Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Monster Hunter Stories
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: RPG
Number of Players: 1
Release Date: 08 Oct 2016 (JP) / 08 Sept 2017 (NA/EUR) / 09 Sept 2017 (AUS)
Platform: 3DS system
Price: $39.99
Monster Hunter Stories is a spin-off game from the Monster Hunter series that is somehow designed to be easier to play than the previous games. It is a turn-based RPG with a big similarity to the Pokemon games. In this game, the player gets to fight with a partner monster during battles and use different skills and fight moves to win. Like a typical RPG, the player gets to collect various monsters, items, weapons, and gears as the game progresses.
The adventure begins when a huge monster attacks a village, resulting to some casualties and destroyed homes. A year later, the main character (which, by the way, can be customized by the player at the beginning of the game) becomes a Rider, a person who can tame monsters, and set out to the world at large to find the said monster and along the way, encounters different other characters, monsters, quests, etc. This game has a big map to explore, and as new monsters become available, the player can proceed to reach new areas with the help of these monsters and their ability (for example, an area with lava can be traversed with the help of a monster that can withstand heat, etc.).
I remember trying to play Monster Hunter 2 on PSP many years ago, and I didn’t like it. Not that it was a bad game, I was bad at it and for the life of me just couldn’t get how to make everything work, and I didn’t like the monsters constantly running away and I had to chase them across different sections of the map. It just wasn’t too fun for me. Flash forward to 2015, I tried to play a Monster Hunter game again, at that time MH4 was about to drop. I tried the demo and... again, same thing, I still couldn’t figure it out. I had to give up: Monster Hunter is not for me.
But Capcom and the gang probably knew about me and millions of gamers who can’t enjoy a Monster Hunter and made this spin-off game. The biggest difference is the player no longer has to chase down monsters (also known as “monsties” in this game) to hunt them or to accomplish quests. In this game, the real time battle with monsters is replaced by a turn-based one like in typical RPGs. The player can then perform moves like fight or open items, etc. By the way, the character that the player controls has a partner monster, like in Pokemon games, and these monsters also perform moves during battles, albeit usually on their own. These monsters are hatched from eggs that can be obtained from monster dens that the player discovers. They also level up like their human counterpart from battles and quests. As the game progresses, the player get to collect new monsters and can interchangeably use them during battles.
During battles, the player and the monster can perform 3 types of normal fight moves: power, speed, and technique. The normal fight moves follow these simple rules: speed beats power, power beats technique, and technique beats speed, similar to a game of rock and scissors. Aside from these normal fight moves, the player can also perform special rider skills that they can learn as the game progresses and the player levels up. The monsters also learn special skills as they level up, and will use them in battles whenever the need arises. As the player and the partner monster perform their moves, they fill up a special attack gauge. When it gets filled up, the player can then ride the monster and perform special attacks. The player can wait further before unleashing the said attack and continue with normal attacks (that now hit more) so that the special attack gauge levels up further, up to level 3. The higher the level, the more devastating the attack. This is very useful in fighting powerful monsters with high hit points. Also, defending on how the player and the partner monster perform, the battle will be ranked, and the higher the rank, the more item drops and experience points the player gets.
Anyone familiar with RPGs will feel right at home with this game. With its colourful visuals, easy to learn battle mechanics, and relatively laid back gameplay, this game is one of the best RPGs to ever come out on 3DS. It may not be as good as the main Monster Hunter games, but it can be a gateway for those games, like a good introduction to the Monster Hunter lore. As I mentioned earlier, Monster Hunter games are not the easiest games to play, at least for me, and with this game, I get to enjoy Monster Hunter game elements without the fuzz that kept me from playing the main games in the past. Since I enjoyed playing this game a lot, I might enjoy the previous Monster Games more.
REPLAY VALUE: high
PROS:
- Very good visuals, art style, story, character and overworld design, animation, gameplay, and musical score
- This game is a good introduction to the Monster Hunter series
- Offers a lot of quests for item collection that can then be combined to create new items, gears, weapon upgrades, etc.
- The monsters in the overworld are visible and can be avoided or be fought depending on the player’s choice, and thus, no random encounters
- Special attack animations are awesome, and can be funny at times
CONS:
- A bit too kid-friendly for my taste, with lots of leeway given to the player, so much so that a game over screen is almost guaranteed not to show up, unless the player deliberately tries to lose a battle
RATING: 4.5/5 monster eggs
No comments:
Post a Comment