Monster Hunter is an action role-playing game released by Capcom in 2004. Players take on the role of a hunter, exploring various terrains and hunting various monsters.
In his previous life, Capcom planned to develop an online game in late 2000.
Their idea was not only to have a unique style but also to cater to the taste differences between Eastern and Western players.
The game's original name was "モンスターハンター" (Monster Hunter), which was later changed to "Monster Hunter
The trademark was registered in the summer of 2001. Tanaka Takeshi served as the game planner, Funamizu Noritaka was responsible for the world view and system, Fujioka Kaname was the Director, and Kinoshita Kento was the planner.
The preliminary preparations took three years, actual development began in 2003, and it was released in March 2004.
However, in the final stage of development, due to poor network connectivity, an offline system was added. This meant the game could offer both single-player and online experiences, supporting up to 4-player mode.
Since the game mode was established in the first generation, subsequent Monster Hunter series have continued to use this mode setting.
There are multiple weapons to choose from in the game, each with its unique attack methods and skills. You can choose the appropriate weapon according to your preferences.
The main content of the game is hunting various monsters. You need to find the monster's weak points and use appropriate weapons and skills to attack. At the same Time, you also need to avoid being attacked by monsters.
During the process of hunting monsters, you can collect various resources, such as monster fur, bones, etc. These resources can be used to craft equipment and items.
By hunting monsters and collecting resources, you can upgrade your equipment and improve your combat power.
Monster Hunter supports multiplayer cooperative mode, allowing you to hunt more powerful monsters with friends.
There are various quests waiting for you to complete in the game, and completing them can earn you generous rewards.
In addition to hunting monsters, you can also freely explore the world of the game, discovering various secrets and surprises.
In summary, Monster Hunter is a game that requires skill and strategy. You need to constantly learn and practice to become an excellent hunter.
...
Aoki Haruhi silently clasped his hands in his heart:
Capcom, I'm sorry.
It's not that I intend to mess with you, it's just that the games you make are too good.
Of course, Aoki Haruhi is not targeting Capcom alone.
But everyone present.
All game companies in the world are my wool.
In the future, if I copy, ah, Pooh, if I make another the legend of zelda: Breath of the Wild, that'll be complete.
Aoki Haruhi's lips curved slightly, and a confident smile appeared on his face, "I want to make a game where humans fight monsters, and both monsters and humans have powerful skills, with cool and fluid action."
"Humans and monsters?" Shinji Mikami and Lisa Asano frowned.
Aoki Haruhi described a concept, but Shinji Mikami and Lisa Asano still didn't have enough imagination to visualize the scene.
They didn't, but Aoki Haruhi had that ability.
Aoki Haruhi drew his ideas on the whiteboard with a marker while explaining to them how this game would be played.
In fact, what Aoki Haruhi instilled in him was not the design of the first generation of Monster Hunter, but the design of "Monster Hunter: World".
This game was the latest work of Monster Hunter in 2018, and it was the most mature version in terms of various settings.
It took about 2 hours for Shinji Mikami and Lisa Asano to roughly understand.
His expression changed from initial confusion to gradually melting away, becoming surprised, and finally turning into excitement.
"Oh my god, President Aoki, you are truly a genius!"
After listening to Aoki Haruhi's game concept, Shinji Mikami and Lisa Asano had a very clear picture of the gameplay in their minds.
Actually, since Aoki Haruhi had already laid the groundwork for the gameplay of Mushishi before, it was much easier for the two of them to understand.
Monster Hunter looks more like a combination of Mushishi + princess mononoke.
The combat adopted real-Time action combat, while in terms of exploration, open-world gameplay, and material searching, it shared similarities with the recently described Mushishi.
The most important thing about Monster Hunter is not the plot, but its ecosystem.
At its core, it is consistent with Mushishi.
Shinji Mikami couldn't help but stand up, his mind racing.
"This is a world with a complete ecosystem. In this world, different monsters have different ways of being killed, and their drops can be used as materials for players to craft equipment…
It's simply too genius.
Too amazing.
President Aoki, you are too amazing!"
Shinji Mikami's words were not flattering at all; they came from the bottom of his heart.
"Hmm." Aoki Haruhi smiled awkwardly.
Mushishi could barely be considered his own creation, but Monster Hunter was simply a copy of Capcom's.
As a result, he was praised by a former core employee of Capcom.
It was quite embarrassing.
In his previous life, Aoki Haruhi also thought about creating a completely open-world sandbox online game, a completely real fantasy world with a complete ecosystem, where every tree, every grain of sand, any animal, or plant was useful, and players could find their own way of survival and game in this large world.
That would be a process of developing an Different World in a virtual world.
Not "Don't Starve" but "New Earth Online".
If it could be made, it would be quite interesting.
However, the cost was too high, and there was too much content to produce… It was never realized in the end.
And now, creating Mushishi and Monster Hunter is just the first step towards the "New Earth Online" envisioned by Aoki Haruhi.
However, with current network technology, this "Monster Hunter" can only be a single-player version and cannot be played online.
...
Now, after listening to President Aoki's explanation, Shinji Mikami and Lisa Asano both had a very concrete understanding of the two games they were going to make—
President Aoki had drawn the pictures on the whiteboard.
It was very concrete.
Aoki Haruhi had to thank the original owner of this body for putting so much talent into painting skills, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to accurately convey his ideas through drawing.
"Simply put, it's about playing as a hunter, killing monsters, collecting materials, crafting better equipment, and continuing to kill monsters… It's such a cycle.
However, the most core part is the entire ecosystem within the Monster Hunter world.
As I said before, tigers eat deer, deer eat grass, and grass grows by absorbing nutrients from the soil, while monster feces and rotting carcasses add fertility to the land.
At the same Time, monsters also have different personalities. They can form competitive relationships, as well as predator-prey relationships…
All of these need to be reflected in the game.
It's not easy to make."
"Mm-hmm."
The two nodded in agreement.
In fact, without Aoki Haruhi saying anything, they could feel the complexity of this game design just by thinking about it.
It was equivalent to creating a brand new and complete ecosystem.
This also involves making the different monster behaviors, whether they are gregarious or solitary, and the relationships between monsters…
It's not that easy to make all of these things.
And different materials and drops need to be configured, and so on.
Thinking of this, both of them were even more impressed by President Aoki.
What does President Aoki's little brain think about every day?
How can there be such a continuous stream of inspiration?
The company's current staff is simply not enough for him to squander.
The group spent another hour discussing, picking out the key difficulties and analyzing them, and Aoki Haruhi answered them one by one.
Shinji Mikami thought to himself:
Terrifying.
President Aoki is too terrifying.
Almost as soon as you ask a question, Aoki Haruhi can immediately give an answer.
He had actually already thought about how this game would be played, even down to the details, whether it was the monster's appearance or the materials on the monster…
All the systems in the entire game were already in President Aoki's mind.
What he lacked was simply someone to bring the things in his mind to life.
That's all.
So scary.
If it weren't for the limitations of hardware and software levels, as well as human resources and Time, Shinji Mikami felt that President Aoki could create something that would surpass the entire Time by one or two hundred years.
After some discussion, Lisa Asano and Shinji Mikami both had a clear understanding.
Now, all that remained was the development.
"As for the Producer," Aoki Haruhi thought carefully, already having a suitable candidate in mind.
"Let Kamiya Hideki do it."
In his previous life, this guy developed devil may cry, and in terms of action elements and expressiveness, it had some similarities to Monster Hunter.
Moreover, Kamiya also participated in the development of princess mononoke, and he was one of the main leaders in the core combat. So, having Kamiya serve as the Producer for Monster Hunter should be appropriate.
"Shinji Mikami, you continue to serve as Director, and Lisa Asano, you find a few people familiar with the Pokémon system to help Kamiya with the development."
"Understood, President Aoki." The two of them nodded.
Although they felt a bit uneasy about Kamiya Hideki.
Mainly because Kamiya always came up with wild, unconventional ideas that might be hard to rein in.
He always gave people a somewhat unreliable feeling.
However, since President Aoki thought so highly of him, Shinji Mikami stated that he would fully supervise him and make sure Monster Hunter was done well.
…
After Mushishi and Monster Hunter were confirmed, Aoki Haruhi dismissed the meeting.
Without delay, upon returning, Shinji Mikami and Lisa Asano immediately assembled these two project teams. The Mushishi project was personally headed by President Aoki, so everyone first wrote the basic documents and then submitted them to Aoki Haruhi for review, trying not to occupy or minimally occupy his Time.
There was a reason why they didn't start with Monster Hunter immediately.
Originally, it was due to insufficient capabilities; not Aoki Haruhi's capabilities, but the hardware and software levels hadn't caught up. Now, with the development of Time, technology continues to advance.
After the release of PS, it already possessed the hardware capabilities of the first generation.
After princess mononoke was completed, the software capabilities also had a solid foundation.
Now that the Time was ripe, this game could be included in the development projects.
To some extent, Monster Hunter was equivalent to a combination of Pokémon and princess mononoke.
On the combat side, princess mononoke's real-Time 3D action combat had laid a sufficiently solid foundation.
Wild monster grinding, ecological chains, environmental elements, and so on in Pokémon, actually laid the groundwork for Monster Hunter's development in terms of its basic systems.
Afterward, they only needed to expand Monster Hunter's unique features, and it would be almost complete.
For example, skinning monsters after they died, picking plants, processing and crafting, forging weapons, and so on.
Perfecting Monster Hunter's unique ecological chain…
Then, why were Monster Hunter and Mushishi developed together? It was also due to this consideration.
Both Monster Hunter and Mushishi emphasize environmental ecology, meaning almost everything in nature can be researched and developed. It's just that Monster Hunter's main gameplay is combat and leveling.
While Mushishi's main gameplay is exploration and puzzle-solving.
From a coordinated development perspective, the transition was natural, and development costs were minimized.
If you were to make Monster Hunter right away, the programmers would probably go crazy.
…
A week later.
"Are you crazy?"
After seeing the project proposals for the two new projects provided by Shinji Mikami and Kamiya, the programmers felt overwhelmed.
Expressions of existential doubt appeared on everyone's faces.
"Mushishi is slightly better; we can build on princess mononoke, it's just adding more judgment and item usage functions."
Akanishi Ken flipped through the two proposals, carefully analyzing them with his core programmers.
He felt that Mushishi was quite feasible, and the complexity of its development might lie in the large map.
"But this Monster Hunter!"
"Is this something a human can do?"
"Exactly!!!" Koike also chimed in.
Koike was a talented programmer recently promoted by Akanishi Ken, previously mainly responsible for developing game tools, which is what Aoki Haruhi referred to as the game engine.
In the end, all these things would certainly fall under their engine team.
Koike couldn't help but get a headache when he thought about the future workload and difficulty.
Akanishi Ken thought to himself—
President Aoki is giving us another tough problem.
Shinji Mikami and Kamiya Hideki were in a very difficult position nearby.
"What do you mean, 'is this something a human can do'?"
Kamiya slammed his hand on the table, veins bulging in anger, "We all want to make the game well, how can you pour cold water on everyone at the first instant?"
Akanishi Ken and Koike were stunned, and all the programmers present were stunned.
This Kamiya guy, is he a bit too arrogant?
Seeing Kamiya, with his hot temper, about to unleash on the programmers, Shinji Mikami quickly pulled him back.
"Kamiya just has this personality, he speaks quite frankly, don't take it to heart. He's just single-minded, he just wants to make the game well."
"Yes, we also want to make the game well," Akanishi Ken eased up a bit. As a veteran of the company, he was certainly relatively more composed.
"This proposal was actually drafted by President Aoki; we are just executing it," Shinji Mikami said. "If there are any difficulties, we can communicate and solve them together."
"President Aoki…"
Just thinking of President Aoki gave Akanishi Ken a huge headache.
He would occasionally find things for everyone to do.
Always coming up with difficult problems.
The key is, he needs to let us breathe.
"Alright, alright, we'll pull President Aoki in for a discussion," Akanishi Ken said.
So, a group of people, in a mighty procession, headed to President Aoki's office to reason with him.
On the way, Akanishi Ken pulled Shinji Mikami aside and earnestly advised him:
"Shinji Mikami, next Time, before President Aoki proposes a new project, can you be more proactive? Don't let him have to drive us from behind.
If this continues, even if you can handle it, we can't."
Akanishi Ken preferred to work on new games that Shinji Mikami and his team came up with, rather than those President Aoki conceived, and there was a reason.
Even if Gen Urobuchi and Maeda Jun were incredibly imaginative, they only made a fuss about the plot.
But when President Aoki made a fuss, it was a fundamental overhaul, or he would open up a new game genre, requiring all underlying game logic to start from scratch.
Or he would add a bunch of new features, with difficulty levels that couldn't even be estimated.
You would only know how to proceed after talking with President Aoki and undergoing Aoki Haruhi's brainwashing.
It was simply too tough.
Shinji Mikami pouted, indicating that he was also wronged. Did Akanishi-san think they didn't want to be ahead of President Aoki?
They just didn't have the ability!
"Okay, okay, Akanishi-san, we will definitely try our best. Next Time, no matter how busy the project is, we will prepare three to five new proposals in advance, waiting for President Aoki to approve them one by one."
"Huh?"
Akanishi Ken was stunned for a moment, then quickly grabbed Shinji Mikami's hand and chuckled.
"You don't need that many. You just need to be one or two steps ahead of him, don't always be driven by President Aoki from behind like cattle."
…
The programmers, plus the core planners of the project, along with lead artist Sakata Taiji and Niitsu, this mighty team headed to President Aoki's office.
As the place was too small, Aoki Haruhi suggested moving.
When they moved to the conference room, Akanishi Ken and the others began to complain:
"Large map loading is difficult to do."
Akanishi Ken, wearing glasses, carefully read the content of the proposal, "The main island is divided into 9 large map blocks, each with its own characteristics, including deserts, snowfields, jungles…
And the basic requirement for each map block is a size of 1000*1000."
Akanishi Ken sighed at this point, "We can't support such large maps right now. 1000*1000, just loading it will take several minutes, not to mention all sorts of monsters, jungles, rocks, plants on it…
And there has to be combat, and monsters need to act according to their special logic.
This is simply an impossible task."
It's too difficult.
Akanishi Ken stated that being a programmer was hard.
Being a Pokeni programmer was even harder.
Being President Aoki's programmer Director was even more difficult.
In short, Akanishi Ken's entire face was twisted like a pretzel.
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