Wacky Asks: Why do we dislike Nata, exactly?

[wackyspartan]

I've seen a lot of really strong feelings against Nata and it just comes off as really strange to me, is it because he has severe ptsd? Is it because he's the main character? Is it just a general dislike of children? I feel like the story that's told with him and his character arc is pretty competently exacted (not to be confused for perfection) and his commitment to people is something I just really vibe with.

I dunno, it feels really alien seeing all of this super extreme hate for the kid as someone who actually really enjoys him and his character arc, so I'm just really curious.

[rhabdophobia]

because nata is a child and gamers famously hate children

[Dis Lexic]

Personally, I think hes fine. Is he a bit annoying at times? Sure, but hes a traumatised kid, that kinda comes with the territory. Frankly, I'm hoping that he'll become out Hunter apprentice in the future or something similar.

[kampfer91]

He have the same problem like World Handler , needlessly put himself and insert his viewpoint into danger situations . Sure he " learned " his lesson later on but the path that lead to it is not well-written .

[GosuCab]

I personally don't "hate" Nata but for me its way unrealistic how he goes from "Arkveld probably killed all the people I know, I hate it and want it dead" to "He just wants to live, please don't ever hurt it". And from that point on thats his entire personality until its dead where he then goes back to normal.
Like, sorry but I don't buy that anyone would make a complete 180 on their stance. Going from one extreme to the other.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by wackyspartan:

Wacky Asks: Why do we dislike Nata, exactly?
I've seen a lot of really strong feelings against Nata and it just comes off as really strange to me, is it because he has severe ptsd? Is it because he's the main character? Is it just a general dislike of children? I feel like the story that's told with him and his character arc is pretty competently exacted (not to be confused for perfection) and his commitment to people is something I just really vibe with.

I dunno, it feels really alien seeing all of this super extreme hate for the kid as someone who actually really enjoys him and his character arc, so I'm just really curious.

Nata is okay. We do not dislike him. And his growth is awesome.

[Toyosatomimi no Miko]

English VA did a bad job probably. Same reason people hated handler, VA doing a bad job of getting the character across and making people interpret the character much more harshly for it.
I didn't mind Nata but I didn't really like him either until he started the whole "apprentice hunter" thing. Love how he calls you Sensei too, the kid's alright.

[Sergalius]

Originally posted by my dumbass character:

because nata is a child and gamers famously hate children

he is a dead child.
Only alive by the plot.
The nature would devour stupid and not cunning.
But it is mostly sh*t writing.
Damn Miura was better on handling childrne...

[montybrutals]

His voice is Funimation levels of absolutely overacted and awful.

I'd rather listen to Fran Drescher.

[Mrrshan68]

Meh he is the viewpoint child character.
Its a pretty common trope and its also kinda bad, since these characters add nothing to the story and are meant to like tug at the audiences heartstrings and also add a more "realistic" way of explaining the stories plot rather than have characters discussing things they both already know.
Problem is video game audience dont really care about the story (especially for this genre) and video games also have mostly badly written stories.
Also people on the forums have played this series before so they dont even need a view point character, they know monster hunter world they dont need it explained to them.
The result is an audience who wont get emotionally invested and a story thats too weak to invest them anyway.
This leaves nata with 0 utility or appeal whatsoever, to anyone.

Oh and video game players tend to skew young, younger people care less for child characters. They tend to find them annoying rather than endearing, since ya know they dont have kids of their own.

[Khergit Horse Archer]

even if u do liek children in your stories there r way betta ones liek TLOU or evangelion or other medias ezpz

[Scooter]

Cause the whole schpiel of a sapien being with capability of critical thinking projecting themselves in a creature that only thinks of their survival and nothing else is stupid.

It's fake empathy for the sake of supposed "deep thought provoking" plot point that hinges on complete disregard in any form of critical thinking and logic to work. It was done in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and it was dumb as all hell, it sure as heck is still completely moronic in this game. It's sh*t writing, plain and simple.

The "growth" that some of his defenders seem to point out? It's all just shallow nonsense since even at the very end, it's the hunter who gave the kid an easy pass from his supposed "resolve". It's all show and no substance.

[Lavis]

I didn't mind Nata and MH stories have never been anything to write home about. It was just odd how he went from being terrified of Arkveld to angry, then 'he's just like me, he just wants to live!' and even puts the group in danger over it.

Gemma on the other hand...if I have to hear 'Shay-BAR' and "Heyy-LO' one more time...

[Khergit Horse Archer]

Originally posted by Lavis:

I didn't mind Nata and MH stories have never been anything to write home about. It was just odd how he went from being terrified of Arkveld to angry, then 'he's just like me, he just wants to live!' and even puts the group in danger over it.

Gemma on the other hand...if I have to hear 'Shay-BAR' and "Heyy-LO' one more time...

just go to the cave camp or the ice camp no more shaybar and heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeylo

[Aoitenshi]

It's just bad writing. If they put a more proper build up, Nata would have been a protagonist material:
- He walked alone across the desert to seek help.
- He stayed strong despite living in a foreign land full of strangers.
- He started out as a boy who knew nothing, but received the chance to travel with the best hunter in the world (the player).
- He is now learning from the hunter and everyone else around him, which shows a promising future (most likely as a researcher).
- He is the diplomat of all the tribes in that area.

But in practice, our strongest impression on Nata is that he's a selfish brat who can't do anything, and even tried to protect a dangerous monster that would end up killing not just him, but everyone present.

Even though he went out alone to seek help, did it even matter if there are that many survivors in Wyveria? I assumed they had been massacred with maybe only one or two survivors. Tasheen's decision to send Nata away seems utterly pointless (especially when Nata himself would've died if the ship didn't find him.)

Nata had a character development, but it all happened off screen. We only see that he has changed from a selfish, ignorant brat to an eager learner, but where are the in-betweens? That's the important bits to make a character more lovable.

The fact that Nata is our trades NPC is also downplayed. Nothing in the cutscenes seemed to indicate that he had a strong interaction with any of the tribes, but suddenly he's our trades NPC.

tl:dr; Nata looks bad simply because of bad writing.

[[BnBG] Neruo]

Bad writing, as he has literally no reason what so ever to be on that expedition. He does not know any of the other tribes and he does not know the way or the local ecology he should have stayed in camp if not in the city. Him even being a part of the "Team" creates a uncanny valley effect as you see it as extremely strange but no one else seam to notice and them growing emotionally attached to the character you barely even know and more and more start to despise.
Then there is the whole issue with writing him as the protagonist in the spotlight and putting the player as the afterthought trusty sidekick. This is a sure sign that the story was written as a complete book/manga and the player character was inserted afterwards using hotglue and a hammer. Also Nata being voiced by a bad VA using a badly localized script is not doing the character any favors.