Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

After being one of the extremely popular series in Japan, the Monster Hunter game series reached more and more players and achieved great success within and outside Japan, especially with the great success of Monster Hunter World. Not surprisingly, the success of the series has encouraged Capcom to experiment with expansions and try to bring the series to a larger audience, which is what happened with the spin-off series Monster Hunter Stories, which continues the action and RPG experience of the original series A turn-based RPG replaces The first part did not have the desired commercial success when it was released on the 3DS and smartphones in 2017, but Capcom returns to launch a new part of this series on PC and Nintendo with Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Provide switch. Will it be possible to reach the required audience segment?

The Story and Setting

The story puts you in the role of the grandson/granddaughter of the legendary monster rider Red. The events begin when the hunters arrive on the island of the monster riders and try to attack the guard Ratha, the legendary monster that protects the island of Mahana. which leads to Ratha leaving the island, which is followed by a series of strange incidents involving aggressive and unusual behavior. Among the monsters here you will meet Ena, one of Red’s old friends, who will tell you that not only strange events happen on your island, but in different parts of the earth, your adventure begins to search for the cause of these incidents and unravel the mystery of To unravel the “Wings of Doom” myth.

The Story and Gameplay

Monster Hunter Stories’ story offered some emotional moments and plenty of funny moments befitting its artistic direction, but the story isn’t one of the game’s strong points, and while story hasn’t typically been an important element in Monster Hunter, we’ve got it going on a game that literally puts the story in its title. The story is very simple, and you’ve heard it before or played it in other games, but in worlds other than the world of Monster Hunter. Additionally, events move slowly very quickly and only really begin to progress in the second half of the experience. The cartoonish approach of the game creates for us a very beautiful world, including: Of creatures and worlds, and as we have already mentioned, this game is full of humor and some more emotional moments that give the experience a spontaneous character. Music isn’t present in abundance in the experience, appearing mostly in battles and some cinematic story shots, but it’s not a prominent element of the experience.

The Gameplay and Monsters

During your journey you collect monster eggs to obtain new monsters and add them to your side, with the possibility of taking a certain number of them with you on journeys, and of course only one monster can take part in your battles. The gameplay system of Monster Hunter Stories 2 is based on the concept of a rock-paper-scissors game. There are three types of attacks: power attacks, speed attacks and technical attacks. Strength defeats technology, technique defeats speed, and speed defeats strength. The concept is very simple and anyone can understand it, but the game adds many layers to this concept to create a game system that is more understandable for newcomers, but it is… satisfying and interesting at the same time for RPG fans.

Battles and Strategies

As you explore the game world or continue your missions, you will encounter multiple types of monsters, and unlike your own character, all monsters on the battlefield have a preferred attack type that you will generally continue to use. Don’t expect monsters to rely on speed to perform technical attacks, except for some monsters. An advanced level that gets angry during battle or prepares for a special attack, which means you have to change the type of his attacks and change your strategy when dealing with these monsters. During battles you will encounter a maximum of 3 monsters, knowing the target of each monster in the arena. When you attack a monster that targets you, you will be engaged in a direct duel with this monster and the outcome of the battle will be decided by the system explained previously. If you choose the right attack type, the opponent’s attack stops and you deal damage to them, while the opposite is true and a draw results in both parties gaining damage.

Companions and AI

When you and your monster use the same attack type on the same monster, you perform a double attack, which charges the relationship meter between you and your monster. This is where another layer is added to the experience. When the gauge is filled, you will be able to control your monster’s attacks, allowing you to attempt to perform more double attacks. Or order your monster to get rid of one of the monsters that are small and less powerful but annoying. You can also ride your monster and perform a special attack when the meter is full to perform a powerful attack that will also replenish both you and your monster’s life meter. The various game systems will be debated for a long time, but what you should do is know that these systems add significant depth to the experience and that the game fully explains these systems. In the first hours of the experience, these systems are explained in a simplified and understandable way, while you engage in many confrontations. Although not difficult, it allows you to get used to the system.

Side Missions and Content

On your journey you will visit many islands and regions and in each region you will be accompanied by a companion character with his own monster, so that the number of your complete team is 4 characters. The artificial intelligence of the accompanying characters is sufficient for this purpose, but we see some flaws in it. If you take damage, you can use an item to restore it, which will cost you your turn and you will be surprised that your companion wasted. His job is to give you a purpose for recovery, even when it isn’t necessary. At other times, you attack, relying on the artificial intelligence of your companion, who may attack instead of helping you. The game also allows you to target the members of the opponent’s monster to gain a material advantage or a strategic advantage. It’s annoying that you might target a specific member. During the attack, your companion and his special monster attack other organs.

Content and Longevity

The game offers you huge content in a world where you can spend dozens of hours. There are a large number of monsters you can add to your team, and finding the eggs of rare monsters with special genes is worth the effort. The game also gives you a compelling reason to spend time doing activities that would normally… In role-playing games, it’s monotonous. Searching for monsters, rare or not, is useful. A rare monster can be developed and its abilities can be used, while traditional monsters can be used to evolve your favorite monster. Side missions don’t require much from you, as they require you to eliminate a certain number of monsters or collect resources. Certain things that can be done during story missions to obtain the money and resources needed to purchase and continually develop weapons to keep up with the increasing difficulty of the experience.

Conclusion

As you walk through the game world, you can see monsters and avoid fighting with them. Although the combat system is fun, fighting battles and thinking about the appropriate strategy for each monster becomes tedious, especially as you advance in experience and your needs to memorize the correct strategy to face dozens of different monsters, and the opportunity to Offering to avoid confrontations in this way is positive. From our point of view very, and when you reach a certain level and there is a big difference between you and your opponent, the game offers the possibility of completing missions automatically, which is a faster way to gain experience. The game also offers the ability to increase the speed of confrontations up to three times to save time.

Final Thoughts

Monster Hunter Stories 2 offers many side missions to complete and you will feel a desire to get the most powerful weapons and develop your monsters, making the lifespan of the experience vary depending on the direction and you should expect 50 hours of gaming experience, to complete the story if your main focus is… Spend some time on side missions to get the weapons you need. The experience is not free from some of the usual shortcomings in role-playing games, but at the same time it offers its own solutions to some other shortcomings and despite trying to offer an experience that is halfway between the player’s requirements. It’s a difficult task for professionals and the general audience, but Monster Hunter Stories 2 found that middle ground and delivered an experience that everyone can enjoy.