Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin
The left-hander of the well-known series with the subtitle Stories is about recognizing coffee other than “main” games like World or Rise. Skill-based fights, which I enjoy the most in the series, are completely absent here, because this miniseries is in fact an orthodox JRPG. So you won’t fight monstrous opponents here with the help of quick reflexes and careful timing of combos and crushing blows, but through tactical turn-based battles. This is the biggest, but definitely not the only difference that distinguishes Stories from the baseline, but the good news is that in the end I was very pleasantly surprised.
Rider on the storm
In the beginning, you will create your hero or heroine, a young school squirrels barely grown, and you will very quickly find out that this time you will not be a Hunter, but a Rider. The difference between them is very significant, because the Riders are more friends with the local wild inhabitants, which plays great into the cards of the almost Pokémon concept of the game. The dumb hero will soon receive not only a vigorous companion and an adorable cat partner named Navirou, but also an ever-growing supply of monstrous charges from the rich ensemble of the series.
Following the example of pocket monsters, your Monsties (Monster Besties) have their strengths and weaknesses, various elementary features and also their own abilities. It is precisely on the appropriate choice of the animal partner that your success in tactical battles with enemies stands and falls, and the second and no less important element is the equipment of the main character. As in the basic series, each type of weapon has its use, which needs to be correctly identified. And don’t worry about fashion either, a key element of the Monster Hunter brand, there’s no shortage, although getting fancy pieces of clothing is easy to learn.
As I mentioned, the fights take place in the typical JRPG style and stick to the rock-scissors-paper system. You can choose from strong, fast and technical attacks, while each monster is weak or resistant to a different variant. However, this is just the beginning of the possibilities in combat, because all sorts of abilities, attacking various parts of monsters and charging special synergic attacks, which have very effective animations, but can also boil the enemy properly.
Veterans, or at least Monster Hunter connoisseurs, can benefit from their experience, but the good thing is that even newcomers will not be lost, even if (like me) they have no experience with the first Stories. The game does not follow them in any way and provides a separate story, which took me around 80 hours to complete.
Tales? Not really
However, it must be said that the narration itself is definitely not a reason to return to the game. The story itself is very banal and revolves (unsurprisingly) around the potential destruction of the whole world. On the other hand, it will at least stretch you across a plethora of variable locations, in addition to grassy plains, you will visit snowy hills, lava fields or an inhospitable desert. More than an overarching story arc, it will entertain smaller episodes, the main star is also a feline Navira, who can steal the whole scene for herself, and if you are not a complete mischief, you have to fall in love with it. But the fact is that I would expect a little more screenwriting from the game, which will call the term Stories.
Instead of stories, it is the gameplay itself that takes home the gold medal. It’s not just about fights, because Wings of Ruin is just as good at trying to awaken collectors and breeders in you. There are a lot of monsters and of course the biggest stars, such as Rathalos and Diablos, are not missing. One of the first opponents is the annoying Kulu-Yaku bird who came to play with the stone, and there are also bizarre disgusting monsters, such as Khezu.
You have to find new additions to the collection as eggs that have not yet hatched and gradually tap them. That’s when the system of genetics comes into play, which allows you to modify Monsties even more to your image. Together, your monster can have up to nine gene traits, and acquiring and modifying them is one of the most fun aspects of the game. You can then give the same love to collecting materials to improve your hero’s weapons, and the hours spent in the game will jump in comfort.
Small freckles on beauty
In addition to a weaker story, I would perhaps point out a certain length of combat in the later phase, which, however, is significantly balanced by the possibility of resolving combat with weaker enemies automatically. I was not even pleased with the fluctuating framerate, in the docking version on the big screen, it is also clear that the game would benefit greatly from a higher resolution. On the other hand, a lot of handsome styling can save a lot, as well as the fact that in turn-based battles, an unreliable number of frames per second will not cause you an unjust death.
By the way, I would very much like to point out the musical accompaniment, which was extremely successful. The vast majority of melodies look incredibly fresh, they have the desired potential of “tempting on a journey of adventure”, when the authors were able to perfectly balance the orchestral pomp with subtle and positive ease. Big thumbs up.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin certainly does not embarrass the brand, and for many those interested, they may even be a good entry point to touch the world-famous brand before embarking on a slightly more hardcore main series. With dozens of hours to spend in the monster realm, this is a great choice for the empty summer months.
