Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida says the game's upcoming collaboration with Monster Hunter Wilds will be different from the one it had with Monster Hunter: World, putting a bigger emphasis on the MMO's mechanics rather than trying to fit an action RPG's square peg in a round hole.
Capcom and Square Enix teamed up during Tokyo Game Show this weekend to show off a little more of the crossover. Monster Hunter: Wild's half is out right now—with hunters able to take on Omega Planetes—while Final Fantasy 14 joins the party on October 7 with The Windward Wilds trial that lets Warriors of Light face off against Arkveld.
Even skimming through Final Fantasy 14's portion of the showcase this weekend, the encounter with Arkveld felt considerably more MMO-y than Monster Hunter. Which sounds daft, but not so much when you compare it to the game's previous collaboration with World which introduced a fight against Rathalos.
While it was still quite MMO-like—it was literally in Final Fantasy 14, after all—it felt like there was a real concerted effort to integrate as much Monster Hunter madness as it could. That meant a lot of untelegraphed moves, huge knockbacks, and the ability to down the monster and break off the tail.
From what I can tell, Arkveld looks a lot more like a Final Fantasy 14 boss fight: exaflares, more traditionally telegraphed attacks, and an attack pattern that feels more like a standard encounter for the MMO.
As it turns out, that was quite the intentional change. Speaking with GamerBraves, Yoshida said: "What's going to be different with this collaboration with Wilds is that this one will feel more [like 14] in a sense. Yes, battles are still gonna be a bit crazy, but it's gonna play and have that Final Fantasy 14 feel to it, so you don't have to go into it thinking you're going to get something different from that 14 style."
He continued: "What we're creating here is something that will introduce players from 14 into this wonderful lore and this wonderful story that Monster Hunter has, but have that feel natural in Final Fantasy 14. Whether it's the housing items or gear that players are able to equip, and the battles as well."
As fun as I think the Rathalos fight is, I understand the shift. The World collaboration was pretty unorthodox, one which can be a major pain in the ass to grind if you're not uncapping the level sync and blitzing through the fight with level 100 characters in a matter of seconds.
Thankfully it still looks like one thing has been retained from Rathalos—using potions to regain health instead of getting topped up by a healer. It's a nice compromise that bridges the two games in a way that doesn't alter things too much, though I'm sure I'll still accidentally be throwing out a heal or two when I see those HP bars plummet.
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