Introduction
Today we are going to review the second game in the Monster Hunter Stories Franchise, this second game is called the Wings of Ruin. If you have never played the first game in the series this might be a fun game but if you did, this game is a horrible disaster, I would like to call it Monster Hunter Stories 1,5. The story is almost the same and a lot of events have been retconned that happened in Monster Hunter Stories 1
What did I think before playing Monster Hunter Stories 2?
My wife never played the original Monster hunter Stories, but she heard from me the whole story and events, she was interested in the sequel as was I. However there were doubts as I once again saw a Rathalos as the main monstie. To make matters worse, I saw the same characters and I had a bad feeling. If you think things could not get worse, the main monstie Rathalos, is also called Ratha and there is also a guardian Ratha. I am already lost on this matter, let us press on to the information page of Nintendo.
The Nintendo Page
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/monster-hunter-stories-2-wings-of-ruin-switch/
The idea is the same as in Monster Hunter Stories 1, collect monsties and ride into battle with them! A quick search on Google provides us with the information that there are 89 monsties to be ridden. This is very bad as there are 109 in Monster hunter Stories 1. I assume there will be a lot of free DLC but in my professional opinion and from a gamers point of view, a new sequel should have as much monsties as part 1 and then with the DLC add more, not try to reach the same number with DLC! I am unsure if this is correct but I hope not!
Rating
I rate Monster Hunter Stories 2 with a 3.0 before playing.
There are already a lot of problems that I foresee with this game, but nonetheless, let us boot up the Wings of Ruin!
Story
Are you ready to step into an alternate universe? As this is what most likely happens in this game, it makes my head blow up, and not in a good way.
All over the world there are pits opening up, you are a newbie rider who finds a Rathalos, but you cannot hatch it yet. You live on an island where riders live in peace because hunters do not accept them. (wait…..) In Monster Hunter Stories 1, riders get accepted into the world and hunters embrace your rider arts? Uhm, well you need to head to Gildegaran, no wait that is not correct. The city is the same, but it is called Lulucion now. Even though only a few years have passed since Monster Hunter 1, I think?
Even though the city is named differently, is on a different place on the world map, (the whole world apparently has changed since the snow areas are now in a different place as well, but they are the same?) Other areas are also on a different spot. This is an extremely huge oversight! However, you will also encounter Reverto and other characters from Monster Hunter Stories, but their personalities have been changed, and they will act differently.
I am already lost in this plot and the sudden change of maps, wait if there is a huge problem? Why can’t they ask the rider from Monster hunter Stories 1 to help with his Ratha to help this Ratha? Well since that is impossible your Rathalos seems to be evil because a legend says so, you need to control him and prove the world otherwise. I am completely lost here, there is no way that a sane human being can follow this story.
Rating
I rate the story of Monster Hunter Stories with a 0.1.
This is insane, my head has blown up! What in heaven’s name is going on here!!? This absolutely makes no sense, how can the world change in a few years? Why do characters have amnesia about Monster Hunter Stories 1? Why is your Rathalos also a Ratha? Why is there a third Ratha? Where did the rider from Monster Hunter Stories 1 go? Why is Hakum village gone and replaced with the snow area? This is like throwing all turned down ideas for Monster Hunter Stories 1 into one huge pile and hope it turns out well!
Gameplay
The gameplay is almost an exact copy from Monster Hunter Stories 1. They tried to innovate and give you a party member, this means you will always have a partner with you. On paper this might sound great, in the game however, For a loss of words, this sucks balls. Your partner will keep dying, keep choosing the wrong attacks, heal or buff when unnecessary! You cannot even get rid of them! I have died a lot of times due to my partner dying. this feels more like an evil person trying to kill you.
Whereas Monster Hunter Stories 1 has a perfect balance by letting you obtain Monsties only when you have upgraded your kinship stone, this game lets you have the strongest monster in the game if you can acquire it from the beginning. Another huge problem is the English that they use in the game. Navirou sounds like Dora the Explorer!
Amazing elements from Monster Hunter Stories 1 like the Quropeco being able to summon enemies for grinding or getting the right egg, has been removed. Jewels that you can make to edit the gene pool for your monstie have also been removed. This game has you play a lot of co-op quests, even though this feels more like a single player game. The game also feels very unfair in battles, you will need to grind a lot to make sure that you can beat the enemies before your partner screws up.
There is a lot of postgame content but after rushing through the story, I lost at the end game boss after fighting for 1 hour and thirty minutes, why did I lose? The NPC said the final boss was going to use his super-duper move which hits for 999, which is very unfair. I used a kinship attack to interrupt the final boss, since the computer said I needed to. The boss did not use his attack…but he did use it next turn and wiped my party member, which made me lose the battle! I immediately rage-quit after this.
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Monster Hunter Stories 2 with a 0.1
If you play this game without having played the first game, You might be fine. Or if you just ignore all the bad elements but professionally, the developers dropped the ball big time on this game! I never finished the final boss and I never will, I rather play Dark Souls on level 1 without armor and even bare handed.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics are the only thing that might be a positive thing in this game, however I can see that almost every single thing has been recycled from the first game instead of creating new characters and more to show off the console power, they decided to recycle! All the special attacks from the Monsties are the same! You even get the same Monstie in the beginning, they even have the same field skills and a lot more problems! A few errors on the map is no big problem, but this looks like a different continent while it needs to be the same!
Sound
What can I say? Everything is recycled except for the new voice acting in English which is terrible, your character does not even speak unlike in Monster Hunter Stories 1. Why do you even have to choose the voice in the beginning, even though he does not speak or make sounds in battle?
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Monster Hunter Stories 2 with a 2.0.
Into the garbage with this recycled graphics!
What did I think after playing Monster Hunter Stories 2?
My wife disliked this game so much she started to play Monster Hunter Stories 1, she gave me the Switch controllers and said to me, figure it out. Welp, I walked through almost the whole game in sneak mode and defeated all opponents that needed to be fought except for the final boss. I hate that nasty party member, leave me alone, I can make much better tactical decisions if you leave me!
What can I say? This game is horrible and all I can say is that you are better off buying a 3DS and Monster Hunter Stories 1.
Rating
I rate Monster Hunter Stories 2 with a 1 after playing.
The story is messed up, the mechanics make no sense, the party member is annoying, all the graphics are recycled, the special attacks are recycled, the sound is recycled. Useful mechanics have been removed, the map has somehow changed and deleted Hakum village, even though Cheval lives there!? And to top it all off, Navirou sounds like Dora the Explorer, whereas in Monster hunter Stories 1 he actually was useful and fun! Stop with the donut jokes already, it is making me cringe!
What are my personal thoughts about Monster Hunter Stories 2?
Do you even need to ask? This game is horrible, mechanically wise and personal wise as well. I cannot give this *work* a good rating on any aspect.
Rating
My personal Rating of Monster Hunter Stories is a 0.1.
Last Words
Pros
- Collect new Monsties in this new Monster Hunter Stories game
- Can be a fun game if you have not played Monster Hunter Stories 1
Cons
- Navirou sounds like Dora the Explorer
- Important mechanics have been removed from Monster Hunter Stories 2
- The story is messed up and extremely convoluted
- The main monstie is once again a Rathalos with the same name, Ratha
- You will visit the same areas as in Monster Hunter Stories 1, but certain areas have magically disappeared
- You need to train monsters to use their genes
- Gene jewels have been removed
Avoid this game or buy it for five dollar. You should just go play Monster Hunter Stories 1!
Final Rating
1,2
Let me know what you think of Monster Hunter Stories 2 Wings of Ruin in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
Wow what a shame, this is the lowest rating I’ve seen you giving a game!
Hello Neighbor and Bounty Battle would like a word with you 😛
They also have bad ratings!
Rathi…
I don’t see the point of removing the fun factor from the game.
Me neither.
He’s Ratha, he’s Ratha, you’re Ratha! Are there any other Rathas I should know about ? 🙂
Well who knows, this game was terrible!
You can´t fault Nintendo for recycling, they are just really into nature preservation and the environment, that´s why they have been recycling the same few games for some 40 years.
All companies recycle graphics, but when you recycle the story, you are doing something wrong. And recycling means changing small bits, not just using a copy and paste button!
Damn, brutal review.
The truth can be hard sometimes, not all AAA games are good.
Low graphics is a no go!
It’s so complicated game.
Yeah…. you are better off playing part 1
Destroyed
lol
Harsh! It’s got the monster hunter formula in it.
For people new to the series this could be a fine entry point, it’s a shame they didn’t innovate
They just took the story from 1 and changed it up a bit which is very confusing, I think this is Monster Hunter 1 in an alternate universe where everyone is high lol
Well… nothing to comment on, except music could be better (don’t know how, I’m not an expert)
Warning – Cringe Jokes ahead!
“What did the hunter say when the Deviljho pinned him?”
“I’m in a bit of a pickle”
haha that is a terrible but fun joke 😛
One of the worst sequels?
What was your rating before touching the first game?
If you act as if the first game did not exist, it would be between a 7 and 8.
This game takes a lot of time
I agree, but it is not worth it!