Monster Hunter: World Isn't like Dark Souls, but Dark Souls Might Be Why It's Popular

Monster Hunter: World is easily the most popular entry in the Monster Hunter franchise. But, how did a game franchise that was never that popular sell over five million copies in three days?

[DarkOcelet]

"But, how did a game franchise that was never that popular sell over five million copies in three days? "

A franchise that sold over 40 million copies before the launch of MH World is not popular? No comment. Also can we please stop comparing everything with Dark Souls? I adore dark souls but these comparisons everywhere are so silly.

[aarogree]

Except:
1. You did comment.
2. I explicitly stated the game isn't like Dark Souls (It's in the title for crying out loud).
3. You don't realize you're taking into account every single Monster Hunter game, of which there are plenty, including Japanese and Chinese-only MMOs, expansions, and spin-offs. You tend to sell a lot of copies when you're around for a long time and have a truckload of titles, even if you aren't too popular. Just look at Call of Duty; since its first game in 2003, it has sold over 300 million copies, partially because there are so many entries in the franchise. That's popular.

[CorndogBurglar]

Dark Souls has nothing to do with Monster Hunter World's success.

In the U.S. you can chalk it up to this:

1. System Releases: For quite a while the only way to play a Monster Hunter game was on 3DS or WiiU. We know the WiiU sold like crap and not many gamers had one. The 3DS is a strictly portable system that is no where near as popular as actual consoles in the U.S. So not many people have played the newer ones either.

2. Quality of the Franchise: Monster Hunter has stuck by its guns for most of its franchise history. Very few changes have been made over the past few releases aside from adding new areas, weapons, and monsters. The way a sequel should be. Everyone has always heard about how great the series is, but going back to #1, people haven't had a great place to play it.

3. Marketing: Players have always known the MH games are good and receive tons of praise even if they never had an outlet for it themselves. Now they have the opportunity to play a game that they have always heard great things about because it is being released on consoles that they all have. This is where marketing really helped. Capcom released tons of gameplay videos and did not shy away from letting gamers know exactly what they were getting pre-launch. Multiple betas helped a lot too.

Dark Souls....smh

[hit17388]

Shh and stop writing crappy articles. Monster Hunter was famous before dark souls came out

[360ICE]

Dark Souls was one of the most popular franchises on PSP, and if I'm not mistaken, the most popular in Japan. Monster Hunter 3 did reasonable well for a Wii games, selling over 2 million copies on a platform where third party games usually struggled. Even so, Capcom considered that low for the franchise.

So that takes us to Monster Hunter World. This is a large scale, high quality game that speaks for itself. And also the first installment in the franchise to hit a high power consoles.

I think Dark Souls has helped popularize games like this, but I'm not sure you can attribute that much to it.

[Sam Fisher]

Wtf monster hunter been out far longer than the souls series, if im not mistaken mh started o the p2 era and dark souls started last gen, so wtf are you talking about? Mh always had a big support. I remember when i was tried it out on the psp i said they wpuld destroy if they came out on the main consoles

[aarogree]

A lot of people avoided Monster Hunter because it was "too difficult," but after Dark Souls popularized the "too difficult" style of game, a lot of people started playing Monster Hunter.
Coincidence?

[CorndogBurglar]

And how do you know gamers didn't play MH because it was "too difficult"? That sounds like you are grasping at straws with information you can't back up.

In this case it makes far more sense to look at the systems the previous systems the series released on.

WiiU and 3DS.

The amount of people playing 3DS in the US is no where near the amount in Asia. And WiiU sold horribly.

Again, gamers always knew the series was good. They just never had the chance to play it.

When you compare the amount of WiiU and 3DS' sold in the US to the amount of PS3's, PS4's, Xbox 360's, and Xbox Ones combined, it becomes pretty apparent why its selling much better now than it used to. People couldn't play MH on their Sony and MS consoles until just now. They always heard how great it is. But when a game isn't releasing on the heavy hitting systems, none of that matters.

For instance, where do you think the Souls series would be right now if it had only released on the 3DS for the past generaration and a half? Probably in the same position as MH was until now.

[aarogree]

You seem to forget that Monster Hunter, before it came to the 3DS, was on the PlayStation 2 and Wii, consoles that sold double if not triple the number of the 3DS, but the Monster Hunter games on those consoles didn't sell well. Now why did a handheld that sold worse than consoles manage to push more copies of the same game around the time the Souls franchise, starting with Demon Souls, was starting to gain traction?

Also, the whole "a lot of people avoided Monster Hunter because they heard it was too hard" thing is basically common knowledge.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Look people don't really care that you're saying the game is at like Dark Souls but you have to admit it doesn't really make any sense and it's even contradictory to your entire point if you're just going to say the game is at like Dark Souls but is contributing to its success...

Huh?

So the games are nothing alike based on your logic but one game owes the other game something based on its success?

Ummm ok

I would argue that your point would make more sense if you gave similarities to explain why it's owing the other game it's success.

"You tend to sell a lot of copies when you're around for a long time"

No, you tend to sell a lot of copies when you make a quality game I'm sorry but Success is Not an inevitability, something must actually be done in order for consumers to part ways with their money.

That doesn't happen on accident or by default.

And again if the game isn't like Dark Souls why is that being brought up? What is the actual relevance?

@Corn-I would say only to a slight degree wood Dark Souls have to do with monster hunter world's current success.

I believe there is a small amount of fans that have been waiting for Monster Hunter to come back to home consoles in Dark Souls for a long time might have been their only consolation. So.. sure I could definitely see Dark Souls crowd purchasing Monster Hunter but I could not say overall that is 100% the entire reason behind Monster Hunter World success.

I agree with most of your entire post but I cannot agree with "nothing to do", that is to suggest not a single purchase was made because of those similarities. I believe even if it's the slightest degree that yes Dark Souls fans very much have been waiting for Monster Hunter to come back to consoles so they could play another very difficult RPG.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed.

Monster hunter is popular because of Monster Hunter.

[FallenAngel1984]

Can we fkn stop comparing things to Dark Souls

[aarogree]

Hey, don't look at me. I didn't say Monster Hunter: World is like Dark Souls.

[porkChop]

He didn't say you did. He said you compared them, which you did. Saying two things are different is in fact a comparison. And it's a stupid comparison to even make.

Every time some game comes out, we see 20 opinion pieces saying "Why this game is/isn't like Dark Souls". It's annoying and far from original.

[aarogree]

A lot of people can't tell the difference. Had to make sure he could.

Also, which is more annoying/original, saying a game is like Dark Souls or saying a game isn't like Dark Souls? Just curious.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I mean I understand you're not saying it but at the end of the day what is the purpose of this article if not to compare or give a reason behind the other game success?

Sorry but pork chop and everybody else are 100% correct you cannot keep saying that you made a statement that they're not alike only to continue to compare them and even say one is giving rise to the others success 😂😂😂

[YEP414]

I dont like dark souls!!! So i hope monster Hunter the total opposite...

[CorndogBurglar]

Its nothing like Dark Souls.

[Bennibop]

its nothing like Dark Souls, its more like Bloodborne!

[aarogree]

Well, it is. And it isn't.
If you don't like Dark Souls because it forces you to take your time and memorize enemy attack patterns and tells, you're probably not going to like Monster Hunter.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Well there similarities are pretty broad

there just 2 RPGs that are very very difficult.

[Sirk7x]

Honestly, the way the combat works in the game is probably the closest thing you can compare it to. Demands patience, enemy understanding and greatly punishes mistakes.

[aarogree]

Exactly!

[_-EDMIX-_]

Be like "I played this game Demon's Souls and it's weird it's basically has Dark Souls like difficulties" 😂😂😂

[beanplant]

The only thing it has in common with Dark Souls is roll dodges, lengthy potion drinking animations, giant enemies and both games can be difficult at times. In fact the creator of Dark Souls has said he was inspired by Monster Hunter when making said games

[on_line_forever]

I know it's the wrong place but I want to say thank you for fromsoftware and myzaki team

Dark souls 1 & 3 brings to me the passion I really need to continue playing games and i really really look forward to the new souls game

[Psychotica]

I am having fun with Monster Hunter World but it feels like I am playing a child friendly game with the palico and human characters that resemble something out of a Walt Disney film. I wish it had more of a goth Dark Souls atmosphere or a more adult oriented style like the Witcher 3. That's just my two cents though, I don't really like Japanese games in general.

[DanteVFenris666]

Are you really that insecure with yourself?

[Psychotica]

No, are you afraid to be an adult?

[DanteVFenris666]

@Psychotica no I’m a secure successful adult that doesn’t need to define myself as mature or as an adult to feel some sense of being grown up.

I am over 18 therefore I am an adult. How are Walt Disney films not for adults? There is extra information in those films that only an incitful adult could pick up on.

Plus monster hunter is about killing beast. Hardly a kiddy game. Sure it’s not as dark as dark souls... but what games are? Do you just play dark souls, bloodborne, doom and darkness? Must be fun being an “adult”.

Meanwhile I’ll enjoy everything life has to offer

[aarogree]

Then you probably will like Dragon's Dogma.

[EddieNX]

This is stupid. I'm pretty sure Monster hunter came out before Dark souls and it was Dark souls that used Monster hunters combat as inspiration.

[aarogree]

Yes, but a lot of people were turned off by Monster Hunter's difficulty. Once Dark Souls made that kind of difficulty popular, people started giving Monster Hunter more of a chance.

[SinisterKieran]

i'm pretty sure its the other way around.

[Chaosdreams]

I'm sorry, but this is categorically - stupid. Dark Souls is not the reason why Monster Hunter is selling well. What I might give you is that Dark Souls could be enjoyed by those who play Monster Hunter and vice versa. However, the level of thought/time/dedication one puts into each IP does not liken to one being the cause for the other's success.

CorndogBurglar's post (above) accurately gives a brief reasoning as to why Monster Hunter World is doing so well now. It's a fully fledged, realized and well put together game on a current gen platform (console). We've spent years hearing about how fantastic the series is, how consistent it is, but many of us wanted to experience it on our big screen (or small) t.v's.

And while I'm not prone to using my personal experience to justify my opinion, I will say that after having been an avid fan of Dark Souls 3. Not once, despite how many hours I put into that game - did it come into my mind while playing Monster Hunter. What influenced me to get Monster Hunter, was because it's Monster Hunter.

It built up its own following and is now finally reaping Western appeal with well deserved success.

[aarogree]

Except his post ignores important information, such as the game's relatively poor sales numbers until around the time the Souls franchise was released and the lack of popularity in the West. And he intentionally ignores that the game was released on the TV first for the PlayStation 2 and Wii before it moved to the 3DS. You've spent years being perfectly able to play the game on the big screen (or small) televisions before it moved to the tiny handhelds.

CorndogBurglar's post, while accurate, is ultimately factually wrong because it disregards pertinent information, including the timing that Monster Hunter never sold well until Freedom 3. That game released after Demon Souls, and all the subsequent Monster Hunter games sold extremely well also, and they all released after Dark Souls. Sure, Monster Hunter built up a following, but it was never a big following until after it came to a handheld that sold fewer units than large consoles that housed Monster Hunter games. That just doesn't add up.

[Chaosdreams]

1. I retract labelling your opinion stupid. Though I do still think the comparison is silly and a big stretch.

Where I think the answer lies is within the overall taste/shift in the gaming culture (Dark Souls is hardcore/difficult but that's about all it shares in similarity with Monster Hunter). There is a fix people have towards collecting gear as well (this is in multiple genres - so Dark Souls doesn't get the credit). Dark Souls has certainly shaped other games and inspired them - leading to them selling well, but Monster Hunter isn't on that list in terms of gameplay mechanics or gameplay approach. It's entirely its own beast. Can gamers jump from one to the other? Absolutely, in fact it's a certainty by the sheer number it's sold.

I'll address your point about MH being on the ps2. The thing is, that's a long ways back and while nostalgia can still be found in older games, they don't have nearly as much of a hold on gamers currently. As for its sale figures back then, I was just a kid personally so I don't know what gamers were into.

Monster Hunter World released on platforms where gaming is now more accessible than ever before (digital / physical) with added incentives such as pre-orders and special promotions. Every little thing adds up, but none of those suddenly equate to massive sales - that comes down to its core, marketing and sheer luck.

It was also the build up. The anticipation of Monster Hunter returning to console with updated visuals, and as you said in your written piece - modernized mechanics. It was the aspect of a World where large creatures/monsters are ready for the taking. It was online gameplay (PS2 certainly did not have nearly as many people playing online) with randoms and friends.

Now this is not to say those who've played Dark Souls didn't make their own mental connection towards Monster Hunter - I just don't see it being the reason why it sold so well. In fact, wouldn't Shadow of the Colossus be a more relevant comparison? That comes out relatively soon and it's also about hunting down larger than life creatures. One could argue that the release of two games with the goal of hunting in the same window span, created a taste for gamers to partake. A month of hunting. I'd compare those before bringing Dark Souls into the mix, but again, I don't think any games in particular are the cause for Monster Hunter's sudden success.

I think the Western audience finally clicked and the timing was right - Monster Hunter did its own work.

[drunkenspy007]

Not saying this is related, but Monster Hunter is what got me into Dark Souls. Not because I thought they were similar, but rather the person's videos I watched for MH started reviewing Dark Souls and got me interested. Love both games for different reasons.

[TheColbertinator]

It was Monster Hunter on PS2 that got the series going in Japan so it influenced many Japanese devs in gameplay design.

Demons Souls came out in Japan after and it borrowed some gameplay elements from Monster Hunter as it was a very popular game over there too on PSP. Demons Souls was also taking inspiration from Kings Field.

From Software then made Dark Souls as a spiritual successor to Demons Souls and it was a big hit. Monster Hunter slowly but surely established itself a western fanbase on the Nintendo systems but MH World struck into the heart of many gamers at E3 at Sony's presser.

[Mylove1516]

If you have played a lot of the souls and souls like games it benefits in any action rpg as dodging and evading become instinct amd second nature.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Technically speaking I would argue Monster Hunters a reason why Dark Souls is popular considering it was created Before Dark Souls.

Consider the players who played the original Monster Hunter on PlayStation 2 might of wanted to get that same difficulty feeling from a Home console game in Demon's Souls in Dark Souls was probably the only closest thing they could get to on Home console.

[inxine]

lol lets not compare dark souls to monster hunter. MH has been around way longer than Dark Souls and was always successful, amd a hard game for that matter