Tail cuts are (not) getting worse. 

All I've really ever cared about regarding tail cuts is that they actually impact a fight somehow, whether it's less range with moves that use it or weakening moves that use it

one thing that really rubbed me the wrong way about the original video was the suggestion that capcom didnt want to put in the effort to design a more beat up monster because they were too proud of their work. that seems so out of left field and just not true, you can still fuck up some monsters

Deviljho's tail for me is more like "Oh thank god, I can finally avoid the ridiculous tail spins." than "Wow, that was a big piece of tail, what a spectacle."

I'll be honest I'm more concerned with them adding more monsters with _meaningful_ part breaks. Things like Barioth getting it's movement completely crippled if you break it's wings or Pukie outright losing it's tail blast once you cut it's tail off or Chamo losing it's invisibility with a horn break. The damage dealt to monster should be more then just visible, it should impact how they fight. The one thing about tail cuts I am completely sick of seeing is "cosmetic" tail cuts, that is ones that just take a chunk off the tail rather then reducing it's actual lethality.

The BIGGEST reason for tail cuts I've ever needed is the higher chance for plate/ruby/mantle etc carves. Back in mh1 on ps2, we deliberately went on "tail/plate runs" where a Lancer "headlocked" Los and Ian while other hunters with cutting weapons cut the tail, all for a chance at that sweet sweet plate carve. No plate? Abandon and try again. Plate? Finish quest or cart three times for your loot.

I will say as a blunt weapon main, I barely noticed the changes (if any) regarding tail cuts over the generations. If anything, we need more fancy carve-able head breaks like Barroth and Ceadeus.

Tobi-Kadachi is based on a flying squirrel, and the tail is the most iconic part of a squirrel. Without the tail, it would just be a lizard with a weird flap of skin between its legs.

At 3:19 I made a mistake. It should say “20 out of 40” This video isn't an attack on Laughing Sofa's video in anyway, but watching his prompted me to want to make a video that covers the history of Tail Cuts in Monster Hunter, because it seems a lot of people are interested in this subject.

this feels more like an actual review on the tail cuts from an objective point of view while sofas vid felt more like it just ignored data from past games

That 'grilling featur' for Tails are present in Rise's Motley Mix too. And it grands you Welldone Steak, Ration, Immunizor and Dash Juice. :o

Aside from the main two points I'd actually say I want tail cuts and partbreaks in general to be more impactful on the moves monsters can perform, including losing moves and gaining new moves

Thanks for this video. I saw Sofa’s video and left a comment saying how the video he made and tried to present as “just presenting data” was based almost entirely on rating tailcuts by how much people enjoyed them, which is the furthest thing from an objective measuring stick you can get. I also felt like he just attacked the devs with unwarranted criticisms like “they’re too proud to have their pretty monsters damaged” and stuff that really bugged me

I feel like the *gameplay* is moving away from the tail. we're being emphasized to go after the face for everything...despite tails being a fairly good hitzone.

I also like that rewarding feeling, tge change from frustration of "How do I cut this thing STOP MOVING!" into "You made a wrong move, get ready to lose your tail."

I was wondering if Nibelsnarf tail were cutable since 3u, I now have an answer, I just though it was almost impossible to cut it due to the tail being 95% under the ground

Your little addendum about Rise was addressed a bit in anomaly investigations. All part breaks, tail cuts included, give you more investigations upon quest completion.

I feel like the way they handled rathian in world, or barioth claws is the way to go. You target a suboptimal hitzone, but if you keep at it, you are rewarded with a substantial gameplay advantage: no more poison from rathian, or barioth now slips while charging at you. Which is what I'd hope would have happened, for example, with mangamalo: you chop of a bit of his tail, and now he can't use it to launch hellfire balls or cannons at you. That would be my hope for mh6. Oh, pukei is also an example: if you chop off his tail you greatly hinder is ability to spew poison from it. It goes from a long range stream to a fart.

Yeah, I think my only complaint with tail cuts is how they've lost some of the actual gameplay impact. Back in the day, cutting a tail and getting that extra carve(and usually an extra chance for a rare plate) was a pretty big deal when you were farming parts. Nowadays, with the addition of gathering palicoes and wyvern riding drops in order to feed the melding pot machine, the actual benefits of getting that extra tail carve are relatively slim. It's easy to just forget about it entirely and just focus on hitting for DPS. Plus, the actual tail item isn't really all that important because it's pretty rare to need one for anything other than just cooking them, and you get them fairly easily from quest rewards.

The problem I have with smaller tailcuts is that that just don't live up to the subconscious expectation you make when first fighting a monster with a tail that looks cuttable. I experienced this most with Seregios and Malzeno. In my head I could clearly see what portion of the tail I felt should be cuttable and was then greatly disappointed to find that I got much less than what I wanted. I know its a case of creating my own expectations and a game can't possible account of that, but come on, I looked up Seregios' tail cut pre-Sunbreak and they did not have to nerf it by that much.

Some of the tail cuts in MHR can feel a bit underwhelming. When I first fought Almudron and I saw him gather a big ball on his tail I went ham to try chop off the big ball hoping it'd fall off and roll around. It just broke and I was sad.

Very good video. The original video flabbergasted me with how weird the criticism was. The fact you proved that technically speaking the tail cuts haven’t gotten worse at all (outside of rise objectively changing things like rathain poison negation mechanic) was a lot more formal than the nit picky nature of the original.

Should have mentioned Coral Pukei, which is arguably the most moveset impactful tail sever in the main series.

Great video! Very interesting to look at it from the designers perspective through interviews

great video x

One of my favorite tail cuts in the franchise is Zenaserisu's because if you cut his tail and wing tendrils you effectively castrate his moveset, but by the time the tail and tendrils come off he's already near death.

My only question is why is Seregios' tail cut smaller in Sunbreak than it used to be?

cutting gaismagorms tail off was like my first cut in the series it was amazing.

I think the only complaint I have with the "deemphasized tail cuts" is even with the map marker for the tail location, certain environment effects like water and tall grass can hide the tail piece and make it difficult to find. I remember having a rough time in 4U with Shagaru Magala's tail, because sometimes it's hidden in the arena rocks since the gold-white scales are similar to the arena.

what a superb and well thought out argument. thanks for this

Man most of the tails introduced in newer games have been more satisfying than others. While the raths were satisfying to lop off (like most flying wyverns tbh), the elders (especially Chamelos) as well as things like the Zingore were frustrating to cut, even if the tails felt substantial. Meanwhile things like the Malzeno and Mangamalo have some nice long tails that are severable, and since they're used as weapons, it's like being presented with a nice weakpoint in the process if you know to dodge the attack. It feels like Sofa's statement is based on the Pukei Pukei and that's it, which bird wyverns rarely can be cut anyway.

If I remember properly, the musculature of Lunagaron's tail helps the animal walk/maintain balance in the quadrupedal form. So i guess they though removing it would be too cruel, since that would basically cripple it.

I've removed that video from my recommendations over, and over, and over _and over again._ Thanks for refuting it.

Coral Pukei-Pukei. When you chop its tail off, it loses almost all of its attacks and becomes a beatdown.

5:33 alternate reality screenshots?

I remember the first time Bish threw all his fruit. I was like Wow is the monster trying to bait me... or maybe he's trying to distract me to escape. I wanted that fruit but didn't want to fall for what appeared to be a simple mechanic. I'll take that fruit over just another tail cut any day. Even if it doesn't benefit me as much it's just fascinating to think about the reason behind this monster doing this.

I love how in all these clips you carve the tail while still fighting the monster lol. Great video though, I had actually seen the referenced video first and initially I had agreed but I really just hadn't put much thought into any counter arguments like this video and I agree with all the points you made

this video was put together really nice good job

I do feel really bad for Pukei-Pukei when it tries to use its poison attack, so I get the point.

Deviljho's tail cut does feel a little brutal because as someone who knows dinosaur anatomy, Jho should not be able walk after that.

I really wasn't sure what to think after the first video, but this really all made alot of sense to me and it was super informative seeing the origins of the series and design philosophy! Great video

Idk if they already fixed it but in Rise when you cut off Rathian tail it's still can poison you with non-existing spikes that were there. Also, I miss "more blood" cheat code from psp Monster Hunters

I like how they said “as to not be to cruel” but the fatalis weapons have his literal eyeballs in them....yeah

Imagine being able to cut Glavenus's ENTIRE tail off. Imagine how boring his fight would be without a tail that he could sharpen and swing around. At that point the only way he could attack you reasonably is with bites and fireballs; He'd be handicapped to hell and back.

Thank god there was a response. I watched 10 minutes of the original video and wound up frustrated, because it felt like the data was being misrepresented and pointed towards arguments that really didn't make sense in context. Glad I wasn't the only one. There's genuine gripes to be had with the transition from classic MH to newer entries, and arguments like that end up putting so much smoke in the water that it's hard to have a genuine discussion.

My biggest problem with tail cuts since gen 4/5 is that its really not necesary at all. You can get 2 3 tails as rewards for no reason at all. That is stupid imo.

I never thought I'd see two videos on this subject lol

I feel like a lot of people here are missing the core heart behind Laughing Sofa's video where it really was never about gameplay advantages and SPECIFICALLY OP of this vid, "I want to cut the tail or arm off a mammal," but that the original video was simply an analysis done to see if research would support the general feeling of disappointment with 5th gen tail cuts compared to older titles. When it came to World, there was a lot of criticism that the roster was big lizard after big lizard after big lizard, and even into iceborne, the monster population was HEAVILY wyvern/elder favored, with some notable exceptions like the Rajangs. World/Iceborne was discussed because, on the release of Iceborne, after having some disappointing moments trying to cut off the tails of flying wyverns, (paolumu and legiana) the series would return glavenus and also bring velkhana, two monsters who fight very regularly with their tail. Normally, we think of cutting off tails as a means to mark a point in which the hunt turns, because you've just removed a major weapon from the monster's arsenal, and of course, if a hunt is entirely based upon that tail, like glavenus or it's subspecies, we can't expect it to remove all the monster's moves from the fight. I simply ask that you compare the cutting of a Rathian's tail to the cutting of a Velkhana's. Rathian loses a MASSIVE tool, in her poison, until later incarnations simply override that rule to make her a more difficult fight. She loses a large portion of her range in a lot of her moves, but she still has fireballs, tramples, bites. But when Velkhana loses it's tail? It just grows ice back exactly in place. You got the satisfaction of seeing "WOWIE I CUT THE TAIL OFF" only for it to just grow a new one in place to keep stabbing you with. And if that was something that a monster could do, quickly regrow parts you broke off, I imagine it would feel cool to keep smashing thos- OH WAIT THAT'S NERGI (AND IT DOES FEEL COOL!) So again, the original video was not "let me analyze all the games" it was, "wow, some of this is just not satisfying, let me write about it."

This is like watching a retort to Jacob Anderson, it's amazing and it needs to happen way more often.

“souvenirs”? now i wish we could decorate rooms with monster parts like fangs, horns, etc

This video's thumbnail really has "you vs the guy she tells you not to worry about" energy.

Honestly you can still fuck up some monsters in rise and stuff too. It's really weird for me to realize when a horn is missing or the neck frill is fucked up as I wasn't expecting it (I'm new to the game). It's neat to see the changes that happen as you chase and that some get more aggressive as they begin to die. It's honestly so like a real creature sometimes I feel bad about killing another izuchi or lagombi. They limp when they run and even lose energy. They have weight.

Man, you really came in here just to stomp that video lol. God damn you murdered him!

the "you can only cut tiny part of the tail" probably come from monster like Chameleon, Almudron and Magnamalo, all have quite huge tail but you can only cut the tip of the tail so that must be dissatisfied to some people. and then there are players come from World, too used to the size of the monster there so the tail must feel a lot smaller in compare.

For tobi kadachi, there are several times where it bounce rolls on its tail, and having the tail come off would overly complicate the animation process for these moves. The tail is also where the most fur for static electricity it stored, and destroying it would probably reduce the effectiveness of the weapons we make from it

Me, a hammer main: "What's a tail cut?"

btw, in I think a lot of the lizards that can throw their tails off, they have segmented tails. That means that their tails have segments and weak points that can easily be broken off

Tbh almudrons tail cut is a crime to society

I did have the thought with Rise that they were getting worse. You've eased my mind and changed my opinion. Thanks. *Le bow.*

A good response to the original video. Much more objective, and I appreciate bringing in developer commentary and yknow, data, instead of saying "here a few of my friends ranked how cool the chunks of tail coming off looks lol"

good video with good counter points but glavenus is the very example of a monsters that had a reduced tailcut. back in gens we could remove the whole blade par of the tail, making it blunt, the tail is still there, just the blade, witch is bellow the tail bone is removed, considereing that glavenus has a diffcult tail cut, it was very rewarding to get a damage reduction and a smaller hitbox, but in iceborne, we just remove the very tip of the tail, which is worse and makes so a diffcult tail cut rewards us with a slightely smaller hitbox but no damage reduction nor is the hitbox as small as it used to be, quite literally nerfing the tail cut despite it not being a bit deal in the previous gen, and its not like it breaks the phylosohphy of tail cuts nor made disabled his moves, it doesnt break the bone part, just flaming metal part and the tail still retains most of its size and doesnt make it impossible for glavenus to use his attacks, the glavenus tail cut in gen 5 is just worse than in gen 4 with no real reason.

On the Tobi Karachi response part of the video "what about monster than you could cut off but can't" well as a player of world as both my first introduction and my only experience about half of the monsters body is it's tail. Tobi is also one of the faster monsters in game too. The tail in the hunter notes are also regarded as the main weak spot. So even if they took of a small part of the tail it would make the hunt harder for your missing more weak spot

most tail cuts i've got no issues with, but seregios in particular's tail when cut off did get nerfed in rise. GenU had the big meaty chunk on the end get lobbed off whereas sunbreak's steve's tail only has a singular spike from the tail get cut off which is a lot smaller and harder to see

Terrific video

my main gripe is how they practically doubled tigrex's tail break threshold from MHworld to MHrise. it use to be one of the better parts to target as it would help mitigate the large spin attack, but now it has gone from one of the easiest parts to the absolute hardest to cut and it's messed with the dynamic of the fight

My $0.02: There are 3 things worth discussing here. 1.) ability to get an extra carve with higher chance of tail or gem part, 2.) decreasing combat ability of monster 3.) "satisfying" gameplay feel / visual modeling of breaking parts In world and rise in general it's easier to get the tail parts from captures, quest rewards, and palico plunders, so 1) is less of an issue. For 2) I think this is hit and miss. With glavenus you can barely tell the difference. With Rathian and Rathalos it's becoming harder to in the more recent games. Personally I would prefer if breaking parts / cutting tails would result more often in certain moves not being usable anymore rather than just being less damaging or having a smaller hitbox. For 3) this is a bit more subjective. I think in general the issue isn't so much with the size of the tail that comes off and is carvable but more the monster model after the break. For instance, after Glavenus reheats a broken tail it doesn't even look like he lost anything anymore. And a lot of moves make it look like a tail's regenerated for other monsters as well The bit you take off Kushala in World and Rise is hardly visible as missing on the model. Likewise with Teostra. As far as the gore aspect goes, I agree Capcom has definitely always been aiming at a lighter atmosphere to monster hunter, so it makes sense that you're not seeing a lot of blood or guts in these games. It would be interesting to see more competitor games out there that maybe go further and have a more mature tone (The Surge is a good example)

Lorewise we coul just assume that hunters don't cut them because they either feel bad or is some kind of hunter code. Which would make sense ngl

16:25 But overall : " *NOBODY CARE !* "

11:48 I feel this is not the point the video was trying to make. The one thing I really think about when someone says "Tail cuts have gotten worse" is that "tail cuts have far less impact on the fight" Velkhana is actually a perfect example of this, as when the tail is cut there is no noticeable difference before or after, since Velkhana simply "regrows" its tail using ice whenever it attacks. There's also Rathian's tail cut which was significantly buffed in World, only to be nerfed again in Rise for no apparent reason.

Personally I’m fine with whatever they do with the tail cuts as far as size is concerned I just wish they affected the fights a little more drastically in ice born if you cut off coral Pookie‘s tail it took away a larger amount of its move set unfortunately it is not that way in rise I understand not every monster has a bunch of tail based moves but certain monsters it would be more logical to take away a few weapons from its arsenal if the tail was chopped off

Thank you for this video I watched mr Sofas video and didn’t really find it true

All fun and games until you realise some of the hammers are literally the monster head slammed on a stick

1:58 Duramoboros is not a tail cut by your definition. It's a 2 stage part break in which first the shell crackss an second the outer layer breaks off, but the bulb still remains intact. Furthermore can the second stage only be accomplished by blunt weapons, which directly contradicts the idea of a "cut" by default.

What just really rubs me the wrong way with the original video is that he made no (clear) distinction between tail CUTS and tail BREAKS while clearly intending to solely talk about cuts, but then includes monsters in his data whose tails can only be broken (like Paolumu). It just really makes it seem like he didn't actually know what exactly he was even talking about in the first place.

About tobi kadaki, when tobi kadaki glides it flattens and extends it's tail so the tail serves a vital function in tobi kadaki's flying abilities, the tail is it's main weapon too so I supose severing kadaki's tail jeopardizes all it's movement and attacks, is just a combination of bishaten and legiana scenarios, both have tails that you could cut but then the monster becomes unable to perform vital parts of what makes it unique.

“Tail cuts are (not) getting worse” proceeds to justify how they literally have for the whole video

The small versions of the fanged beasts like velociprey could be cut in half if they were mid air for the final hit

Enjoyed the video! But you COMBAT CARVING LITTLE GREMLIN lmao.

I'm only 50 hours into monster hunter world and noticed right away how easy is to cut monsters tails.

Personally I think by far this is one of my favorite videos you've made. But I knew it would've been too good to be true for you to make a video without unnecessarily shitting on rise.

Everyone gets hype for a tail cuts. We need more tail cuts. Tail cuts are glory

my big thing is why do we always seem to cut off the tip for monsters with clubs at the base yeah makes sense but alot are a case of come on we could have cut it halfway at least.

Great video

And there are cases where the tail cut does nothing to nerf the range of tail attacks at all, prime examples from 4th and 5th gen primarily, major examples being bloodbath diablos, astalos, magnamalo etc etc, that being said i hate tails which you have to break first before you can sever, such as narga before rise. Also some tails have super bloated hp pools which means you have to focus it down in order to get the cut before the monster runs out of hp

This is a great point that honestly I'd never considered before. The game is called Monster Hunter, but really you're not hunting in the way humans in the real world do. You're fighting a monster, one that always poses an active threat. I think one of the reasons that certain subsets of monsters don't have tail cuts is that they look too much like real animals. Yian Garuga is a dragon and Zinogre is massive, but Yian Kut-Ku is an oversized chicken and Tobi Kadachi is basically just a mammal with scales. Cutting the tail off of those monsters would feel like cutting the tail off a real animal, rather than disabling a dangerous fantastical creature.

Tail cuts feel more like a side quest during the main quest

You didnt even mention the fact that its just satisfying cutting of tails

I have found that the cut thresholds are insanely high in Rise. Way too high in fact. If i focus the tail of any monster on every down (4-5 per quest), it will cut it a few hits before the monster can be trapped/dies. Even in World you needed at most 2 downs to cut.

I think its a little disingenuous to count monsters that dont have tails to cut in the "no tail cut" statistic. The complaint isnt that monsters dont have tails to cut, its that monsters with perfectly cuttable tails only get a tiny sliver cut off or cant be cut at all.

Interesting as always, but basically what you're are saying is that there was a reason behind for not letting you cut the tail of certain monsters, but I think that is obvious (at least for me) and doesn't say much. I mean, there's a reason for that in every Monster Hunter game, but you are not saying if you like/ agree with that decision. Personally I don't care that much about tails (that's not one of the reasons why I don't enjoy MHW), although I think that you should be able to cut the tails of, for example, Paolumo or Tobi Kadachi, specially when you can cut the tail of similar monsters.

I think I was in the camp that didnt quite agree with the other video, though there were some good points. On the issue of ickyness, I do think at this point there's enough of a tradition for them to at least consider ways to change it up for freshness. In particular, the tails feel like they've long since stopped being icky, but alluring instead. The cross sections have enough detail to invoke appetite at times, and we know they're edible because it's an option when ordering food in sunbreak. I know I would like to cut a gyrados tail specifically for that reason. That said, I imagine they would have to redesign a whole of behavior and AI for just this, so it might just not be worth working on over other more pressing mechanics.

Capcom: makes spider monster again People: Tail cuts are getting worse

You said around 10:55 that tail cuts always affect the fight, with examples like a shorter attack range. In Monster Hunter World, I noticed the opposite. The Diablos tail attack seems to have no different hitbox after the cut. You can see it slam down the tail club... even though the club is not there at all. It doesn't touch the ground with the tail, yet it slammed the ground through sound and particles. Also, while the argument about certain tail cuts being too influential on a fight is sure relevant, it can have the same deal like with Coral Pukei-Pukei. while you can deal sever damage on its tail throughout the entire fight, you can only deal that last hitpoint to cut it when the monster is on like 25 or 20% health, to prevent this tail cut from being a cheese method for the fight.

I've never played monster hunter, but I am firmly in the more tail cuts camp.

2:28 Little note on this, youre absolutely right. However this is a rare instance of where lore classification like flying wyvern, bird wyvern etc. are actually not very descriptive of the monsters technical makeup. This is because Yian Garuga and Pukei-pukei actually have the same rig (basically an animation skeleton used in computer graphics) as most flying wyverns. You can see it when they are idle and havent spotted the hunter. Their pose and animations for walking and looking around are identical to those of prominent flying wyverns like the raths etc. It explains on a technical level why these "bird wyverns" have cutable tails, whereas the other bird wyverns (or Raptors as I tend to refer to them) dont.

People like complain about the cut tails becoming tinier but damn they are becoming cooler, I remember ther first time I severed the tail of a glavenus in Gen, how the tip of the blade broke of and fell skewered on the ground and you could see the steam coming off the tail as it cooled off, man that was peak soul, the tail can even hurt you if it falls over your head.

Me watching this as a hammer main like “wow you can cut tails that’s crazy”

You can cook monster materials in Rise too and i am pretty sure that there are also tails among them.

You can still cook various tails in Rise, I did that with a bunch of Anjanth tails.

For me the gameplay balance of a tail cut has diminished. In older gens the majority of tail cuts were large chunks of the hit box being removed for tail attacks, leading to earned satisfaction in the Hunter for a smart strategic decision. When you have a monster that uses its tail prominently for offense (Tobi/Velkhana/Glavenus/Astalos) it should have a cuttable tail so the Hunter can mitigate some of that risk and feel rewarded for their efforts. I know Velkhana’s tail is removable but it just grows an ice tail back, negating the part break entirely. I focused it in IB the first time I hunted it as the jabs were really frustrating, I thought I had created some breathing room only to have it’s icy prosthetic stab me in the face. When the tail cut would interfere with movement and mobility (Khezu/Gigginox/Bishaten) I can understand why it’s not available. For me the Reptile vs Mammal comparison seems flimsy as at the end of the day it doesn’t have to be justified as it’s not implied that every monster with a cuttable tail grows it back anyways and mammalian monsters have some pretty harsh non-tail breaks anyways (Lagombi/Kecha Wacha’s Ears etc)

I mean, snipping a small portion of your body sounds more hurtful than losing a whole limb. I imagine losing your nail would hurt more than losing my whole arm because of the adrenaline kicking in.