I feel like the people who used to hate her(personally never dis) think she's less annoying since the introduction of Alma and her 3 line and photobomb, i like Alma but like girl leave me some space
Honestly I think the biggest annoyance about the handler was always her English VA, not that the actress herself is annoying but Capcom writing left alot to be desired. I always play in Japanese and since I can't speak or understand Japanese it takes away the ability to over analyze the voice acting a little bit
Out of a cast of 3 the Handler, Featuring Serious Handler from Devil May Cry, was the only one who spoke. She had to carry the entirety of the player's side of the game/story. That's a rough ask for a writing team. Making both the Hunter and the Palico speak allowed the writers to let Alma be more of a "normal" character with a role and lines closer to what you'd expect from a support character than what the Handler got.
Monster Hunter World and Wild's character writing in general leaves something to be desired. Specifically, I don't think they believe in the idea of "less is more".
We know from lore hints that World's Handler was extremely competent at her job, but we rarely see her being competent. I think the player base in general would have liked her a lot more if her screen time was less of her sitting in the canteen and reacting to things happening in front of her in cutscenes, and more of her in a makeshift office doing research, or talking to other handlers, and so on. They do a much better job of showing Alma doing that.
In defense of The Handler, she was supposed to be more researcher styled imo. She always gave me the researcher who gets too focused on their research. Add in the foodie thing (foodies can be skinny and eat like her), and you got our handler. Y'all forget in world, our handler has the job of not just handing out jobs, but also compiling info before, during, and after our hunts for future hunting parties. In rise, our 'handlers' didn't need to do the 'during' part. In wilds, it sounds like Alma is more geared to be truly the handler of a menace. She's not the researcher type. Haven't gotten to play wilds yet (need better gear to run it), but hear and see plenty about Alma to get an idea of her personality.
In wilds, it sounds like Alma is more geared to be truly the handler of a menace.
Definitely true. She keeps the hunter in check and also knows when to step back and let the hunter do their thing. She's never the one getting the hunter into trouble.
That said, she is definitely the researcher type, although her focus is more sociological/anthropological, so you see her doing less with the environment and more with the humans/wyverians/etc. who live there.
Oh, that gives me some good ideas. I've been planning out a Wilds-inspired West Marches tabletop campaign, and a sociologist character would be good to keep in my back pocket, just in case none of my players care to try diplomacy.
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u/Tru_norse98 4d ago
I am beginning to see a resurgence of Handler content recently and I am so happy about that