Monster Hunter/Headscratchers

• Guns in the series. In the first one, they were absurdly primitive, but were anachronistic for just existing in a Bronze Age (or so) tribal society. In Freedom 2 and Freedom Unite, they have what look like late 19th-century/early-20th-century guns in what appears to be medieval times in a Northern Mongolian (Chinese?) mountain village. 3 takes place in what looks to be a small fishing village during the setting equivalent to the Age of Exploration, and the screenshots featuring guns show things that look almost exactly like modern firearms except for their crude assembly with materials and techniques that are in line with the setting. If there's a 4, will they be using particle beam and projected energy weapons? Although Victorians (or whatever they decide on for the next game) fighting dinosaurs and dragons with lasers and plasma weapons would be awesome.
  • Or what about the fact that said guns shoot giant cartoonish bullets, despite generally having barrels that look to belong to normal firearms. Even the bowguns that actually have the weirdly unnecessary looking crossbow bits that justify the 'bow' part of bowgun still tend to have normal gun barrels. Of course, this is a series in which you have giant swords that suddenly become longer than you when you draw them.
  • I just say it's post apocalyptic earth (apocalypse happening very far in the future), and everything is explained. Huge strength = Genetic enhancements, Guns = ancient tech that people are re-discovering, monsters = mutated earth wildlife with millions of years of evolution to a new environment etc.
• Weak monsters, "Minions", during boss fights. Baggi and Rhenoplos in Monster Hunter Tri are good examples; the former can cause sleep, and the latter is infamous for running into the hunter and sending them flying. It makes sense in some fights, such as the Great Jaggi and its regular Jaggi underlings, but for others it doesn't. One example is with the Rathalos; if Rhenoplos are in the area, they mindlessly attack the hunter even though the Rathalos likely preys on them.
  • Not always true. When I played the single player first Rathalos hunt, the Rhenoplos there would charge Rathalos more than they charged me.
  • Well, what's the most dangerous enemy there? Their natural predator, or the superpredator who regularly massacres everything on a map, skins their corpses, and uses the body parts to make himself even more dangerous. If they help the Rathalos kill you, then the Rathalos will likely go back to preying on them, but at its own pace. If you kill the Rathalos, you're quite likely to go on and kill the rest of them to make hats. Then come back to do the same thing over and over again. Long story short, Hunters are dangerous.
  • And as we all know, monster are intelligent enough to realize it!!! Oh wait....
    • They're intelligent enough to get away when you start killing their mommies and stuff, or to attack you to make you stop. I figure after a few hunts, the few survivors would realize that "This hairless ape is the most dangerous f*****ing thing that's ever walked in here. He killed a Querepeco in fifteen minutes".
    • The only ones that run away are Aptonoth and Popo, which are harmless. The others attack out of stupidity, as anything that sticks around is either killed by the hunter or the monster he's fighting.
  • Also, Rhenoplos running headlong into me sending me flying just makes this troper want to kill them MORE. If they were doing it out of some sense of self-preservation, they are sadly mistaken if it will help.
    • This troper had a bit of a laugh at one time thanks to the Rhenoplos. While I had bigger fish to fry, they were just as much of a threat to me as they were with the Barroth I was fighting - one even knocked the Barroth down and I got a clear shot at its tail afterwards! Ah, the wonders of friendly fire.
  • Of course, there is a logical explanation given by the game which states that the Rhenopolos are quite territorial but have poor eyesight.
• The way the Kirin and Yamatsukami are lumped in with the Elder Dragons, is really annoying. All the "real" Elder Dragons are the true bosses of the game, with so much health that they require multiple missions to take down, with damage that carries over across missions. These two don't exhibit that behavior because, well, they aren't Elder Dragons. They don't even look remotely draconic - Kirin is a unicorn-like creature (which would put in the Pelagus category, if anything) and Yamatsukami is an Eldritch Abomination (specifically a Starfish Alien. Would it have been too much effort to list them as Unique, or even Unclassified?
  • Consider for a moment; Kirin clearly has scales, and originates in the first game, where the only elder dragon with wings was Fatalis. And anyway, Elder Dragons is a catch-all for things that clearly aren't wyverns of any sort.

• Some weapons in 3 state in their description that they're ancient. But, I collected the materials and watched them forge it myself...
  • There's the possibility that the blacksmith had it with him all along, and just wanted those Heavenly Scales/Gems/Rubies to screw with you.
  • Some of those are ancient for good reason - they started out as Rustshards or Ancientshards, which have to be restored before they can be effectively used. Additionally, some weapons are based on ancient designs.