Ignore the typos, my insane ramblings stay winning as insane ramblings,....

Gentrification might not be the most accurate term to use to "objectively" describe the shift in soundtracks that 5th Gen brought, but I think it's a great way to describe the mood that was lost in the transition. It certainly sounds like much of the cultural and ethnic musical influences were toned down or stripped away in favor of something more familiar and "professional". As a result, I find it hard to think of many distinct, defining aesthetic elements of the 5th Gen games since music played such a large part in defining that identity.

Timestamps 0:00 MH1 Lone Wolf 1:34 MH1 At the Pub 2:26 MH2 Happily Serving Alcohol 4:33 MH1 Servant's Hall 6:31 MH2 Early Plum Blossoms of Dos 7:40 MH4 Drunken Party 9:23 MHXX Hub-bub 10:55 MH3 A Masterful Beer After Work 12:24 MHP Desiring Fame in the Land of the Beasts 13:45 MHP2nd Pokke Gathering Hall 15:12 MHFelyne Village G Yeah, that's a Party Hot Springs Ver. 15:40 MHFelyne Village G Hot Spring Theme 16:22 MHP3rd Secret Hot Spring Where Hunters Gather 18:00 MH2 Colorful Banquet 19:51 MHXX A Tipsy Drunkard 21:32 MH1 Flute Player 25:01 MH3 Story of the Underwater Ruin 26:28 MH4 Hunters Love to Harmonize 28:19 MH3 Loc Lac, Become Eternal 30:19 MH2 Drunken Thoughts at Midnight 32:15 MH4 Drunken Romance 33:53 MH2 Drunk on Fine Wine 36:13 MH1 Unnamed 1 [The Middle Eastern One] 39:41 MH2 Echoes from the Wilderness 42:32 MH3 Hunter of the Violent Sands 44:08 MH4 Waiting for Someone to Arrive 45:44 MH1 Unnamed 2 [The Jewish One] 47:40 MH4 Reunion Polka 49:02 MHXX Boldly and Bravely 50:41 MH4 Sunset Hunters 52:26 MH2 Merrymaking Music 54:10 MH3 Cazador del Monstruo 55:56 MHXX Let's Drink One 57:44 MH3 Even Hunters Want to Dance 59:37 MH1 Scat Cat Fever

Probably the best part is how beautifully they were able to transition between whatever culture they wanted and yet you always felt right at home in that community of players and npcs, mhtri's ost of course being my favorite.

Never forget what they took from us (Stares at Alatreon's electric guitar)

I also miss the more hunter and tribal aspects of monster hunter. I hope we get back to that feeling of stepping into a new and dangerous world :D Also thank you, now I have even more monster hunter music to put into my D&D players ears!

I completely agree. I can only hope MH6 will have more ethnic instruments and compositions. The ethnic instruments album they made is actually brilliant. Great video!

Old MH music just feels like home.

god i love poke village so much. maybe it’s because MHFU was my first game, but i feel it’s tavern music and village theme was the best

9:24 fun fact: this hub theme is a jazz rendition if the bloodbath diablos theme

I miss the tribal feelings and old music including ones such as the sound of item pickups. Unfortunately my choice is consoles and you can't mod them. Capcom seems to have a thing against the older sounds or if they bring them back its in such a limited capacity such as some are brought back like picking up eggs or the Amatsu quest. I blame the focus test group since with MHW they are the reason why many of the sounds were changed.

This music is Monster Hunter as I remember it when I first started playing. Nothing grand or ceremonious, no "Sapphire Star", we were just some chump who rolled into town one day looking for a job. The world would keep on turning without us if we disappeared, and the music, that feels so alive but also indifferent to us, reflects that perfectly.

52:26 this is an old irish tune called kerry polka or road to galway, had to learn this on tin whistle in school, so weird hearing it in monster hunter

Servant's Hall ain't a shanty, that's a damn jig. Awesome to hear.

This just feels like old thing=good, new thing=bad. Vanilla World gathering hub music is a banger.

I think I get what you mean about losing the “ethnic” feel about the old tracks, but I don’t think the OST has gotten any worse. The modern soundtrack has an objective quality to it (that is most likely due to higher budget) that gives it an orchestral sounding profile that I feel most people, even if they enjoy the old OST more, can still view as a solid soundtrack.

this soundtrack you put together gave me existential nightmares. 3 times I fell asleep and woke up, because my mind was trying to comprehend the physical shape and memory of music but then going "wait. no this is not a physical object, wtf are we doing?!" it feels like I'm sticking my hand into smoke and expecting it to be a solid object. and it terrifies me because it challenges the way I understand reality to work... what the fuck is going on...

"Hunters are encouraged to drink, which is a universal human experience." Is such a goofy thing to say

57:44 yeeessss there it is! My favorite hub song! I was afraid you were gonna leave it out lol and just this morning I was looking for "Merrymaking Music" from Dos without knowing the name, this helped. Thx Jakob! I always associated this song with Tanzia since I got into MH just a bit after Tri servers went down, I had a village only experience for that game. And to be honest, it fits Port Tanzia so much more. Ah feels so good to hear this track again :)

The other good thing about "Desiring Fame in the Land of Beasts" is the tavern ambience of chatter and tankards clinking in the game itself. It fit perfectly. It's also my favourite.

Great video and info! Gonna use this as the playlist of my next party 🎉

"At the Pub" and "Servants Hall" so far specifically sound like an irish jig or reel, particularly with the accordion.. irish trad is really popular with classical musicians in Japan as it's "easy" to play

I still love a small handful of the World and Rise music, but usually for the 'epic' factor. But yeah, they do have an overlaying sameness factor. Even as someone who almost exclusively listens to Monster Hunter music, I find myself always preferring and listening to Frontier music for that 'epic' feel over World and Rise, and not all Frontier music is 'epic', the music diversity is honestly astounding. From the almighty power of White Fatalis to the pleasant beauty of the Flower Fields, I can't think of a single battle theme I don't like. 1st and 2nd gen take a close second though, the original old map themes are honestly super good (personally not that big of a fan of Roar, bit too irritating, but the others are amazing), and Dos battle themes are such a hidden treasure. I really want the old, more culturally tied music of old gen to come back, it's way better than what we have now. That's still not to say World and Rise are bad themes, there are some I still adore a lot, but they just don't feel as special to me, probably because it's that same AAA western feel that just saturates everything else we listen to; it's not a bad style, just a common one, and old gen music is an escape from that. I'm not a musician, so any argument of "how much better the new composition is " doesn't matter to me. I enjoy the old gen music much more, and I connect much more with it. The uniqueness is what's more pleasing to me. I don't know what I just wrote, eating lunch and found this video. Just make sure to have a good day :D

This is awesome, thank you for this!

i completely get what you mean and i agree but i don't think gentrified is the right word. genericised, watered-down, they definitely wanted the music to appeal to the lowest common denominator. and in doing so the music lost its charm, its soul, its uniqueness. much like every other aspect of post gen 4 monster hunter, it's so sad :(

I love this video, from the comments to the music itself that is going to net this a comfortable place in my music playlist, thank you

Thanks for uploading this, I come back to this while working a lot

Some unnecessary pettiness toward 5th gen aside, a really nice video. I would've liked you to play some of the 5th gen hub music to properly explain what you mean. Personally I really like what they did at least with Seliana Gathering hub since it's basically a spa and a bar in one. It's got the typical tavern music but also cozy melodies incorporated with it. Astera hub I never really liked so that's fair enough I suppose

You could've just said you don't like change :)

I agree in part, but the music of Rise is litterally amazing, one of the best in videgame soundtracks in general, and in focus with the most part of the game. The only type that i miss in Rise is the "pub music"

I like listening to this while making/eating dinner. Thank you 😊

obviously its pointless saying it on this channel where 'new bad old good' is the entire point, but i wish it was possible for ppl to enjoy like, anything from the old world monhuns without having to make it about how World and Rise are worse and how 'they dont make them like they used to', even whats supposed to be a chill mix of tavern songs needs to somehow be a middle finger to the post-World games. such petty shit

"Early gentrification" in regards to MH4U is such a shitty thing to even conceptualize. But otherwise, I gotta be thankful for a compilation that actively provides hub and tavern music. I do not necessarily agree with the overt use of "gentrification" and the disdain for World and Rise, as several comments in here said it, but I can agree that unfortunately, some manner of eccentric charm was lost in transition. Still, good music though through out the franchise, and I'll fight those who say otherwise. Hardly "generic" or "gentrified though" - just a different style.

Ahh yeah good old Memories, started with Monster Hunter Freedom 1 on the PSP and at the same time i got for christmas Monster Hunter Tri on Wii. I had soo much fun to hunt ^-^

As much as I love the music of the first games, their cultural uniqueness and diegetic nature as you say, and as much as I myself want more of these kinds of themes in the music of modern Monster Hunter, I don't quite agree with the use of the word "gentrification" to describe the progressive transformation regarding music choice in the series over the years. And I wouldn't even claim to say that the music of the more current titles are somehow less or not Monster Hunter at all. But maybe this thinking comes from me not being tied to or severely attached to one identity of Monster Hunter, being an avid player of the franchise since Freedom 2 and circling back. And maybe it's also that personally, I have come to recognize Monster Hunter as a very experimental franchise, having claimed essentially the majority, if not the entire monster hunting genre for itself for almost 2 decades now. And in that time, it has explored the genre in different various styles, contexts, settings and themes, and has assumed many different identities, each one just as "Monster Hunter" as the rest.

Bro can't enjoy the past without hating the present frfr

Pokke and Cazador del Monstruo are the best ones.

YES. GOOD TUNES

I was literally just listening to the Seliana theme, you consider that an "epic cinematic" sound????

Im insane about your takes . you get it brother

This music direction is just something else. You only get some of its tastes in for example seliana's theme, even if it's still very much that sterile modern video game ost orchestral texture.

Wow 21m the Flute player I will use in DND. (thnx for the video :D)

44:10 this song brought back some pleasant memories

All string instruments are played by Peter Bursch

I am so shocked “a tipsy drunkard” is from XX. Surprise amounts of Sovl

Doesn't Rise have literally diagetic music, with both the title screen's music and Badum & Tish in the Kamura gathering hub? I'd say the music from Kamura matches Portable 2nd's soundtrack very well, especially.

It is something I noticed and I really hope at least in some of the ''portable'' entries we get the ''tribal'/rugged/earthy' aethetic back

This video has 9.3k views and I think I'm at least 500. How tf does this not have more views

Small thing. I think you're confusing "To one with life", the main theme for mhtri with "Ode to life", the diva's song, which melody is used in a few other tracks.

this music is balm for an ailing soul

100% in CAPCOM tanking this series after 4

The one and only time i got the "genericised" feel with a MH music was : The Citadel Theme from Sunbreak. It has plenty of leitmotif that i already heard plenty of times in my life. Yet it doesn't mean that the theme was shit, i personnaly love it. Ironically, some themes like "Primal Forest" / "Forest & Hills" do have this MH vibe, but feels very boring (at least not engaging) despite sounding unique. I feel the same way for most of MH1-2 battle themes, i feel like the first 2 games are far better at making ambiance/village/hunting hub themes than battle themes. But still i don't even think the music in general, is/should be an issue that need to be fixed, as MH musics is surely the one thing that nobody can criticize (in an overhaul negative way). As long as it sounds good, it's a win. Heck seriously, even if you think MH1 musics are best OST's in the franchise, then SunRise is, in my opinion, just slightly less good, but that would be like going from 10/10 ➡️ 9/10. Clearly not a big deal nor a hot-take

This guy loves hot takes, uh...

Imma say it, music doesnt need to beleivable to make a good game, i like the old gen mh themes not because it makes it beleivable and works in the setting but because it works is creating an atmosphere of hunters living their lives. World didnt "gentrify" the themes it just made them soind in a new region and the themes for the game. I could go on forever about the theme of a game makes its music work but ill use 2 examples: Mhp3rd has a traditional japanese theme, so yukomos theme uses traditional japanese instiments and so does the yukomo gathering hall which creates the atmosphere that you could be in the edo period Ill use dos aswell Dos allows for the theme of jumbo to be thriving from the beggining of a tale. Jumbo theme 1 is slow and quieter than the final one because its a small village with frw visitors or hunters. The final upgrade theme and festival theme (while not directly ahown because of hardware limitations) give off the atmosphere that the village has grown and is a hub for hunters to meet and accept quests from. Dundorma is a medival style town/city so it leans into that weastern form of tavern music to emphasise a large developed city of people and hunters, the actual town music creates the atmosphere of a bustling city in the day (again cant really be shown properly due to hardware limitations) and a city of resting people at night where taking strolls across the city is calm and pleasent. The elder halls theme is showing that its a hall for high up people like his immensness and proven hunters, a place where special assignments are undertaken such as yama, gogmazios and the fatalises. This theme for the elder hall was kept in 4U aswell. I dissagree with the argument you provided in this video and it honestly feels like you are hating on world just because it doesnt follow the soundtrack "themeing" like the previous games when its set in a new land where research and exepditions are carried out from. A land of the unexplored and unknown while also being uninhabited until the 1st fleet came along. Themeing for a game is just as if not more important than the actual themes alone, the mh1 or fu themes wouldnt fit 4u p3rd or tri. All the soundtracks are built on the theming of the games. You did not take that into account by all means. This video would have been better as an analysis of how the soundtrack helps the amtmosphere and theming of the games. Like showing how each unique theme to GU has the festival theme or how 4Us soundtrack shows the interconnected world of the unknown and known. Through the magalas and the established towns and regions. Or how mh1s theme of hunting had its soundtrack helped immerse you into a town that was dedicated to hunting (minegarde) and a small farming village with humble roots (kokoto)

Could you please add chapters to the video, so navigation through the songs gets easier?

Just what I needed to workout today 💪

And here i thought we lived past a time where people complajned about world music

never heard the mh2 soundtrack before buy i think it might be best in the series

It's pretty similarly named in English for Emma; Servants Hall/Servants Ball.

If this video had time stamps for each track thatd be pretty banger

New MH music is high quality, still catchy and unique in its own way But man, these tracks hit different

needs more MH4U

Go figure I liked the World soundtrack quite a lot. This is great too though.

where in the world did you get the hot springs song for MHFelyne Village G?

Nice

If "Lone Wolf" isnt a tavern aong, when/where does it play in MH1?

I absolutely agree with you and I'm really glad other people share this feeling I've had for a while. Monster Hunter felt incredibly unique and anthropological if that makes sense, because it had this unspecific 'tribal' vibe that helped convey the setting of a primitive communist hunter gatherer society that advanced technologically and socially, but never grew into alienated hierarchical societies of exploitation, because the threat of monsters in this world made it so humanity was never comfortable enough to settle into societies of surplus extraction. We never had the luxury when existential danger was always present, nature was an unconquerable force constantly threatening. Despite feeling very alien and ancient, all these civilizations in the early games felt SO cozy and homey, because they were fantasy pictures of stable hunter gatherer societies where the meaning of life wasn't even a question that anyone had to ask, there was no alienation, everyone performs labor voluntarily in the interest of the village in perfect harmony, including you! It just totally lost all that meaning at some point along the way and fell victim to the uninspired meathead power fantasy of swinging giant weapons at dragons. Yawn. I mean, the games are still beautiful and fun, but something about defending a primitive hunter gatherer village from a giant dinosaur with weapons and armor made of the bones from previous hunts feels like scratching an ancient itch in my primordial caveman brain, it really resonates on a deep, deep level.

I dare to say that even the re-recording of the 4 previous generation villages in Generations ultimate sound different and a bit soulless compared to the original ones.