Was Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Worth It? Part 2

Here’s Part 2 of our review of Monster Hunter Stories. Have you read the first part? Was Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin worth it? Read on and find out!

What does Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin do well?

This is a very small thing, but the fact that it shows the steps you’ve taken on the minimap is crucial. It’s incredibly easy to get turned around in some of the areas, especially after getting out of a long battle.

The quick finish feature allows you to instantly kill a monster if you are a certain amount of levels higher than it. It may still retreat, and you still get materials. This is fantastic.

The rock-paper-scissors gameplay gets some mixups when you run into monsters who can prevent you from striking their weakness by sealing skills.

Monster Dens are interesting, and get downright amazing and complex in later areas, like the volcano.

Creating new weapons and armor feels impactful. I’m sure the MonHun veterans know that every little bit helps when it comes to incrementally increasing your stats.

Royal Monsters are optional boss fights in earlier areas. The first one you’ll run into is Tigrex. If you can defeat it and make it retreat, then you have a Speed Monstie that will serve you well for most of the game. If it’s too hard, don’t fret. You can always come back and retry battles with Royal Monsters. In the case of Tigrex, you’ll be absolutely swimming in Tigrex eggs later. I was wishing I could use them for omelets.

What could Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin do better?

I mentioned earlier that some of the features weren’t fully implemented. There are a couple other parts of the game that could have been streamlined.

Pacing could be better in some parts. You’ll probably find that the ice region overstays its welcome.

Some of the monsters are so aggressive! Certain species are determined to chase you to the edge of the earth. Expect to get chased a lot and don’t be surprised when you get ambushed coming out of dens.

I play a lot of monster collecting games, so it’s no surprise that some monsters are rare. However, some monsters are a pain to reach.

I understand Ratha’s relevance to the plot but I could not wait until postgame to dump that living macguffin. Did I use Ratha? Yeah, but I had to.

The “HM” system is a bit annoying. Spots on my team were at a premium, and eventually I just decided to forgo some of the abilities like Rock Breaker or Jump because I simply didn’t have room. There wasn’t anything in any of the treasure chests that I couldn’t live without.

I used the Revival (S) talisman for the entire game until I could grind the endgame ones. Restoring 15 HP per turn may not sound like a lot, but it pretty much mitigated any damage that I took. Other talismans looked interesting, but just didn’t have that kind of consistency until endgame.

Monster Balancing

I have both good and bad observations. First off, higher level or endgame monsties generally have a higher rarity. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

When it comes to stats, there isn’t enough disparity between them to make it dire. This isn’t like base stats in Pokemon.

This is great, because I picked up a Pukei Pukei and an Anjanath in the first area, and I used them all the way to the end of the game. To put that in perspective, keeping the Pukei Pukei for so long is like playing Pokemon Red or Blue and sticking with the Beedrill you obtained in Viridian Forest. The Anjanath is a higher rarity monster that you’ll see later, but you can glitch your way into getting one before even hitting level 10. Honestly, you’re pretty much set after that.

Because as I entered new zones, I became increasingly aware that there were stronger variants of monsters on the horizon. Sure, I’d get an egg to fill my Field Guide (Pokedex), but why bother using a Diablos when Black Diablos is also in the same region? Why bother using a Black Diablos when you can wait for a Bloodbath Diablos?

This is like using Squirtle when you know you can catch Wartortle and Blastoise soon.

Fans of the franchise can probably see some of these trends coming; why use any variant of Basarios when Gravios is coming? Incidentally, don’t get too hyped when you first see Gravios, because Black Gravious is right around the corner and has slightly better stats.

I just didn’t feel like I had any reason to change my party when I was more than strong enough to beat boss battles and quick finish mobs.

Another issue is that early Monstie distribution is all over the place. Initially, you’re flooded with Technical Monsties. Eventually, Power Monsties are everywhere. Good Speed Monsties can be somewhat hard to come by, or require some extra effort. Fortunately, this evens out by lategame. In the meantime, you may find yourself holding onto your starter monstie for longer than you would like simply because it’s a speed type.

Is Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin fun?

I enjoyed the game, but as I’ve mentioned above, there are a few design decisions that could have been improved a bit. It’s still an enjoyable RPG, and none of my complaints were deal-breakers.

Is Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin good value?

I think the playtime listed on HowLongToBeat is a bit low. Some of these battles take time. This is especially true at low levels when you can’t quick finish yet. I put in over a hundred hours and still have a fair bit of content.

Was Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin worth it?

This is an easy yes. There’s really no risk in trying this game, as there is a very robust demo. If you’re in the venn diagram intersection of Monster Hunter and JRPG fans, then this should be right up your alley.

Realistically, think of this game as a softer and gentler Megaten game or a spiritual successor to Dragon Warrior Monsters.

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