Since I played Monster Hunter Stories 2 into the early endgame, the announcement of Stories 3 got me understandably excited, and, inevitably, I’ve been playing it since release as much as time allowed.
The experience’s been a vast improvement across the board, so let’s compare MH Stories 2 and MH Stories 3. We won’t be getting into the excruciating details of the plot or the subsystems, just enough to give you a sense of the direction the series has evolved.
This might also be a way to vent most Stories 2-related comparisons before an article focused on Stories 3.
It might be.
Let’s get to it!
Table of contents
The protagonist
Stories 2: The protagonist was, for me, the biggest shortcoming of Stories 2. They were fully customizable which was great, but they were always silent, with all the talking done for them by the NPCs. Even worse, the plot wanted to be about the protagonist’s grandfather, who received more personality and relationships than the alleged hero of the game.
Stories 3: A tremendous improvement. This time around, we’re playing as a (still customizable!) but fully voiced character. They are also put in the actual protagonistic position in the plot, with personal motivations, emotions, and relationships. And since our Ranger Captain is an adult, they also have personal history the plot can refer to and reveal.
The companion
I’ll keep it brief: Navirou is gone, replaced by a new Palico friend. Rudy is much more interesting, much less annoying, and since he doesn’t need to be the protagonist’s voice, he can have his own. Rudy is awesome.
The looks
Stories 2: I remember it very fondly. I arrived into Stories 2 after having already played MH World/Iceborne and Rise/Sunbreak, and I was still quite taken with the vibrance. I thought many times that Stories 2 was were the monster designs could truly shine thanks to rich contrasts and saturated colours. They were in some contrast with unmistakably anime-sque designs of the humanoids, but it meshed quite well regardless.
Stories 3: even though the games are just four years apart, MHS3 honestly blows the Stories 2 out of the water visually. It might be the benefits of being launched for Switch 2, rather than Switch, but whatever it was, it allowed the series to fully go the distance with the graphics and designs. The monsters look fantastic, but what truly amazed me here was the location design. I don’t remember MHS2 having any particularly memorable places, while Stories 3 has them aplenty.
In both cases, however, it helps to not be allergic to anime aesthetics and strong colors.
The combat
Combat system in both entries is pretty similar, though it underwent an impactful change.
The bones of the previous combat remain, but now there is a Stamina cost associated with weapon skills and giving your monstie monstie commands to replace the action they want to take. You can’t spam your finest abilities now, and thinking ahead is more valuable.
A good change, though the extra wrinkle over Stories 2’s system can take some getting used to if you have that game fresh in your memory and instincts.
Exploration
Stories 2: The world is largely split between generally open region maps and dungeon-like, semi-randomly generated monster Dens.
In both cases, certain passages will require a specific Riding Skill, such as Ivy Climb. Monsties has one, maybe two Riding Skills to offer, so forming an all-rounder exploration-ready monstie party can be difficult to balance without compromising the combat feasibility.
Stories 3: The maps are quite large and engaging, and dens are now simple sub-locations with 1–2 nests and some gathering spots. With the heavier emphasis on hatching and ecosystem restoration, it’s a sensible change, but I occasionally miss the more elaborate cave systems.
Your monsties have multiple Riding Actions each, making it drastically easier to form a party covering every scenario. On the flipside, while flying is available immediately, it’s more like gliding so you can’t just fly everywhere forever. It is a nerf, but it’s probably for the better – flying in Stories 2 was too much of a shortcut.
General Quality of Life shifts
Stories 3 has a number of small improvements making a big difference.
- You don’t need to press the interaction button for each item like in Stories 2.
- Stories 3 lets you hold a button and hoover up everything in a modest radius as you ride by.
- The battle inferface got redesigned.
- Each menu now got a dedicated button, and your skill list can flip through attack types, instead of listing, say, all three variants of “Charged Slash” like before.
- You don’t need to memorise egg colours and patterns while plundering the dens.
- If you’ve hatched the monster before, Rudy, your Palico, will just tell you the species in plain text, along with telling you how strong the egg is. None of the old cryptic “It’s kind of stinky, don’cha thinky?”
- The Rite of Channeling doesn’t evaporate your monsties
- You can play around with genes to your heart’s content, even turning some monsties into containers for good genes, if you want to really get into it. Finding or making a stronger monstie is, in general, easier than before.
The story continues
Monster Hunter Stories 3 feels like a natural evolution of the format, improving on virtually every gameplay aspect of the predecessor when it comes to graphics and moment-to-moment experiencewithout sacrificing the appeal.
Although it your primary gaming machine is original Nintendo Switch, you are out of luck. Can’t help with that, sorry.