Oh, I thought you were talking about general public, not GAF.
Even the XX OT is pretty sparse. Sadly, Monster Hunter isn't a HUGE name in the west.
I agree about Stories about being an underrated game though, it's unfortunate.
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Monster Hunter Stories |OT| Pi-Khezu, I Choose You!
- Thread starter PhoenixSFT
- Start date
Oh, I thought you were talking about general public, not GAF.
Even the XX OT is pretty sparse. Sadly, Monster Hunter isn't a HUGE name in the west.
I agree about Stories about being an underrated game though, it's unfortunate.
Yeah, the monster-training genre is sadly neglected outside Pokemon. If not even Dragon Warrior can crack it for sales in the West...
The genre has had some amazing entries and I wish the variations and advancements would catch on... but reading the majority of reviews for Stories that write it off as having overly simplistic combat is just emblematic of why these don't take off - they never even get a fair shake.
god this game is so good
like not as much dpeth as pokemon (how can you after 7 generation) but the gameplay is much more satisfying
soo preeeeetty and runs at 60-30 frames for the majority of gameplay, even in 3d mode with more complex models to boot (side eyes gamefreak)
also the cinematography and va on the cutscenes is way better than it has any right to be for this adorable babby rpg game
I found navirou annoying in the demo but halfway through the game you just wanna give him a hug and be best pals furrever
like not as much dpeth as pokemon (how can you after 7 generation) but the gameplay is much more satisfying
soo preeeeetty and runs at 60-30 frames for the majority of gameplay, even in 3d mode with more complex models to boot (side eyes gamefreak)
also the cinematography and va on the cutscenes is way better than it has any right to be for this adorable babby rpg game
I found navirou annoying in the demo but halfway through the game you just wanna give him a hug and be best pals furrever
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Is PVP required? Or is the non-PVP still as meaty?
As far as I know the pvp is optional. you get egg fragments for winning and those can turn into eggs if you get enough. Reviews seem to quote around 50+ hours for the main story, but there's also post game - I don't know how much of that factored into the "50+" timeframe for the reviewers, if at all.
I've been playing pretty slowly today.
Seriously the animation work is on-point. I mean, the main games are stellar too, so I assume they were able to pull from that database or have some of that talent work on this.
Seriously, fuck Z moves from Sun/Moon. They ain't got shit on the ride moves in this game. Not only that, but you have to earn the right to use the fuckers. Build that meter up, then call them shots to get to level 3 and lay down the PAIN anime style.
Interface23
Member
Again I ask can you get more monsties than just the two Kut-ku, Velocidrome, Azuros, and Apto in the first area? Also I thought Lagombi would be in the second area but I haven't seen his egg yet...
God I love the ride moves, and how filled with friendship + either hilarity or pure awesome they are
Lagombi will appear in the second area if you forward the plot
He is in the second area, you'll get a quest relevant to him. Make him retreat using a paintball and go to his den and you should find it there.
Shadow Broker
Banned
Ok so I started and still am playing the demo and here are my thoughts so far.
Why a triangle battle system? If you're not going to go as deep as Pokémon with in depth types weaknesses and coverage it doesn't work in my opinion. Why not create a battle system where you have your monsters main attacks which can be their claws or elemental breath, a status move, Rider's weapon attacks, and the double team attacks and make it so that a particular monster would be weak and strong against one of those attacks IF there even needs to be weaknesses in this series? Make it so that the Riders weapons attack can be diverse depending on the weapon so that the rider can cover his/hers monster weakness.
I really like the demo so far but I need to play with the battle system more before I decide to buy or not. I like the demo the same way I liked the Youkai Watch demo but I ultimately didn't buy the Youkai Watch game because of the battle system.
Why a triangle battle system? If you're not going to go as deep as Pokémon with in depth types weaknesses and coverage it doesn't work in my opinion. Why not create a battle system where you have your monsters main attacks which can be their claws or elemental breath, a status move, Rider's weapon attacks, and the double team attacks and make it so that a particular monster would be weak and strong against one of those attacks IF there even needs to be weaknesses in this series? Make it so that the Riders weapons attack can be diverse depending on the weapon so that the rider can cover his/hers monster weakness.
I really like the demo so far but I need to play with the battle system more before I decide to buy or not. I like the demo the same way I liked the Youkai Watch demo but I ultimately didn't buy the Youkai Watch game because of the battle system.
Interface23
Member
Neat. So I probably should not run around the first/second area looking for rare dens and just move on with the story? I've been running around for a few hours looking for golden dens hoping to get a cool Monstie I can use.
From what I've experienced/seen so far in regards to the RPS aspect to basic attacks it is to make it a level playing field and all monsters viable in battle. In SP it means you learn monster tendencies (an adapted aspect from mainline series) and fits in thematically with monster personalities. It also allows mind-games in PvP as there are purposes to do the various 3 attacks aside from just random RPS elements.
These basic attack aspects are deepened by the special moves and abilities. I posted a video on the previous page of a PvP fight that sort of exemplifies how and why the RPS system works when layered with special abilities and strategies. It allows for more versatile customization compared to something like Pokemon. A huge percent of pokemon are "worthless" from a competitive standpoint purely because of numbers. Simplifying that aspect has allowed most (if not all?) of these monsters to be viable - certainly more viable than pokemon.
Again, I have not played through the entire game, but watched a few PvP battles and there looks to be some cool strategic elements. I haven't read much about meta as there hasn't been much japanese coverage in english, so hopefully there's no straight up busted strats that make other options un-viable.
I did the same. Much like the main game, this game gates your access to good stuff behind progression. Instead of armor parts via new animals to fight, you get to the new animal nests to get the better/newer eggs.
Do them if you want for getting new Monsties and then eventually you'd have to continue progressing the story so that you can access new areas and get new monsters because of the monster rarity level on your kinship stone.
Once you reach the main town, you gain access to a forge much like in the main games. At that point you can make a huge variety of armour and weapons, granting various skills and elemental abilities to the rider. There are also bonuses in wearing matching armour to the creature you ride. You also gain access to channeling in the second area- adding new genes (including elemental abilities and new skills) to your monsters, which brings their elemental bonuses and resistances Into play, and more battle effects like breath weapon fights. Also more items, to unlock further skill slots in channeling. None of these are in the demo, all of them vastly expand on the battle system. The 'triangle' only really covers head-to-head battles, which are prevelent in the demo as the rider and basic monsters have few skills to use otherwise. Once you leave the first area, complexity increases very quickly, including consumable items like traps etc too. It's possible to go entire battles without using head-to-head fights by refusing them (the red line linking the enemy and you/your monster indicates one will occur) and using skills instead, and telling your Monster to refuse them where you suspect they would lose based on attack patterns.
The demo only really introduces the most basic concept of the Monster having a tendency for speed, power or tech attacks, later monsters will spend much of the battle using a variety of powerful elemental skills, buffs and debuffs instead. It's a bit like RPGs where the first few hours all you can do is hammer attack, and then later on you have loads of skills and so only do it when there's no better option, you are low on mp or to build combos.
Ran into trouble when experimenting with Peco in the second area (having gone back there to summon monsters to fight just after reaching the city) and panicked when we summoned a bloody Tigrex! 
I was having a bit of trouble towards the end of the fight where the monster becomes enraged (Tigrex gets double attacks), and realised that rider Affinity with a monster doesn't disappear when a monster moves into reserve. As it doesn't cost you a turn to swap monster, you can spend the early part of the battle building Affinity across your squad, then when the monster goes crazy, start swapping in monsties with full Affinity bars to spam rider attacks and end the fight quickly, limiting the amount of turns you need to survive the enraged mode.
I was having a bit of trouble towards the end of the fight where the monster becomes enraged (Tigrex gets double attacks), and realised that rider Affinity with a monster doesn't disappear when a monster moves into reserve. As it doesn't cost you a turn to swap monster, you can spend the early part of the battle building Affinity across your squad, then when the monster goes crazy, start swapping in monsties with full Affinity bars to spam rider attacks and end the fight quickly, limiting the amount of turns you need to survive the enraged mode.
Shadow Broker
Banned
I'll check out the video you posted sometime tonight once I get the chance. When it comes to Pokémon I wish that at the very least every final evolution was competitively viable in someway. Game Freak reallly needs to go back and take a look at all of the previous Pokémon to see if they can be fixed to be more viable online.
As for this game *notices and reads the quoted post below*
Holy shit dude. You just sold me on this game. Im still am going to complete the demo first and I'm going to check out a few videos on YouTube. Once I do that and get some sleep tomorrow morning I'll go and pick it up.
Lanrutcon
Member
Few more tip bits:
- Check back with previous areas every time you upgrade your kindship stone. New monsters are around without telling you.
- You need the following traversal skills to get everything: jump, climb, dig, smash (the second, better version), swim and fly.
- Check your monster's potential stat gains in the monsterpedia once you've caught one. You'd be amazed how some early game monsters have very good stats (Black Diablos!)
- Don't release monsties unless they have no genes. Later on you will need a good spread of genes to tailor your endgame monsties. Dragon type genes (purple) are super handy late game.
- Prioritize sub quests that reward crafting recipes. It makes life so much easier when you can make the cool shit and not rely on treasures.
- Monsters in the open world respawn if you move a certain distance away. Use this to grind a particular enemy. Find something you can kill easily that's worth 5 to 7k xp, and just hit it over and over.
- The quality of the trinkets you find is tied to how late the area was unlocked in the game. So the later story areas give way better trinkets than the first few. Don't bother farming trinkets (yellow ores) until you're near the end of the story. The stuff you get there is magnificent.
- Like a specific elemental move but your favorite monstie doesn't have it? transfer it with a gene. I've found that often a weaker monstie species has a superior move to a late game monster of the same element. Transfer the right gene, and suddenly you have good stats and a good moveset.
- (Slight spoiler)
- Check back with previous areas every time you upgrade your kindship stone. New monsters are around without telling you.
- You need the following traversal skills to get everything: jump, climb, dig, smash (the second, better version), swim and fly.
- Check your monster's potential stat gains in the monsterpedia once you've caught one. You'd be amazed how some early game monsters have very good stats (Black Diablos!)
- Don't release monsties unless they have no genes. Later on you will need a good spread of genes to tailor your endgame monsties. Dragon type genes (purple) are super handy late game.
- Prioritize sub quests that reward crafting recipes. It makes life so much easier when you can make the cool shit and not rely on treasures.
- Monsters in the open world respawn if you move a certain distance away. Use this to grind a particular enemy. Find something you can kill easily that's worth 5 to 7k xp, and just hit it over and over.
- The quality of the trinkets you find is tied to how late the area was unlocked in the game. So the later story areas give way better trinkets than the first few. Don't bother farming trinkets (yellow ores) until you're near the end of the story. The stuff you get there is magnificent.
- Like a specific elemental move but your favorite monstie doesn't have it? transfer it with a gene. I've found that often a weaker monstie species has a superior move to a late game monster of the same element. Transfer the right gene, and suddenly you have good stats and a good moveset.
- (Slight spoiler)
There's a specific story battle against an enemy that will attack twice every turn from the start of the battle. It has 2 extra parts to break. For the love of god, break the tail first.
If you push it into berserk while it still has its tail you are done.
If you push it into berserk while it still has its tail you are done.
I forgot about that, that and getting rewards for filling out the monsterpedia and rescuing poogies.
Lanrutcon
Member
Oh, and info dump fan site: http://www.mhkita.com/stories/index.php
Edit:
- Aim for S rank wins when you can. The rare drops off late game story enemies sell for 1.5k. Combine that with some xp grinding, and you will always have some funds.
- Just because you can't use a monster yet, doesn't mean you can't wear its gear. Fight monsters above your star rating and make super gear! You have access to at least one monster of a higher star rank than what you can tame at any point in the story.
- Find an entrance to a zone near where dens spawn, keep entering and exiting until a rare den spawns. Go get yourself a sweet egg (use an egg guide to check what your egg will hatch into)
- Your stat screen for a monstie shows the growth type. Keep the growth type in mind when checking a monster's stats. Some monsters only really bloom at high levels (50+)
- Save your barrel bombs until you can make em/get em from a certain enemy. Barrel bombs are very handy, but have a specific use against a special enemy you'll randomly encounter throughout the game. Using a barrel bomb against this enemy results in 12k xp.
- The items that unlock gene slots are stupidly rare. Don't waste em. Hell, don't use em til you're in postgame.
- Stats from genes stack, skills do not. Putting two Attack(L) genes will result in +4 attack, but only one copy of Attack Up(L) will work.
Edit:
- Aim for S rank wins when you can. The rare drops off late game story enemies sell for 1.5k. Combine that with some xp grinding, and you will always have some funds.
- Just because you can't use a monster yet, doesn't mean you can't wear its gear. Fight monsters above your star rating and make super gear! You have access to at least one monster of a higher star rank than what you can tame at any point in the story.
- Find an entrance to a zone near where dens spawn, keep entering and exiting until a rare den spawns. Go get yourself a sweet egg (use an egg guide to check what your egg will hatch into)
- Your stat screen for a monstie shows the growth type. Keep the growth type in mind when checking a monster's stats. Some monsters only really bloom at high levels (50+)
- Save your barrel bombs until you can make em/get em from a certain enemy. Barrel bombs are very handy, but have a specific use against a special enemy you'll randomly encounter throughout the game. Using a barrel bomb against this enemy results in 12k xp.
- The items that unlock gene slots are stupidly rare. Don't waste em. Hell, don't use em til you're in postgame.
- Stats from genes stack, skills do not. Putting two Attack(L) genes will result in +4 attack, but only one copy of Attack Up(L) will work.
This is exactly what happened to me in the ice area, went back looking to summon a Zamtrios, called in a Tigrex by mistake!
If anyone is curious about those initial holes in the ground in Pondry hills, the first monster I found to explore them with was
Cephadrome, from a standard lair in the plains
I'm grateful people are posting tips here, there's a lot more to this game than first impressions imply, it's really got it's teeth/claws/spikes/talons into me now
If I was to offer one tip, it's that the gear variety is huge and my usual strategy for the regular MH games apply. You are generally better off making a new set of armour in each new area and trying to get as far as you can in it, only tailoring a new set if you get stuck vs something in particular, rather than making everything, particularly at the start. New kit will be available for every monster you meet and so incrementally better kit will be available after almost every main quest, you'll bankrupt yourself trying to keep up with the forge quests. Every forge Quest requires a large sum of money in addition to the monster parts for both weapons and armour, and upgrading gear is expensive too, so really you are better off advancing as far through the game as you can to increase your options before opening your wallet, only to find better kit available five minutes later.
Lanrutcon
Member
Not always.
I was able to get a Lagi, Ivory Lagi, Brute Tigrex, Barioth, Green Nagi, Brachy, Zinogre, Stygian Zinogre, etc before their quests showed on the board.
Quropeco can summon monsters that aren't listed for an area yet. I've only just defeated Royal Ludroth outside the city, but am rocking a Tigrex greatsword and almost have the armour built without a sign of them otherwise.
Is there some reason they're speaking English but use the Japanese monster names?
Congrats, nice find!My first very heavy egg was pretty nice
As a sub-captain-obvious tidbit, it also means if you are adventuring in a particular area looking for a particular monster/item, you might as well re-accept all subquests for that area. You never know what you'll run into in a nest or spot on your way from a to b, but large monsters don't take too long to fight once you've gained a few levels since your first encounter, and if you do have to fight something, you might as well get paid for it. Mercenary's code and all that
Impulsor
Member
Was it the last one? Lol.
Ha! That didn't occur to me. Now I feel bad :/
Shadow Broker
Banned
Are dual wield blades or Bows and Arrows in this game?
I just going to keep upgrading the Rider outfit and would like to buy a dual wield blades and upgrade that through out the games instead of constantly buying new gear.
I just going to keep upgrading the Rider outfit and would like to buy a dual wield blades and upgrade that through out the games instead of constantly buying new gear.
Lanrutcon
Member
S&S, GS, Hammers and instruments only.
Here's my star monstie for the story campaign:
enoirmeplz
Member
In the subbed version they switched from the Japanese names to the English version ~10 episodes in. It's jarring. They'll probably due the same.
Shadow Broker
Banned
Lanrutcon
Member
I run a poison S&S with Stygian or Sand Barioth armor. Poison is pretty sweet in this game.
Played a couple of hours and damn game is amazing and makes me want to play a mainline mh game but i will wait witg that till worlds
Awesome game and it really works it also looks pretty good for a 3ds game and the turn based combat is neat.
Pokemon + MH + JRPG is an awesome combination.
Awesome game and it really works it also looks pretty good for a 3ds game and the turn based combat is neat.
Pokemon + MH + JRPG is an awesome combination.
Shadow Broker
Banned
You'll come crawling back when the honey period fades with this game.
Rather because we won't see a sequel unless Europe and US will pick up the slack sales wise...
BanjoLayleeYookaKazooie
Banned
Well my copy didn't arrive today like I hoped/expected. I'll be joining you all with the full game tomorrow then! Thanks The Game Collection!
How do you tell the last one? Or do I have to check the MonstieDex. Like if it was an elemental Rock Paper Scissors like it is in Pokémon or even regular MH I'd get it but not so much for TPS.