Fighting a Kulu-Ya-Ku while it’s holding a rock, for instance, is futile with a Bow or Greatsword, but on the other hand, using a Hammer makes short work of the dumb bird and its rock. There are plenty of nuances in Monster Hunter Stories 2’s combat system, and even your choice of weapons has a major effect on fights. The same rock-paper-scissor attack patterns apply to the Monsties fighting besides you as well, so against the Velocidrome, using a Kulu-Ya-Ku is great, since the latter uses Technical attacks.
This means that you can use Technical attacks to counter the Velocidrome for most of the fight, and once it enrages, you switch to Speed attacks. The three kinds of attacks work in a rock-paper-scissors kind of way, and you have to figure out the best choice when facing a monster, since they’ll often stick to one or two of these attacks Power beats Techincal, which beats Speed, which beats Power.Ī Velocidrome, for example, always goes for Speed attacks, but once enraged when it’s low on health, always goes for Power attacks. The protagonist-a Rider in Stories 2’s story-has several options in combat, but the most important one is the kind of attack they want to execute: a Power attack, a Technical attack, or a Speed attack. But before I get to that, let me explain the core combat. You still have to learn the monster you’re fighting to figure out which move counters it best. Sure, you now have plenty of time to think about your next move, but some fundamental aspects never change. Stories 2 perfectly translates a lot of the core gameplay aspects from mainline Monster Hunter games to turn-based battles. Of course, the story has plenty of twists and turns, and it’s a pretty good ride, but honestly, the story won’t be what keeps you coming back to Monster Hunter Stories 2. A faction of hunters wants to hunt down the mythical Rathalos, while the protagonist and their village-who live in harmony alongside their Monsties-would rather calm the Rathalos down and help it out with regards to the whole Wings of Ruin thing. The story, if the millions of trailers haven’t already clued you in, revolves around a mythical Rathalos with the Wings of Ruin.
Each Monstie will have its own attack patterns and stats, and will fight alongside you against other monsters. That’s where the term ‘Monsties’ comes from. Rather than just straight up hunting monsters for parts, you befriend monsters, who become your besties.
While Monster Hunter as a franchise has always been incredibly goofy despite the world-ending threats you fight on a regular basis, Stories 2 takes the goofiness up a notch. But to call Monster Hunter Stories 2 simply Pokemon but with Monster Hunter would be a disservice to the game. The big difference here is that the roster of ‘Monsties’ you can befriend and fight comes from the massive roster of monsters in Monster Hunter, and there’s an emphasis on the story and co-op gameplay, rather than the PvP endgame that Pokemon likes to focus on. Monster Hunter Stories 2, like its predecessor, is a monster-collecting and fighting game in the vein of Pokemon games. But what exactly is Monster Hunter Stories 2? Well, that’s an incredibly simple question to answer.