wield them is similarly exclusive since most hunters world have no need to know how to wield weapons they're almost certain to never use.
• Well-Done Steak gives you a higher stamina boost than Rare Steak, but why? In Real Life, cooking food to well-done causes the nutrients to burn or evaporate away.
  • The extra taste gives the hunter all the motivation to keep going.
    • But rare steaks hold more flavor than well-done steaks...
    • Maybe something about the fat content or chemical make-up of the meat makes the reverse true? It is monster meat, after all.
  • It's possible to cook a steak well-done without it losing all of its moisture and flavor. Cooking well-done meat also doesn't lose very much of the nutrients in comparison to what it makes bio-available. And just like in the game, it's a narrow window between medium well, well-done and flavorful, and dried out (or burnt) but edible. Well-done meat is also more easily digestible since the connective tissues have been given more time to break down and is less likely to spread a food-borne illness. Give its After the End setting, diseases spread by undercooking food could have possibly led to natural selection in favor of those who prefer their meat "so tasty".
• How come rolling into water/swimming doesn't cause waterblight while being spit by a Ludroth (or basically water monster in general) does?
  • Because you're not covered in Leviathan spit.
  • You accidentally inhaled the attack, and now your lungs are full of liquid, forcing you to take longer to catch your breath.
  • According to the quest description for the Royal Ludroth quest "Royal Spit Take", the "water" that Leviathans and the like spit is less akin to water and more akin to watery gunk. Which can only be assumed to be infused with stamina-sapping toxins, considering things like the Mopeshroom and Wanchovy exist.
• Why is it that an egg can withstand you jumping down several stories while holding it, but is otherwise so fragile it will break if you so much as breathe on it?
  • For the same reason the hunter doesn't die when jumping from those same heights, but the small monsters still manage to hurt them with hits that have no real force behind them.
• Why does Tidal Najarala of all monsters have an Apex form?
  • Because it can survive the Frenzy Virus better than the regular Najarala.
• Ukanlos, how do they eat with such a small mouth and a massive chin like that?
  • Same way Jay Leno does.
  • Leno jokes aside, they probably shovel their prey into their mouths with their jaws.
    • So basically they can only eat small creatures, probably no bigger than a Great Jaggi? Because they most definitely cannot swallow something like a Popo whole (small mouth) nor rip a chunk of meat out of it (chin gets in the way).
• How do I get bones from a Daimyo Hermitaur? It's a giant crustacean!
  • ... from it's stomach?
  • Presumably a piece of its carapace, which is a Monoblos skull, and thus made of bone.
• Speaking of bones, what are Rhenoplos Bones doing inside G-Rank Slagtoths and Apceros?
  • They may share a common ancestor, just underwent different evolutionary paths.
  • In real life, hippos are technically herbivores but are also one of the most dangerous animals in existence. They will attack anything they see as a threat, and will quite often scavenge their kills. In fact, most herbivores will eat meat if given the chance since it's more easily digestible, nutritious, and calorie-dense. As for Apceros, the same rules probably apply. Ankylosaurs were heavily armored and had giant bludgeons on their tails, as Apceros does. Apceros also has a beak, and new evidence suggests that beaked dinosaurs like Triceratops actually ate a decent amount of meat.
    • You mean non-obligate herbivores. Many animals that people consider herbivores are actually omnivores with herbivorous tendencies. Horses, for example. True herbivores can't tolerate meat.
• In World, the Research Commission plans to capture Zorah Magdaros, an Elder Dragon, and more than a few NPCs point out how balls to the wall insane this plan is, since nobody has EVER captured one before. Which begs the question: Besides research purposes, what were they planning to do with it after they captured it?
  • Well the commander told the researchers to bring anything they might need with them because they'd have to do all their studying on-site. There's no way they're bringing something that massive back to base. Later in the game everyone balks at the idea of killing ol' Magdy, so they were probably just going to let him go once they were done with him.
  • Killing Zorah Magdaros is expressly forbidden by the Research Committee. When it dies, it will release such a massive amount of energy at once that it will effectively become a walking bomb. So as crazy as trying to capture a walking volcano is, it really was the only hope they could have of performing an in-depth study of it.
• Exactly how big of a threat are elder dragons really? most seem content with living in their inhospitable zones until a dumbass with a big sword wanders in and decides s/he wants its skin. sure there are a few that are genuine threats to existence like the gore magala or the Ceadeus which was causing massive quakes, but ones like the teostra seem content with the above first sentence. obviously in game terms they are powerful bosses but from an actual human standpoint, most of them seem to just want to be left alone.
  • It isn't really brought up in Monster Hunter: World, what with Astera being the only human settlement in the entire New World and Monster-Human incursions being exceedingly rare as a result, but as far back as MHFU, Teostra would occasionally have a quest on the Town map- which is literally right next to Dundorma, a fairly major human settlement in the Old World. Lao Shan Lung are also prone to Elder Dragon-Human incursions, as demonstrated by their constantly wandering through the Fortress and Town maps. Elder Dragons have also been known to just randomly interfere with normal hunts in the story (Ace Commander's backstory in MH 4 U), though obviously not in gameplay. All of this, on top of how stupendously dangerous anything labeled "Elder Dragon" really is, makes going after them first fairly reasonable.
    • To add to this, basically, new Elder Dragons in any given game are given a reason to be fought in that game's plot, but returning Elder Dragons are there just for the sake of adding more content.
  • Usually it's explained in game as certain Monsters (usually the final boss) is so powerful or problematic to the ecosystem, that it's riling the other Elder Dragons up, examples like: Gore's frenzy virus pissing them off, Lao was running away from Fatalis, Xeno/Safi's massive energy absorption was attracting challengers, Rampage caused by two Elder Dragons mating call being a great big dinner bell.
• Here's one related to World's final boss: so Xeno'jiiva is suggested to be the reason for the Elder Crossing, where Elder Dragons journey across the ocean to die in the New World, because apparently they are attracted to the incubating Xeno'jiiva for some unclear reason. The Elder Crossing has been happening for an extremely long time, and now the ecosystem of the Rotten Vale and Coral Highlands is fueled by the corpses of Elder Dragons that have died there. So... now that Xeno'jiiva is dead, presumably the Elders aren't being attracted to the area anymore. Doesn't that mean the New World's ecosystem is going to shift dramatically if it can no longer depend on the released bioenergy of dead Elders?
  • It is suggested in World that Xeno was actually corrupting the cycle in the New World, by siphoning off the bioenergy the dead Elder Dragons released on death, with Xeno dead the cycle of the New World will apparently stabilize, remember when Xeno was nearing its "birth" the Elder Dragons only appeared because they were "going nuts". Xeno was an aberration, not a natural part of the cycle.
    • To elaborate, the Elder Crossing is supposed to be an event where Elders reaching the end of their natural lifespan journey to the New World to die and disperse their lifetime of energy there. Individuals may migrate there normally, but mass numbers make the crossing once a century or so. Xeno/Safi arrived from parts unknown somehow hijacked the process long ago. Now a mass migration of not only aged, but perfectly healthy Elders are coming once a decade instead so that it can absorb all that energy. Naturally, this is causing havoc around the world which is why the Research Commission has spent forty years sending fleets to study the New World during the brief periods where the seas are calm enough for full fleets to make the journey. Given what we saw of Safi'Jiva's ability to single-handedly drain all bioenergy from a large area and power to rival the Black Dragons, it was undoubtedly best that the specimens we encountered were killed before they could get much farther.
• How does Desert Seltas Queen Concentrate ("D.S.QueenConcentrate") exist in Generations Ultimate if you can't hunt Desert Seltas or Desert Seltas Queen?
  • Desert Seltas Queen Concentrate could just be the name for a higher quality Seltas Queen Concentrate, the substance is only named like that because it's more commonly found in Desert Seltas Queens.
• What prevents Akantor and Ukanlos from being classified as Elder Dragons, despite having many characteristics of them - non-capturable, are considered powerful in-universe, are usually in the highest tier of High Rank or G Rank? Sure, Raging Brachydios also has those characteristics, but it's a variant of a monster that the Guild has studied well enough (due to vanilla Brachy being capturable, for one) to fit into a more standard classification.
  • Presumably it's simply because the most vital aspect of being considered an Elder Dragon isn't power, rarity, inability to be trapped, etc. but rather having a body and abilities that keep it from being classified with other types of monsters. Clearly, the bodies of Akantor and Ukanlos are accepted by the Guild to be those of pseudo flying wyverns. "Elder Dragon" isn't a true classification so much as a "garbage bin" term where all the monsters that the Monster Hunter scientists can't figure out get lumped together in. That many of them do have similarities to each other (top of the food chain, powers bordering on magic, and so on) does not appear to be the main motivation for them being classed as elder dragons.
  • In-universe, they fit on the "Tree of Life" an ecological record of Monsters, they don't adversely effect the ecosystem, but work within it, Elder Dragons, are classed as such, because they don't fit on the Tree, they simply turn up and cause ecological change on a massive scale (usually when they get angered by something the final boss is doing), one of the reasons you hunt them is because if left unchecked, they wouldn't benefit the ecosystem, they'd destroy it.
• Much ado is made of the Magalas' spread of the Frenzy Virus in Monster Hunter 4. In Monster Hunter Generations and again in Monster Hunter: Rise Sunbreak, those monsters return, and can still inflict the Frenzy to Hunters, but there's no more mention of monsters catching the Frenzy outside of their introductory cutscenes in Sunbreak. Did the Frenzy evolve into a less infectious form sometime after the events of MH4?