Watch the Japanese Gameplay Presentation Footage of Monster Hunter: World

Capcom has just held a special introduction event for Monster Hunter: World today in Japan, which was also streamed online. In the event, they also publicly showcased a live gameplay presentation of the Japanese version of the much-anticipated hunting game. You can watch the recorded stream below, and jump to 46:36 if you want to go straight to the gameplay.

A couple of more interesting points in the gameplay are also mentioned at the Dengeki article which covered the live stream. For example, there is a Fast Travel feature that lets you quickly move to designated locations, and you can also change your equipped weapon inside the field's base camp during quests. Also mentioned in the article is that you can change the voice language of in-game characters from Japanese (or English in the English version) to the fictional language often used in Monster Hunter series. (An example of which is available in the Monster Hunter Stories trailer)

Dengeki also covered the Q&A session with producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, executive director & art director Kaname Fujioka, and director Yuya Tokuda which added some more details to the currently known information. We have translated the segment for your convenience below.

Which one is required to play online: PS Plus only, PS Plus + Exclusive Subscription, or Exclusive Subscription only?

Tsujimoto: You can play with just the PS Plus!

Are there underwater actions?

Tsujimoto: There are no actions against monsters.

Fujioka: We'd like to use various presentations for explorations, so there are some actions where you dive into the water, but there is no hunting.

Are there fields other than the Ancient Forest?

Tsujimoto: There are. This game has a Base just like before; you'll take quests there and go out to fields. One of those fields is the Ancient Forest, and there are also other of them. We can't say [in detail] here, but there will be also unique places.

Fujioka: This time you will be investigating a new continent, so there is an image of finding new areas while you are exploring.

Damage values are being shown, but will there be an option to hide them?

Tsujimoto: You can. However, I think people who have played past Monster Hunter shouldn't feel out of place with the values being shown either. You cannot see the life [bar], so I hope you can look and determine for yourselves on whether [monsters] have been weakened or run out of stamina.

What kind of hunting will it be in the open world field?

Tsujimoto: There are no more areas in fields. However, when you go from the Base to a field, there will be loading [time]. One field is about 2.5 times as large as before, so you shall experience non-stop action inside there.

Fujioka: Going to quests with the Base as the center is the same as before. There is also a flow of going to quests with up to 4 people. If a person who have departed launches an SOS Flare, the quest will show up in the server outside the lobby, so people not in the lobby can also join.

Tsujimoto: We are preparing Voice Chat and Text Chat for communications between players.

In the PV, [the player] is shown wearing a hiding cloak, but what exactly is that?

Tokuda: That's a special equipment which lets you use a special skill. You can hide from monster sights, and do things like using items. There is a cooldown time, so once you used it you won't be able to use it again for a while. Other than that, there are also things that make you not flinch, so I think you can have a different gameplay than before.

Fujioka: Some of the things that were [categorized] as skills until now are being put into special equipment. We will reveal even more of them in the future.

Tsujimoto: There will be the Tokyo Game Show in this Fall, so we'd like to expand [more information] there as well. Also, we will reveal new information when they can be published, so look forward to them!

Monster Hunter: World will have a simultaneous worldwide release in early 2018. It will be released exclusively for PlayStation 4 in Japan, but North America and Europe will also get Xbox One and PC versions, the latter of which would be released at a later date. You can also read our translation of Game Watch's E3 interview here.