Monster Hunter Wilds' Final Fantasy Event Misses the Forest…

During Gamescom Opening Night Live, Capcom and Square Enix teamed up to announce that two of their biggest games, Monster Hunter Wilds and Final Fantasy 14, would receive a mutual collaboration event later this year. In conjunction with the launch of its third Title Update, the companies revealed that Monster Hunter Wilds would get a bunch of brand-new Final Fantasy 14-themed content in September. The content will not only include a Chocobo-inspired cosmetic skin for the game's Seikret mounts, it will also feature a special Cactuar, and a major story quest involving the Final Fantasy 14 superboss, Omega Planetes.

A few weeks after this first collaboration event comes out, Final Fantasy 14 will also get some special content of its own, inspired entirely by Monster Hunter Wilds. In early October, players who complete the game's Dawntrail expansion will be able to encounter Wilds' most prominent monster, the Arkveld, during a Trial raid fight. In addition to this, they will be able to obtain some Seikret mounts in the game, as well. While the content featured in these two crossover events seems rather exciting, it feels like the collab for Monster Hunter Wilds would have been a lot better if it featured monsters from a different Final Fantasy game instead.

Final Fantasy 14 players will need to reach Lv. 100 in order to take on the Arkveld raid fight.

Monster Hunter Wilds Should Have Collaborated With FF16 Instead of FF14

Final Fantasy 16 Has Some of the Best Monster Designs and Bosses in the Franchise

The Final Fantasy franchise has no shortage of awesome-looking beasts that would feel right at home in a Monster Hunter video game. However, if there's one recent installment in the series that stands head and shoulders above the rest in this regard, it's, without a doubt, Final Fantasy 16. Released exclusively on the PlayStation 5 in 2023, FF16 was a rather divisive game in many respects. While the game itself received a largely positive reception among critics, some players were upset with it due to its simplistic combat system, uneven pacing, and mostly dull side quests. That said, the boss fights in the game received near-universal praise from players and critics alike.

Final Fantasy 16's boss fights are essentially the embodiment of the phrase, "style over substance". They may not be that complex from a gameplay standpoint, but they're so flashy and extravagant that they still provide some of the most memorable experiences in the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. When it comes to enemies aside from the bosses, some of the regular monsters in Final Fantasy 16 are also similarly impressive. While many of Final Fantasy 16's beasts, such as the Morbol, Coeurl, and Ahriman, have previously appeared in other Final Fantasy titles, this game's versions of the characters are arguably some of the most distinct ones in the series yet.

Clive Rosfield Should Have Been Added to MH Wilds, Just Like Geralt Was Added to MH: World

Not only would Final Fantasy 16's monsters fit perfectly in Monster Hunter Wilds, but the game's protagonist, Clive Rosfield, would be a great fit, as well. Given how many beasts he slays in FF16, Clive is basically a monster hunter in all but name, so it would make sense to add him as a playable character in Capcom's recent RPG. While some might think that it would be unusual for Capcom to feature a protagonist from another franchise in a Monster Hunter game, it's important to note that the company has technically already done this before.

In 2019, Capcom teamed up with Polish developer CD Projekt Red to add Geralt of Rivia, the main character of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, to Monster Hunter: World as part of a crossover event. This free DLC, which was introduced in Patch 6.0, featured an all-new quest in which players could play as Geralt himself and face off against enemies from the Witcher franchise. If Capcom and Square Enix had hosted a Final Fantasy 16 collaboration in Monster Hunter Wilds instead of a Final Fantasy 14 one, they could have added Clive Rosfield in a similar manner. Unfortunately, though, it seems like that's not going to happen anytime soon.