User blog:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: Rare Species

Hello, and welcome... to Discussion of the Week: Rare Species!

Bit of a big one this week, to make up for the absence last week (my bad). Let's take a look at some very special, very powerful monsters!

Silver Rathalos / Gold Rathian


The first of the Rare Species, and one of the most well-known. Gold and Silver have been staples of the series for years, appearing in every single generation from 1 to 4. Certainly visually striking monsters, though I wish they didn't hang around the Tower quite so much (this is a recurring moan of mine that I may revist later, hint hint!).

Lucent Nargacuga
I like Lucent a lot. Fast, powerful, and poison seems like a natural fit on Nargacuga. Even the invisibility gimmick doesn't seem massively tacked on like it would be on Tigrex, for example - at least Nargacugas are known for being stealthy. Shame they just whacked it in an old Tower area, though.

Abyssal Lagiacrus
I'm very torn on this. On the one hand, this is a very cool-looking beast, black and electric blue, and the entirely underwater thing is different. On the other hand, no really new attacks (beyond bigger lightning blasts and suspiciously familiar whirlpools) and... did we really need 3 Lagiacrus Species? The bloody things are just everywhere.

Hypnocatrice Rare Species
It's a Hypnoc on steroids, and rather impressive at that. The fast jumps and loads of powerful kicking attacks make him a least a little scary, and I like the colour scheme a lot. And even though it's in a special one-zone area, it's NOT at the Tower! An actual naturalistic one-zone special area. Pay attention, main-series developers.

Espinas Rare Species
And just when I was commending them for creating something new... Still, Rare Espinas seems like a good monster; it subverts the usual Espinas thing of being really passive, and the nuclear fireball attack is hugely impressive. Not convinced it's too massively different to Espinas Sub, though.

Tigrex Rare Species
I'm not sure how I feel on this one. Again, I like the design and colour scheme, the slime/explosion thing kinda works... I guess... but it's very lazily whacked at the top of the Tower. Also, again, 3 Tigrexs? Overkill.

Questions

 * Which is your favourite?
 * Would you like to see more Rare Species in the future, or is having an original and a Sub more than enough?
 * Of the monsters that don't have a Rare Species, who deserves on the most? What should it be like?