No matter where you go now, the “Monster Hunter” series seems to be ubiquitous. We saw the excellent Switch exclusive “Monster Hunter Rise” released in March, and last week the film adapted from this series was finally released in the UK for the first time. What is amazing is that this monster boom has not yet subsided, because a sequel to “Monster Hunter Story” that cannot be ignored will be officially released next month. Recently, we got the opportunity to view the content of the first 3 hours of “Monster Hunter Story 2-Wings of Destruction”, which is composed of two story chapters before the opening.
The events of “Monster Hunter Story 2” are completely separate from their predecessors, so you don’t need to dig out the dusty old 3DS from the warehouse to review the previous work to keep up with the progress of the plot. Here, the player has to play as the grandson of the legendary knight “Intensity”, from the beautiful tropical area of Xiagululu Island. You will soon know that the Rathalos in the world mysteriously disappeared, and you also received an egg that needs protection. This egg is related to your grandfather’s precious monster: Guardian Ratha. You are responsible for raising this egg and solving the mystery of the disappearance of these huge fire-breathing creatures.
“Monster Hunter Story” always reminds me of the “Mario and Luigi” series in many ways, because it adopts many rules derived from the core game and has been adjusted to make these compatible with the new turn-based games. Style coordination. The games in the “Story” series are completely different from other mainline items. However, you still need to set out to perform tasks, kill powerful beasts, and use their remains to create more powerful weapons and armor sets for yourself.
In addition to the turn-based combat style, these games are also different from the main series, because the “Monument” series allows you to cultivate and train small-scale monster teams. You can obtain these creatures by finding the eggs of monsters in the nests on the map. Once they are hatched, they can join you on the battlefield. Just like in the main game, each of these monsters has its own specific skills, and even has the opportunity to combine the skills of each monster through a process called Rite of Channeling. I have always admired the design of each monster in the series, so I like the design that can make them allies, and can also create perfect monsters by experimenting with features. These are very satisfying.
As I mentioned before, this game has a turn-based combat style, which is very different from the extremely difficult and real-time action-oriented core RPG. This gameplay is more similar to rock-paper-scissors, because there are 3 types of basic attacks (strength, technique, and speed), and to gain an advantage, you need to study your opponents and counterattack with better moves than they are currently planning. Painted attack. If you perform the same type of moves with your monster at the same time, you can also perform a very effective simultaneous attack.
There is also an extra layer of depth here, just like in the core game, you can target specific parts of the monster to attack and get more production resources. You can also switch your core weapons during the battle to cause more damage, because blunt weapons and sharp weapons have different effects on different creatures. In addition, there are some special attacks that you can use after filling the blue meter at the bottom of the screen; these attacks will vary according to the creature you are currently playing against. For example, with the poisonous demon bird, you can perform a move that poisons the entire body of the enemy and causes them to be affected by state conditions.
In addition to combat, exploration is also a key pillar of the gameplay of “Monument 2”. It is nice to see your monsters have their own uses in the semi-open world. For example, Poisonous Birds can roar and scare away smaller monsters that are close, while Ranmar can be used to jump over rocks and reach higher platforms. Bring the right monsters and spend time exploring, you can unearth many hidden treasures in the world, which makes you think about the composition of the team more carefully.
Therefore, in addition to the story graphics and plot, you may ask yourself what is new in Monogatari 2. Well, please allow me to explain. The first thing I noticed is that the lineup of monsters in Monogatari 2 has increased, and some of the new faces have only made their debut in “Monster Hunter World” and “Monster Hunter Rise”. At the beginning of the game, I became friends with the cute and fluffy floating dragon (Paolumu), and I even saw the Great Izuchi (Great Izuchi) in “Rise” taking a walk. In addition, there are scout flies from “World” in the game as a way for you to track monsters in certain locations. Here, if you follow the scout flies and collect various clues and marks, they will directly lead you to the monster you are looking for.
Although most of the experiences I have experienced have made me hopeful about “The Story of Stories 2,” I did encounter some minor flaws that made me a little worried. My first question stems from the combat system. Here, you will often fight side by side with allied characters and their monsters, and you are only responsible for your own use of items and planning your own attacks. Because of this, I found that my partner would often heal his teammates in the same round as me, so a round was wasted. Each exploreable area is separated by the loading screen, which also feels quite dated. Due to technical limitations, the old “Monster Hunter” game had to resort to this method, but we have all seen “Rise” when it was launched on the Switch in March and no longer needed to do this.
“Story 2” seems to be as fascinating as its 2017 predecessor, and I can’t wait to see what surprises lurks in the opening hours. I like to have the opportunity to use its many majestic monsters as my allies, and trying to give them different characteristics and abilities is also very satisfying. Even so, I find that the constant cutscenes between areas feel a bit outdated, which is also frustrating when allies and ours are treating the same partners and thus wasting a round. However, when “Monster Hunter Story 2-Wings of Destruction” finally goes on sale on Nintendo Switch and PC on July 9, please be sure to check back again for our full version review.
