Rating: 8/10 😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸
Ages: 10+ (combat is on the complicated side, but if your younger one just likes riding a monster around, it might work for them)
My son bought Stories 2 and played it quite a bit after playing through Monster Hunter Rise. I saw the combat in Rise and thought, "Nope, too much coordination needed for that." But then I got bored and was looking for something new and he suggested I try playing Stories. "It has turn-based combat. You get to ride monsters around. It's mostly exploring things." Yeah, he knows what I want in a game.
So, I've spent many hours playing this game. It's like Pokemon meets Dragonwarrior. Beat up monsters, steal their eggs so you can hatch your own monster, then ride that monster around to beat up new monsters so you can steal their eggs so you can hatch your own so you can ride that monster around...
There is a story underlying the monster-collecting. It's an okay story. Sometimes it feels like the game and story were meant for the 5-8yo crowd but the game mechanics feel more like a 10-15yo audience. Either way, I found most of it enjoyable. There is a lot of space to explore and a lot of monsters to collect and level up. You can play dress-up with your character's armor and weapons. And who can't resist beating up big mean dragons with a giant teddy bear that puts them to sleep half the time?
It's a quirky mix of serious RPG and silliness that somehow works for me. I've made it through the main storyline and most of the side quests but still have a long way to go before I can even get close to 100% on this one. There is so much content!
This is mostly why I bought myself a switch and another copy of the game. There are a few quests and things you can only get with partner missions, which require a second switch and a separate copy of the game. My son and I had fun playing through a couple of them already and I'm looking forward to doing more.
This is mostly why I bought myself a switch and another copy of the game. There are a few quests and things you can only get with partner missions, which require a second switch and a separate copy of the game. My son and I had fun playing through a couple of them already and I'm looking forward to doing more.
Overall, it's a little complicated with the combat and everyone I've talked to who's played the game wants to squish Navirou the companion cat who is beyond annoying, the story is a little pretentious and cliché, but there is so much to do in this game and so many ways of doing it that I can overlook those issues. It's an expensive cartridge game, but I've definitely gotten my money's worth of entertainment out of it.
Excuse me while I go steal more monster eggs because, you know, Gotta catch 'em all! Monster-mon!
