Over the past few years, the franchise Monster hunter has reached the peak of its popularity, and Capcom is not going to slow down. After an incredibly successful launch Monster hunter rise for Nintendo Switch in March of this year, the next notable release within the series loomed on the horizon – Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruinwhich immediately visited as a flagship system Nintendoand personal computers.
Monster hunter stories Is an offshoot from the main line of Monster Hunter. Unlike its parent series, which focuses on action, Stories is more story-focused and is a classic turn-based Japanese RPG. The first part saw the light even on Nintendo 3DS, where she was clearly cramped in the limited power of the portable console, but the experiment was considered successful.
The main story of Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin takes place on the island of the riders. Local aborigines, unlike their fellows from the mainland, see monsters not only as a potential threat, but also as loyal companions. Stealing eggs from the nests of monsters, riders independently raise their young and then use these “monsters” as mounts and striking force.
Once the monster-guardian of the island disappears without a trace, because of which the rest of the monsters, feeling their impunity, become more aggressive and begin to attack human settlements. To correct the current situation, the silent protagonist of the story is called, and the player has to take over the control.
Conceptually, the plot of Wings of Ruin is rather monosyllabic and straightforward, which makes it easy for even the youngest audience to learn. More sophisticated players are likely to find the narrative lackluster and the characters overly clichéd. The story is filled with references to the first part of the series, but many of them are too vague and only add more obscurity to what is happening.
What’s really worth noting about the local storytelling are the excellent cutscenes. Despite the fact that the game characters on the screen are once again discussing the value of friendship and brotherly ties, this action is executed colorfully and vividly, so even banal dialogues are quite interesting to follow.
For the first five hours, the player will literally be led by the hand, meticulously explaining all the game systems and possible interactions. Considering the depth of the local mechanics, this is quite a sensible idea, but the amount of information that the game offers to study even the most basic issues seems unnecessarily excessive.
Having hatched his first pet, the protagonist is finally ready to freely enter the main world of the game. The map of the island consists of several large locations where aggressive and not very living creatures graze. The main point of interest is monster lairs, which randomly appear in a wide variety of places. It is from these nests, similar in structure to mini-dungeons, that you have to steal eggs, which are so necessary for further progress in the story. Lairs vary in their rarity, and the higher the quality of the nest, the higher the chance of finding a good egg.
The main locations are spacious enough, but at the same time, they are very deserted and inexpressive. Occasionally here you can find interactive objects, such as large boulders, which can only be traversed by breaking a block with the abilities of some monsters, but otherwise they are rather boring both in design and in the content of the map. The same applies to the nests of monsters – the variety of possible layouts of the dungeons is very meager, and given that you will have to visit them dozens, or even hundreds of times, the local species become boring incredibly quickly.
