Hello Joey,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I’ve been wanting to share some thoughts about anything and everything. Right now it is probably about Monster Hunter and maybe even game design in general. But it could be about programming or whatever else grabs my fascination.

Sometimes I do that in our group chat, but I know you like to recieve letters. I’m also trying to write more on my blog, so this seems like a good way to do both.

So here we are. A letter to you specifically instead of a generic blog post. They say it’s easier to write with an audience in mind!

I’m publishing this on the world wide web though, because I think we like the idea that someone else might be interested in our thoughts, or simply to see what serendipitous connections might form from this kind of ethos of working and thinking in public.

This touches on a different topic, that of the Smolweb. But it’s not what I want to write about today. Today I want write about Monster Hunter.

We’ve been gaming since we were young, you mentioned in your first Zine that one your favorite gaming memories was playing the Adventures of Lolo together with me and mom. I remember that too, if only vaguely, and because I think we have some actual video footage of that moment somewhere.

When I think of our gaming moments, what’s coming up for me right now is that time we played through all (or almost all?) of some Lego Star Wars game. I don’t remember exactly what game it was, but I remember we somehow went far into completing not just the story, but also all the extras. Playing levels multiple times to find the hidden special bricks, and unlocking various characters.

I don’t really have a strong memory of all the things we did in that game, but I do remember that we did it together. There was a sense of teamwork and shared accomplishment.

Will Monster Hunter be something like that? I think it has potential. I’m purposfully not advancing the story too quickly, or playing much when I know you are also not able to play much. I want us to be able to experience the game together, and not have someone feel left behind.

So far we’ve only done a few hunts together, but I think we are getting the hang of it. There’s a lot of depth and unexplained mechanics in the game, which make it kind of an interesting puzzle or thing to figure out. I can see how it’s possible to put a lot of time into the game since each weapon type has its own playstyle, and could take a while to master. But I do wonder what the end game is like.

Will it be “just” about completing all the armor sets and weapons? The gameplay loop is fun enough that I can see myself doing that, but I do have to wrap my head around this style of progression. I have been playing classic WoW so much and that is way more ‘on rails’ or ‘solved’ with only one or two viable builds per class, so it’s like a very obvious optimal set of gear (BIS - best in slot) to aim for each phase.

In Monster Hunter it feels like even though there probably are optimal builds, there is a lot more freedom to experiment with different weapons and armor sets.

I’m really impressed actually with it’s online features. Although there is a lot of menu diving and things are kind of hard to wrap your head around initially; everything just works. At least so far. There is a kind of snappiness to the menus and everything in this game that I really appreciate.

In F1 2025 there are so many animations and transition screens and a general feeling of ‘slowness’ in the UI. Before I can set up a lobby and invite a friend and then actually start a race I feel like I’m trudging through mud. It’s a small thing, not a huge frustration, but it impacts how I feel about that game. Monster Hunter Rise, even though it runs at 30 fps, feels like it responds to my inputs very quickly.

Anyways this letter is getting kinda long, so I will wrap it up for now.

I had grand ideas of adding a envelope that you would click to open this letter, and then rendering it on a paper texture. As well as other fun features. I’ll work these letters into my site somehow too so you can actually navigate to them, but all that for another time.

Take care Joey, and I look forward to our next time hunting monsters together.