Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin – Review

Our Rating: 8.5/10

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is set a few years after the events of the first game. Even though it is a sequel, it does not follow the events of the first game directly. To understand the history of this game, you don’t need to have played the first one. Given the first title’s niche feature, this is a success in and of itself.

Wings of Ruin places us in the shoes of a new Rider who hails from a small beach town. Riders are the polar opposite of Hunters in the franchise. Instead of hunting monstrous creatures like Rathalos, Rathian, and Zinogre, they tend to their eggs. Then, they will raise their offspring, and eventually form bonds with them, leading to them riding them.

The Rathalos vanished from the world in Monster Hunter Stories 2 following a mysterious event. One of the most revered members of this species leaves an egg, from which a fluffy cub endowed with legendary abilities will be born. This egg ends up in our character’s hands. When it hatches, it reveals that the little monster (dubbed Ratha ) is capable of carrying the so-called Wings of Ruin. This is an ancestral power that was prophesied to destroy the world.

The story is exceptionally well-written, with a cast of charismatic characters and engaging dialogue for the proposal. You’re never just collecting monsters for the sake of collecting them. The game puts everything in an almost epic context. This includes characters who accompany you on your journey and a story that knows how to mix fun, drama, and action.

Narrative X Gameplay Duration

MHS2 is a game that takes a long time to complete. This is great for the majority of the game, but it does cause some damage. On the plus side, we have a story that runs between 40 and 50 hours and doesn’t drag for the most part. However, the length of the story leads to some questionable choices along the way.

Perhaps the most important is the relationship between our character and the little monster Ratha. This is since it takes us about 10 hours of gameplay to obtain our own Rathalos. After so much time dealing with other creatures, it’s difficult to believe he’s your main little monster. It’s as if, in Pokémon, we get our initial around the third or fourth gym, which doesn’t make sense in terms of the plot.

In comparison to the others, the result is a small monster that takes a long time to appear and appears to be full of obstacles. However, the game “forces the bar” for it to be your “favorite” in the story. The issue is that in gambling, it usually ends up in the corner of your team, where it is rarely used, at least for the next few hours of the game.

This severely undercuts the empathic factor with which the story charges the player at one point. However, as the game progresses, this begins to be corrected gradually. The point is that if the player isn’t fully committed to immersing himself in the story, he won’t be interested in spending 20 hours with his main monster. One of the game’s few flaws is a kind of background noise between the story and the gameplay.

Combat

Here we have one of the game’s greatest assets, which is, after all, the foundation of all gambling. Monster Hunter Stories 2’s battles aren’t just “another turn-based battle” in the vein of the pocket monsters franchise. Battles have had their distinct personality since the first game in the series. It only got better with Wings of Ruin!

The series’ combat system is based on a jokenpo-style system, with three attack bases: strength, speed, and technique. Technique always trumps Speed, which trumps Strength. The most common moves in the game are based on this simple logic that divides monsters into groups.

This combat structure was a brilliant way of translating the main series’ behavior pattern recognition logic into Stories’ turn-based battle scheme that they discovered in the very first game. This is because creatures can change their attack pattern if they become too weak or take on a temporary form (like enraged, for example).

As a result, it is up to the player to anticipate the opponent’s behavior and choose the attack that will give him the upper hand. Monster Hunter Stories 2’s combat system, however, is more than just jokenpo. This time, the player can switch between up to three different weapons from the main franchise. Swords, hammers, bows, and other weapons are available to them. Your character isn’t just a “Pokémon trainer”; he takes part in battles as well.

Still a Monster Hunter

The weapon type system works the same way it does in the main series, with each monster or its parts having a greater vulnerability or resistance to a specific weapon type (divided here into cut, piercing, and bashing). With larger monsters, you can even choose which part of the creature your move will focus on, allowing you to break parts like horns, tails, and wings separately.

This part breaks to aid in both combat and ensuring that your loot contains more rare items by allowing the monster to be knocked down and vulnerable to critical hits. These items are used to make weapons and armor for our character, just like in the main series of the franchise.

There is still the possibility of combining attacks with our monster allies in the “jokenpo” scheme. If you and your creature attack with the same attribute (for example, strength), they can sync to deal more damage in certain situations. And while we’re on the subject of sync, the ultimate moves see Rider and monster collide in a massive blow that deals massive amounts of damage (Z-move, miss). However, you must first fill the energy bar, which will reset after the attack.

To top it off, we have special moves for each creature, special moves taught through a mechanic called Legacy, and power, strength, and air combat disputes, with mechanics similar to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, where you must twirl the analog stick, alternately press buttons or repeatedly punch the A button to win a 1v1 battle between two monsters.

A rich world to explore

The original MH Storie was not an open-world game, nor was the sequel. We have several limited paths to travel, with larger areas to be explored here and there, in keeping with the style of the Pokémon franchise. Monster Hunter Stories 2 presents something bigger, even though it is not yet a fully open map.

For those who have played the previous Pokémon games, Sword/Shield and Wings of Ruin, the entire map in Wings of Ruin appears to be made up of Pokémon’s “Wild Areas.” With large areas to explore, monsters roaming the map, resources to collect, treasure chests, monster nests that generate their procedural dungeons, and much more, there’s plenty to do.

It’s also worth noting that Monster Hunter Stories 2 is known to be more ” Pokémon ” than the most recent games in the pocket monsters franchise, with exploration mechanics that are eerily similar to the old “HM” of Pokémon, with features like breaking big rocks to reveal secrets, reaching hidden islands with monsters who can swim, and so on. All of this adds to the game’s scope and the level of immersion provided by your world.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 goes even further, with features such as invisibility for sneak attacks, climbing vines to gain access to new areas, jumping to leap cliffs, and roaring to chase away weaker monsters. Several details contribute to the game’s overall completion and satisfaction.

Well-thought-out mechanics for the best gameplay

Some paradigms in “creature fight” games are difficult to break. The grind is most likely one of the most important. The tedious, time-consuming, and monotonous process of raising new creatures from the ground up until they reach the level of your more experienced ones. And Monster Hunter Stories 2 has yet another huge hit on its hands.

For those who enjoy grinding, we have several features that will help you maximize the amount of experience your monsters gain without making the game too easy or repetitive. One of the most basic and useful features is the ability to skip extremely long attack animations while also speeding up combats by up to 3x, avoiding the boredom of repeating the same animations. The gradually released option to end battles instantly is perhaps the most ingenious feature.

To explain, when the game recognizes that your team is far superior to the monsters it is up against, it activates the “skip battle” option. This causes the opposing monsters to die instantly and provide you with the most experience and loot. It’s a reasonable system because it only appears when creatures are significantly weaker than you. At the same time, farming some items or training a new little creature among your level 40+ titans will be greatly facilitated.

In addition, the creatures’ farm is made in a very enjoyable manner. Either through the clever use of specific items, creature abilities, and the player’s abilities, or the game’s resources. One of the most important features is its multiplayer system, which we’ll discuss now.

PVP and PVE content

The game includes both cooperative and competitive content to the delight of all tribes. You will be able to fight your friends online using your favorite monsters in double battles, single battles, or tournaments. We also have PVE content, such as monster egg farming expeditions and co-op missions in which players face powerful creatures in exchange for resources.

Although the variety of post-game content will not be properly evaluated until a few months after the game’s release, Capcom has confirmed that it will maintain a significant focus on that content in the coming months. This comes with the addition of new updates and content. Seasonal updates with events and the like will potentially extend the game’s lifespan for years. Especially with so much content already available and online multiplayer capabilities (provided everything is done right, of course).

Final Thoughts

Monster Hunter World has elevated the quality of the franchise’s flagship games to a new level. Eventually earning it the designation of “AAA”. Now, in 2021, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a new step in the right direction. After all, the game is much bigger than the first, which is fantastic.

Not only does it have a stunningly improved visual appearance, but it also has gameplay that improves on its predecessor’s offering in every way. It’s not just more monsters or more content in the same formula; it’s an evolution of what’s already been done. Always keeping in mind how to please returning players while also attracting new ones to the series.

True, Monster Hunter Stories lacks the charisma and cultural appeal of the Pokémon franchise. However, from a technical standpoint, this is a real lesson in how the Pocket Monsters franchise could evolve in a much more coherent and honest manner than it has in recent years. During the dozens of hours of gameplay, the qualities of Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin accumulate in heaps, making it one of the most pleasant surprises of 2021.