the combat gameplay is far improved from the first game's "rock paper scissors", feeling less random and more strategic.

that said, as much as i enjoyed the game, there was one disappointment for me: Oltura. for the majority of the story, it seemed that Oltura's spectacular, tentacular appendages pointed it to being a kind of eldritch, squid-like elder dragon, something like Nakarkos. now, I love Nakarkos. I wanted to love Oltura.

but when you finally face it proper, Oltura turns out to be...just a dragon. not even a very large one; it's no bigger than your Rathalos pal.
fighting it is a major pain as well, for a number of reasons:
-- Oltura's moves hit like a truck, and a lot of them hit the whole team. when its wings unfurl, it can attack multiples times a round. remember your healing items, bc i know i didn't for the first few attempts.
-- Oltura has an unavoidable supermove in the final phase, which outright forces you to take the damage and lose hearts. because you and your Monsties share your Heart Health, you lose two hearts from this attack. you have to have made it to the final phase without losing even one heart, or you'll have to restart the fight again.
-- for Plot Reasons, Kyle's your companion for the fight, but as a Bow user he's not optimal for DPS. that, and you can't control other humans, they more-or-less run on RNG.
-- I did manage to defeat Oltura at one point, but the game then crashed trying to load the next cutscenes. I was furious.

by the time i'd finally beaten Oltura and got it to stick, all the energy i had for the game was pretty much spent.

to say nothing of the voice direction; it's decent, but my god, the localisation team couldn't think of anything better than Make Reverto Talk Like A California Surfer Dude? really doing my husband such a disservice...