User blog comment:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: Generation 1/@comment-1758220-20130205030721

GENERATION 1:

Monsters: Eh....It was a nice start I suppose. None of them are particularly great, and some are downright awful. Capcom really hadn't gotten the hang of subspecies yet, painfully evident in pretty much every colour swap in the set. That said, a few aren't bad. Kut-Ku is the quintessential beginner's challenge, and we hold him dear for that. Rathalos, though a blocky sunovabitch at this point, was the first flagship and remains the true king of the franchise. But then you have Lao Shan Lung, Fatalis, Basarios, and other terrible monsters that drag the quality of the roster down. Though I really don't like any of the first gen monsters that much at all, it's certainly obvious that Capcom has been able to improve upon their efforts in the field by many orders of magnitude as the series has grown.

Areas: The Forest and Hills is a gorgeous map, it's no wonder why it had the longevity that it did. Properly varied, a good roster of monsters, wonderous to behold for sure. And really, most of the 1st gen maps are pretty cool. The Old Jungle has an amazing base camp, the tall palms of the Old Desert always looked unique over the relatively barren 2nd gen desert. Though most of the Old Volcano kind of sucks, The base camp is really cool, and the top of the volcano is really a sight to see as well. The Old Swamp is...better than the 2nd gen one, but still not that awesome. The fortress is the most boring pile of trash in the series, and Castle Schrade isn't much better (We don't need that much damn space to fight Fatalis...). Overall, pretty decent, but totally outclassed by its successors (Which really sums up this entire generation)

Weapons: You know, the weapons in first gen weren't terrible. No, you couldn't charge up your great sword and MH1 only had three levels of sharpness, but the lance actually took skill and the SnS was prime at finishing off the comparatively more challenging wyverns. Bowguns were bowguns.

Soundtrack: No. I really don't like the first (or second) gen music. I don't even like the main theme that much. The battle music for most areas is pretty weak and most of it sounds rather cheap and low quality. Absolutely pales in comparison to the music of Frontier and (especially) 3rd gen.

Overall: It was a nice start, but seeing where the franchise has come since these days, it's hard for it not to seem really dated. Even nostalgia glasses can't save dismal experiences like Lao Shan, or revitalize bland, ugly environments like the Old Volcano. Lowly origins indeed.