User blog comment:Kogath/Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for the Nintendo 3DS/@comment-1758220-20140204204832/@comment-184612-20140204233824

Ever think they spent most of their time on the new gameplay instead of the new monsters? Completely redoing maps to be more geometric instead of flat surfaces everywhere. New animations. New gameplay mechanics. Also revamping old monsters instead of making new ones/bringing more old ones. Not to mention the entire excavation equipment system and Unknown forest.

Dos had the season and time system, but all that really did was change the quest list and add different maps. It wasn't that big of a deal technologically.

Even still, there's a lot of spots in the game where it seems like development was cut short. I still feel the Wyverian Wholesaler was a last minute idea to still use some things they had to cut from the game.