Geralt of Rivia, witcher, master of the middle path has fallen into a portal and landed in the New World. What does that mean for Monster Hunter and future crossovers?
Up until The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt mission, Monster Hunter: World's previous crossover content has been armor items attached to modified missions. Dante, Bayek, Ezio, Aloy, Mega Man (for your Palico), Ryu, and Sakura's armor pieces were obtained through themed missions designed around the characters themselves, mostly. Dante's set is achieved by fighting red monsters: Anjanath, Odogaron, Rathalos, and Teostra. Mega Man's Palico set is achieved through fighting two Odogarons, one huge and one the size of a dog. I don't know what Ryu and Barroths have to do with each other, but that's his monster pair. The Behemoth from Final Fantasy came to dwell in the Elder Recess, but we were still just playing our hunter.
The Witcher changed all of this by bringing the actual Geralt to the game. He falls into the New World through a cutscene and you're off exploring the most classic high fantasy setting MHW has, the Ancient Forest. One of the Witcher's own monsters has invaded, and only Geralt has the knowledge to track it down. The crossover content has escalated ideally, to come to a place where the game can feature an entire mission based on another game (especially that an actual expansion is next). Still, 60 minutes of content is generous. And it's Monster Hunter, in which no monster is tackled once but a dozen times. The doors this event opens up could lead to all kinds of new missions. Maybe Dante can come back around and be in the game this time. Maybe Bionic Commando or Onimusha. But before we get ahead, what happens in this DLC crossover?
Geralt is all alone, single-player RPG style, with his own equipment, and must track down something. He has Igni and his sword, but there are options for each weapon type. He also has a couple of familiar researchers to talk to. Strange things are happening in the Ancient Forest, and they want answers. The researchers act as a tutorial for Geralt's magic. People who have played the Witcher 3 will probably guess the monster fairly easy, but before confronting the monster there are two side quests that can be tackled. One involves a hint that the botanist gives you. The other is revealed only by finding a strange marking, similar to Grimalkyne art, but newer. It's also possible to fail the quest if you haven't collected enough items of a certain type. (Hint, it involves Palico items). When you finally confront the big bad, it is revealed that the monster is a Leshen, a regular one compared to the Ancient Leshen that can be tackled in multiplayer. The regular Leshen, despite not requiring much leveling up to fight, is a formidable fight. It has the usual small-monster help it would in its own world, and it's more powerful than usual. It can create its own barriers and attack from afar, similar to the way a Diablos would. It also teleports. Good luck. It's a good thing Geralt packed a rune. To survive, and hear more sweet dialogue recorded just for this, tap into Geralt's power to defeat the Leshen the only way it deserves, with fire.
Personally, I failed the side quest. I never found the Gajalaka markings that would have been crucial to this mission. It doesn't matter to actually fighting the Leshen, so I killed it and gathered enough materials to craft his armor set. Like the others, it transformers the hunter into Geralt, complete with magic. As Geralt, I went on countless quests to acquire the Palico tools so that I could come back to the Leshen, and do it fully. A little bit of roleplaying, how about that?
In the long run, Capcom itself is no stranger to crossovers. Maybe they got it from their days making Marvel's video games. There is X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Capcom vs. SNK, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, and Tekken x Street Fighter. Ryu and Ken are in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Wesker, from Resident Evil/Biohazard, appears in another Capcom game, Lost Planet 2, as a playable skin. Also in Lost Planet 2, Marcus and Dom from Gears of War show up in the same capacity as Wesker. Soul Calibur has featured Link, Heihachi, Spawn, Darth Vader, Yoda, Starkiller, Ezio Auditore, 2B, and Geralt of Rivia. Also, Puzzlefighter exists. So the company is no stranger to crossovers within the company and with other companies. They can be gimmicky if the idea of pushing two Intellectual Properties together seems repulsively juvenile. But in this instance, it has been a solid mesh of two similarly themed games that may open up some MHW players to the Witcher or bring some Witcher players to try MHW. Capcom did make Dragon's Dogma, the RPG more in line with a Witcher than an MH. At best, it's a fun hour that leads to more opportunities to bring cool armor sets and weapons to a game that thrives on having countless pieces of armor and dozens of gameplay styles based on weapon choice. It may not happen again, and that's not terrible considering a full expansion is on the way, but given their track record they probably have something cool in the works. For now, and whichever game it is, enjoy the hunt.
- Ben R.
Player of Games
P.S.
I typically enjoy Capcom games. I don't enjoy having bought Devil May Cry HD years before it hit PC, so now I'd have to buy it again. It was nice that they did Play Anywhere for Resident Evil 7 on Xbox and VR mode for PlayStation. At the same time, they don't seem to use Xbox's back compat. I would like to play Forgotten Worlds in some modern way. Still, I play too much Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and MHW. Capcom does a lot of great and a lot of puzzling things. I can't tell if they are really obsessed with updating their games to the times judging by how often they remake Resident Evil 1 and 2. Either way, they can make some unique games, and if you're a Witcher player who has yet to try MHW or even Dragon's Dogma, I would ignore the noise machine that crowds Capcom.
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| *Our content usually contains spoilers, but sometimes how the event happens is more fun than the actual events. |
The Witcher changed all of this by bringing the actual Geralt to the game. He falls into the New World through a cutscene and you're off exploring the most classic high fantasy setting MHW has, the Ancient Forest. One of the Witcher's own monsters has invaded, and only Geralt has the knowledge to track it down. The crossover content has escalated ideally, to come to a place where the game can feature an entire mission based on another game (especially that an actual expansion is next). Still, 60 minutes of content is generous. And it's Monster Hunter, in which no monster is tackled once but a dozen times. The doors this event opens up could lead to all kinds of new missions. Maybe Dante can come back around and be in the game this time. Maybe Bionic Commando or Onimusha. But before we get ahead, what happens in this DLC crossover?
Geralt is all alone, single-player RPG style, with his own equipment, and must track down something. He has Igni and his sword, but there are options for each weapon type. He also has a couple of familiar researchers to talk to. Strange things are happening in the Ancient Forest, and they want answers. The researchers act as a tutorial for Geralt's magic. People who have played the Witcher 3 will probably guess the monster fairly easy, but before confronting the monster there are two side quests that can be tackled. One involves a hint that the botanist gives you. The other is revealed only by finding a strange marking, similar to Grimalkyne art, but newer. It's also possible to fail the quest if you haven't collected enough items of a certain type. (Hint, it involves Palico items). When you finally confront the big bad, it is revealed that the monster is a Leshen, a regular one compared to the Ancient Leshen that can be tackled in multiplayer. The regular Leshen, despite not requiring much leveling up to fight, is a formidable fight. It has the usual small-monster help it would in its own world, and it's more powerful than usual. It can create its own barriers and attack from afar, similar to the way a Diablos would. It also teleports. Good luck. It's a good thing Geralt packed a rune. To survive, and hear more sweet dialogue recorded just for this, tap into Geralt's power to defeat the Leshen the only way it deserves, with fire.
In the long run, Capcom itself is no stranger to crossovers. Maybe they got it from their days making Marvel's video games. There is X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Capcom vs. SNK, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, and Tekken x Street Fighter. Ryu and Ken are in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Wesker, from Resident Evil/Biohazard, appears in another Capcom game, Lost Planet 2, as a playable skin. Also in Lost Planet 2, Marcus and Dom from Gears of War show up in the same capacity as Wesker. Soul Calibur has featured Link, Heihachi, Spawn, Darth Vader, Yoda, Starkiller, Ezio Auditore, 2B, and Geralt of Rivia. Also, Puzzlefighter exists. So the company is no stranger to crossovers within the company and with other companies. They can be gimmicky if the idea of pushing two Intellectual Properties together seems repulsively juvenile. But in this instance, it has been a solid mesh of two similarly themed games that may open up some MHW players to the Witcher or bring some Witcher players to try MHW. Capcom did make Dragon's Dogma, the RPG more in line with a Witcher than an MH. At best, it's a fun hour that leads to more opportunities to bring cool armor sets and weapons to a game that thrives on having countless pieces of armor and dozens of gameplay styles based on weapon choice. It may not happen again, and that's not terrible considering a full expansion is on the way, but given their track record they probably have something cool in the works. For now, and whichever game it is, enjoy the hunt.
- Ben R.
Player of Games
P.S.
I typically enjoy Capcom games. I don't enjoy having bought Devil May Cry HD years before it hit PC, so now I'd have to buy it again. It was nice that they did Play Anywhere for Resident Evil 7 on Xbox and VR mode for PlayStation. At the same time, they don't seem to use Xbox's back compat. I would like to play Forgotten Worlds in some modern way. Still, I play too much Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and MHW. Capcom does a lot of great and a lot of puzzling things. I can't tell if they are really obsessed with updating their games to the times judging by how often they remake Resident Evil 1 and 2. Either way, they can make some unique games, and if you're a Witcher player who has yet to try MHW or even Dragon's Dogma, I would ignore the noise machine that crowds Capcom.
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