Capcom talks Monster Hunter 3D
Capcom on visuals
“The entire game has 3D support, but basically it’s not a game designed to rely on 3D,” Fujioka responded when asked how the new 3D visuals impact gameplay. “You can hunt all you want without having to concern yourself about 3D, so you’ve got the option to play the way you like there. However, the new portside area we’ve made for the game was created with an eye for 3D visuals — giving it more depth, placing objects on top of each other, and other concepts to make the 3D more prevalent. It’s been a fun development cycle, but working with 3D has also given us a surprising amount of stress, so hopefully people turn on the 3D the first time they play!”
Capcom on On controls and the new 3DS adaptor.
“The bottom screen will have a panel with assorted useful functions for hunting; you’ll be able to tap on things to use it. There are several types of panel, too, so you can choose which one you’d like to display and play like that.”
“There’s a target camera panel that, if you turn it on when you’re in the same area as the target monster for the current quest, the camera will turn you toward the monster whenever you reset it.”
“It feels really good holding it in your hand, and its center of gravity is toward the front, so controlling it is a breeze.”
Capcom on the main boss Blakydios.
“Brute Wyverns up to now were largely seen as charging monsters. A lot of them didn’t use their front arms very much. As a result, we put a lot of that sort of thing into this monster, making its arms a lot larger and capable of punching things. It also headbutts its enemies, so it’s got a pretty straightforward fighting style, but when it punches, it also releases this sticky material on the ground that gradually builds up and explodes over time. Blakydios’s moves are pretty simple, but it’s spewing this goo all over the place, so players have to a close eye on their positioning at all times.”
Capcom on weapons.
“There will be 12 types, filling out the set of genres we’ve introduced up to this point. All of the weapons will be operable in the underwater areas, too. The bowgun in Tri had a lot of customization skills, but that weapon’s going to be streamlined a bit and divided into ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ categories. The bowgun has a lot of new features nonetheless, though, so I’m hoping bowgun users run it up to the G level and get to check all of it out.”
