Discussion YNTP - Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

[Yamanoi]

As I said in my post in the Octopath Traveler II ST, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a gem of a game that more people need to play. In this thread (YNTP is You Need To Play), I'm going to hopefully get you to try it if you haven't already. 2021 was a really interesting year for Capcom. By the end, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles was easily my favorite Capcom game since MHW:I. But following TGAAC, Monster Hunter Stories 2 (MHS2 henceforth) was up close. I like it more than the base Monster Hunter Rise by quite a bit. MHS2 took everything about the original game and improved on it by quite a bit. It is an RPG that not only perfectly suits the Switch (and Steam Deck), but one that you might fall in love with.

MHS2 is a turn-based RPG that blends monster collecting, Monster Hunter mechanics, and monsters from Monster Hunter. It feels like a big budget take on a PS2 or 3DS RPG that you don't really see these years. A close example would be Dragon Quest Treasures (not as polished or as high budget, but similar style 3DS era experience). MHS2 makes you care about the characters, your Monsties (monsters), has a deep collecting mechanic, and brings in a lot of great music and superb visuals for a Switch game. It also looks amazing on the OLED if you have one.



I feel like a lot of folks slept on this or skipped it because the mainline MH game released the same year. If you enjoy Pokemon and Monster Hunter, hopefully you give this a shot and play it. If anyone has any questions about MHS2, I'm happy to answer. I've put in more than 100 hours on Switch and PC. MHS2 isn't perfect, I know. The combat will not suit everyone and it has performance issues on Switch, but the free demo will give you a good idea about the flow and how it looks and runs. I'd recommend trying it out if you can. Also, the DLC available is all cosmetic stuff so don't worry about it if you plan on purchasing.

One other thing I want to highlight, is how much better the post launch support was for MHS2 compared to MH Rise that didn't even get any decent events barring maybe two or three. With Sunbreak, MH Rise has been perfected, but MHS2 really went above and beyond delivering more than expected. It added many fan favorite monsters and had a superb finale. Right now it has tons more content than launch which was already great value. I hope we do eventually see paid DLC for it or even an expanded re-release for the next Switch.

Links below:

Switch -
US - https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/monster-hunter-stories-2-wings-of-ruin-switch/,
UK - https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Ni...r-Hunter-Stories-2-Wings-of-Ruin-1946088.html
AUS - https://www.nintendo.com.au/games/nintendo-switch/monster-hunter-stories-2-wings-of-ruin

Steam -

 

[Imitatio]

It's a cozy game overall, but I've always been disappointed with its performance on Switch (they really should've locked it to 30fps instead of targeting a full 60 without ever hitting it in almost all instances...).
I'm still interested in picking it up eventually, the game is just that good. I actually own it on Steam already, but I'd rather play it on the OLED in particular.

 

[PixelKnight]

I really like just exploring in the MHS games. The point where you have a flying monster and are just flapping about looking for nests is my favourite bit!

I wrote some more in the rpg vote thread recently, I’ll just quote it here if that’s ok

For Fami’s consideration…
Monster Hunter Stories 2

I found this rpg to be both really uplifting, and an improvement on the first one. At heart, it’s themes are a well-trod path of friendship and adventure. But it also navigates through the MonHun themes around the balance of the environment better than the main games do (‘go make me a hat out of that Wyvern minding its own business!’). The main characters are ‘riders’ who raise monsters from eggs and develop bonds with them, all of the creatures being smaller, cuter versions of the bestiary from the mainline games. However, it also doesn’t take the easy route of casting the hunters themselves as the problem. It’s a fine line to tread when you have a range of allies to choose from, but the big selling point for me is just riding and flying through some beautiful environments, looking for monster nests and hoping for a rare creature. Some start with stronger genes than others and you can tinker with them, adding fresh abilities and powering them up. Combat expands on the originals slightly more random paper-scissor-stone affair, and it really brings out the strength of what’s an original combat system. Spot the tells and you can lock down even powerful enemies before mounting up as monster cavalry and unleashing the most ridiculous of Saturday-morning-cartoon special moves! If I were to sum it up in one word it would be ‘refreshing’, it’s so full of colour, fun and adventure.

 

[Yamanoi]

I really like just exploring in the MHS games. The point where you have a flying monster and are just flapping about looking for nests is my favourite bit!

I wrote some more in the rpg vote thread recently, I’ll just quote it here if that’s ok

Glad you did. I am not familiar with quoting and mentioning users but this is exactly what I wanted to also link. Thanks.

 

[komicer]

I've just completed this game's main storyline recently on Switch. Didn't really delve deep into the postgame stuff to comment on those bit so I'll focus on what my experience was. For further context, I was going into this game having just completed the Persona 5 series, which involves some form of creature collecting too. I have also played Monster Hunter Rise/Sunbreak and Pokemon Violet before. So these three games also hung over how I experienced MHS2.

Battle mechanics

I think the battle mechanics were really quite simplistic. Maybe it becomes more important in the high rank to engage in every aspects of it but for the main storyline, I only really paid attention to the basic power/technical/speed weapon triangle. I find those more important than element strength/weakness since a weak attack that connects is more important than a strong attack that doesn't.

Knowledge of how the monsters behave in the main game helps quite a bit. Since some of them obviously gravitates towards speedy moves and others just want to hit hard. The prediction game can be fun. Though I found it somewhat annoying that the late game monsties almost all ended as 'power' monsties.

I ended up a bit overlevelled (because I spent too much time lost in Acala and fighting EVERYONE) so really, only the first battle against any monsters was challenging. The only significant battle which I carted was that of the boss Tigrex and the final Elder Dragon boss. I assume that way more monster varieties will be thrown at me postgame if I had continued.

Gameplay

However... I think I was a little burnt out by the end of the storyline. The story was basic but interesting enough to keep me motivated to the end. Just not enough to go beyond the main story into the postgame. Part of the issue I had with the game was the structure. It was really quite predictable after a while. Go somewhere new, they send you to different parts of the map which are like mini-dungeons of their own. You go all the way back and fight a new monster. Repeat till end of story. Along the way, you get distracted by gold rare monster lairs which are even smaller dungeons that end with an egg.

I quickly realized that all the dungeons look very similar, especially within the same biomes. My guess is that the developers start by creating a whole bunch of maps and then throw them together to form the larger dungeons (like a game of Saboteur). That's probably how it works since all the lairs are procedurally generated. However, I don't think they made enough map parts since they all look the same. Explore at least three lairs and you've seen all the different map pieces they have for that biome. The map parts are probably the same across biomes too. Same caves but water. Or same caves but lava. While I think these might be fine for the monster lairs, the lack of distinct bespoke map designs for the main dungeons hurts the overall game. (Keep in mind that I came into MHS2 immediately after P5 with their exquisite dungeons)

Another issue that didn't help with the samey dungeons was the lack of music. I know that that's how MH is, till the monsters break into the scene for ACTION. However, with how often you are throwing hands with monsters in the mainline action game, there's no shortage of epic music. In MHS2, a lot of time, you will be trekking through the snow/lava/caves on your trusty monstie and not fighting. Silence but for the sound of your own mount's footstep might be cool and atmospheric at first. But only at the start.

Monsters

The monsters and monsties are the stars of the game and they kept me going forward to the end of the storyline.

Like other monster collecting games, you get really attached to certain monsters (even if they are comparatively weak) after a while. For example, I ended up really liking the first Velocidrome that the game gifts you. Ranmar might be a very weak monstie by all means but his running speed felt the fastest. So I ended up seeking out more and more powerful monstie eggs just to feed their high-level genes into him. Each monstie personality really shows through their animation and especially the special attack animation. I really like Brachydios training montage so I ended up keeping him on the main team.

A mild annoyance was the importance of having overworld moves on the monsties. Entering an Everden without a surfing monstie and then discovering that one of the chests was across a waterbody was mildly annoying. Though I think the fact that the Mizutsune cannot surf irks me even more. That said, Mizutsune rocks. If I ever go back into the postgame, Ranmar, Mizutsune and Brachydios will stick in my main team as the anchor speed/technical/power Monsties.

We just need to make sure that monster's individual musical themes end up in MHS3 somehow.

Oh. And I really want to see Capcom bring the final elder dragon boss into the mainline games.

Characters

I'm all about big sister Kayna. But I think I ended up quite fond of Kyle and Ena towards the end too. I'll ship them.

Technical issues

The game really stutters in the towns and slightly in the overworld. But in battles, smooth all the way. Can't really complain too much.

Final opinion of the game

Despite my complaints, I think that as a whole, I enjoyed my time playing it. It was a joy each time I meet a new monster to knock around. Every monsties' Kinship attack animation was fun to watch. The final boss elder dragon fight was tricky, epic and really, that's what I wished most of the game was. That might be too much for me to ask for though.

I got the game back when it was just released. Then it went into my backlog till earlier this month. I think that... this game is most worth-it if you can get your hands on it on a discounted rate. Fortunately, Capcom does sales so often that that's not difficult.

Not a MUST HAVE (even if you are a Monster Hunter fan) but a really nice game to play.

 

[big lantern ghost]

It feels like a big budget take on a PS2 or 3DS RPG that you don't really see these years.

Nice write up. I missed the sale like a chump lol, but this is really all I need to hear to know it will very likely be a game for me. Seems like it goes on sale fairly often according to DekuDeals so I will be keeping an eye out!

 

[Yamanoi]

Nice write up. I missed the sale like a chump lol, but this is really all I need to hear to know it will very likely be a game for me. Seems like it goes on sale fairly often according to DekuDeals so I will be keeping an eye out!

Yes, discounts often so no worries. Hope you enjoy it. Check the demo until then.

 

[Sheldon]

In the You Maybe Don't Need To Play department, Monster Hunter Stories 2 was a game I strongly grew to dislike as it went on.

The battle system doesn't build on its simplistic design. Except for literally two fights, you're never breaking out of the pattern of doing X when monster does Y. Instead of monster behaviour shaped like increasingly complex puzzles, difficulty relies on punishing one-shot attacks and dps checks. What's worse in this monster collecting game, the monsters aren't unique animals, just a collection of genes on a bingo board, which invalidates all but a handful - namely those with the best stats - for end-game and multiplayer. Meanwhile the story is as rote, unfulfilling and brainless as the color-coded Simon Says combat.

Still worth checking out the demo for anyone even mildly interested. Just be warned that this is a case of YMMV, rather than a definitive YNTP or YDNTP.

 

[RochHoch]

I tried it.

The combat fucking sucks. Just mindlessly playing Rock Paper Scissors again and again for ages. I wish they had just ripped off Pokemon's battle system instead.

 

[komicer]

To be fair, having a basic love for the Monster Hunter franchise as a franchise is pretty much a requirement for enjoying MHS2 as a spin-off. I'll imagine that if you don't already have an attachment to the monsters in the first place, the core gameplay will bore/tire you out quickly. The main attraction of the game is seeing all your beloved monsters/monsties again in a somewhat different gameplay, playing as the monsties AND pulling off their classic moves.

For your regular JRPG player with no attachment to the Monster Hunter franchise, the entire gameplay system will just seem like a poor imitation of Pokemon. But for us, pre-existing Monster Hunter fans, it's just... Monster Hunter but JRPG.

Of course, enthusiasm is infectious. So us in the Monster Hunter sphere of influence, hearing your MH influencer rave about it (particularly about the monsters), makes us more susceptible to 'enjoying' this game. I don't think MHS2 is for everyone... but if you love Monster Hunter and if the game is on discount (very often!), you might as well give it a shot!

 

[Leica]

I liked it a lot but I agree with the above post, you need to really like MH as a franchise to get the most out of it, on top of liking jrpgs.

 

[Pineapple]

I played the first few hours of it and liked it, but when I moved all my stuff over to the OLED my data got corrupted somehow.

I'll get back to it eventually, but I hate restarting things.

 

[Sheldon]

Knowing Monster Hunter got in the way of taking Monster Hunter Stories 2 on its own terms for me. Because Monster Hunter combat is about learning monster move sets and their tells, then taking the appropriate actions, and that knowledge even transferring between species who share attacks, I expected MHS2 basic rock-paper-scissor template to evolve in a similar direction. But it just stuck to the same not enraged - enraged template, with at most a third state thrown in.

 

[TheWolvesDen]

I liked the demo, just haven't decided if I liked it enough to bite and get the full game.