The GWJ JRPG Club - Q3 2021 - Monster Hunter Stories!

The performance hasn't bothered me at all in this game. I'm usually very adamant about having smooth frame rates, but it's a turn-based game on a older console, plus it's really pushing the hardware. I think they chose a good art style here. Big chunky graphics and bright colours can go a long way.

The weird mannequin looking NPCs are...unsettling (especially the child model) but not a dealbreaker.

Anyway, onto the dessert! I'm finding the story very dry so I listen to podcasts while I play. It's a nice bedtime activity

Edit: re: performance. I'm using a New 3DS. May be running smoother.

A_Unicycle wrote:

Anyway, onto the dessert! I'm finding the story very dry so I listen to podcasts while I play. It's a nice bedtime activity

Monster Hunter games' stories have never been that interesting, so that's hardly surprising.

Haha, yes true. It's still a shame considering the genre swap.

Mechanics are so good though, so I don't mind.

bobbywatson wrote:

Are DLC questions marked as 'Special Quests'? If yes, then yes, they are available on the phone version right from the get-go, I did not have to do anything special to get them. They are all listed at the beginning, but I wasn't able to accept any of them at first. They are slowly unlocking as I am moving forward in the game.

One thing I noticed: There is a limit to how many quests can be accepted at once. I hit that limit yesterday.

I guess I was most curious about whether the DLC would give you monstie eggs early or items that unbalance the game/spoil anything. Also causing quest confusion, but I noticed in the 3DS when you go to the quest board there is a separate section for "DLC Subquests", so it's probably safe. Mostly I want to be able to experience the game normally without having a ton of extra bonuses (like special monsties or items) that would have come out after people had played through the game a decent chunk already.

Yeah, one of the people in the starting town mentions that you can only have 30 subquests registered at once but you can freely abandon them in town.

Has anyone found a Rathian on the map? I have a subquest for one, but I can't find any

Progress update: I made it to the desert area this weekend, and have beaten the first two area bosses

Spoiler:

(Hermitaur and Barroth)

, and am on my way to the third

Spoiler:

(Cephadrome).

The game's story many not be that interesting, but I'm having a blast so far. I may be a bit overleveled though, the last encounter was kind of easy.

I have found 28 poogies so far as well

bobbywatson wrote:

Has anyone found a Rathian on the map? I have a subquest for one, but I can't find any :(

My Monsterpedia says its habitat is:

Spoiler:

Monsonne Plains

Yeah, I know, but I can't find any... Oh well, guess I'll wait, I'm sure I'll meet one eventually.

Qurupeco has an ability to call monsters, I'll try that this afternoon.

I reached the volcano area this morning, and I think I unlocked the last things that weren't unlocked yet:

Spoiler:

monster expeditions and flying.

I'm probably going to spend a few hours completing side quests, as I've reached the limit and I'd like to get some of the forging quests out of the way. The big problem with the forging quests for me has been money: I've done a lot of sidequests, and yet I feel like I never have enough. I get the impression that I am not supposed to get all the weapons and armors and yet, I want to.

Update: Got my Rathian on the third try. Now I wonder if I can paintball those summoned monsters. I'll have to try that next time I boot the game.

Update 2: Summoned monsters will sometimes indeed lead the player to their dens.

bobbywatson wrote:

Yeah, I know, but I can't find any... :(

Oh, sorry; I didn't mean to state the obvious.

I looked at my Monsterpedia from my previous playthrough (just before starting over), and I couldn't quite remember how/when the habitat is divulged.

I'm glad to see you figured it out.


So, speaking of starting over, I did so last night (I've been on the road and didn't take my 3DS with me).

In my previous playthrough I pretty much did everything I could as soon as I could, e.g., gathering everything in sight, collecting all available monsties, and completing all sub-quests. I think spent about ten hours just in Pondry Hills.

This time around will be more expedited and I've reached the second area much more quickly.

Random thoughts:

* Even upon a replay, it's so refreshing to hear classic MH sounds and feel the pun-tastic vibe again after the serious business of MH:World.

* In battle, seeing the same attack animations as in the mainline series is very satisfying to watch, both in the pc and the monsters.

* Having experience with the mainline series feels somewhat helpful in guessing monster tendencies, although it seems that "technical" is the fallback if a monster doesn't easily fit within "speed" or "power".

* I've always been a big fan of field ability mechanics in RPGs, e.g., in Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, equipping an axe can cut trees and the cat claw can climb walls, so I'm delighted to find a similar mechanic here with monsties' abilities.

Wow, the boss at the end of the desert area is no joke. I thought I'd beaten the are because the last 2 big fights were fairly challenging...Oof. I got wiped so I'm grinding up a little bit more. I've heard Zamtrios can help here, but I don't feel like grinding up another Monster from level 1 - my gened-up rathian is already really good!

Also didn't realise just how crucial sidequests are. Many of them give you skills to use in battle, some of which are very helpful. A lot of sidequests reward you for doing what you'd be doing as you progress anyway, so there's no reason not to pick up every single one you see in town.

I just unlocked the Rite of Channeling today and can start gene-splicing my monsties. It is a little more restricted than I was expecting, but it makes a lot of sense I guess. I will have to see what kind of monstrosities I can make with it.

The story is nice and light-hearted so far, which is refreshing. There's no world ending threat to take care of, or deep mystery to solve. It is just a romp through the fields with your monsties and a silly cat.

Still been relying heavily on my Velocidrome since I just found my first Lagombi last night and those are the only two speed monsters available in the first two areas. I now have too many types of monsters so I can't keep one of each leveled up and have to start making choices about what kind of monsters I like (plus what field skills I want to have available). I am worried that Zamtrios is the only swimmer available as I don't really like their look or their normal ground movement.

Glad to see you're all off to a great start! I'm sitting on the sidelines for now -- got started on Lords of Xulima (a PC RPG) a few weeks back, I'm decently far in, and I'd really like to finish it before I move on to a new RPG. That probably means I won't be back in until August.

Got through that desert boss. Using sonic bombs helped a lot! Lots of little things like that carry over from the core games, so cool.

Now I can use all the fun new monsties I needed a lvl 4 Kinship stone for! Yay!

I've reached the desert, but barely squeaked by the boss to get there.

I've had more close calls this time around than in my previous playthrough, but then again I'm not over leveled by doing every sub-quest I could find like last time.

A_Unicycle wrote:

Got through that desert boss. Using sonic bombs helped a lot! Lots of little things like that carry over from the core games, so cool.

Now I can use all the fun new monsties I needed a lvl 4 Kinship stone for! Yay!

Huzzah! I just reached this point, too, although my approach often leaves me starving for potions.

My trusty Yian Kut-Ku is still going strong, but perhaps it's time I tried bagging a Pink Rathian.

Ted wrote:
A_Unicycle wrote:

Got through that desert boss. Using sonic bombs helped a lot! Lots of little things like that carry over from the core games, so cool.

Now I can use all the fun new monsties I needed a lvl 4 Kinship stone for! Yay!

Huzzah! I just reached this point, too, although my approach often leaves me starving for potions.

My trusty Yian Kut-Ku is still going strong, but perhaps it's time I tried bagging a Pink Rathian.

Tried that yesterday. It did not go well. I will try again today with my Diablos and Urugaan.

I made it to the Snow region, and got up to the town where I could buy better equipment, which will hopefully mean I'm taking less damage, since the first time I fought a Zamtrios in a den I got absolutely worked over. Still won, but had to use more healing items in that one battle than the entire game up to that point.

I picked up a Khezu, so now my balance is 1 Speed / 2 Power / 2 Technical. (Velocidrome/Azuros and Bulldrome / Khezu and Blue Yian Kut-Ku). So far I don't feel like I'm shuffling my team all that much, since the Velocidrome and Azuros largely carried me through Pondry hills. The only ones who have really been bumped from the squad are the herbivore fillers, and the regular Yian Kut-Ku. Eventually I'm sure there will be more team turnover as we get to the stronger monsters, and as we get more variation, but not yet. I see those elemental resist stats on the stat pages so that'll probably matter more later on as well.

I dislike a bit that every monster starts at level 1, since you either have to get your eggs as fast as possible when you get to a new region, do some grinding to get them caught up in stats, or save all your sidequests to turn in until after you fill out your roster to give them that big exp boost, none of which are my favorite solutions. I guess the shared experience system at least saves some grinding time.

The "bait" items I think are supposed to help you get a new monstie to a fighting level. I have not used very many yet because I have not had a lot of roster churn and I am not sure what monsters like which type of item. Anyone have an idea or find some resources online for them?

Who would've thought that the Great Jaggi, a very early monster in MH3 and 4, would turn out to be packing quite a punch! Damn! That thing made me lose two hearts in one battle... Time to get new equipment, I guess...

I should probably change some of my roster, too. To be honest, I don't pay that much attention to my pokémon's monsties's stats, and it's definitely showing now (I'm reached the cat village this morning).

I'm working my way through the volcano area at the moment, spending way too much time hunting for new monsters means slow progress but being over-leveled has meant only one or 2 deaths so far.

Random thoughts:
* There seems to be a lot going on with the monster stats. Even among the same species, I have a few which are the same level but one has 50+ more HP than the other. Add in the gene splicing, which I haven't used at all apart from the tutorial, and I feel like there is a lot I am missing out on as I basically pick the highest rarity and level monsters I have.

* Armor and weapons seem the same way, there are a lot available but I haven't really played around with them much. I am just picking one at each level and upgrading that until the next level comes available.

* There is not much going on with the story at all, the characters are fun but the plot itself is very generic

* Outside of those nitpicks I'm having a great time, the combat is fun, even grinding is rewarding with different crafting materials and eggs always coming in handy. The ability to re-do sub-quests for the same rewards helps keep farming each new area before moving on worthwhile too

So far I am finding it the perfect game to sink 20 minutes into before bed each night, only to suddenly realize it's midnight (I'm old, midnight is late!).

So far I am finding it the perfect game to sink 20 minutes into before bed each night, only to suddenly realize it's midnight (I'm old, midnight is late!).

Exactly what keeps happening to me! It's cozy in the same way Dragon Quest is.

Something I enjoy is how no egg goes unwasted. You're constantly grinding up monsters for genes, or sending them on expeditions to level up for more skills, that you can then slot into your main party. It's a very cool system.

There's a lot of wasted potential with the story. Riders vs hunters is a neat idea for the franchise, but it's a total snoozefest.

Cronox wrote:

* There seems to be a lot going on with the monster stats. Even among the same species, I have a few which are the same level but one has 50+ more HP than the other. Add in the gene splicing, which I haven't used at all apart from the tutorial, and I feel like there is a lot I am missing out on as I basically pick the highest rarity and level monsters I have.

This is probably due to the Genes on the monsties. If you get any type of genes in a line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal), you get an "anything bingo" which gives an HP boost. Matching types gives other types of bingos, like 3 fire genes giving a fire damage boost. I have a Zamtrios who if I could unlock one slot and put a gene there would get two more bingos instantly due to the way his base genes were placed. I couldn't ever find a good Arzuros or Lagombi though, sadly. I have probably spent too much time trying to find good monsties this early in the game.

Yeah, the genes thing is the one that gets me right now. I've given a few of my crew some new genes and gotten the anything bingo, but I'm just off from getting some 3 of a kind bonuses. None of the eggs I've found so far have those bonuses in the right spots. This seems like the sort of thing one might grind out for post game content or online battles, but hopefully won't be necessary for most of the game itself, due to how random everything in.

Malkroth wrote:

I have probably spent too much time trying to find good monsties this early in the game.

Seconded.

I think I'm getting close to the end. I'm around 34 hours in, chasing after

Spoiler:

Kinship Stones

, and I just got my ass handed to me by

Spoiler:

Cheval

.

Some random thoughts:
* This is definitely a portable game. I don't feel the need to play it for hours on end. Dragon Quest, I felt I could play all day. Not MHS. After 30 minutes or an hour, I'm done and it's time to do something else. That may have something to do with the fact that I'm playing on my phone and not on the TV, though. Holding my phone for long periods of time is not super comfortable.
* I'm sure there is a lot of min-maxing that can be done, but I don't feel like I need to do any of it to be able to complete the story (so far anyway). I think I wiped twice so far, and that's because I was reckless, not because the bosses were tough.
* My main roster, right now, is still Red Khezu, Rathalos, Qurupeco, Tigrex, Diablos, and another one I can't remember. Red Khezu is surprisingly powerful, considering it's a monster I got in the snowy area.

I bet the phone form factor is indeed a contributor to shorter sessions.

According to my 3DS' activity tracker, my average session is 3:15, although that is probably a little inflated now that I tend to simply shut-sleep my 3DS instead of closing out and turning off, like I did during my first playthrough.

I've been taking this one slow, but I'm in the snowy area now. I definitely spent a little too long doing the side quests because every boss so far has been a breeze. Not really a problem, as the exploration is what's really ticking my fancy in this game.

I think I reached the final area of the game. If all goes well, I should be able to roll credits later today or tomorrow.

Quick question for folks playing on 3DS: Is the map as bad on 3DS as it is on the phone?

On the phone, I can touch it to bring it to the forefront, and I can zoom, but that's it. It doesn't show any icon (which would be useful for side quests), and I can't scroll. These two things make the map almost completely useless... Also, touching anywhere outside of the map makes it go away. I really wish Capcom had added a 'Close' button instead. As it is, I find it very easy to dismiss by accident.

Sounds like the 3DS map is a little better.

It resides on the bottom screen and has normal and zoomed levels.

No panning, though; touching it toggles the zoom.

Sub-quest markers are shown in blue, as opposed to orange for the story quests.

The quest markers for 3DS are optional, they can be turned off and on in the options. As Ted said, the map is pretty basic with a zoomed and non zoomed version. I find the zoomed version to be too zoomed in to be much use though. And when you use a monsties' search skill, it automatically zooms in.

I should have said 'quest givers' (in town) and not 'quests', because the phone version also has the orange and blue markers.

So, it sounds like they're both the same.