Much more solid than I was expecting, I had a great time with this from beginning to end and sunk 50 hours into it easily. What stands out most about this game is how thoroughly and mindlessly enjoyable it is, especially as a monster hunter fan, because it is constant gratification. Being able to collect your favourite monsters and adventure with them is a sell on its own but the game lets you take it so much farther than that.

There's tons of positives about this game that I was not anticipating and was really impressed by, like its clever combat system that takes turn based combat a much-needed step further because of the balance of its mechanics and the strategy they create - such as the kinship guage, riding monsters and the rock paper scissors / fire emblem weapon triangle-esque basic attack system; plus, there's the monster-hunter staples there in full effect with its different weapon types / uses, elements, statuses and equipment. I wasn't expecting the game to add so much of what I have come to know and love of mainline monster hunter, such as being able to craft weapons and armour from monster parts (+ make layered armour), combine and craft your own items and go on full multiplayer adventures, all of these were a lovely surprise as I was expecting a much simpler single-player jrpg.

By far the strongest aspect for me were the monsters themselves and how well translated they feel. There's clear fanservice going on here and it had me geeking out a little because monsters all move and interact in different ways when you're riding them, have unique abilities and battle skills and can be personalised to no end, you can have a kulu-ya-ku with nergigante's moves if you put the work in which is fucking amazing. They are also beautifully reworked into this more colourful and cartoonish artstyle. There's tons of monsters in this game from previous mainline entries and it really feels like a greatest hits of fan-favourites, almost all of which are given appropriate screen-time and fun little intro cutscenes which regularly put a smile on my face, especially when my boy Zamtrios popped up. I immediately got myself a zamtrios and started swimming around everywhere and using his kinship move to flatten everything and I was LOVING it. Suffice it to say MHS2's gameplay totally bangs and never got boring especially since its always changing things up: different areas, new mechanics, new companions, seriously good stuff.

Where the game falls off a little is in the story aspects which, as you would expect from a game called monster hunter stories, takes a central approach. While never outrageously or offensively bad, there's honestly not a ton to like about this game's story, its like the story from any other mainline monster hunter game but with more sappy moments about kinship and bonds with your monsters and stuff. A mysterious disturbance causes sudden changes in the ecology and in local monster's behaviour - if you've ever played a monster hunter game you'll be VERY familiar with that trope. Its the same stuff, albeit stretched very thinly and it feels like you spend 90% of the game wandering quite aimlessly trying to find out about your rathalos' mysterious power and how it ties into the disturbances. They really hamfist stories about your grandfather and try to implement a twist villain so late and so unconvincingly since his motivations make like 0 sense. There's also a really annoying mascot palico called navirou that pretty much only exists to speak for the silent protagonist and occassionally offer some unfunny comic relief, he can also go super saiyan for some reason and it is never explained. Despite this I did find myself quite enjoying using the companions and interacting with them because they are at least marginally developed as characters and are a great help in combat, I also really like how each region has its own unique companion and then in the endgame you can pick who you want to travel with (reverto is broken btw).

Also like most monster hunter games, much of the best content and monsters are hidden away in the postgame and multiplayer (which is pretty restricted in co-op at least until you finish the game). So its worth coninuining this long after you finish the main game. Another thing that bothered me just a little is its lengthy and repetitive 'dens' or dungeons that you can explore because barring a couple story specific dungeons you are unlikely to come back to, they basically follow the same patterns. You spend a LOT of time just holding forward and pressing a to pick stuff up so that you can get to the end, where the actual thing you want is located - the egg or monster you're hunting. I would have liked it if after you get the fly ability in the story, you're able to use it anywhere including in dungeons to bypass stuff more easily, it wouldn't take much away from the experience at all and would make late-game egg farming so much easier.

Overall a sick jrpg that blows the majority of pokemon games out of the water with its amazing level of detail, beautiful presentation, surprisingly deep mechanics that rarely ever rely on rng and excellent gameplay with tons of strategy and personalisation. This honestly might just be one of the best spin offs of a big mainline video game series that i've ever played and its a must play for any big monster hunter fan, it certainly scratched that monster hunter itch for me!