Paleontologist Reacts to Monster Hunter: World

Renowned paleontologist, Dr. James Napoli, takes center stage in this must-watch episode as he reacts to the lifelike dinosaurs of Monster Hunter World. Join us on an extraordinary journey where science and gaming collide, as Dr. Napoli explores the game's depiction of prehistoric creatures, providing expert analysis of their accuracy and scientific authenticity.

From the majestic Anjanath to the awe-inspiring Rathalos, witness the fascinating intersection of paleontology and gaming unfold before your eyes. Dr. Napoli's wealth of knowledge and passion for his field promise to shed new light on these virtual behemoths, offering insights that only a true expert can provide. Get ready to be captivated as he dissects the details, examining everything from their physical characteristics to their behaviors, leaving no stone unturned in his quest for scientific accuracy. Don't miss this incredible opportunity to explore the world of Monster Hunter World through the lens of a renowned paleontologist.

#gamology #expertsreact #monsterhunterworld
--------------------
James Napoli:
--------------------
Check out some of our past videos!

Paleontologist REACTS to Red Dead Redemption 2 | Fossil Missions

Paleontologist REACTS to ARK: Survival Evolved

Paleontologist REACTS to Jurassic World Evolution 2

Hunter REACTS to Red Dead Redemption 2 | Experts React
--------------------
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0
--------------------
Stay in the loop with us on social media!

Paleontologist REACTS to Monster Hunter World

#monsterhunterworld #paleontology #ExpertsReact #dinosaurs

[darthplagueis]

A fun little detail here is that both Nergigante and Zorah Magdaros, the two creatures that he declared looked a bit out of place, belong to a group of creatures commonly referred to as "Elder Dragons" in the games and basically, the main factor to determine whether or not something is an Elder Dragon is if they can fit it into any other category. So yeah, these creatures are out of place because the biologists within the setting have no idea how their phylogeny works relative to the other monsters they know.

[BigBastion]

4:25 Despite the appearance of Barroth bringing to mind a theropod like T-Rex, it actually is an insectivore that primarily feasts on anthills. It uses its blunt scalp to break open the rocks that contain these anthills and tends to have turf wars with a lot of monsters in its region, warranting its armor

[DissedRedEngie]

7:58 he is kinda correct here. Elder dragons in canon are almost treated like anomalies of nature. While other monsters have biological fantasy explanations for how they can use fire, electricity etc. Elder dragons elemental abilities and general nature are more like magic. Like Kirin for example, it's an unicorn that somehow is able to manipulate lightning. Or Ibushi, who can communicate telepathically and is able to control air currents. Kushala Daora has metal scales that can rust and basically give it skin arthritis on top of seemingly controlling storms.

[nowgoawayanddosomethinggoo]

scientist "this creature is over fifty feet tall"
devs: "...and it's an ambush predator!"
scientist "ambushing what? carcasses?"

[that_legion_main]

What I love is when he talks about nergigante (the 6 limbed black dragon) he talks about how it couldn’t exist evolutionarily. Which is exactly what the games state. The games classify it as an elder dragon, a classification of creature that seemingly is disconnected from the rest of ecosystem, almost like aliens. Not all elder dragons are dragons, but they are all extremely fantastical and distinctly unrelated from any other branch of life

[Randomdudefromtheinternet]

Can we get a zoologist/ecologist to review it? I think they’ll have a field day when they learn about how the many wyverns have their own ecological niches, diet, etc.

[CodinFarzel]

This is much better than that other video where a paleontologist was basically going, "Wah! Not dinosaur enough! Get these ones that aren’t dinosaurs away from me!”

[ethanbailey]

While it doesn’t have many reptile design cues, parts of Jyuratodus’ design are influenced by lobe finned fishes like coelacanths! Odogaron is also somewhat influenced by gorgonopsids, ancient relatives of mammals.

[nuclearbirds]

4:26 While a lot of the movements of monsters were designed studying animals, the designers in interviews when Tri came out (the first game Barroth was in) stated that their movements in particular were conceptualized after a day observing……. bulldozers and other construction machinery.

[BullyMaguir]

I love how he described Great Jagras as "it doesn't look very dinosaur like" and "looks more iguana like". That's literally what it's based on.

[ChaZcaTriX]

7:45 and this completely matches the lore, as Elder Dragons' anatomy and abilities don't fit into the "natural" evolution of Wyverns.

[PenumbraDev]

It's cool he mentions that some of the designs feel "unnatural" due to them being so far removed from what we understand. One of the strongest design queues was Fatalis from the first few games. He is quite literally your token 4 limbed fantasy dragon that breathes fire, but what really solidified him as this "big boss" was his design. He's so unnatural compared to every to other monster in the game that you instantly know as a player that he isn't your run of the mill. All the other Bi-pedal monsters feel grounded but Fatalis himself is supposed to have this feeling of "unnatural" to communicate to the player how fearsome it is.

[billcipher]

7:18 thats because it's an elder dragon which is a classification meant for monsters that are scientifically impossible like a dragon made of metal with the ability to control storms a soul devouring lizard and the 3 variations of Fatalis(the thing about Fatalis is that even if you rip it apart and make armor out of it it's still alive somehow and will eventually regenerate and yes I know they are classified as "black dragon" monsters but still) as well as a being made from the life energy of countless elder dragons and an unimaginable eldrich horror that is aware that it is in a game as well as a giant mantis with an engineering degree(Ahtal Ka was weird even for an elder dragon)

[Goji-Moji]

I do wish he’d been given more information that’s a little more esoteric. Barroth isn’t a carnivore, for instance, but an insectivore. A lot of monsters have family and genus names that are named for real animal groups, but rather than being in those groups, the descriptions of those groups are taken literally like puns. Without a closer look it’s hard to realize that Great Jagras has traits like that of mammal-like reptiles like having molars, and even the number of holes in its skull seen in supplementary material. (Also those aren’t feathers, they’re floppy spines, but many fanged Wyverns have mammalian traits and outright fur)

As another example, Wyverns (“dragons” in Japanese) are part of the order 竜盤目 which is the Japanese word for “Saurischia” but the kanji literally mean “dragon hipped”. Within this “Saurischia” is the superfamily 角竜, which is the word for Ceratopsia, but the kanji literally mean “horned dragon”, which is Diablos and Monoblos’ family. Similarly Gravios’s family is a pun on Ankylosaurs, and Glavenus seems to be a pun very close to Stegosaurs (all of those being Ornithischian Dinosaurs, but all of them being “Saurischian” dragons/dinosaurs that have nothing to do with the real world equivalents with their own evolutionary history—the puns don’t end here either they’re pretty widespread. The Japanese name for “Piscine Wyvern” is 魚竜, “fish dragon”, which is literally the Japanese word for “Ichthyosaur”, but they’re taken as **literal fish dragons** and a shared evolutionary history with and traceable shared features with other Wyverns. It’s the kind of thing I’m sure a paleontologist would get a kick out of, but would have no way of knowing with minimal exposure and clips to just ad hoc react to. The people who made MH are clearly huge paleo nerds.

[wigglerwarrior]

Him calling Barroth enormous is absolutely hilarious

[angelobrewster]

9:56 I'm surprised he called Odogaron a dragon considering its a wyvern that it's wings evolved into forelimbs and became quadruped

They should have showed him Fatalis and Safi'jiiva, they are most fantasy looking dragons in the game.

[Sithari_XAOS]

Wanted to point some things out. The monster hunter games intentionally use realism to show the power scale of monsters. Monsters with 4 limbs that resemble dinosaurs or lizards and could theoretically exist in our world are often far weaker than more fantastical creatures. 6 limbed monsters are often categorized as "Elder Dragons". It's supposed to be a catch-all term for anything that can't be easily categorized and has destructive power only comparable to natural disasters or even godlike beings from mythology.
7:20 The big rock monster is Zorah Magdaros. It's classified as an elder dragon. It's basically a giant snapping turtle with a volcano for a shell.
7:30 This one is Nergigante, another elder dragon. Funnily enough, it's role in the ecosystem is actually to hunt other elder dragons. Being walking disasters/demigods that can destroy whole ecosystems just by existing, it keeps a natural balance in the world by specializing in hunting them and culling their numbers.

[fireblast]

the barroth is classified by the devs as an insectivore. It's more likely to dig into giant ant mounds to eat. They are also considered somewhat docile. Course, they will act aggressively if they feel threatened.

[caerystian]

I love Monster Hunter, so thank you for doing this!

I know the devs kept in mind what a monster's biology would actually be, so it's fun to hear our paleontologist here give their take. Of course it's all fantasy, but it's still cool to hear another take from their expertise.


Keep up the great work! Please do more Monster Hunter content!

[magolor]

The elder dragons like nergigante are kinda meant to be almost unnatural or advanced in design, the very classification comes from that fact that they cant be classified as anything else easily