Monster Hunter Stories 1 + 2 - 15 Things You Need To Know BEFORE YOU BUY

Monster Hunter has quickly become one of the genre's biggest and more successful franchises, and though the Monster Hunter Stories spinoffs have obviously not contributed an awful lot to that success, as those who’ve played the two games will tell you, they do still have their undeniable charm and appeal that makes them easy recommendations for fans of the style of game they’re going for.

Soon, the developer will be opening the gates for new players to dive into the turn-based Pokemon-inspired monster collecting and battling RPG duology with a remastered release of Monster Hunter Stories 1 on PS4, Switch, and PC, and a re-release of its sequel on PS4. Ahead of those imminent releases, here, we’re going to speak about all of the key details that you should know about the Stories games.

[sil.o.]

Monster Hunter Stories 1 has an extra nostalgia for me. The game got released early September of 2017, and since I live in Puerto Rico, well, Hurricane Maria hit on the 20th making life preeeettyyyy difficult for a while with no power around. This game got me through those times, i would walk to our local bakery who had a generator to charge my 3ds every day, and made sure to have it fully charged so by nighttime i was ready to tackle it again. I was jobless until early 2018 due to all of this and Wi-Fi was pretty unstable when we got it back, so playing this game offline was awesome. I of course have other MH franchise 3ds games but due to the circumstances, it was the perfect game to play since i really enjoy the other games mainly for the multiplayer hunts and again, Wi-Fi was crap during those days. Anyways, I am glad ill be able to play it again on my switch now, I got a 7month old little kiddo who I am pretty sure will also enjoy seeing me play it on the tv due to how colorful and fun it looks.

[regiman]

4:10 You do that in Stories too, because unlike Pokemon, YOU are also a fighter, you need to make wepaons and armor just like in the mainline MH games, which require various monster parts, minerals, plants and bugs.

[ajwalker]

Best. News. Ever! Monster Hunter Stories 1 was life for me when it was released towards the tail end of the Nintendo DS life span. I recently picked up MS2 during a Steam sale but now that I know the remaster for MS1 is coming on June 14th, I'll replay the first one first before diving into the second. Thanks so much for this bit of news. You've earned a sub!

[TheDrakeon]

If you already have 2 playasia has a version of this with only MH1 on it for a much cheaper price.

[SwedePotato]

I always loved monster hunter games but I would always get to a point where it would feel like I was overwhelmed and would be quickly outclassed. MHS never once felt like a chore to me or that it was too much or overwhelming me with information. While I love games that are in depth with in depth systems, I also have a life and as much as I’d love to commit to gaming as a full time job, I just can’t. Stories always felt like an escape for me and for a way for me to relieve stress while playing rather than getting even more stressed out. I adore this series so much. It’s the perfect meeting point for people who want more than Pokemon but aren’t able or willing to dive into the mainline MH series. I’ve played hundreds of hours of MHS between 3DS, 2 on switch and the first one again on my Samsung tablet, I’m even more excited to jump in again. It’s one game I’ll never not replay no matter what. I have so many other 3DS games I held out hope for coming to switch that never made it but I’m so excited this one barely slid in there!

[waxwinged_hound]

I picked up MHS2 when it came out after I was burned by Pokemon Sword and Shield. I looked around for other monster collecting games, but none of them had monster designs that really appealed to me. But then I came across the demo for Stories 2 and tried it out, and I loved it right away.

The designs are good, a bit more grounded in reality than Pokemon (no literal ice-cream cones here, just animals), a lot of them have body parts or perhaps entire designs inspired by or based on real animals. For example, Nargacuga has a cougar yowl, Aptonoth is based on a hadrosaur, and Zamtrios has a shark face and a frog body, and can swell up like a puffer fish.

The animations are great, no model bouncing like in Pokemon, the monsters have unique attack animations based on what kind of move they're doing. Their idle and walking/running animations are great too. All the animations are lifted from the mainline games, but that makes sense and they're very good regardless. Though it should be mentioned, a lot of monsters of the same body type share animations, for example Nargacuga and Tigrex have the same tail spin. That doesn't bother me but I thought I should mention it.

The combat is a bit more complicated and more difficult than Pokemon, and strategy is basically required in singleplayer, unlike in Pokemon singleplayer which is mostly just spam super effective moves. Also, each monster has its own weakness, elements don't have universal weaknesses. For example, Zamtrios is weak to Thunder while Lagombi is weak to Fire, even though both of them have the Ice element. Each battle is about knowing the monster's attack patterns. A monster might start out with Speed attacks, but then switch to Power when it gets angry.

Monster Hunter Stories, either of them, is a great introduction to Monster Hunter if you're a bit intimidated by the main series, which has a very steep learning curve. I didn't play the main series for years because I played a demo for Generations and I couldn't even beat the easiest monster in the list (the demos are also notoriously difficult if you've never touched the series before). But the knowledge of monsters that you gain from the Stories games is actually very useful in the mainline. They have the same attacks, elements, and weaknesses. But honestly, the Stories games are just great by themselves if all you want is a good monster collecting game.

That being said, I thought this would be a video about the differences between the first and second game. I've heard nothing about a demo, but I hope there will be one so I can see what changes there are in the remake (since there are some things I hated about the first game that they fixed in the second).

[justmeunicorn]

I randomly came across Monster Hunter Stories 1 while I was looking for a good game. I will never regret buying the full game after reaching the end of the demo.

[diegobautista]

I really like mhs my ocd won't let me play a normal playthrough without trying to get the best genes on the monsters. So much time poured into caves and eggs. I forgot this game was coming out. Thanks

[sanctherion]

4:30 Excuse me, what's namatros? I'm seeing a zamtrios.

[Logan-efhq]

Would be cool if it had a reverse cover so i could just have monster hunter stories 1 on the front of the case

[JeannieLove]

I'm super looking forward to replaying these back to back with Trophy Support. I'm also looking forward to people playing the first for the first time. The best part, we finally get the Japan only content.

[kaiokado]

The answer is -12 if you also thought the title had an equation in it.

[dillanphillips]

I loved playing MHS2 (even though I wasn’t to terribly good at it) I hope that they’ll add new monsties like Fatalis especially

[superhenrybrother]

Hope there will be monster hunter stories 3

[mrwiggles]

before you buy ……. huh maybe i should of watch the video before i bought the game oh well

[Mintcar]

After playing a little of the demo for MHS2 I decided to pick it up.. So preordering the first one was a no brainer.. I know nothing about Pokemon.. It just reminded a little of Dragon Quest with a monster riding theme

[MobPsycho..]

I played and completed monster hunter stories 1 like 10 times with different monsties.
Can anyone tell me some games similar to mhst (offline and genuine with no need to buy anything) for Android

[highwhen]

Is the Steam Monster Hunter Stories 2 getting any update with the new release?

[It_is_Teh]

how come 2, which came out so long ago (and doesn't look good) looks better than the remaster 1 tell me

[walterwelches]

Seems like an Ai generated video. Can’t get past 3 minutes