User blog:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: One-off Areas

Hello, and welcome to Discussion of the Week: One-off Areas!

I apologise for the strange name, but I couldn't think of a better way of phrasing it. This week we're looking at a few areas in Monster Hunter that are only ever home to one or two monsters, but leave a lasting impression all the same. I know I've done something similar before, but it was before some key Frontier updates and MH4, so away we go!

Tainted Sea


Doomy, melancholic... it certainly suits Dire Miralis. A little bit plainer than somewhere like the Sacred Land perhaps, but that smashed up ship is pretty cool. And I always have a softspot for the underwater bits of 3rd Gen.

Lava Island


Monster Hunter, as I'm sure you've noticed, really likes its volcanic areas. Really really likes them. To the point that they crafted "two" zones out of the MH4 volcano by just removing all the lava from it. Anyway, back to the point, this follows very much in the footsteps of the Battleground and Lava Canyon (down to having Akantor and Crimson Fatalis) so doesn't get high marks for originality, but it does look good, I must admit.

Thousand Blade Mountain
MH4 does do a good job of the high altitude areas - Misty Peaks is good in the 3rd gen, but the Heavenly Mountains manages to be interesting without falling back on the old MH staple of covering an area in trees and hoping for the best. And as Thousand Blade Mountain is right next to the Heavenly Mountains it's got some points already. I do think this area is maybe a little bland, but I suppose your attention should really be on Dara Amadyura anyway, so it doesn't matter too much.

Large Exploration Ship


I like the idea of fighting on a giant airship floating through the sky, especially against a naturally airborne monster like Shanthien, but the aesthetics of this are a little... minimalist. Which is fair enough, if that's what you're aiming for. My only other thought is that fighting on a ship has kinda been done with Jhen Mohran first, but this is at least quite different (actually fighting on the ship not the monster, for one).

World's End


Now I really like this. Very dark, very atmospheric, with that big moon and huge distant purple crystals... it seems very otherworldly and very alien. MH wouldn't work if it only used areas like this, but as an occasional, rare thing I think it looks great.

Questions

 * Which is your favourite/least favourite?
 * Why?
 * If you had to design an area for an end game boss (either one we already have, or a new one from your imagination) what would it be like?