Monster Hunter Ecology : How may hunting affect monsters?

[@kasiahmura2816]

I'd like to point out that cannonically there is a lot less hunting then it seems. First of all Hunters are rare - in Moga we are the only hunter, presumably just arrived there. In kamura we seem to be only one of the 4 characters that actually hunt or used to hunt. In world there seems to be maybe 30 5th fleet hunters in total. Not just hunters themselves are rare, good hunters are rarer. The player hunter of thier respective games may really be the only one that can actually hunt a high rank monster, let alone an elder dragon. Based of the equipment of the npc hunters of Astera, the vast majority of hunters don't go past low rank. Another point is that each quest we do canonically happens only once, so we - the ultimate hunter - may have hunted a certain monster only once or twice.

[@Mgauge]

Yup. The player isn't some average hunter. Your average hunter is lucky to bring down a Barroth without serious injury. No, the player is a prodigy that quickly rises to become powerful enough to match up to Elder Dragons. There's a reason that villages hail the player hunter as a hero by the transition to High Rank, much less Master Rank bosses.

[@mr.h4890]

@Geostomp try reading monster hunter flash hunter it a manga.

[@evolfreezer11]

This is covered in an art book and the "Flash-Hunter" manga. I don't remember verbatim; but that hunters and the hunts they take care single issued. It's presumable that the hunter only needs to hunt the monsters once, but that doesn't translate to a gameplay design and loop of the gameplay; so they added the RNG of monster parts and drop rates. And in the manga the author after a few volumes got recognized by on of the heads of monhun and had several interviews and was in talk about the perspective the designers had for a world building "cannon". The characters only hunt the various wyverns once and if they can lug the whole creature back to the village the blacksmith even states it's usually enough to make several various pieces. In the epilogue editors notes and the foot notes throughout various volumes and panels it's mentioned that it wouldn't make all that sense for them to HAVE to hunt one large wyvern more than the issued Hunt.

[@rexex345]

@@Mgauge we see this in world the most cause in all the time they've been there, long enough for a new generation to be born and grow up, they barely made it out of the forest, and the 3rd fleet were stranded in the coral Highlands. The actual good hunters among them were maybe 5-6 and were spread out across the 1st 3 fleets which implies the 4th may have ended up a dud.

[@Mgauge]

@@rexex345 According to the wiki, the fleets all had different purposes. The first through fourth were dedicated to setting up the base and research infrastructure. It wasn’t until the fifth fleet that Astera was settled enough to support a fleet of mostly hunters. It would have gone a lot faster, but the seas around the New World got so turbulent from the Elder Crossing that the periods calm enough to send entire fleets had years in-between them.

[@Krescentwolf]

One interesting note: The idea that Hunters and their Guild can be 'trigger happy' when it comes to hunting monsters actually gets addressed (sort of) in the Stories games. Since Stories features 'Riders' who tame all sorts of monsters (as opposed to Hunters who tend to keep their taming in the realm of the more passive herbivores and small monsters). The Rider's taming has resulted in Hunters being generally suspicious and distrusting of Riders and their mounts. Conversely, Riders are suspicious of Hunters precisely because they view the Guild and their hunters as violent and unfeeling in regards to monsters. And in Stories 2, the Guild Hunters throw their weight around quite a bit. Which actually leads to more problems.

[@natakug1]

Though, I would point out that there are still several questions that are raised from "Rider" culture. As many of the game mechanics can be seen as... odd. Many of the quests you take still fall under the same stipulations as regular hunters in the quest dialog, but then you add on the whole baby kidnapping thing. Beat up/Kill a monster than kidnap its children is just...one example

[@Missiletainn]

I was also thinking about Monster Hunter Stories 2, it has some of these themes. Still, it's not great at exploring it. Its plot is kinda all over the place and very poorly paced.

[@aussiepuppet5250]

​@@natakug1 Actually It's implied that the monsters we fight in Stories are rarely actually "killed". It's weird, but it seems that Riders only incapacitate enemies when they can rather than go straight to killing.

[@kennethsatria6607]

@@aussiepuppet5250 That actually sounds worse to create hatred in individuals that are still living and or have gained injury and trauma from these encounters.

[@aussiepuppet5250]

@@kennethsatria6607 Yeah. I never said it was a good thing. And it's implied that they do this repeatedly to some monsters, such as a group of Aptonoth outside of Kuan Village called and I quote "Great Training Partners".

[@jamescampbell4416]

This might explain why the monsters in world and iceborne are slow to become aggressive compared to other games, because they don’t have a village of trigger-happy people

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

NW Monsters may also be more naive to human presence.

[@egalomon]

@@miquelescribanoivars5049 because there are no older generations of monsters that have experienced being hunted by these tiny things coated in metal with little spikes that hurt. Caution is hereditary. That naiveté will fade

[@diveblock2058]

yet

[@diveblock2058]

also the canonical reason why monsters are less aggressive in world is because we hunt them in their natural territory since what normally happens is the monster is lured into hunting zones by decoy hunters then they send a proper hunter to kill it

[@Sunaki1000]

Yeah pretty cool right? Even the Teostra whos described as hyper aggressive is passive. While I like passive Monsters to return, its a good narrative Device for now.

[@grantowens7537]

Okay, but in all seriousness, I would ABSOLUTELY play a Monster Hunter snap equivalent. Can you imagine trying to document passive monsters? That would be incredible!

[@siriwitvt2276]

There’s an achievement in Rise that you’d get for taking pictures of all endemic life so….yay!

[@Themasterjtg]

A parkour based MH where you can only use tools to keep monsters at bay, but not entirely slay them. Being a squishy, non-hunter documenter on indie work, you go and capture images of the monsters in the natural habitats they reside in, documenting and transcribing their natural lives so as to preserve their legacy in written form. No true combat, more focused and geared towards stealth/parkour. Stealth to get good, high quality pictures of monsters, and parkour for the situations where you do happen to alert a monster it starts tracking you down.

[@spin2winbaybee894]

Monster hunter snap but monsters will try to kill you so you gotta play stealthily.

[@Ajehy]

My partner has carpal tunnel but loves the MH vibe and design. They keep talking about wanting to play a researcher/photographer. I wonder if there’s any mods for that?

[@saragossid.aschenberg7992]

@@Ajehy well there isnt a mod for that, but if you want to have fun being a photografer in monster hunter iceborne you can, just hit at the lynian researcher at seliana, he will give you the camera so give him a save of the game right when you reach seliana and let him have fun!

[@MansMan42069]

_"Monsters are tragic beings; they are born too tall, too strong, too heavy, they are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy."_ ~Ishiro Honda, japanese filmmaker

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Wonderful quote

[@reliantbelial2341]

Yet a monster remains a monster no mater if it chose it or not

[@TheSuperRatt]

@@reliantbelial2341 Way to miss the point.

[@serotonin.scavenger]

"...too heavy" mfw your mum is a monster 😔

[@theworstcatholic7247]

@@TheSuperRatt Nah, you missed his. He's right. Doesn't matter if the monster chose to be a monster. In the end it is one, and it needs to be taken out.

[@pavasiv]

My headcannon was always that the guild took the "sport" or "fashion" quests purely for the money. In the game you get the monster scraps after a hunt, but in the lore they make it a point to use the whole monster. I assume the parts that are not given to the hunter are used for research or even sold off. After all, as stated in the video they are funding large scale airships and expeditions, but they are also outfitting there hunters. The guild provides each and every hunter with potions, rations, and other necessary items that don't come cheap, these types of "for the money" quests surely help fund this. But another idea I had, and this is purely speculation, is that the guild uses the money from these jobs and hunts for the sake of the villages. I always found it weird how a little village in the middle of nowhere can scrounge up 10000 zenny for a hunter to deal with a big monster. Now I don't know how the economy works in Monster Hunter but I imagine that few outside of hunters and nobility can afford to offer up this kind of reward. So perhaps the guild uses the money they make from the non-essential quests and subsequent monster materials to insure that they can put a proper reward and encourage hunters to help these little villages.

[@MansBestFriend_]

So are you telling me all this time I could've gotten way more rubies and gems but the guild potentially took most of it, and that part rarity is basically artificial scarcity drummed up by the guild?

[@Zimzilla99]

The amount of money and equipment hunters and the guild have doesn’t justify the unnecessary danger a Hunter puts themself in.

[@omegaphoenix3015]

@@Zimzilla99 I do agree however Hunters enjoy the danger of the hunt and take great pride and enjoyment in it

[@Zimzilla99]

@@omegaphoenix3015 pride and enjoyment doesn’t necessarily equate to being adrenaline junkies. Most hunters probably enjoy what they do but also realize it’s a job. Especially when we see hunters in mass and in cutscenes.

[@themightycaolf6549]

​@@Zimzilla99 You have to consider the cultural aspects of hunting. Hunting in monster hunter is, in setting, seen as a means of proving oneself or as a higher calling despite the danger. It might be easy for us today to look at this and think, "Well they don't have X, making this more dangerous", but the society at large probably just doesn't see it like that. Infact, many hunters intentionally handicap themselves for the sake of a percieved "fairness." Case and point, many hunts probably would be made super easy if you just sent like, 17 hunters to go kill 1 monster, but due to superstitious belief, they only ever send 4 hunters at most except for VERY rare circumstances.

[@SilverKingGary]

Fun Fact: There's a Monster Hunter Manga that shows the Guild regulating things a little more hands on by disrupting an illegal hunting operation and sending an undercover hunter to the main characters group to intentionally set up a secondary character who use to hunt illegally to check whether they're still willing to commit crime or have changed. It's called Monster Hunter Orage and while short it's pretty good.

[@baconboi4482]

Don’t forget Legends of The Guild one of the characters who dies is an old hunter who retired and left into a life of solitude because he poached a monster and got caught

[@Myzelfa]

From that description, it's possible the guild is more concerned with putting down rivals than with maintaining ecological balance.

[@Joural0401]

Uhhh... Why are we bunching "my hunt failed, please fix my mistake" with "yo prove yourself"? The primary hunt's reason isn't given. These are likely the other categories at similar ratios.

[@betashark9776]

The video was really good, but I have a few issues with how you presented the facts. One of the major things you never mentioned, which I feel is very important, was hunting restrictions. These include stuff like putting hunting bans on monsters, as to prevent overhunting, these major bans are only lifted if a monster is attacking humans. One such ban is on mizutsunes during mating season as to keep the population stable. A hunter not following these rules will be considered poaching, the punishment for which is death. You made a lot of good points and I really love your videos, it’s also possible that I missed you talking about this and if so, I’m sorry.

[@mentlegen3887]

What’s the name of that specific maiden again? She’s a “guild knight” I believe and in the lore she wacks poaching hunters in the middle of the night with her HAMMER to kill them. This is one of my favourite MH facts and also one of the scariest ones lol

[@nintendope8837]

E

[@mentlegen3887]

@Aditya Rooplall I wish there was an MH that looked at the darker side of the guild and the elites of the world, making all these questionable decisions, but the player has to make their own choices for whether or not they follow these choices. For example: Quest name: Pukei pukei poison panic "Hunter! We've spotted a pukei pukei pestering our precious first camp in the , we need your help to get rid of this DANGEROUS poison pest!" Then you drop into the map, and you seek out the pukei pukei, maybe with a little commentary from your handler or another npc about how the monster doesn't seem to be in the area of the camp at all, and then when you finally find the monster, it's in its nest (far away from the specific camp mentioned in the quest description), sleeping. What I was intending to do was create a contrast between the quest and what the hunter has observed. You could either hunt the pukei and play the reset of the game doing whatever quests we please, or unlock an alternative route where you defy the ridiculous requests from the guild and nobles. This sounds like a level of story outside the capabilities of the MH team but all they really need is a team of ACTUAL writers that care about the series (I don't always feel like they don't this is an exaggeration).

[@QDRG64]

@@mentlegen3887 Becky, she's your guild receptionist from MH1 and is secretly a guild knight.

[@mentlegen3887]

@@QDRG64 thanks I knew it was a name starting with B but It was on the tip of my tounge. She's definitely the strongest receptionist in the series lmao. Although some may argue for hinoa y minoto

[@NonsenseCommon]

You forgot Kamura's anti rampage forts as an example of non lethal deterance. Those seem to work for the most part. As all but one monster dies and the rest are repelled.

[@taddad2641]

a 'relative' non lethal too that shows how enduring the monsters are. like they get hit by cannons and balista and shit but survive and run off. they end up killing off the one that is really freaked the fuck out in the end.

[@TornaitSuperBird]

@@taddad2641 Only the Apexes are really ever killed in the Rampage, though it could be out of mercy because they're heavily scarred and damaged. Not even Ibushi gets killed in the Rampages. Another fact: all of the Apex quests count as Slaying quests, and not hunting quests. This means that they could be actively sought out by the Guild to prevent them from actually messing with the ecosystems.

[@angellara7040]

But now you have 20 rajang, 10 Diablos, and God knows what else in a small area and they're all pissed off

[@thebaseandtriflingcreature174]

@@angellara7040”oh jesus christ, there are spiders everywhere!”

[@Jenny-rp8mp]

"Non lethal deterence", proceeds to gun them downs with bamboo machetes -

[@TORGOoOo]

Some things to think about: it does feel like all the talk of "harmony with nature" and respecting monsters largely comes from older hunters, which could mean there was a gradual shift in attitude as the Guild rose to prominence. How intertwined the Hunting Guild is with nobility is kind of a massive question mark as we only ever hear of them prior to (I assume) Sunbreak, and it's even harder to say who holds the power of the two. Royalty hardly seem to exude influence but we see the Hunting Guild have it's hands in nearly every single major settlement in the series, could they have superseded the royals in power at some point? Guild Knights are described as being a force that puts an end to poachers, but maybe that's just a euphemistic way of saying anyone that undercuts or threatens the Guild in any way, making them more like secret police. Fantastic video. Wouldn't mind seeing more like it. I'm not sure how you'd go about making a mainline game about this inherent contradiction without you having to fight your fellow man which SEEMS to be a no-no for Capcom.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I’m unsure if guild have superseded nobility but that’s an interesting idea considering how poor untrained knights fare against monsters vs skilled hunters. Hopefully capcom can make something of it though!

[@TORGOoOo]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Well fighting against a person is a different skill set then felling a creature roughly the size of an RV. I imagine many hunter weapons are borderline useless against human opponents outside of sieges due to how slow and cumbersome they are.

[@Sunaki1000]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel You actually forgott one extra Category of Quest Offerer. "I wanna fuck that Spider!" in 4U^^

[@kasiahmura2816]

@@TORGOoOo I think you are right. Many armor sets include normal sized swords and weapons on thier back or belt (or even just kamura's blacksmith sharpening a normal katana in his shop), so that proves that normal weapons exist in mh and the ones we use are weapons specificly designed for monster hunting.

[@kellmalleus5825]

@@Sunaki1000 4U? In World, one quest-giver literally asks you to go murder his buddy's girlfriend: a Rathian. He wants to stop the zoo-train before it leaves the station. Thems in the Monster Hunter world are some freaks sometimes.

[@rabsrabble5415]

This channel is criminally underrated. Came across it the other week and there isn’t enough zoological talk went talking about creature design and entertainment monsters. Really bringing to life a series I wrote off as “some anime game”.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much!

[@jacktar25]

The cultural response to monsters is pretty interesting. Especially when you consider one culture seeing a monster as a pest while another may see that same monster as a symbol for a god. Not to forget creation myths, fairytales and folklore. The way a monster behaves may have caused a positive or negative change in the environment, perceived or otherwise. Like how in one of your videos mentioned that barroth leaves mud, thus moving nutrients throughout its environment. Perhaps a culture sees barroth in positive light because of this behavior.

[@Cottonmouth255]

This in turn has implications for the relationships between different human settlements. Have there been wars fought over the treatment of, say, elder dragons?

[@nuke2099]

@@Cottonmouth255 The wars fought over the treatment of Elders is fannon btw. There's nothing in any of the games that mention it and it's purely from some art work before MH1 was ever created.

[@joelrobinson5457]

@@nuke2099 but then a lot of lore is gotten from such sources

[@nuke2099]

@@joelrobinson5457 Yeah well this artwork was scrapped and there's no mention of any dragon war in the games or EDW. It's complete fanon.

[@joelrobinson5457]

@@nuke2099 so it's like rajang hunting kirin until iceborne made it cannon

[@Talla50k]

Something I find interesting that didn't seem to be talked about here is that, while the games themselves don't really show it for various reasons, The Guild isn't exactly as trigger happy as they seem to be while you play the games. The Guild's main objective is finding some sort of coexistence between man and beast where both parties are at least satisfied, which is why in terms of canonicity the only quests that are canon are the 'main' quests in the game (as such any side-quest or repeating the same quest to get more parts for your armor set aren't exactly canon). In fact, The Guild has a literal elite task force of ''Guild Knights'' that prevent poaching or illegal hunting, even if they have to resort to lethal means upon said person; though these Guild Knights also have a side purpose of keeping the public knowledge of Elder Dragons restricted to prevent hysteria and panic. Speaking of Elder Dragons, in a lot of quests involving such creatures it's less 'kill' the dragon and more 'drive it away', such as the famous Lao Shan Lung quest or in another case: Zorah Magdaros' quests. In Lao's quest you're directed to repel the poor thing because it was quite literally panicking and acting in absolute fear, and it just so happened to be taking its panicked actions towards a well-populated area without realizing its direction; we were just there to send it into an unpopulated area to calm down. While in the case of Zorah Magdaros, you're driving it away because its death fodder is comparable to that of a Hydrogen Bomb going off, meaning the end of a majority of the things living in the New World; human or otherwise. Meanwhile, the only times when a quest dictates the slaying of an Elder Dragon is mainly when the target is: -Presenting itself as too much of a threat to be left alone and can't be repelled (such as disrupting the local ecosystem and hasn't moved along, or it outright refusing to leave despite the dangers it poses). -Is an active threat to the ecosystem and will quite literally destroy it if left unchecked (usually reserved for the infamously 'hungry' Elder Dragons like Nakarkos of Yama Tsukami, of whom would quite literally devour a whole ecosystem with no survivors). -The Elder Dragon is showing true malice to whatever it sees or it presents a literal cataclysmic possibility just by its sheer existence (The Magalas' frenzy virus would wipe out a lot of much needed monsters and it cause even more Gore Magalas to appear in the case of Shagaru Magala's specific form of the virus, Dire Miralis being Dire Miralis as it is a literal volcano, the Fatalis trio for obvious reasons, and now most recently Xeno/Safi, Ibushi and Narwa).

[@Taikuriketsuppi]

the guild is still making every species they find close to extinction so doesnt really matter at all that they have good reasons too

[@NaschAzure]

@@Taikuriketsuppi no

[@draochvar9646]

@@Taikuriketsuppi no, not even in the slightest. Canonically, the amount of monsters that are actually hunted is VERY limited. In addition to that hunts are very complex affairs, with the monster in question having been lured to a specific, guild-mandated area (the places where you actually hunt) to be slain. And hunting outside of these areas or hunting in them without permission is not only illegal, it's punishable BY DEATH!

[@baconboi4482]

The guild is very dystopian ngl

[@fabiocandelori9163]

​@@baconboi4482 sorry if the reply it's coming quite late, but how is it dystopian?

[@wildspirewarrior211]

In mh4u there we're these two brothers that called themselves the hell hunters or something and they mentioned that all the hunting spot you go to are regulated by the guild and I think they mentioned that hunting outside of the guild's blessing in those territories is illegal. Aside from petty nobles and weird people making requests, I feel that most of the quests are usually only for taking down monsters that are too close or have already proven to be a danger to human settlements, the local environment, trade routes, and popular/rare resource locations where normal humans would be torn to shreds by said monsters if not only for the resources from the monsters themselves. One example of multiple environments being thrown into chaos was when the apex seregios displaced an entire flock from their natural habitat leading the other seregios to invade and throw the food chain out of balance in other locations. Obviously the guild can be short sighted and heavy handed when it comes to keeping balance in the environment but I think they do more good than harm in most cases especially when it comes to regulating the effect of elder dragon being introduced to an ecosystem

[@adrammelechthewroth6511]

Huh. Okay.

[@Reymax164]

@@adrammelechthewroth6511 it is

[@TofuSG98]

Pretty sure those characters have been there since mh1

[@daefaron]

Hell hunters? Interesting because in Sunbreak two hunters appear that are called I think the Black and Red hell knights.

[@DJROCKSTAZ]

@@daefaron I never played 4U, but two hunters I watch on YT did, and they recognized the Hell Hunters right away.

[@TravellerWence]

This was a really interesting look at the MH world, ive noticed that a lot of quests are just some rich noble asking you to just kill a monster because they dont like. One thing I'd like to look into is the effect that Riders have on the world, although i don't know if they are canonical to the main series.

[@shagarumedic]

Except that guy that wanted you to kill a Lunastra that he “liked” a little too much

[@kennethsatria6607]

@@shagarumedic Whaa-

[@legendarytat8278]

@Pixel Knight where is this mentioned? The canonicity I mean.

[@nicolaslopezs.2861]

yes, Riders are cannon, however, many hunters actually havent heard of them because they live in very aparted places, however, in mhrise some of our hunter´s voice say "you are the best rider in the world" or something like that after a teamate knocks down a monster using the wyvern riding, meaning that yes, riders are cannon, but they arent as known in hunting society

[@legendarytat8278]

@@nicolaslopezs.2861 That voiceline just refers to wyvern riding using silkbinds. It doesn't refer to riders, monsties, and kinship stone.

[@aphidamas1]

I always had the feeling that the time in between hunts is much greater than what gameplay lets you believe. Like the locations we visit are actually far enough apart to where it would take days to travel to them.

[@Japaneseanimeguy]

There's also that the msq stuff generally has dialogue indicating that some time has passed since your last urgent quest. Canonically a hunter has not blasted through all the important quests for a rank in just a couple of days.

[@yurei4414]

Well, the time that is needed to go from Bherna to the Jurassic Frontier is canonically two days and are both situated in the Moga Achipelago... Look at a map of the Monster Hunter World then.

[@CapnShades]

This was also one of the clever ways they used to used in-map loading screens. You might be walking through a sector down in the foothills, then hit a loading zone and come out at the mountain's peak. The hunts themselves could take multiple days in-canon, and we still get this vibe in the loading-free World as day turns to night while we hunt down wyverns that won't stop retreating. That feeling of starting a quest at dusk only for it to end at sunrise... feels kind of awesome.

[@AxisChurchDevotee]

@@CapnShades Does this mean worlds lack of loading screens mean the new world areas are much smaller?

[@angellara7040]

@@AxisChurchDevotee no. We know the areas are much bigger for dialogue

[@lightnin6503]

Americans in 1883: "Goddamn desire sensor, where's my fucking Bison Gem???" *repeats quest 900 more times*

[@cow12344]

heavily underrated

[@jessejones7251]

It's neat how the quest structure parallels the cycle of removing a dominant adult, then other youngsters move in to the territory. The first quest against a monster is usually solo, then later we get quests for multiples of them

[@fartoocritical9409]

Y’know something I wish I pointed out when you published this video is something I really adore about this video, which is the fact it is basically a verbal paper. You basically had an introduction, materials & methods, a results and then a discussion session. All you were missing is an abstract lol. I wish I realized that at the time but I only recently started reading as many free access papers as I can, so looking back on this video that’s something I totally love about it

[@dapperraptor8789]

I always found it interesting that the monsters were always so aggressive towards the hunters and that they go sicko mode upon just witnessing a hunter. Also one thing I think we should consider is the time it takes to kill these monsters too. It’s likely not happening in 30 minutes or less but these hunts might drag out for days and potentially even weeks. Monsters like rathalos, zinogre, anjanath and diablos don’t go down easy and are probably engaging hunters in battles of attrition rather than the scuffle that play out in the games. Those kinds of battles probably lead to human mortality as the monsters have a home field advantage in those scenarios. Hunters can probably brute force their way through a bird wyvern like great jaggi or velocidrome in a hour or two but with larger monsters like lagiacrus, gravios and the blos wyverns it’s probably easier to just continuously force them to waste their energy on you until they try to flee. The hunters chase the monster down and engage in more minor scuffles. Until the giant gets too tired to effectively fight back and the hunters go in for the kill. We also see the extent of villager and monster interactions in monster hunter Netflix movie. Where a velocidrome is considered to be terrifying and extremely dangerous. So a giant wyvern like anjanath, Glavenus or tigrex would probably cause an extreme wave of fear in a small town. Overall it’s an interesting video and I hope to see more soon. Great job!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I always thought each hunt was at least a few days depending on location, and up to a month or more for very remote locations with large monsters.

[@dapperraptor8789]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel It honestly all depends on a long list of factors for how long a hunt goes for. Fore example: - hunter skill - hunter party size - hunter equipment - hunter supplies - location - weather - terrain - monster species - monster behaviour and personality - other nearby monsters Honestly if we were to take all of this into equation a majority of hunts probably go for an extremely long time. It also just depends on luck too. Say we have a group of 3 beginner hunters attempting to take down a querpecco, heading to the sandy plains, with a great jaggi close by along with a mapped out weather forecast of hot days. These hunters have a moderate amount of supplies and decent gear (lets say one has jaggi, one has alloy and one has bone for armour sets. Let’s also say we have a hunter using a sword and shield, a hunter using a light bowgun and a hunter using the gunlance) And let’s say these three are semi decent at positioning and cooperation with each other. Factoring all of that in: - they might take a week or two to get to the sandy plains (starting from moga village) - it might take them a few days to track down the querpecco - when they find it they have to engage it - since querpecco is more skittish it may retreat more and call upon the great jaggi close by for assistance adding another week - they hunters may have to kill the great jaggi so that’s probably another few days of fighting and chasing - and finally they can get back to the main target which would probably take another week or two Now this is admittedly a very rough estimate but that querpecco hunt would take at least 4 weeks and at most 6 to 7 weeks. This is for a smaller bird wyvern. So just imagine larger wyverns in far remote environments like the elder recess or the guiding lands. It must take at the very least a month with a group of hunters. And even longer for solo hunters.

[@jjam424]

In MHDos it apparently took an in-game year for someone to even prepare for a Gravios Hunt. As jank as the day and season mechanics were they do put things into perspective.

[@kingofflames738]

You're somewhat right on how long it takes for the hunts to be completed. The Hero of Kokoto, aka the chief of Kokoto spent 3 whole days fighting a Monoblos.

[@AxisChurchDevotee]

Iirc, one of the monster hunter mangas show that hunts are actually very short and a single hunt is enough for a group to craft multiple armor sets and weapons.

[@miguelcabreracastro6968]

I always though due to descriptions and my own way of thinking about nature, that, hunters dont just go hunt a monster. As a kid I always though that the hunters took an entire day to just reach the place were the monster is at, explaining some activities on the game that make you hunt while waiting (the minigames where you send felynes to retrieve items for example). But after some years and understanding the different biomes, I now assume that sometimes we take even weeks to travel to some maps. There are big populations of some monsters, that I think prevents humanity to develop at a fast rate, making the world of monster hunter really nature-friendly, and also small population of monster with low rates of reproduction, here we can stack basically every elder dragon. A lot of quests descriptions only make sense the first time you do it, so repeating a quest would be like a time-loop just for gameplay mechanics. In reality, when we complete a quest, the contract is no more... so we have to wait till other person has a problem with certain monster. If we took that literal, we will have to complete a monster hunter game by only doing the different quests once. So to make it, short... I love this franchise!

[@taddad2641]

then there are more 'supernatural' aspects for elder dragons. its entirely possible they don't even properly 'die' as we know it. its the difference between nergigante killing an elder dragon, and us doing so, that they seem to get back up again aftewards. fatalis is an even more extreme example of this, reportedly regenerating from the weapons nad tools made from tis hdie potentionally.

[@romeobelisario3190]

Damn, this entire video kind of peeled back the seedy underbelly of the world of Monster Hunter. I'd love to see a Monster Hunter Novel or Manga that covers this, Orage is so long ago that we NEED another one.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Or in a game we hope!

[@kennethsatria6607]

The Flash Hunter Manga seems so much better though I can barely find it online, the one I did find was somehow mashed with a modern webcomic also named Monster Hunter.

[@diveblock2058]

i mean there is a monster hunter manga

[@Derpy-qg9hn]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Stories shows that Capcom is willing to depict non-hunter characters in a positive spotlight, and even hunters in murky greys; more elaboration on that premise would always be welcome.

[@GraveRoda]

The way it was explained to me is that the Guild marks monsters for execution for culling, research purposes or defense of settlements and people. That's why when someone has a request for obtaining monster parts or something along those lines, their request is passed through the Guild. They choose a monster marked for execution that could fulfill the specific request. To do otherwise would be considered poaching which is punishable by death by the Guild.

[@Dualbladedscorpion7737]

Most of the hunter quest given by the guild are usually just hunts which gives you the freedom to choose (while hunting) to either kill the target monster or to capture the target monster.

[@blackhammer5035]

A pleasant surprise to find! I've been binging through these so a new one is great to have. Been of a mind to try running a MonHun-themed campaign for my next tabletop RPG thanks to all the inspiring ideas and details in these. I do think the tiny (1%) number of major incidents between humans and monsters may be due to the games wanting to avoid a mature tone and directly implying that monsters are regularly killing humans. A fair few are pretty goofy in tone or just a set-up for a pun. A Rathalos fireball burning someone's butt seems to fit into the same category as it causing a hunter to "faint" in that the games are trying to avoid humans dying.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I also feel that too, as games went on there were less and less human kills by monsters in the quest descriptions

[@TornaitSuperBird]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel However, the Netflix Legends of The Guild movie would put more of the dark tone back into Monster Hunter.

[@williamking1081]

@@TornaitSuperBird I really don't want Capcom "child-phing" MH, I just isn't right!

[@lizando1326]

I mean… in frontier, certain monsters, like that super Khezu deviant I forgot the official name of, would outright just eat your hunter, and yet the game would just say that you fainted.

[@TornaitSuperBird]

@@lizando1326 Zenith Khezu. Yeah, that's just crazy.

[@megaautist4468]

Thank you for making these videos ! You put a greatly appreciated scientific seriousness into your work and it truly speaks about your love and passion for the franchise. I only found your channel recently yet from what I've seen you're easily the best Monster Hunter youtuber to me. Thank you for your hard work, you truly add a lot to the MH community ! P.S I also loved your Skull Island natural history video !

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much! Glad you’re enjoying it!

[@GREYF0X]

the two funniest quest descriptions I remember are 1. A poet is having writer's block and needs someone to hunt a Silver Rathalos(?) for inspiration 2. A Veteran Hunter needs someone to kill a Yian Garuga because the young hunters he sent out mistook it for a Kutku

[@Kazuhira2249]

a cat cook needs you to kill a lunagaron and an auroracanth because he needs inspiration to make cold rice balls... i mean you cant make this shit up lol

[@Jarubimba]

One of our students is weirdly obsessed with a Rathian in the Acient Forest, hunt it before things get weird

[@YEY0806]

​@Jarubimba now I just wonder if MH has in universe furry artists 😂

[@TheNapster153]

Handler literally asking you to hunt a Deviljho so that they can fucking eat it before it eats us

[@natanmaia3575]

"all it takes is one serious attack for a species to be viewed as unstoppable killing machines" Fear obviously scales with monster destruction potential, because one slip is often enough. In GU, we didn't pay attention to Narkarkos as much as we should've, and so we let him destroy a whole village. Countless casualties were implied. At that point, it's the Guild's obligation to repel Narkarkos as early as possible to prevent catastrophes like that, and if no other repel method is known, *it will need to be slain*. In the real world we're so knowledgeable of the creatures around us that we usually know myriad ways to deal with a situation. Yet, when something with unknown potential appears (you could compare the Frenzy Virus to a certain other pandemic...) we take drastic measures and sometimes throw rationality out for the sake of ensuring our own livelihood. We've seen how smart people can deal with Elders, like the New World researchers managing to repel a whole mountain. Same for Lao Shan and I think Gog? Yet it will take a good while for the populus to get it. Great video! Got me thinking a lot. The power of history and hindsight lets us write fantasy stories based on reality, play around with "what ifs". Yes it's just a game, but the fact there's research behind it makes it so much immersive and fulfilling.

[@edryu9688]

Any sort of power would come with corruption, and with how influential and nigh omnipresent the hunting guild is, it would be impossible that all these sport hunts didn't have some self-serving goals in mind. Hope Capcom can expand on this thing, maybe a spin-off game to return the guild to it's roots.

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

Or maybe even see how the world will look after the industrialization and scientific advancements have finally taken place. Could be a spin-off.

[@kennethsatria6607]

Itd be cool if like Berserk or the Godzilla anime trilogy the world would be plunged in a second Dragon War like with the ancient civilization, something to really remind humans to be humble and not take things for granted.

[@diveblock2058]

@@miquelescribanoivars5049 i dont think we will get there anytime soon since if hunters progresses too quickly humans may face another extinction event

[@wildspirewarrior211]

I think that's why hunters fear riders from the stories series, imagine the raw destruction a tribe of power hungry riders could unleash. Although I believe the whole frenzy thing in stories was from the corruption of man instead from the Magalas because when Cheval who's heart was corrupted at the time hatched that elder dragon it was quickly overtaken by the frenzy while the pc and ratha overcame ratha's blight with kinship so that might be a natural counter to corrupted rider idk

[@JanusHoW]

I dunno if that would ever happen. It's important to note that every significant position of power in the Guild is occupied not by a human, but by a Wyverian. Wyverians are, in lore, more in tune with nature and thus are more likely to make ecologically sound decisions. They're probably also less prone to the corrupting effects of power.

[@squiddle5193]

I always thought of farming monsters as more of a gameplay aspect than actual canon, after all, one Rathalos would provide enough materials for an entire hunting party (rare materials like Heavenly Plates or Rubies excluded). But I always had the impression that even hunting one large Wyvern could potentially destabilize the entire area, as the ecosystem couldn't possibly sustain many of those giant beasts at once, let alone if hunted in excess. The happy-go-lucky, adventurous tone presented throughout the games is also probably more for appeal than worldbuilding. I mean you can't even die if you try.

[@scorpiopede]

There was one quest in particular that stuck out to me over the years, which was a quest from Tri (though I don't remember if the same quest description existed in 3U, I would need to go back and check), which had the princess of a region request for the hunter to deal with an Agnaktor that her people were going to sacrifice her to as it had become aggressive and they viewed it as their god and wanting to appease it. It interests me that even monsters that aren't elder dragon tier could be viewed as gods and how would hunting it affect the people of that region? The mere fact that monsters are generally understood as being just animals from the perspective of the guild and more wealthy members but those beneath them are completely oblivious to it is an interesting angle, as I can only think of a handful of games where the people you talk to do refer to monsters as more than just animals.

[@Dinoman9877]

I'm not sure how 'seriously' the creators of the franchise considers the canonicity of the guild's behavior and the sheer amount of sport hunting in-universe if I'm honest. As it is, Monster Hunter's tone isn't exactly 24/7 serious with its pun-spewing cats, mask wearing not-cats, "SO TASTY!", and...lots of other examples that would make this comment even longer than it already is. Moreover, despite real world examples of animals with immense populations going extinct rather easily, Capcom seems happy to portray the animals of this world as being near infinite. 3 Ultimate's introduction film shows multiple packs of Jaggis in a condensed area hunting down Aptonoth. You slaughter whole herds of herbivores for meat throughout all the games and they just repopulate before too long. As for the question of the Guild compensating the villages, I think there's been quite a lot of implication that the monsters are also used by the villages to recoup the supplies lost. Many quests in 3U and World have you hunting for resources to help the settlements or expand production in some way and in Legends of the Guild a Velocidrome is hauled back to the protagonists' village presumably for the village to process and use in some way. Lord knows the hunters aren't using all of the animal after a hunt anyway, given how few resources are given from a single hunt despite hunting such massive animals, so it seems that the rest goes to the villages for food and to make new supplies, and Capcom probably doesn't care about the health issues involved with eating an apex predator enough to consider the ramifications of people using them for food, especially in a world where the species of apex predators across the entire globe vastly outnumber our own and grow to far larger sizes.

[@kasiahmura2816]

Another use of monster materials is building and trading. Many buildings in mh include monster bones and leather, this also makes them a valuble resource that could be sold for zenny. some descriptions of monster parts write about how they are valuable in some way. In a way we are no diffrent then the ancient civilization that built a tower out of kushala scales.

[@joelrobinson5457]

@@kasiahmura2816 yes we are, the ancient civilisation farmed elder dragons like cattle despite their human level intelligence, that's what started the war, now hunters have respect for nature as one of their top priorities.

[@tomturner2151]

Lets not forget “Can’t bring yourself to do it” from Iceborne. Where there is a “rambunctious” Dodogama and people refuse to hunt because the research team think it’s adorable and got attached to it. And yet we are the ones to hunt it.. for no reason.

[@magic_cfw]

#protectdogogama

[@leenotaf]

I always thought that was messed up, “hey no one wants to kill this dodogama cause they like it so much, so we’re sending you to kill it” like what did it do to deserve this?

[@kennethsatria6607]

A god damned tragedy. Just captured it instead but my soul is still tainted.

[@ZanaTheBatPony]

Oh I remember doing that Quest, I still caught Dodogama cause I couldn't bring myself to kill it

[@codyfowler1356]

I think many of the quest descriptions could be taken with a grain of salt since there are quite a few joke quests and collab quests. The dodogama one was because the fan base considered that monster to be too cute to hunt so I think that was a bit of meta humor.

[@grimnir8872]

I feel you missed something when you talked about "Wounded and maimed" monsters. Encounters with hunter's has lead to some monsters straight up becoming more powerful like the Deviants and scarred Yian Garuga.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

Do you think that, for example, an elderly male Nargacuga gets a permanently crippled from a miscalculated ambush and becomes a man-eater as a result

[@takumiyoshimoto9542]

@@unicorntomboy9736 Coincidentally enough there was a real life story of a Tiger in Sibera? that was hurt from an encounter with a wild game hunter. The tiger then proceeded to exact it's revenge, and yes if you've read the whole story it can actually be called revenge, and hunted the hunter that hurt it. Stalking him and raiding his house, until finally he was killed by the tiger. Unfortunately the Tiger has been maimed during the initial and subsequent encounter with the hunter that it could not hunt normally anymore. Wild game can run from it while it got weaker for anything bigger. The scary thing is it also realized that there is still one thing that it could hunt....humans. It became what is called a man-eater animal and proceeded to hunt down humans until finally it had to be put down.

[@jacobmcnulty4706]

One instance led to the wyvern Bloodbath which is said to have had armies sent out against it in its description

[@gamechanger8908]

@@jacobmcnulty4706 Also, Lavanda the Pub Manager and Wehner the quest giver. Once fought Bloodbath before both retiring as hunters.

[@TheStreakWolf]

There's a couple of things I think that were not fairly considered. First, I'm not really sure that I would take all the "quests" at face value. A lot of the quests seem down right flippant to the point where its clear that the description was meant as a joke. Some of the ones in Rise are straight up memes, because as is pointed out in one of these quest descriptions, no one reads them so there isn't a lot of true effort put in them. So I would take a lot of what is being presented with a grain of salt because Monster Hunter prefers to tell a lot of its story through the world than through actual interaction. Second, when talking about monsters killed for "sport" you need to realize that in a society where hunting these large, dangerous animals is a necessity, two other things would be true: Hunters would need to practice regularly to keep their skills sharp and new challenges would have to be undertook in order to ensure that a hunter didn't stagnate and become complacent, resulting in a dangerous individual for the team. Even for these hunts, its quite clear through the construction in the villages as well as other tidbits, that the parts of the monsters don't go to waste. So there is still purpose in these killings beyond just a test. Second, in a lot of primitive cultures, going on a hunt is a rite of passage and so its likely that some of these tests are also viewed in the same way. It might not be something we, in our comfortable gaming chairs and in front of our computer screens might find distasteful but we also don't have the same concerns as those cultures and we certainly don't have the same day to day concerns of the people in the Monster Hunter world. Having an experienced hunter in the village would be not only a comfort but also a guarantee that you're going to have what you need to survive since monster parts are so integral to society. I would also consider the fact that most if not all of the monster hunter games take place in times of great crisis. Even Monster Hunter World, you're faced with an unexplained migration of an elder dragon that is threatening to turn the new settlement into dust and it appears to be affecting the local wyverns as well. In rise, all the monsters are likely immediately hostile to humans because they are being pushed into attacking Kamura by Ibushi and Narwa. Species that would never naturally work together are being goaded into aggressive behaviors and out of their natural territory to lay siege to human settlement. So this is likely why we see so many quests to go after monsters in the games, because an outside force is driving them to unprecedented aggression and the guild is being overwhelmed. We don't have a game where we see the normal day to day interactions of hunters and monsters. Its possible that in times of less stress, hunters might spend more of their time chasing away miscreant monsters rather than actually going in for the kill. And the ones they do kill, are harvested for parts that are needed in the village for construction, food and clothing. Obviously a lot of this is speculation based off clues that are seen in the game but, that is what most of this series is anyways, right?

[@wolffang489]

Yeah, I'm willing to bet it's not canon that a talking hedgehog hired the guild to kill a nargacuga because it looks too similar.

[@Derpy-qg9hn]

On 1: Yes, quest descriptions are suspiciously jokey.. but if you start picking and choosing which quests to believe and which to dismiss, then who's lore are you really studying, Capcom's or your own head's? And who's to say that dumb jokes and even memes should necessarily de-canonize a quest description - is humor not allowed to be analyzed for the implications on its greater context?

[@draochvar9646]

@@Derpy-qg9hn because a lot of these joke quests are there obviously for nothing but the gameplay loop. So in the same way your hunter hasn't actually slaughtered 69 Raths to forge a single set of armour, most of the non main-story quests you do are probably of dubious canoninity.

[@daefaron]

@@draochvar9646 Another aspect I take is this. The jokey quests like "It's making me stay up all night!" type descriptions? The quests have to be approved by the guild. So even if the person was very casual/whatever about it, the guild may have researched and went "Wait, this particular monster is getting a little too close to a town for either sides good, go deal with it."

[@benlee8225]

@@draochvar9646 think lore wise each monster you hunt has enough parts when fully harvested which shown when sunbreak see them hauling it back. theres enough mats to make a full set of armor. the whole hunt 50 rathalos to build a helmet is game mechanic

[@theelementalstation947]

This has always been an interesting question thanks to the divide between lore and games. Since in game you need to kill 5 to 10 specimens on average for full armor and weapons but lore wise 1 or 2 individuals would be more than enough. So chances are each quest only happens once in cannon making the impact of the hunters a lot less significant to the enviroment than one might think.

[@faeyarosethorne2716]

that is exactly the cannon, quests are taken once, finished, and theyre done, farming is a game only mechanic for balance and other stuff like increased playtime

[@faeyarosethorne2716]

another thing, pretty sure only actual key/story quests (for the player atleast) are cannonically happening, though i could be wrong

[@theelementalstation947]

@@faeyarosethorne2716 I always just assumed that the quests were the complete hunting career of our character before retirement. Which considering that traveling and preparing for a hunt could take days or weeks (In the case of forging new armor or weapons) we have a couple solid years worth of work before we retire.

[@erifenesorek5056]

​@@faeyarosethorne2716 Yes, only key quests matter in the actual canon but as a headcanon optionals are more than welcome with all the stuff you can twist haha

[@Cybermaul]

I resolve this ludo narrative dissonance by just capturing everything that I can, as opposed to killing them outright.

[@dr45294]

One quest that always stuck with me was the low rank Royal Ludroth capture quest in Tri. It's a princess requesting you bring her one as a pet and demanding that it be in pristine condition... The sub-quests are to break it's mane & sever it's tail.

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

Same. IMO capture specific quests should actually reward you for capturing the monster with the LEAST damage dealt. It would add an extra challenge and help to differentiate both types of quests.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Maybe it’s like when rich dipshits get sold extremely underfed potbellies as “teacup pigs”. “Oh, no, it’s DEFINITELY supposed to look like that.”

[@yurei4414]

I have a request for a video. Can you talk of Lavasioth and Agnaktor? Speaking for example, how Agnaktor could have a beneficial effect on Volcanic ecosystems by digging holes and cycling ores from lava to the ground and vice versa by doing so and expanding the cave complex, similar to how a Parrot Fish does by breaking corals giving new space and cycling minerals like calcium in the water that allow for the growth of new coral species, Agnaktor might do the same with geovore monsters like Uragaan or Dodogama. And how the Lava Armor of both might not be a defence mechanism, but a way to avoid predation by covering their smells, similar to how Parrotfish (again… I think Parrotfish might be Agnaktor's main inspiration now that I think about it…) that cover themselves in mucus for covering their smells and the lava armor might be a way of not getting detected by predators like Brachydios, that we know from its intro cutscene that can easily hunt them. Agnaktor has definitely more that can be talked of than Lavasioth, but Lavasioth is my favourite monster and putting both Lava fish in a single video makes more sense to me. Or maybe you could speak of Somnacanth and how its Taikou-like belly might be a way to defend its weaker body parts from ambushes like Butterfly Fish or Saint Peter Fish (and many more actually) black spots. The spots look like eyes so that if the fish gets ambushed by, let's say a shark, it will aim the fake eyes thinking is the head and will instead hit and tear a body part that is either non-vital (like in the case of Butterfly Fish fin spots) or more tough and therefore the prey could survive the attack (like in the case of the Saint Peter Fish). Somnacanth would obviously fall in the latter category, since the black spots are on its belly, which is though Somnacanth toughest hitzone (hinting it's tougher than the head or tail). And how that may had an impact on Gobul and made the swallowing whole predator that it's now, Gobuls ancestors that swallow whole could hunt and eat Somnacanths with more success than biting ones and therefore have more food source and chance of survive, that made them naturally select into the dominant species and made the Gobuls we fight in-game in the future. Or maybe how Ibushi and Narwa have a lot in common with Cleaner Wrasses out of all underwater life (and would kinda explain the resonance thing if we become more creative) Cleaner Wrasses are at random some of the cleverest animals on earth, at such point that they even can recognize themselves in mirrors (a thing that only top-clever animals like Dolphins, Crows, Pigs or Apes can do). It's believed that they developed such high level of intelligence (or at least the ability of recognizing species and individuals) due to their diet of feeding of parasites, which creates the problem of recognizing species or even simply individuals that are willing to get cleaned or that would instead prey on the fish, or maybe in order to recognize parasite infected individuals from clean ones, in order to avoid waste of energy for reaching them without a having a successful hunt. Ibushi and Narwa might play a similar role, they may use the Apexes as a way to hunt (leaving the apexes rampaging and killing while they take the corpses of their mischief), as its implied by their "dialogue" where they will make the land barren for their childs (which might be interpret as dung beetle-like making food nurseries for the childs), and therefore they must recognize Apex individuals that they can use in hunts from normal individuals that are basically useless for them (like the Cleaner Wrasse's second theory) And from here it starts their intelligence that allow them to recognize their partners as different individuals, and if we add a bit metaphysics in, maybe resonance works like the morphogenetic fields, in a sense that what is transferred is not messages themselves, but rather feelings or knowledge. Maybe what happened with the resonance is that the desire of Ibushi and Narwa to find themselves traveled into the wyverian twins and they "translate" it into human feeling after receiving it. In more fancy words they transformed the wish of finding the queen in "where is my queen?" That would still be kinda all over the place but definitely more believable that Valstrax… in built natural jet engine? Or its wings… that are also hands… and also spears? Ugh, now that's a 5 old's OC if I ever saw one. Magnanimo is not a gary stu in comparison to Valstrax, also since that f****er can destroy a civilization like it was nothing, while if Fatalis does the same it gets the title of strongest Monster in the francese thanks to that achievement… Yeah whatever. I should have had only suggested you to fo a Agnaktor video and I started to write an essay on Fish Monsters, I'm going to study marine biology so I have a soft spot for fish monsters haha.

[@TornaitSuperBird]

Well, about valstrax, we already know that most "dragonlike" Elder Dragons have six limbs. Unlike the others though, Valstrax seems to be able to have a wider range of motion in its' wing-limbs than other Elders, who mainly use them to generate lift and fly. Valstrax's wings seem to be fused into a structure that prevents it from gaining lift through flapping. This can be coupled with the fact that Valstrax's dragon energy propulsion system is actually coherent and consistent within Monster Hunter biology, especially when monsters like Basarios and Gravios can already expel gases and flammable materials from various ports in their bodies. If anything, Chameleos is more unbelievable than Valstrax imo.

[@holydiver4988]

even if it's utterly ridiculous you cant say valstrax isnt one of the coolest monsters in the series

[@dianslabbert504]

Some corrections. In Freedom 2/Unite the Guild Manager there made reference that Guild is trying to reach out to rural villages in order expand their own research horizons. They were still in a sort infancy in their research back then and are trying to establish a network of sorts which is why they send out Hunters to these rural places to be that village's local hunter. Tigrex was kind of the cause for this on account it was recently discovered back then. Pokke Village is also very important to the Guild because the area around Pokke is very rich in Machalite ore which is crucial in making weapons and armour. The Guild also pleaded with the Pokke Villagers to evacuate when the Ukanlos appeared when other nearby settlements were already evacuated. But none of people felt the need to because they knew the player character would succeed. The Moga Hunter and the villagers did disobey the Guild though. Not out of disrespect but more out sense of pride and love for Moga itself. It became the Moga Hunter's adoptive home and its the people's ancestral home.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I’m unsure on the first point. The minegarde geographer states that tigrex typically live - and pokke is - outside of guild borders. Doesn’t seem to be much reference to bringing them into the fold

[@dianslabbert504]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Pokke Village also made the request of the Guild to send a new Hunter (the player character) to their village when their previous one retired due to his injuries caused by a Tigrex. Other than its wealth of Machalite ore deposits Pokke is also a bit of a tourist hot spot thanks to its hot springs and its location in more hospitable zone of the Snowy Mountains. The training school with a famous instructor is also located there by Pokke. While it is never officially stated I like to personally believe the Guild may send Hunters to Pokke in order to get cold weather training considering all the training quests take place in the Snowy mountain map. The Guild's influence is definitely weaker the further you are from the major cities like Dundorma or Minegarde. That is true. The reason why Tigrex was kind of the cause of this was because of the massive range it inhabits and covers which made the Guild realise how limited their resources are in tracking and documenting the monster ecology. To the Guild it was odd that it seemed like it lived in the Desert region, but for some reason it took the effort in going to the frigid mountains. Hunters sent by the Guild to the rural villages to be the resident hunter also likely write reports back to the Guild HQ. Recording what they encounter out in the field and the knowledge the locals have of the endemic monsters. Also they are likely there to be standby units for when there is a monster related emergency in the area or close in order to act quickly. E.g experienced Hunters from all over were requested to defend the Town from Shen Goaren and when Akantor appeared they also requested Hunters from all over above a certain HR to help. The only time when the player character was a local of the village is in Rise and it seems like the Guild have a good working relationship with Hojo. The airships of the Wycademy are also major and important feat for the Guild in that made travel more convenient to the far rural villages.

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

This video really gave an amazing insight even to someone relativelly well versed in conservation, ecology and animal-human conflict. Keep up the good work! edit because I forgot English for a moment.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you!

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

Girros are very interesting especially, as they are bottom feeders that live off of scraps from the coral reef, and they are known to attack almost anything in their own territory, and will quickly swarm a target, with great girros calling any nearby girros, to help take down a target, similar to hyena's.

[@Fissiccisst1]

Rise and Sunbreak spoilers below: One interesting thing Rise has that I don't recall seeing in any other game is the smoke generators that Kamura (and now Elgado) have. Its mentioned in Rise that the smoke keeps away monsters from approaching the village passively. But also isn't enough to stop something determined from getting in, which is brought up by the Umbrella Lady near the gate that says its her job to shut the gate if an approaching monster is reported. Smoke, or whatever they're burning in there could be an effective deterrent for small scale installations, outposts and villages, to stop wandering monsters from getting too curious. I remember in MHW when you're getting into the elder dragon hunting stages of the game, some NPC, can't remember who, specifically mentions that Elder Dragons, and/or monsters in general aren't just mindless beasts, and to not treat them as such. Not in the context that X monster is dangerous, but moreso in the context that they do are living things, and taking their lives isn't something to take lightly. And you can see in the Teostra cutscene, when you invade his home, he specifically tries to get you to leave with a heady blast of wind/dust and a growl, before going hostile when he realizes you're determined to cause him problems. Also in MHW, the elder dragons don't automatically start attacking, they wander around, lie down, even look at you when you approach and don't attack until you start the fight yourself. Underscoring that Elder Dragons, at least the ones in the New World, don't see people as an immediate threat. In sunbreak, it is revealed that the Citadel Zone is actually a destroyed town that some of the elder Human NPCs in Elgado used to live in. This zone, now ruins, overgrown, and overtaken my nature, was destroyed by Malzeno and/or the big bad something like 50 years ago. They don't go into details how the town was destroyed, or even necessarily why. Only that Malzeno was involved and the craters that keep forming are related. My Point being, there are tons of zones throughout monster hunter that have ruins of previous town/cities/civilizations. I used to assume that all the ruins in the games were from ancient days, when humans were still tribal, but major monster/human conflicts where humans lose could still be fresh wounds, where people remember places, now wiped off the map, which easily contributes(not excuse though) why there are so many guild hunts related to fear. Castle Schrade is said to be the site where Fatalis had enough of humanities crap and burnt the whole caste city down himself. In fact, a lot of the technological advancements and discrepancies of the tech available to people is said to be remains of a past advanced civiliation that had already hit the industrial revolution. Gunlances, Bowguns, even the Dragonators, are remnents of that civilization, preserved, and reverse engineered. Partially explaining the Feudal Era civilization we see along with steam/advanced gun tech. The guild probably has some of the histories of these civilizations, preserved by book, or told by the wyverians who actually lived it. The guild knows how delicate humanity's position truly is on the world stage vs the monsters of the world. Its probably also important to take into account that the guild most likely receives dozens of requests and does not actually create a quest for every single one. And the timeline in regards to how time passes in game between hunts is never stated. My headcanon is that is takes a week per quest, to prep, get to the hunting grounds, actually kill the thing in question, come home, rest up, and get gear repaired/crafted. For the sake of gameplay of course everything is sped up. But I also assume, subsequent plays of the same quest never actually happen. A single hunter wouldn't kill hundreds/thousands of large monsters over their career, looking for rare gemstones formed in the flesh of monsters like Pearls in Oysters.

[@darkluxgames2347]

I'll add to other comments in a general message here, but the fandom wiki talks about how so many of these monsters are actually once in a life time hunts, we as the players are clearly some of the most elite hunters that the guild has noticed, hence why we get certain monster issues and elder dragons, even so far as the legendary Black Dragons to take on, when most hunters in the world are probably just dealing with the little raptors and bird wyverns. I think BannedLagiacrus gave a lot of the sources for this information, but even then, we are the ones the Hunter's Guild and later Commission have seen as the best of the best to deal with the worst of the worst. Most hunters won't hunt Rathian and Rathalos subspecies, let alone see them.

[@DraegoMH]

If I'm not mistaken, the checkmark/complete sign next to the quest name means that the hunt canonically happened only once. I think it's the same when you played Borderlands where you can repeat a quest for loots, but that part of the story already happened. But again, if only those Rathalos drop a Ruby then probably I would not hunt their whole family.

[@moonmelons]

One thing I'd like to mention is that I think the player sees a much higher percentage of Sport hunts than typical hunts tend to be. The player character is a prodigy-level hunter. At any point the number of hunters on the planet that can match the player in skill is likely able to be counted on one hand. The heavy dangerous sport quests are most likely rarer than they seem, but are frequently given to the player due to other hunters not being seen as able to take them on, and thus aren't offered them.

[@dianslabbert504]

In regards to the Elder Dragon quest statistics and on their low frequency it may due their in lore rarity and their nomadic natures. Teostra and Lunastra are perhaps the EDs with the most contact with people. On account that they are the most territorial of the EDs and do like to eat gunpowder and have raided towns for it. And are found in places where the components for making gunpowder are found. It because of that reason Teostra could be found in the Gen 2 Swamp because there are deposits of Sootstone and it is said to be used in making of their artillery ammunitions. After the Fire EDs Kushala is likely second with most contact with humans on account of being nomadic nature. Chameleos is very secretive and hard to track and Kirin has near mythological status in their world. Ceadeus lives deep in the oceans usually. Jhen Mohran is celebrated by the people of Loc Lac and its a festival for them when one appears. Dhan Mohran is possibly a greater threat than Jhen on account that it seems a bit more aggressive. Loa Shan Lung is also only a threat when its on the move in the direction of settlement. Slaying Loa Shan Lung isn't the prime objective. Repelling it so it changes course is. Edit: Velkhana was known from just a fairy tail and Nergigante was also relatively unknown to Guild and the Commission till the 5th arrived

[@slowloris7438]

Vaal hazak is like this as well, if I remember correctly there was only one unconfirmed report of its existence, before the fifth fleet finds it.

[@gamechanger8908]

Don't forget Nakarkos is a recently discovered Elder Dragon, if it weren't for the Wycademy and their brave hunters. It could of been swooping around the place eating coastal villages.

[@TheNapster153]

About Negigante, it seems the Admiral and his partner, Meowscular Chef, had in fact encountered and fought them before. Even the Commander of Astera seems to support this and mentions along the lines of having 'fought' it. Whether native or otherwise, Nergigante seems to be at its most active during Elder Crossings. Perhaps the isolated nature of Astera prevented more sightings of the Black Arrow, on top of the fact its prey is other Elder Dragons on most occasions.

[@dianslabbert504]

@@TheNapster153 The Commission, especially the 1st Fleet, have sighted and encountered Nergigante multiple times since they arrived on the continent primarily during the Elder Crossings. The Elder Crossing being like salmon spawning season for Nergigante. However, when off season, Nergigante's obscurity to the Commission is likely due to it primarily spending its time in the Elder Recess which lies deeper in the continent till the next the Crossing. Astera isn't isolated, it's the most easily accessible point on the continent on account of it having functioning port for docking large vessels. What was inaccessible was the rest of the continent. You have a very dense tropical forest on the west side and a rough terrain desert to the east and beyond them a strangely shaped, tall mountain range and deep gorge protecting the interior of the continent. It was because of this that 3rd Fleet decided to convert the ship they arrived on into airship to explore the interior further, but when they reached the Coral Highlands, they were harassed and grounded by a Legiana. I also think it's likely that the Admiral and the Tracker went with the 3rd on their failed maiden voyage. Helped them establish a base in the Highlands and went exploring on their own from there on. This why Tracker was familiar with the Higland's and Vale and how the Admiral managed to discover a route through the Everstream into the Recess. And because of Zorah's activity in the gorge, it created a more accessible and safer route between Astera and the 3rd's base.

[@MrKaiju-sr8wu]

I think the problem when it comes to actually adressing this is similar to how it was with Pokemon and how those games are basically about having animals fight for sport and entertainment. Black and White did make that idea a part of its plot, but mostly just used it to reassure you that it wasn’t true and that Pokemon battles aren’t unethical at all, and then they never adressed it since. I feel like it’s the same thing here, because even if what you’re saying makes sense, it’s not at all a good idea to make the entire premise of your game be actually unethical inuniverse, because it’s gonna scare away a lot of players who just want to have fun with a videogame without feeling any guilt.

[@ravenschippers8267]

Honestly I lost interest in BW's lore shortly after the whole "PSA in the middle of town against having pokemon" scene for the "I wanna be the very best in [Game's Region], get super attached to my team of six and take them to the big leagues while enjoying the fun minigames along the way" universal plot of pokemon. Or at least I think its the universal plot?

[@HeadHunter455]

Hey, great video! I don't know enough about the world tbh but I still kinda wanted to comment so: I think something that is missed sometimes is that it's likely there are some things that we just don't know. While that's not helpful and we can only draw conclusions from what we are told, it's possible the requests we read from the guild aren't entirely the reasons why we're going out and doing them. For all of the requests they accept, there may be many that they don't, and the reasons we're given may not be the whole reason the guild accepted it, though accepting some from nobility for their future or present favor or funding is entirely possible as well, and I'd imagine some peasants asking for help may get turned down because they lack favor and/or funding, though I can also see the opposites being true for both. I have not done really any research so I'm just going off of what I think I know, some of the magazines in the early games like F1 and FU seem to have the people guessing or even giving the player misinformation, this could be on accident or due to translation issues, but it could just be because sometimes we won't know the whole truth all the time. I wouldn't go so far as to think the Guild ISN'T corrupt at least in some ways, given a large enough organization that seems almost inevitable, but without knowing the ins and outs, I can't help but just assume they're doing what they can, within whatever limitations they have to deal with, whether that be funding, jurisdiction, a lack of manpower or time to give attention to some areas, political problems, etc. I'm just the hunter, I do their dirty work, they don't tell me anything, lol. That one Netflix movie thing for example tells the village (just like Moga I guess?) to evacuate the area. I can only assume they tell them that because they don't have the time or resources to devote to that area for one reason or another, and that area might not have been worth risking the lives of people to save. It's not an ideal situation maybe, and people's lives were still put at risk, but yeah. Not to excuse them, but some shortcomings and limitations and disappointments etc. might be understandable. It's a tough and messy world.

[@SmurmBreep]

How am I only just finding your channel?!? As a veteran Hunter, and someone with a deep love for the series, I found this video and the statistical analysis very entertaining!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much, I hope you enjoy the rest of them!

[@leogazebo5290]

IDK bro the armor looks cool and we have to keep giving those monsters the L, I came paid for hunting monsters and I'll hunt monsters 10/10 would put those dinosaurs into extinction again. Great Dragon War 2 will just do it better this time. In all seriousness amazing content keep it up.

[@duduwt]

Can't leave without saying that your video was fantastic! So much care and effort. You deserve every praise in the world for that my friend. And also I'd like to add that I've never liked so many comments in a single comment section like I have here. Great topics incur great discussions and this community is one of great minds, you people are awesome

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@xIQ188x]

Had to back it up three times before I realized it was “piscine dragon” and not “pissing dragon.” 10/10

[@Randomdudefromtheinternet]

My headcanon is that we get few parts because we’ve got to share the whole monster with the other members of the guild (specially for the armory-bought weapons), specially because bones and leather are used in literal building, so what we get is what they can spare (but as you grow in rank you get better parts)

[@Mgauge]

I wouldn't mind some quests where the hunter is tasked to tag a monster without alerting it and avoiding combat, if necessary. It would be a nice change of pace in terms of gameplay and offer a way to preview some of the tougher monsters like story-relevant Elder Dragons without the need for strong enough gear to have a chance against them.

[@shosroy]

Overall I would say this is really comprehensive and I can see the work put into it. I love thinking deeper in the world of monster hunter and how actions of hunters and villages play into the quests of hunters. It is also really fun in the expanded media to see how they deal with some of these issues. Like in monster hunter stories were they use tamed monsters to drive off the larger monsters because they realize hunting isnt always the best answer.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much!

[@m.s.e.advanced2842]

Beyond hunting, other types of quests undertaken may also have detrimental effects. In MH4U you can perform a series of dubious egg quests withholding info from the Guild or Grand Guru which end with a Crimson Fatalis being hatched and you dispatched to slay it. Depending on how much oversight the guild has over quests like this and their frequency, invasive and/or dangerous species can be introduced to different regions.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Yeah the 4U egg quests were definitely a big shady to say the least

[@izzymosley1970]

I just wanted to mention that bloodbath diablos is my favorite monster everything about it is perfect it's design it's backstory and it's fight are all perfect from a lore and gameplay perspective.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

It's backstory was that it was essentially disfigured by a human hunter, and wants revenge

[@izzymosley1970]

@@unicorntomboy9736 I know and I think that's cool.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@izzymosley1970 It would be interesting to see a deviant Nercylla (WidowQueen Nercylla) that was able to kill Nargacugas

[@samuelbirdwell3167]

I feel that the open ended-nes of the task to "hunt" in the context of the game is important. With the option to capture being present in the majority (I think) of quests, and slaying being comparatively exclusive to elders and specific quests. I know you've mentioned before the possible damage capturing does to a monsters prospects as an animal that can hunt or lead a pack, but I think there's evidence within these "hunt this monster I failed to hunt" quests that MH monsters possess some greater capacity for regrowing bits and bobs, after all, you always find them intact, even bloodbath diablos. I'm sure monsters that are captured and rereleased to a more suitable area will avoid hunters as if their lives depend on it.

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

Yes, but as UHC has mentioned here and elsewhere capturing monsters may still cause more problems. Most monsters you hunt end up crippled or wounded (chopped-off tails, sliced wings, damaged heads and claws...), this might actually cause the emergence of problem animals or just force the captured specimen to die a slow death in its natural enviornment. To say nothing of the fact that capturing monsters in World and Iceborne unlocks them in the arena, implying some captured monsters are later killed for entartainment/sport.

[@ravenschippers8267]

@@miquelescribanoivars5049 I would assume that the captured monster would be held in captivity for some time. in games set earlier in the timeline the captured monsters could have gotten "first aid" and after being treated for their injuries- not actually recovered- gained from capture they would be released relatively close to the areas they were caught in or just further from there. Later in the timeline in games like world captured monsters may be kept until they make a full- if not close to- recovery before release in a more suitable environment far away from human settlements. Besides if game mechanics on monster rewards are to be taken seriously then why the heck would you be rewarded three ears from the abominable snow hare you just hunted? Did it have a mutation where it had an extra ear?

[@Kurominos1]

@@ravenschippers8267 actually i think this works a bit diffrent with your 3 ears from one hare i always was thinking its not the entire ear just a skin/bit from the ear like some weapons need for intant 3-5 Rathalos wings ,,,have you seen how huge one wing is ? how will a weapon whos not even 1/3 the size of one wing ....need 5 of them to be createt ? this makes even more sense for me at least cause its more likely to get this material when you break the part like the kingsfrill from a Great jaggi cause prob when you destroy his frill they collect the ripped off parts from it not the entire frill ( otherwise you have stuff like Capture 1 Great jaggi and get like 4 head from it XD)

[@Derpy-qg9hn]

MHFU's intro seems to disagree with the "capture-and-release" explanation; one moment you're shown a captured Rathian being carted off somewhere, the very next scene, you see her materials being inspected and sorted for armourcraft. You'd have quite a bit of explaining to do to discredit the implied butchering between these two scenes.

[@samuelbirdwell3167]

@@Derpy-qg9hn I don't think either explanation is mutually exclusive, especially when considering that a problem Rathalos is a different ball game than a problem Kulu. Just in threat level and ability to move large distances

[@WolfyWetFurr]

I very much appreciated this take on the subject. Thanks for all the time spent on research and composition of the information you gathered for this presentation.

[@kingofflames738]

Elder dragons do actually kill quite a few people. Kushalas are very territorial attacking anything and anyone that enters their territories with the intend to kill, same with Velkhana (though they aren't in the old world yet and thus we don't have any quests by someone who lost a village), Teostra's are ruthlessly aggressive and aim to kill pretty much everything they set their sights on, Nakarkos devour entire villages and destroy airship travel and the current army of Crimson Glow Valstrax is on a killingspree, attacking everything all over the place to the point that the guild gives us a warning that we could become victims of one of them at any moment. Then there's also the big guns like Fatalis that destroyed Schrade leaving not a single survivor or witness, but that's a bit of a special case since Fatalis seems to be a very rare or very foreign monster seen as its presence in the old world disrupts every ecosystem within it, thus it's probably from a different continent.

[@grimnir8872]

Fatalis is different because it's not a predator overhunting an ecosystem but an actual intelligent being ruthlessly striking down humanity, it attacked Schrade because Schrade was the dominant kingdom of the ancient time and thought to be unstoppable.

[@kingofflames738]

@@grimnir8872 Schrade was part of the guild. You can see guild flags and the guild had records of when it fell. The fall occurred only a couple hundred years ago.

[@grimnir8872]

@@kingofflames738 ... I never said it wasn't. It was still the most powerful kingdom at the time.

[@theawesomestuff2408]

This gives more credence to the video's idea that Old World monster hostility is fear-based. In the New World, Teostra and Kushala are docile until attacked, and Kulve Taroth spends the first chunk of its fight simply trying to flee the hunters.

[@kingofflames738]

@@theawesomestuff2408 The natural aggression of Teostra is a lore fact. So much so that New World Teostra are an anomaly for not attacking every other monster on sight.

[@liataiofthewood]

Fantastic content, as usual -- and it lends some credence to my personal hunting ethos in the games! (Capture whenever possible, rather than kill -- and if a monster, large or small, dies because of your actions, the least you can do is carve it to make sure it gets used to its fullest extent. I've been knocked around a lot doing mid-combat carves, but I need to respect the critters, dangit!) That said, while it's dubiously canon, I'm curious what you'd make of the Stories games and how Rider culture might also factor into it. Stories 2 definitely had thematic shades of "monster-human interactions are a lot more nuanced than the Guild makes them," with some hunters and riders learning to work side by side. There's a culture that has taboos about harming any monsters, but they've effectively been locked into their mountain monastery because of increased monster aggression in the area. ... Granted, there's also the dubiously ethical practice of Riders of egg-snatching from wild monster nests. But no group is perfect. :P (If there were more Stories games, I'd love to see nods toward the ideas of captive-bred monsters and responsible husbandry practices!)

[@adrianbaker8875]

Why wasn't Kamura village and Rampage problem wasn't mention in this video. Also the fact some monster like goss harag have superstition around them like in one of goss harag Quest is that of little boy being scared that goss harag come get him, because his mother say that goss harag will come and eat him if he don't behave. Some of goss parts mention that it scares kids. tetranadon Shiny Nacre says it made out of souls also magnamalo orb also a have similar description. it appears to be that people of Kamura is very superstitious when it come it certain monsters.

[@theoverseer393]

It is indeed interesting to tally up each individual quest without repeating them, as we get a very good picture of the sorts of quests the guild sets up. As many have said, most hunters dont even pass low rank, so anything higher than LR is being completed by a hunter that knows what they are doing. I imagine there are even specialists for some monsters, since owning their armor from one or two hunts makes sense.

[@bluhmer1990]

Great video. Like all things in Monster Hunter there needs to be a balance. You can't just make hunting your answer for everything because it creates the problems you mentioned. However you also can't rely on deterrents for everything as there are monsters that do have to be taken down. Specifically invaders like Deviljho. On the note about how different cultures feel about monsters immediately makes me think there has to be Black Dragon cults out there.

[@freshboy3968]

Black Dragon cult would be pretty sick.

[@demohidu5946]

My understanding of how the guild more or less works is that monsters are seen as both a problem and a profit as parts can be valuable so a culture of adventurous hunters kinda became a necessity for them. Great video btw, really enjoying these.

[@nightsong295]

While I do like your videos you do seem to omit a few things especially in regards to elder dragons I mean tiostra Kerin and kushala all cause mass weather anomalies just by being in an area. Also most of the elder dragon quest in older games want to either kill or repel them which shows the guild is happy so long as the elder is somewhere else

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

Good points, but then where did the "repell monsters quests" go? The few that we have now are often later accompanied by a slay quest of the same individual. While the most likely answer was player in-put, you could also come up with a meta explanation that guild had steadily change its policy towards elder dragons, likely as a result of increased human-elder dragon interaction due to demographic expansion.

[@nightsong295]

Very true but you also have to look at how the guild looks at it protecting the ecosystem when you have creatures like just the three aforementioned elders how can something like that coexist in any environment when just something like tayostras dandruff alone can star a wild fire. And that is not even counting the three cannon black dragons

[@turtlecheese6795]

Those quests he probably put in the other quest group

[@kingofflames738]

@@miquelescribanoivars5049 Elder Dragons are still viewed as incredibly rare and basically no hunter can properly take them on and beat it. That is reserved for heroes and legends like the sapphire star in World who's basically MH Jesus. Surviving is already difficult. Narwa took out an entire squad of hunters for example and the Kushala in 4U decimated the entire hunting party of Julien and his master, leaving Julien as the only one that didn't die or was left with life long consequences.

[@nightsong295]

And least not for get the lunostra from legends of the guild

[@user-cc9kx8tw6t]

I woke up to a pleasant surprise. Brilliant video and your points really do make me think a lot. EDIT: Woah, just saw that you have nearly 20k subs. That's amazing and if I remember correctly, you had less than 10k subs previously? If so, the huge jump is amazing. Congrats.

[@DQBlizzard_]

I always thought this would have been a cool feature of an open world MH game, if you hunt a bunch of Jaggi in one area, maybe more herbivores would be in the area, or another predator would take its place.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Yup, I’d love this!

[@martakeczek6476]

I know you put a lot, a lot of effort in your vids and do lots of research - says someone who wanted to make realistic Pokemon encyclopedia on such level, but perfectionism ate me- I watched around 10 vids of yours and STILL learned a thing or two. Even if my friends describe me as "know it all" when it comes to zoology and paleozoology. This. This is, amazing. I will just say,that.... you bring happy tear to my eyes. And this vid was unexpected among your Ecology series, but very much welcomed. I entered MH series just a month ago, but I know there's SO MUCH 'awesomess' to discover.

[@CapnShades]

The narrative potential of "down with the Guild!!!" is ripe with opportunity and it would be cool to see for sure; but I could never see it happening to MH even in spinoff media since it would undermine the simple joy of the core gameplay loop. Maybe there could be an elegant solution to replace or sidestep the Guild while maintaining the quest structure that I can't imagine, but as is the organization is so central to the recruitment, training, and assigning of hunters mechanically and narratively that taking them out would require a total overhaul to progression. ...but maybe that's just what some folks would want from these games in the future. Whatever happens, I think I'd still be okay with MH sticking to a gameplay-first philosophy and taking the rest of this silly world at face value. After all, we are talking about the franchise that stuck a surfboard on a baseball (er, uh, cricket) bat and said "now go kill the giant fire-breathing chicken!"

[@DanielisAwesome52]

I think given that almost all the data in the video was gotten from the majority quest descriptions and not entirely from cutscenes, A simple way they could do this is at some point introduce a Monster Hunter game with a totally different guild/organization. Use it as an excuse for some gameplay changes (maybe like different weapon specs, armor designs, or combo styles, pretty much like how Wirebugs are treated compared to Slingers, compared to Styles, etc) and then just have all the writing and story in the quest descriptions. As long as there's a leader figure, a blacksmith, a way to obtain food, and someone to send you on the quest, every "story" part in Monster Hunter is easily interchangeable and rewritable behind the scenes of the gameplay. A monster hunt is a monster hunt regardless of flavor text

[@yursan9]

@@DanielisAwesome52 it's already happen on 4U and GU. In 4, we are part of caravan's hunter, and in GU we are part of Wycademy, but we do interact with quest from Guild when doing multiplayer.

[@bonelesschickennuggets1868]

@@yursan9 wasn’t the caravan and the wyacademy endorsed by the guild? The guildmarm has guild in her name for a reason, she’s a receptionist from the guild Aka she does the necessary paperwork to make sure the hunter only gets the most relevant and acceptable quests submitted by the towns. And the wyacademy works in conjunction to the guild since… Well how else do they get their specimens to study?

[@yursan9]

@@bonelesschickennuggets1868 I don't remember how the caravan works. But ingame, Wycademy is treated as different organization from the Guild. Yes, they receive help from the Guild, but specimen and field research is done by our hunter avatar too, so they don't really need the Guild for research. And regarding the original comment, you can say that only Wycademy's Hunter learn hunter art. So Guild's hunter is different from Wycademy's Hunter.

[@bonelesschickennuggets1868]

@@yursan9 The Caravan Captain studied under the wyacademy, and after that if I recall correctly he approached the guild to form a caravan, those not only work as traders but also are adventurers and mini-hubs for hunters, why else would they need a dedicated cook whom mostly deals in massive hunter meals and a trader in rare finds? The guild marm and the designated hunter are provided by the guild, by all means in my perspective the guild is responsible for the caravan in MH4 The wyacademy on the other hand it is a separate entity but they do mention they work very closely to the guild, meaning a hunter can be trained by the guild and then be designated to work for the wyacademy directly since they have so many needs for their research. That’s my interpretation of it anyways.

[@jacktheomnithere2127]

21:55 Rathalos' fire, as far as i know, isn't hot enough to melt steel. Teostra, maybe; but Rathalos is less likely. and there's that fact that you missed the fact that Rathalos can just fly over. oh wait, he'd already be flying if he came along (if he's patrolling his turf, it's *always* by air). if he spots you, pray he doesn't view you as food or a threat; otherwise, you may as well evacuate - if your home's not made of stone.

[@The_PokeSaurus]

I can't wait to see your opinion on monster designs. As said before your video help me with world-building projects and I wanna know what you think makes a good monster design.

[@christosgiannopoulos828]

Probably the most important video on the channel. Something that should be shown in classes imo

[@Amity_Enmity]

See that's why I always try (and generally succeed) in trapping the monsters instead of slaying whenever possible. I can just pretend that they are being relocated instead of the much more probable being carefully dissected for parts by the guild haha. But yeah I really like this introspective on the "hunter problem" and how the guild fits in on the problems found in the MH world. Subscribed like a day ago and have been bingeing since!

[@taddad2641]

nah they re being relocated canonically speaking.

[@vergnzls]

I’ve only just started watching this channel a week or two ago, but I am blown away by the amount of research that goes into making a singe video. Whether it be the knowledge on ecology or the games themselves, I am simply awe-struck

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much for saying!

[@ExoskelletAnimation]

Great video . The endning part about humans/wyverian/thorian/etc culture in the MH world and wishing to see more reminds me of what I'd like of an open world game set in the MH universe (the MH gameplay loop is too arcady for it to really be worth it to make true open world imo) .This ideal game would be more about exploring the world and not really hunting the monsters as you would be encouraged to avoid them most of the time , this could lead you to actually interact more with settlements and explore the cultures and view of the monsters . A Lot of the idea I have actually come from the first art book and all its early ideas for monster hunter that takes a lot from nausicaa . The only thing I haven't really figured out is what the actual goal of the game is .

[@dragolantis7333]

One thing never brought up in the video is that capturing most monsters is an option. The video implies that hunting monsters always leads to death, but a hunt quest can be ended both with a kill or a capture, with some quests requiring a cap. Capturing the monster in lore is simply studied, maybe a few parts nonlethally taken off for the hunter, and then released somewhere safe with a distinct scent marker. The capturing of the monster allows for sport hunting to be more akin to a fusion between fishing and game hunting, in that animals are caught and released. One could also potentially (though don’t ask me how) neuter and/or spay a monster not unlike they do with maybe stray cats. The latter would certainly be more common for common pests like the bird wyverns mentioned. Of course, this system isn’t perfect, small monsters, elder dragons, and a select few nonelder large monsters are uncapturable, and in certain cases the release of monsters under certain conditions could still create problem monsters like the deadeye and bloodbath, not to mention it’s unknown how often in lore hunters capture monsters relative to killing them. However, capturing still should have been mentioned in this video and is monster hunter’s ingame nonlethal method

[@tylerleach8796]

On a somewhat unrelated note, one thing I think would be cool in a future game is there being a monster zoo of sorts that is built for study and any monsters you capture can be seen in it. Kind of like how you can have endemic life in your home in World.

[@lucasreyes446]

Love the content, this really got me thinking because I love monster hunting and monster hunters, but I love monsters more as an animal lover. And I do agree that the guild is really trigger happy with monsters and it makes me sad. Also, is a video about Wyverians and their history/ethnicity posssible? Because ever since I learned about them I've been so fascinated. Also do you think Wyverians lay eggs?

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I don’t think they lay eggs personally. I’m unsure if I’ll ever do MH cultures, unsure if I’m the right person for the job Thank you too!

[@lucasreyes446]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Yeah lol, I do think Wyverian laying eggs are highly unlikely, thinking about huge eggs from compact human bodies just makes me cringe, not to mention the Twins or even the Great Elder.

[@CheeseeBeans]

Wyverians could potentially be ovoviviparous, having eggs but having said eggs hatch inside the mother. It’s probably not the case but still something to think about.

[@rattled6732]

I feel like some of these categories could somewhat overlap. Like hunting a monster for sport doesn’t mean that that monster isn’t also used for food and or was a problem monster to begin with having been selected as a target for sport because of that. Also if we assume in the lore each quest is only fulfilled once and the insane endless farming sessions where you kill fifty elder dragons back to back aren’t canon any single hunter wouldn’t actually be killing that many monsters. Like a hunter that works for preservation irl probably kills more animals in their career than there are quests in any single monster hunter game

[@Cottonmouth255]

My favorite video of yours so far, simply because of how much more thought-provoking and human-relevant it is. The degree to which the world of Monster Hunter mirrors our own in terms of human-wildlife relationships is something I never really considered despite the evidence thrown about in every game, but is sobering to sit down and think about. I genuinely cannot wait for more videos like this - discussing the ecology of individual species is all well and good, but hearing you discuss the world itself is enthralling. Congratulations on your channel's massive growth! I'm proud to call myself a fan and follower since your Skull Island overview and I look forward to everything you'll do in the future!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much! Your comments are always appreciated

[@TomorrowJorro]

I love learning about ecology/zoology and watching these videos has been so fun

[@Lionlord1000]

Ah yes my favorite sit-com "everybody hates deviljho"

[@user-uz2ed7zt3q]

16:50 In Wilds (or at least the beta), "aggressive" monsters like Doshaguma will ignore herbivores if they aren't hungry but will almost always go for the player if they enter their line of sight, implying that they attack because they perceive a threat and not because they're attempting to hunt.

[@Levigumba]

To be fair, capturing a monster is an option for a good amount of the monsters. The only exceptions are elder dragons and kill specific quests

[@KoAkaiTengami]

Something to note is that Elder Dragons will let you walk up to them without getting aggressive, only doing so once attacked. They are quite gentle unless bothered in some way hence why they likely aren't the ones killing normal people.

[@dianauwu1312]

It's worth pointing out that the guild does do a genuine ton of research, even if said "research" is via the pointy end of a gunlance for gameplay purposes and the practicality of actually observing dangerous monsters. For all the problems they seem to cause, and the occasional cover-up or shady business, they seem to throw a ton of money into researchers and scientists, and a lot of the guild's infrastructure allows for scientists to collaborate. I like to think a lot of people in universe see the guild as a necessary evil, using their questionable practices to fund expensive, elaborate expeditions that'll just keep paying off for the general quality of life.

[@ganonsbaker3026]

With at least Ibushi, Narwa, Fatalis and Dire Miralis some monsters are known to be both sapient and malevolent, but this is no doubt unbelievably rare cases. But The Guild probably uses the stories of these exceptional circumstances to prop up the "need" for their services. From these high profile heroic hunts it becomes easier for them to excuse all the small, greed fueled cullings of the more natural animals. It's a shame really, and it's a part of the world I'd like explored more. Monster Hunter Stories seems to touch the tip of thi iceberg with Riders rightfully distrusting the Guild. Great video as always!

[@adamjsher04]

I would love to see a game that focus' more on the Rider tribes and civilizations conflict with the Guild a lot more. A new Stories game would fit for that

[@tylerleach8796]

Your mentioning of "Monster Hunter SNAP" kinda makes me want there to be a side quest in a future game of filming monsters. Maybe something like a person wanting to make a documentary on wild monsters and hires your hunter to film certain things out in the wild like a turf war, a specific monster feeding, a specific monster sleeping, etc.

[@imalltheragex2000]

26:06 fun fact: this symbol represents living alongside nature, or at least that's the basic version of it, been I while since I last researched this stuff. But basically it's living along with nature and respecting it. Theses sport hunts are probably viewed more so as a sort of duel to test both you and the monster's metal. I wouldn't be surprised that, in actual cannon, during theses types of quests, some hunters capture theses monsters out of respect of their power, where some Hunter may think that such a strong foe may prefer death in theses fights. I know I commented a lot here sorry. Watching this though has mad me think that having this discussion in a single video(at least with this length) is not enough to fully break this whole thing down. As there is a lot of media one would have to go over. I may have skimmed around in this vid, yes. But I understand that this seem more of view through only what we have with the games, and I don't think thats enough evidence to make a good statement on if hunters are needed and or is the guild bad at what they are supposed to stand for (as in that same aforementioned symbol is the symbol for the guild). At least in my opinion.

[@Ajehy]

These are all very good points! You’ve really thought this through, and I agree with most of it. Here’s my way too long analysis as a history person (no degree so others can clarify): While the Ancient Civilization is dubiously canon, there is definite evidence of a past society with much more advanced technology- massive ruins, towers that brush the sky, etc.. Compare those structures to the villages and towns in most MH games, and it’s clear that there was a societal collapse some time ago. We can compare that to two real-world examples called “Dark Ages” (though it’s a loaded & oversimplified term). The Greek Dark Ages happened in the general Mediterranean after the Bronze Age Collapse, when (for unknown reasons) multiple civilizations fell apart. Populations shrank massively, trade ended, writing became nearly nonexistent. Potential culprits include invasion, famine, disease or volcanic activity. As for the other Dark Age, it’s also known as the Middle Ages, because it was between the fall of Western Rome and the Renaissance (or “revival”). Again, there was population decline, trade disruption and loss of knowledge (though only in Europe. The Middle East was just fine). My thought is that the humanoid MH societies are just coming out of another Dark Age. Surrounded by huge creatures and with few resources, the people of the recent past would not be at the top of the food chain. Thus the fear-based and “proving yourself” quests-you’re punching above your assumed weight class. However, things have begun to change. They have steam, and as World shows, are beginning to really study and understand their environment… *beginning* to. There’s still plenty of people who view monsters as nuisances or assume they’re always up to no good. It also varies greatly by region, and the common difficulties in trade/acquiring information from other places implies that the Guild is less of a united body and more a loose confederation that treats monsters in different ways depending on who’s running the show. In Rise, the monsters have flowery descriptions of how violent and awful they are, which goes against the ideals put forth in World, even though they seem to be contemporaries. TL;DR-a new human society is developing and there’s lots of conflicting attitudes about monsters.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

This is a great comment - you should consider an equivalent channel of your own!

[@Ajehy]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel I wish! I write historical romance books so I don’t have much time. Love your work!

[@Ajehy]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel it’s actually quite similar to the way people have thought about wolves throughout European history. Overly Sarcastic Productions did an excellent video in the evolution of the werewolf mythos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ap7QYX6vltSpnrs

[@6purdicorn7]

New sub here, just want to say I'm loving the MH content, people are often too caught up in the fights and grinds of MH to appreciate the more nuanced aspects of the franchise and it's nice to see content on these things. I would love to see a video covering the endemic life of world (and maybe rise) to see how you think some of these fit in, especially the rare or mysterious ones like the winter moon nettle and moon slugs, crakes etc.

[@dicerson9976]

It's also important to note, at least in world/iceborne, that very very few quests actually have killing the monster as a requirement. As others have pointed out, the "true" number of hunters is very low, and that in fact the vast majority of the quests beyond low rank are performed exclusively by the player character- most of the time only once. So whether or not actual overhunting occurs will vary wildly depending on the temperament of the "canon" player character for each game.

[@justaguyandadog2984]

I would love to se how riders afect in this aspect, that could be interesting

[@sethfakelastname]

Got your diablos/monoblos vid recommended to me yesterday and already watched every vid on your channel. These vids are fantastic and I am very excited to see more. I wish you the best!!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you so much! Glad you’re enjoying!

[@Sunaki1000]

It just ocured to me, you never made a Tigrex/Pseudo Wyvern Video, did you? Wonder how long it takes for that one to take of.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Not yet…

[@Shroomluck]

We do however hunt in "Zones" in the games relegating our hunting to a restricted area. Close to the village or some place of importance. In MHW we are most of the time jumped when searching for Zorah Magdaros and have to defend ourselves or need to clear out a monster to investigate further. And in rise we actually defend our hometown from a literal torrent of beasts.

[@prawn1717]

Christ those Conga and Kut-ku quest descriptions are fucked. In any case, this was a super interesting video. It definitely seems like hunting is a strange substitute for what should be systemically analyzed issues, to be dealt with by the Guild. Hunting probably originated at a village level for fairly basic reasons, but evolved into the sport it is today and allows the guild to ignore the actual problems facing smaller villages, brushing it off with a flippant "let the hunters deal with it" attitude. I think this is most prevalent in the slaying of Ceadeus, and unlike much of the tone-deaf storytelling of Capcom, this seems completely intentional on their part. Instead of investing in stronger foundations for Moga and attempting to help the poor creature, we are tasked with putting down the beast which is arguably more risky anyway. This is exemplified by the soundtrack, which is one of the few examples of a genuinely somber track in MH. Really cool stuff. A similar idea was tried with Rise, in which we put down apparently sentient (?) serpents during their mating ritual to stop the rampage, instead of relocating the Kamurans. Both of these solutions are more time consuming and costly than just throwing hunters at the problem, but tossing hunters in harm's way doesn't address the fundamental issue that Moga's foundation is weak enough to be worn away at by a whale, and Kamura is built on the migration path of two exceedingly influential elders. TLDR: The guild pretends to care about the issues of villages by sending hunters their way with no regard for the hunters' safety, the underlying problems threatening the village or even the health of the environment overall. This allows them to keep smaller villages down in slow states of progress while not expending too many of their own resources, perpetuating their power. Shady shit, I hope Capcom takes notice of the interesting villains they have on their hands and use it to their advantage. A game where the politics of the guild are examined and where hunters are both more focused on research as well as sport hunting being quelled somewhat would be really cool, though I fear the writers don't have the capability as it stands. MH is an incredibly deep and interesting world, I just hope the human aspect of it isn't wasted.

[@thecuriousone0680]

Great videa as usual! It would be great to have the relationship between the guild and the population be explored, specially the researchers. I imagine some monster researchers aren't too fond on the Guild's ways, and having a researcher in a game deliverately disregarding some guild commands or being extremely adamant on capturing important monsters rather than slaying would be an interesting dynamic. I can imagine not everyone (this time talking about players, not in-game) would be too fond of this, but hey, for me it works. I remember in my first monoblos quest in 4U deliverately avoiding breaking the horn or cutting the tail cause I didn't want to cripple it, and then I'm one of those people who always captures when they can.

[@hrpang]

I like how there is a small contrast to real life. See, poaching is a problem in Monster Hunter. Without of the Guild watching, a Hunter could potentially become trigger happy and start killing everything he or she finds. While Guild Hunters are sent out to deal with these poachers, they never exactly said that these poachers are killed, only dealt with. It could mean prison or perhaps they send them to an arena to fight monsters for sport. Hell they could even be hiring these poachers to serve as proper guild hunters. Which is what animal conversation is trying irl to do with its current poaching problem. Instead of having these men or women hunt and kill animal for money via selling them illegally, why not have them serve as tour guides, hunters who help track down injured or sickly endangered species or even kill off potentially dangerous specimens like a highly aggressive lion. An excellent example is the leatherback turtle. Once an entire village would kill leatherback turtles for food and money and poach the eggs. To them, leatherbacks were a food and money source... Till one man from their village taught them how to use their knowledge, for the better. Now it's a prime spot for tourism, to watch leatherbacks lay eggs and help the population regrow and it is. It doesn't seem exactly fair to compare Monsters from Monster Hunter and animals though. One is a force of nature capable of ending villages, peoppe, trade routes and disrupt human society as a whole with the toughness to take cannon shots. The other can easily by killed with a musket.

[@orangejoe6230]

Now I have to say this, as some one who played the older games, they specifically have typed quests, but usually when they say hunt, its dealers choice for how the creature is taken down, most people just go for the kill since its just simpler and they get it done faster then if they took the time to set a trap and capture them