User blog:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: Herbivores

Hello, and welcome... to Discussion of the Week: Minor Monsters!

Something different again. This isn't a comprehensive list, just wanted to cover some of the less-talked about monsters in the series.

Aptonoth/Apceros


Both of these creatures are definitely strongly inspired by dinosaurs, but are cool designs nonetheless. Apceros are the bigger pain in the backside, obviously, with their relentless but slow approach to any Hunter even after a Diablos or whatever has given them a casual brush on the shoulder.

Anteka/Popo


It's always good to see MH get away from reptiles now and again, and these herbivores do it well... I suppose. Anteka are basically grumpy reindeer but Popo are ok, sort of small mammoths with big tusks.

Kelbi/Mosswine


OK, Kelbi are basically just small deer with very little changed, but Mosswine are nicely original - a pig like creature that lives in the damp so much moss and plants grow on its back. The same idea comes up again with Yama and Duramboros, but Mosswine got there first.

Rhenoplos/Slagtoth


Rhenoplos are grumpy beasts with annoyingly hard heads, and Slagtoth are... hang on a minute. But yeah, I like how there are different varieties of Slagtoth for different areas, the idea of an amphibious hippo like herbivore was at least fairly new to MH, and I especially enjoy them being viciously devoured.

Epioth
Ah, the only water dwelling Herbivore (looks more like a Leviathan to me, but thou shalt not argue with the Capcom grouping system). Very placid, which is good - can you imagine aquatic Bullfango? - and a design and ecology that got at least five minutes of thought.

Questions

 * Favourite?
 * How would you improve Herbivores in future games? Have more boss ones, have less aggressive ones, anything like that?