I love the Monster Hunter Stories games. Monster Hunter has always had an aesthetic I liked, but I’ve always been more of a menu driven RPG gamer than an action RPG gamer, plus I never played multiplayer games, only single player games, so I stayed away from them, but when the first Monster Hunter Stories game was released for 3DS I was all over it. Finally an entry point into this universe, and its a monster collector? One of my favorite genres! I fell in love. When the second one came out, I was similarly blown away as they fleshed out the cute and fun world and game mechanics into a more complex, mature world and game while still retaining a silly, fun vibe. So expectations were high coming in for me for Monster Hunter Stories 3. And I can safely say, I loved the game, but I still came away feeling disappointed. Monster Hunter Stories 3 is a great game, but it feels unfinished, unpolished, and a pale imitation of its immediate predecessor in many ways. A fine entry, but perhaps a sign that the series may have run out of ideas.
So, first of all, let’s talk story. The original Monster Hunter Stories had a very silly story and vibe, very old school RPG for kids vibe. It was light and fun and mostly stayed out of the way of the gameplay. The second game ramped up the amount of the story and the seriousness of that story, but was also better written enough to sustain that more serious tone, but maintaining enough of the silliness to still feel connected to its original vibe, which is a tough balance to walk. I could imagine someone criticizing it for having more plot when its plot still wasn’t great, but I felt it overall was at least a lateral move over its predecessor, or even an improvement. Monster Hunter Stories 3 is even more serious still, with its silly moments mostly limited to side stories and this is definitely to its detriment. However, the plot segments were generally quite short and to the point, so although I was initially concerned by the end I found the plot did what it needed to do - act as a directional framing device for banger gameplay. The plot isn’t the best thing in the universe but its engaging enough and fun enough and its not what we’re here for, despite the name of the game.
Okay, now for a weird tangent. Character creator. The character creator is fine, but the protagonist of the original games was a child, and then in the second game a teenager, and in this one a grown adult. But the options do not feel like they have aged quite appropriately. The only beard is like the wimpiest goatees. The hair options are diverse but simultaneously a narrow range of styles so you always end up looking very samy. In all three games I ended up playing nearly identical pig tailed anime girls because I couldn’t make a male protagonist who looked like me. I’d like more options. Body type options, scaling options, hair style options. It does honestly seem like there are seven hundred options but they only let you make six guys. Maybe its just an art style thing. But this didn’t feel as bad when it was a child protagonist as an adult, for me.
How is the gameplay? Pretty stellar. They’ve crunchified things a bit more and made a lot of mechanics more explicit, and continue to refine dual element monsties in ways to make them more useful, a good choice since it encourages customization. There are tons of different ways to build a successful character and monstie team, every monstie is viable, and they give you the tools to have fun fast. The bones were strong from previous games but they have only strengthened them. I’ve seen some complaints about the changes making head to heads less important and I can see that, but I found the different focus an interesting challenge. I don’t know that either style is better, necessarily, but the twist in of itself is interesting so the game style doesn’t get stale. I hope they continue to tweak things like this in the future.
However, half the game is missing. There are no rider fights anymore, which account for half the strategy and most of the reason for multitarget moves in previous games. There’s no online fights, a staple of the series before this point. Dens used to be mini dungeons, now they are just egg holes, which was a change I adjusted to without much complaint, but a far bigger loss are everdens from the second game, which were loads of fun, especially the online raid mode. Now, I’m guessing these features were cut because Capcom didn’t think enough people made use of them in the previous game, but I loved them, and really felt their loss here. I played the second game for several extra months just to do online raids, and having just beat the third game earlier today I never intend to turn it back on again.
And that’s another thing, too. The second game had post game content. At least one huge post game dungeon. I think the first game did too? I didn’t finish the first game’s dungeon I think, but did the second games, except for the final boss, if I remember correctly, because it wiped me even after months of grinding. I think, anyway, honestly it was years ago, but the point is, they had huge post games! This game? Nothing. I loaded up my end game save and I have all the same quests as before. I had done almost all of them, including beating two of the elder dragons most online sites label post game content, and my motivation to finish them kinda flopped. Maybe I will, I’d like to say I 100%ed it and I am close. But there’s nothing after that. Unless of course doing eveything unlocks a final dungeon or something. If so comment here making fun of me and I’ll go back and play it. But I cannot help feeling disappointed to find that was it, there is no more, the game is done.
Now, let me be clear. I put 110 hours into this game. Its a lot of game. Its a lot of good game. But it cannot help but feel lesser than what came before it, because it is lesser. It either had a smaller budget, or it spent its budget less wisely than its predecessor. So, if you are a fan of the game series, if you liked Monster Hunter Stories 2, would I recommend you play this? Yes, its a great game, you will love it, but probably not as much as 2. If you have never played a Monster Hunter Stories game, would I recommend you play this? Well, maybe, but honestly, play 1 or 2 first. You could skip 1, but I wouldn’t. But play one of those first, because I think 1 has more charm and 2 has more meat on its bones. And then when they make you fall in love, then play this one. Monster Hunter Stories is in my opinion one of the best single player monster collection experiences that have been created, better than any mainline Pokemon game, and more people should play them, but this is not the best of them.
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