User blog:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: Towns and Villages

Hello, and welcome to Discussion of the Week: Towns and Villages!

This week we examine some of the 'central hubs' of Monster Hunter, the places where you spend time inbetween hunts.

Kokoto Village
The offline town from the very first Monster Hunter (and MH Freedom). From what I've seen, it's a little... bare bones, but perfectly functional. There's some interesting story about the Hero's Blade, and the whole place is at least visually consistant (it reminds me a lot of the Forest and Hills).

Pokke Village


The first town I came across in any MH game, and therefore one that invokes considerable nostalgia in me. I like the slight verticality of the place, the farm is nice, everything is quite compact and close, but there's still a really strong underlying aesthetic theme (village in the snowy mountains).

Moga Village


I like this one a great deal; floating on the sea links nicely to MH3's introduction of swimming, and beyond that it's just a fun place. The farm is a bit out-of-place, but everything else is fairly seamless. And who can forget the Guild Sweetheart? Or Cha-Cha?

Loc Lac City
A total opposite to Moga, despite appearing in the same game. Dry and dusty, it fits in well with hunting the online-only Jhen Mohran, but most of all I like that it's so bustling, loads of NPCS, and the airships flying overhead are a great touch.

Yukumo Village
A village based around hot springs in the mountains - an interesting idea. It also gels well with the new area introduced in Portable 3rd, the Misty Peaks, and the new flagship, Zinogre. However, as I never played MHP3, my opinions are of limited value here.

Barbare Village
MH4 introduced a vast number of new towns and villages as part of the main storyline, but this is perhaps the most famous, due to trailers and whatnot. Whilst it does appear very very yellow in all the screenshots, perhaps its less monochrome in-game. Western hunters can look forward to visiting this place when MH4U comes out!

Questions

 * Which is your favourite/least favourite?
 * Why?
 * What would you like to see in a MH town/village in the future?