Monster Hunter Stories 2 Review

Monster Hunter as a franchise, for me anyway, occupies the same space as EVE Online as far as accessibility goes. I love the idea of it, I want to enjoy it, but I feel like I need a PhD in order to get the most out of it. Monster Hunter World was the closest the franchise got to having my slow brain be able to process the intricacies of the game play loop, but it still didn’t land in a way that I could commit much further than the end of the early game. While World also represented the series’ first real break out of its more hardcore fanbase, I still felt like it was leaving some on the table when it came to attracting new players to the franchise. Not having played the first Monster Hunter Stories, I only knew of its success from a distance but I had a sneaking suspicion that this offshoot from the main series would be the gateway for new players that have been too intimidated to give it a go otherwise. Now that we’re on entry number two for Stories and I’ve had the chance to play it, I think those feelings were justified.

You’re the grandson or granddaughter of the previous beloved and legendary leader of the Mahana village. Still learning the ropes of being a rider, you’re tasked with being part of a team sent to investigate some odd monster behaviour in the area. Eventually discovering things are definitely worse than everyone thought, you’re entrusted with trying to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of Guardian Ratha and many others like them. The story is simple and mostly well-written despite some questionable plot points, and while it might be divisive in its level of anime cheese, I think it lets it be even more appealing to a broader age group because of it. Characters are inconsistent in their quality, but for the purposes they are to serve it’s not something I think many people will care about. It would be nice to see this series get even more attention in these areas, but what’s up for grabs here is also just fine.

For those who aren’t acquainted with the Stories series, Monster Hunter Stories 2 sheds the action-adventure garb for a more traditional JRPG ensemble that takes much of the high-level mechanics the Monster Hunter franchise is built on and fits them neatly into a turn-based combat system. That’s no small feat, and I was pretty skeptical that it was even possible, but they absolutely have it nailed. The easiest way to think about it is to see it as a slightly more involved Pokemon. Every monster has a primary element in which much of their attacks tend to be based, as well as a primary weakness, though secondary elements for either can sometimes be present. Each monster can also have any number of parts you can single out and attack, breaking them resulting in a monster part reward similar to the main series for use in crafting armour and weapons. Furthermore, each part can be damaged more or less based on its weaknesses to one of the three attack types derived from the weapons at your disposal – those types being slashing, piercing, and blunt.

Like I said – a more involved Pokemon, but there is more still to this wonderfully crafted turn-based system. Fighting alongside you will always be one of your Monsties, and for stretches of time, you’ll also have battle buddies and their monstie should they have one. At the start of each turn, you are shown who is attacking who directly, and not doing some other action or using an attack that is intended for more than one target. Both regular attacks and skills can have an associated attack type – either power, speed, or technical – and when you attack an enemy targeting you, it triggers a head-to-head event that results in a rock-paper-scissors format determining who chose the correct counter. Power bests technical, technical bests speed, and speed bests power. Successfully countering your opponent sees you do the bulk of the damage in that round. Simultaneously counter the same enemy that’s targeting you or one of your partners and you’ll trigger a double attack – a devastating combo attack that does huge damage while also completely cancelling that opponent’s attack for the round.

Still with me? Ok well as you and your monstie successfully perform your combat duties, you build up your kinship gauge. The kinship gauge is specific to each monstie in your party during combat, and its points are what you use to perform skills outside of your normal attacks. Max the gauge out, and you’ll have the choice to ride your monstie – enabling you to perform that monstie’s ultimate attack. Counter a couple of direct attacks when riding your monstie to attain a level 3 kinship gauge and you’ve got the most powerful individual attack that monstie is capable of. Similar to double attacks, should your battle buddy also have their kinship gauge filled you can perform a double ultimate kinship attack – effectively nuking your opponent from orbit. Toss in staples like status effects, special items and more, and you’ve got an involved, but manageable turn-based system that faithfully recreates much of the complexities the main series’ combat achieves. Learn those monster’s patterns, abuse their weaknesses, and victory is yours.

Perhaps the only real issue I could take with the combat in Stories 2 is the insistence on having AI partners you can’t control. I don’t think I’ve played many games in which a system like that has been preferable to having control over your entire team, or even one that’s been particularly enjoyable. Thankfully, AI blunders aren’t often something that will lose you a fight, but it does mean you need to pay a bit closer attention to their next moves to see if you can adjust your own tactics to compensate when necessary. The final bout of the game is the best example of this system not being ideal as you can lose the fight relatively easily just based on your AI teammate, though that’s not the biggest issue with that fight. Sadly, the ultimate battle is ultimately an item check, testing more the number of items you’ve brought with you to heal with than actually testing your combat prowess. A little anticlimactic for those affected, but it won’t happen to everyone. Combat in Stories 2 isn’t often particularly difficult, however, and so thankfully whatever minor mechanical issues the combat system has are mostly harmless though I do hope they get polished up for future games.

Obtaining monsties to fight by your side or simply borrowing their genes is pretty straightforward. Whenever you enter an overworld location, monster dens are randomly generated for the area of varying rarity levels. The higher the rarity, the better the chance that the eggs you find inside will have sought-after genes and powerful monsties. Entering a den brings you to a mini dungeon with a random layout, and it's up to you to skirt passed the monsters within to reach the items and eggs inside or fight your way through. Each den has a random number of eggs, and it’s up to you as to how many you want to gamble on picking up because once you’ve sat one down for another, you can’t go back. Pick up too many eggs and you’ll be asking for a fight from either the monster nesting on the eggs or one that’s been away from home only to find you rummaging around where you shouldn’t be. Eggs have different colourations that denote monstie type, and different weights and smells that determine the rarity.

Once you get out with your egg you can hatch it back at just about every major town’s stable. From there you can discover what genes your new monstie comes with, as well as their base stats, and decide if you want to level them up or borrow some of those genes. The latter process is really what allows you to make the most out of your powerful monsties. Need to level one of them up to get access to a locked gene? No problem, just send them out on some expeditions to get some experience and come home ready for assimilation. If you don’t need the experience but just want spare monsties to be put to work, expeditions can also net you items, monster parts and more. It’s definitely the most efficient way to keep your stable of usable monsties growing and also to keep your stock of usable items up while you’re out doing other things. For the monsties you choose to keep with you, they’re not just useful in battle. When out on the open field out of combat, monsties have certain traits that allow them to do various things to help you out. Some can jump over larger gaps, while others can climb vines or swim. Some might be able to locate the nest in a den, while another can scream in the general direction of enemy monsters to keep them off your back should you not want to fight.

Eventually, you’ll have worked your way through the story and find yourself in the end game, which like other Monster Hunter games is centred around farming runs for better and better gear, but also of course better and better monsties as well. That’s because while you can totally team up with another player to explore and farm with, there is also PVP where you will almost assuredly be destroyed by someone who hasn’t slept in 3 weeks in an attempt to min-max some otherworldly hell spawn capable of wiping you out in a single hit. There are some other bits in the end game, but it’s arguably spoiler territory so just know that there’s some other nice stuff to get a bit more out of your game time. There is a lot of enjoyable gaming to be had here, and it definitely doesn’t leave you feeling like you’re not getting enough game for your hard-earned Monopoly money.

Not everyone is a fan of games with art styles like Stories 2, but I think it looks awesome. It’s obvious that it’s being held back by the Switch release, but they put all the processing power where it matters and that’s the characters and the monsters. Environmental pieces unfortunately suffer severely to make those more key pieces pop, but generally, everything looks really nice – especially on the PC. The voice acting, at least in Japanese as that’s what I used, is very well done and likely pairs better with the extreme anime goofiness throughout. Music is great, albeit it sometimes bordering on a bit too referential sounding, but it makes for exciting combat and that’s really all that matters in the end for something like this.

Monster Hunter as a franchise is a serious beast with a hardcore fan base with very particular tastes. While the Stories side of the tracks might not be for the hardest of hardcore fans of the main series, I do think that this will be a lot of fun for the majority of them while also being an amazing gateway for new players looking to join the hunting fray. Monster Hunter Stories 2 does a remarkable job at cramming so much of the main series’ action combat into a turn-based system that’s fun and dynamic, gives you a fun story with a substantive end game, and looks fantastic while doing it. Whether you’re looking for a Monster Hunter entry point or you’re already a fan and enjoy turn-based combat, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is an easy recommendation.