A wonderful gem that fixes most of the issues i had with its predecessor. Gameplay is fun, visuals are fantastic (Tho performance might be a tad jarring on the switch), story is a bit lackluster and takes its sweet time to properly kick in, and the level of care and polish is through the roof.
The monster hunter feel is all over it, despite being a completely different game to the main series, the way weapons got translated to this turn based system or how hunters play a role in the story and the wonderful ways monsters were adapted to this experience were all fantastic.
The main issue comes in the form of partner AI, for players who just wish to experience the game casually this shouldn't be a big issue but for those who like to aim for big challenges such as optional big baddies in the early game or the bulk of the post game content do be warned that depending on the RNG-heavy behaviour of your AI partners can be heavily frustrating with no way to influence their actions (which is at least possible with your monsties).
The monster hunter feel is all over it, despite being a completely different game to the main series, the way weapons got translated to this turn based system or how hunters play a role in the story and the wonderful ways monsters were adapted to this experience were all fantastic.
The main issue comes in the form of partner AI, for players who just wish to experience the game casually this shouldn't be a big issue but for those who like to aim for big challenges such as optional big baddies in the early game or the bulk of the post game content do be warned that depending on the RNG-heavy behaviour of your AI partners can be heavily frustrating with no way to influence their actions (which is at least possible with your monsties).
hell yeah
successfully recreates the high of a gacha without the guilt or predation. i've never played a monster hunter game properly - i've dipped my toes in world and watched several hours of friends playing rise - so i can't attest to the true nature of the series. a lot of moments in the game are pretty funny having not played any of the mainline games - it's very showy when a new monster is introduced as if i'm supposed to be flummoxed that a anjanath showed up all aggressive and ready to eat me and my shitty cat friend, which is really kinda funny. i imagine a lot of people would feel this way watching a pokemon movie or playing kingdom hearts 3 having never engaged with any other property from those franchises before.
the story is definitely the weakest part of this game, even though i think it's mostly passable. imagine a zelda story centered entirely around dinosaurs; that's basically what you're dealing with here, complete with a cute zelda expy at the helm. the game has a really robust and fun character creator, maybe the best cartoon-y creator i've ever encountered, and the sheer amount of outfits and weapons in the game give a sense of attachment and customization that really bolstered my personal involvement in the game.
the performance on switch is pretty shoddy. you can expect frame slowdowns any time you do a flashy move (which is quite literally every move in the game). i was still thoroughly charmed by the experience! the game has an addictive quality. if this came out when i was like, 16, the gene channeling mechanic would have completely ruined my life. i don't think it's enough to get me interested in the mother series, but as a big fan of monster collectors it really made up for what i disliked in sword and shield. it's kind of everything gamefreak promised with sw/sh plus more but manages to have its own unique identity within a pretty monopolized genre.
the story is definitely the weakest part of this game, even though i think it's mostly passable. imagine a zelda story centered entirely around dinosaurs; that's basically what you're dealing with here, complete with a cute zelda expy at the helm. the game has a really robust and fun character creator, maybe the best cartoon-y creator i've ever encountered, and the sheer amount of outfits and weapons in the game give a sense of attachment and customization that really bolstered my personal involvement in the game.
the performance on switch is pretty shoddy. you can expect frame slowdowns any time you do a flashy move (which is quite literally every move in the game). i was still thoroughly charmed by the experience! the game has an addictive quality. if this came out when i was like, 16, the gene channeling mechanic would have completely ruined my life. i don't think it's enough to get me interested in the mother series, but as a big fan of monster collectors it really made up for what i disliked in sword and shield. it's kind of everything gamefreak promised with sw/sh plus more but manages to have its own unique identity within a pretty monopolized genre.
Cumple como JRPG, un sistema de combate decente, aunque algo simple para mi gusto, una historia que es más una excusa para que explores el mundo (en serio es todo TAN bonito) y un endgame que aunque pueda tener profundidad, si no vas a ir a PVP no importa que te mates a optimizar builds, porque vas a destrozar a todo.
Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a fantastic RPG spinoff of the Monster Hunter series, where instead of simply fighting monsters, you also fight alongside them.
Firstly, the jump to hardware stronger than the 3DS has done wonders for the visuals. The areas are sprawling, the draw distance is great, and the colors really pop. The character/monster models use what looks to me like cel-shading, and it just looks fantastic. A point of contention would be the framerate. If you're on PC, the game should run at a rock-solid 60 FPS, but it can fluctuate a decent bit on the Switch. I mentally tuned it out after a while, but I know several people made a stink about it on social media.
The game's story can feel a bit cliche at times, but I feel like it benefits a game like this. The English dub feels like it lacks direction occasionally, but the characters are still a lot of fun to be around. However, the story structure isn't all that, in my opinion. It usually boils down to "go here and defeat this, now go here and defeat this, now go here and defeat this, now move on to the next area and do all that again". It's not the worst thing in the world, but it did cause the game to drag occasionally.
The gameplay is solid fun. Peeking into monster dens and stealing their eggs is always fun, using your monsters' abilities to traverse the environment feels natural, and the battle system is both simple to use, but has a decent amount of hidden depth to consider while playing.
Recognizing monster attack patterns and reacting to them is the name of the game, but with a turn-based twist. You have three types of standard attacks (Speed, Power, and Technical) that work in a FE weapon triangle pattern. Your own monsters have a type of attack they tend to use, but you don't have direct control over them, so it becomes a matter of syncing yourself up with your monster, or giving them a nudge in the right direction by expending some of your kinship meter (MP, essentially). It all comes together in a battle system that manages to feel just as engaging as the real-time fights of the mainline Monster Hunter games, despite being turn-based.
Overall, this is one of my favorite games to come out so far this year, and probably one of my favorite RPGs, period. I never expected a sequel to such a niche 3DS spinoff to happen, but I'm so, SO glad it did. Please give this game a shot. There's a demo for it on both Switch and PC, and they let you transfer your save data to the full version. Can't wait to return to this game for postgame shenanigans.
Firstly, the jump to hardware stronger than the 3DS has done wonders for the visuals. The areas are sprawling, the draw distance is great, and the colors really pop. The character/monster models use what looks to me like cel-shading, and it just looks fantastic. A point of contention would be the framerate. If you're on PC, the game should run at a rock-solid 60 FPS, but it can fluctuate a decent bit on the Switch. I mentally tuned it out after a while, but I know several people made a stink about it on social media.
The game's story can feel a bit cliche at times, but I feel like it benefits a game like this. The English dub feels like it lacks direction occasionally, but the characters are still a lot of fun to be around. However, the story structure isn't all that, in my opinion. It usually boils down to "go here and defeat this, now go here and defeat this, now go here and defeat this, now move on to the next area and do all that again". It's not the worst thing in the world, but it did cause the game to drag occasionally.
The gameplay is solid fun. Peeking into monster dens and stealing their eggs is always fun, using your monsters' abilities to traverse the environment feels natural, and the battle system is both simple to use, but has a decent amount of hidden depth to consider while playing.
Recognizing monster attack patterns and reacting to them is the name of the game, but with a turn-based twist. You have three types of standard attacks (Speed, Power, and Technical) that work in a FE weapon triangle pattern. Your own monsters have a type of attack they tend to use, but you don't have direct control over them, so it becomes a matter of syncing yourself up with your monster, or giving them a nudge in the right direction by expending some of your kinship meter (MP, essentially). It all comes together in a battle system that manages to feel just as engaging as the real-time fights of the mainline Monster Hunter games, despite being turn-based.
Overall, this is one of my favorite games to come out so far this year, and probably one of my favorite RPGs, period. I never expected a sequel to such a niche 3DS spinoff to happen, but I'm so, SO glad it did. Please give this game a shot. There's a demo for it on both Switch and PC, and they let you transfer your save data to the full version. Can't wait to return to this game for postgame shenanigans.
amazing game. loved the monster-catching loop, progression, enjoyable (though cheesy) story. lots of stuff to do in the post game, definitely a game that i will come back to with future updates
SO GOOD
This game was really fun, as someone who played Monster Hunter Stories on 3DS, I feel this game opened up the world much more and refined the combat quite well, it pretty much took everything from the first game and improved it without taking much out from what I noticed.
I spend a good amount of my time doing nearly every side quest and hatching nearly every monster, and making sure I made every equipment I could, I did limit myself on my run by only using the Hunting horn as my weapon, so if any other weapon falls short in combat I won't be aware of it.
The world feels rich and open, the story is actually really good despite it repeating some of the story structures here and there but it's a RPG and that happens, monster collecting is fun, and plenty of customization options available.
If you love the first game definitely get this, if you like games like Pokemon, Digimon, or Shin Megami Tensei I can't see a reason you wouldn't enjoy this, and if you love Monster Hunter this is definitely a traditional RPG love letter to the main series.
I spend a good amount of my time doing nearly every side quest and hatching nearly every monster, and making sure I made every equipment I could, I did limit myself on my run by only using the Hunting horn as my weapon, so if any other weapon falls short in combat I won't be aware of it.
The world feels rich and open, the story is actually really good despite it repeating some of the story structures here and there but it's a RPG and that happens, monster collecting is fun, and plenty of customization options available.
If you love the first game definitely get this, if you like games like Pokemon, Digimon, or Shin Megami Tensei I can't see a reason you wouldn't enjoy this, and if you love Monster Hunter this is definitely a traditional RPG love letter to the main series.
I wish Pokemon was this good holy shit.
El juego que destronó a Pokemon para mí, lo siento ;-;
This is straight up the best game in the monster-capturing/taming/raising genre in the market. It nails everything from visuals to strategic combat, freedom and amount of content.
If you're even remotely interesting in the genre you have to give it a try, MH fan or not.
If you're even remotely interesting in the genre you have to give it a try, MH fan or not.
This has had more thought and care put into it than World and Rise combined. What a wonderful game with plenty to do, loads of fanservice and just great moments all the way through.
I really like Monster Hunter in general, but the gameplay is not something I'm usually into, it's REALLY nice to have a more story based option that takes place in the same universe.
Wish Navirou would shut up tho I'm taking off half a star for him.
Wish Navirou would shut up tho I'm taking off half a star for him.
Definitely an interesting premise, but a lot of things felt repetitive. While I enjoyed my time with it up until I stopped, I will be shelving this one until a later date.
Pokémon but you craft weapons and armor out of them. Tsukino is forever engrained in my osu! cursor.
All the teens too busy playing monster hunter while the world has a monster hunger
Knew this game was gonna be better than the first one when the monsters didn't randomly switch their attack type mid turn making the whole thing an RNG nightmare at times. May have actually enjoyed playing through this more than Rise on the sheer fact this actually launched finished with an endgame lmao. Also has a proper story and unlike World's attempt it didn't make the whole event feel unimportant and small despite the seemingly near apocalyptic end if we failed.
Would 100% use Tsukino as a living onahole.
Would 100% use Tsukino as a living onahole.
Monster Hunter Stories is one of my favourite 3DS games, so naturally I was really excited when they announced the sequel. And, well, it did not disappoint.
tsukino best girl
tsukino best girl
my bulldrome Junior and i have an unbreakable bond
Ultra polished and extremely charming. The first monster-catching RPG I've really loved in ages.
Played demo of this game and I do not understand how people can like it. In my opinion feels like unfinished game with a lot of incomplete systems. Randomly generated maps are keep on using same chunks and this is unacceptable. What happen here?
I love MH series but this is just a cheap grab. Waste of time.
Battles are nice but that's all.
I love MH series but this is just a cheap grab. Waste of time.
Battles are nice but that's all.
This would have been my favorite game ever if it came out 10 years ago at the height of both my Pokemon and Monster Hunter obsessions. Today, it is a really good game that suffers from a lack of narrative design ambitions and a resulting super repetitive main gameplay loop that is enhanced by a general slowness of combat, even at 3x speed due to the dedication to transition animations for literally everything.
The monstie system with all that it entails, from hatching eggs to transfering DNA blows Pokemon out of the water and is super addictive to pursue, offering lots of rewards if you decide to put the time in.
The whole presentation and animations are absolutely wonderful and add so much to the experience, same with the expanded combat system that kept me engaged this time around where the first game failed and made me actively feel like the game is supposed to be baby's first JRPG not intended for adults to enjoy. This game feels much more mature and balanced for all audiences, which convinced me to invest my time and see it through, which I don't regret at all, the final boss fight was pretty impressive and if I didn't already take almost two months to finish the story, making me completely burn out on the game, I would happily jump into the post-game stuff which features all the best monsters of course but as it is, I will leave it at that .
The monstie system with all that it entails, from hatching eggs to transfering DNA blows Pokemon out of the water and is super addictive to pursue, offering lots of rewards if you decide to put the time in.
The whole presentation and animations are absolutely wonderful and add so much to the experience, same with the expanded combat system that kept me engaged this time around where the first game failed and made me actively feel like the game is supposed to be baby's first JRPG not intended for adults to enjoy. This game feels much more mature and balanced for all audiences, which convinced me to invest my time and see it through, which I don't regret at all, the final boss fight was pretty impressive and if I didn't already take almost two months to finish the story, making me completely burn out on the game, I would happily jump into the post-game stuff which features all the best monsters of course but as it is, I will leave it at that .
Me rindo. Tras una fachada bonita se esconde un juego que no hace énfasis en la exploración, combate, coleccionismo o farmeo. Es una línea muy plana y aburridísima que no se molesta en pulir nada.
(Abandonado a la mitad de la campaña)
(Abandonado a la mitad de la campaña)
eh
I suppose I maintain my original stance that this looked to be the exact JRPG I was wanting to play on Switch, and finally have something there that follows on from the Xenoblade 2 experience. If only I could have actually played it on Switch.
That port being so obviously inferior pushed me to PC instead, where the repetitive design very much stuck out. Maybe the Steam Deck would be its saving grace, since this game's pacing seems like it would hinge on the pick-up-and-play portable experience. Trying to play it in significant chunks like one would a Final Fantasy, Persona or Digimon quickly becomes exhausting. On PC it was just too repetitive for me to enjoy and very much not the game I wanted it to be. I was like the one guy that genuinely loved Fate/Extra's battle system so when I saw another JRPG rock-paper-scissors I was decently on board, but there weren't any complex attack patterns to try and figure out. The combat is shallow and the level design is largely nondescript - which hits it especially hard when environmental/world design is my favourite component of the genre. The variety in acquirable monsters for each region was far lower than expected and the music was shockingly unmemorable too. A lot of JRPGs can have this problem to be fair, but MHS2 is the kind of game where I would almost immediately start avoiding enemies wherever I could since battles quickly stopped being exciting, and unfortunately the story or characters were nowhere near interesting enough to offset this. The whole game, for me, was aggressively unremarkable. I have my own vested fandom interest in simply acquiring as much context for the genre as I can so maybe I'll go back to it one day on the Steam Deck, but as is I'm about 16 hours in, struggle to find the motivation to return after leaving it for a week, and just wanna drop it for something more engaging.
That port being so obviously inferior pushed me to PC instead, where the repetitive design very much stuck out. Maybe the Steam Deck would be its saving grace, since this game's pacing seems like it would hinge on the pick-up-and-play portable experience. Trying to play it in significant chunks like one would a Final Fantasy, Persona or Digimon quickly becomes exhausting. On PC it was just too repetitive for me to enjoy and very much not the game I wanted it to be. I was like the one guy that genuinely loved Fate/Extra's battle system so when I saw another JRPG rock-paper-scissors I was decently on board, but there weren't any complex attack patterns to try and figure out. The combat is shallow and the level design is largely nondescript - which hits it especially hard when environmental/world design is my favourite component of the genre. The variety in acquirable monsters for each region was far lower than expected and the music was shockingly unmemorable too. A lot of JRPGs can have this problem to be fair, but MHS2 is the kind of game where I would almost immediately start avoiding enemies wherever I could since battles quickly stopped being exciting, and unfortunately the story or characters were nowhere near interesting enough to offset this. The whole game, for me, was aggressively unremarkable. I have my own vested fandom interest in simply acquiring as much context for the genre as I can so maybe I'll go back to it one day on the Steam Deck, but as is I'm about 16 hours in, struggle to find the motivation to return after leaving it for a week, and just wanna drop it for something more engaging.
Un RPG por turnos muy muy sólido, sustancialmente mejor diseñado y consistente que el primero.
Estéticamente precioso, con una historia que, sin ser espectacular, funciona bien como estructura para toda la aventura y una adaptación estupenda de los combates de la saga principal.
Tiene un ligero problema de ritmo hacia el final. Los monstruos salvajes tienen demasiada vida y los combates normales se alargan demasiado, lo cual hace que sea algo tedioso y que prefieras evitar combatir en muchas ocasiones.
Por lo demás, lo he disfrutado mucho y lo recomendaría a cualquier fan de los RPG por turnos y de Monster Hunter por igual. Es un homenaje precioso a toda la franquicia y un juego muy sólido que se sostiene por méritos propios.
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A very, very solid turn-based RPG, substantially better designed than the first one.
Aesthetically gorgeous with a story that, without being spectacular, works well as a structure for the whole adventure, and a fantastic adaptation of the main series' combat.
It has a slight pacing issue near the end. Wild monsters have too much health and normal fights stretch a bit too long, which makes it a bit tedious and you often avoid fights because of it.
Apart from that, I enjoyed it a lot and I'd recommend it to every turn-based RPG and Monster Hunter fan. It's a beautiful homage to the whole franchise and a very solid game that stands out on its own.
Estéticamente precioso, con una historia que, sin ser espectacular, funciona bien como estructura para toda la aventura y una adaptación estupenda de los combates de la saga principal.
Tiene un ligero problema de ritmo hacia el final. Los monstruos salvajes tienen demasiada vida y los combates normales se alargan demasiado, lo cual hace que sea algo tedioso y que prefieras evitar combatir en muchas ocasiones.
Por lo demás, lo he disfrutado mucho y lo recomendaría a cualquier fan de los RPG por turnos y de Monster Hunter por igual. Es un homenaje precioso a toda la franquicia y un juego muy sólido que se sostiene por méritos propios.
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A very, very solid turn-based RPG, substantially better designed than the first one.
Aesthetically gorgeous with a story that, without being spectacular, works well as a structure for the whole adventure, and a fantastic adaptation of the main series' combat.
It has a slight pacing issue near the end. Wild monsters have too much health and normal fights stretch a bit too long, which makes it a bit tedious and you often avoid fights because of it.
Apart from that, I enjoyed it a lot and I'd recommend it to every turn-based RPG and Monster Hunter fan. It's a beautiful homage to the whole franchise and a very solid game that stands out on its own.
Very loyal Monster Hunter experience; Pretty fun and filled with a ton of content. Main issues are its poor graphics/visuals (even by switch standards), as well as its repetitiveness both in terms of gameplay and world design.
This review contains spoilers
This was the game I was excited for the most in 2021, and I gotta say, I was kinda let down. The first Stories was really damn good, and is easily one of my favorite 3DS games and Monster Hunter games. I thought this one was a step down from its predecessor in nearly every area.
The story was a lot weaker than the first game's story; the new characters weren't too interesting, and unless their name was Ena, they did literally nothing for most of the game. The main antagonist was easily the worst part of the story, though; it's a twist villain with zero noticeable setup or hints behind the twist. I don't even remember the dude's name...I think it was Zellard? Something like that. He's the assistant to the chieftain of Ena's village. He wanted to summon Oltura, the final boss of the game, I think to destroy the world and become the god of the new world or something? It's something I've seen countless times, and it did nothing unique to stand out other than a twist that was simultaneously the most predictable and unpredictable villain ever.
The gameplay during the main story is great, but postgame is where I have my issues. The postgame dungeon's monsters are so strong in the later stages of the first half that you pretty much need to grind elder dragons and deviants to get the best genes, armor and weapons, which is normal for Monster Hunter, but this game amplifies the grinding aspect to a whole other level in postgame. Elder dragons and deviants, outside of multiplayer quests (and as someone who can't play online, I have to do them with an AI partner that has AI on the same level as Mitsuru in Act Freely mode in Persona 3, so that's a no-go), your only way to get them is by resetting an area to get Minecraft Diamond-looking ass dens. They have a stupid low chance to spawn, I heard somewhere it was a .1% chance. You can only get one egg at a time, and can only pass one gene at a time. You already see the issue, right? The amount it takes to find just one of these dens, to then get one egg to pass on one skill, takes forever, and that's not even factoring in getting multiple skills from elder dragons and deviants, let alone maxing them out by sacrificing the same monster to pass the same gene two more times. For EACH exclusive gene. I get that Monster Hunter's whole shtick is grinding, but this is just way over the top to have that low of odds for something that's basically required to progress at a meaningful pace. The dumb RNG is the main reason I haven't gotten into the postgame much at all, even months later, when one of my favorite monsters, Soulseer Mizutsune, was added to the game as free DLC. It just doesn't seem worth it to me.
Now on to the areas where I think the game improved on the original. I believe the gene enhancement system wasn't in the original; my memory of it is a bit foggy since I played it over 4 years ago at this point. I do believe that system was genuinely a good idea, despite my gripes with it that I mentioned above regarding the grind for elder dragon and deviant genes. The music in this game was also a lot more memorable than the first. An obvious one is graphics and overworld exploration, but that comes naturally on a more powerful platform where this stuff is possible.
The story was a lot weaker than the first game's story; the new characters weren't too interesting, and unless their name was Ena, they did literally nothing for most of the game. The main antagonist was easily the worst part of the story, though; it's a twist villain with zero noticeable setup or hints behind the twist. I don't even remember the dude's name...I think it was Zellard? Something like that. He's the assistant to the chieftain of Ena's village. He wanted to summon Oltura, the final boss of the game, I think to destroy the world and become the god of the new world or something? It's something I've seen countless times, and it did nothing unique to stand out other than a twist that was simultaneously the most predictable and unpredictable villain ever.
The gameplay during the main story is great, but postgame is where I have my issues. The postgame dungeon's monsters are so strong in the later stages of the first half that you pretty much need to grind elder dragons and deviants to get the best genes, armor and weapons, which is normal for Monster Hunter, but this game amplifies the grinding aspect to a whole other level in postgame. Elder dragons and deviants, outside of multiplayer quests (and as someone who can't play online, I have to do them with an AI partner that has AI on the same level as Mitsuru in Act Freely mode in Persona 3, so that's a no-go), your only way to get them is by resetting an area to get Minecraft Diamond-looking ass dens. They have a stupid low chance to spawn, I heard somewhere it was a .1% chance. You can only get one egg at a time, and can only pass one gene at a time. You already see the issue, right? The amount it takes to find just one of these dens, to then get one egg to pass on one skill, takes forever, and that's not even factoring in getting multiple skills from elder dragons and deviants, let alone maxing them out by sacrificing the same monster to pass the same gene two more times. For EACH exclusive gene. I get that Monster Hunter's whole shtick is grinding, but this is just way over the top to have that low of odds for something that's basically required to progress at a meaningful pace. The dumb RNG is the main reason I haven't gotten into the postgame much at all, even months later, when one of my favorite monsters, Soulseer Mizutsune, was added to the game as free DLC. It just doesn't seem worth it to me.
Now on to the areas where I think the game improved on the original. I believe the gene enhancement system wasn't in the original; my memory of it is a bit foggy since I played it over 4 years ago at this point. I do believe that system was genuinely a good idea, despite my gripes with it that I mentioned above regarding the grind for elder dragon and deviant genes. The music in this game was also a lot more memorable than the first. An obvious one is graphics and overworld exploration, but that comes naturally on a more powerful platform where this stuff is possible.
El mejor jrpg tipo Pokemon
having never played the previous game, this surpassed my expectations in a ton of different ways. more people should give this a shot