Monster Hunter Stories

Despite these minor graphical issues, Monster Hunter Stories remains an incredibly charming game. It’s easy to understand but fairly deep, and the combat system offers plenty of freedom in tackling the series’ classic roster of creatures in engaging and novel ways. For newcomers to Monster Hunter interested in learning about the lore or looking for a point of entry that’s not as intense as the mainline series combat, this is the ticket.

If you’re a fan of the franchise and enjoyed Wings of Ruin but never got to play this one, then Monster Hunter Stories Remastered is absolutely worth your time.

Monster Hunter Stories might be eight years old, and might have been succeeded by a newer entry, but those factors do not diminish its incredible quality. Now accessible more than ever before, Stories is a game that must be accessed by fans of the franchise as well as JRPG-fans as well.

If you like JRPGs, make sure you try out Monster Hunter Stories and its sequel. Both games are fantastic. I actually enjoy the Monster Hunter Stories games more than the traditional Monster Hunter games since I favor turn-based RPG over action RPG. You can’t go wrong with either this game or its sequel. If you like one, you’ll like the other just as much. I do feel the first game has the better characters and the second game has the overall better gameplay. They both come out as being even to me.

Quotation forthcoming.

Monster Hunter Stories is a fun and light-hearted RPG that explores a new side of the series, with engaging gameplay and a nice story that makes it a must-play for fans of the series.

Monster Hunter Stories is a welcoming revived journey in an era of sometimes needlessly pursued bloatedness. This 3DS entry has aged shockingly well thanks to a strongly handled remastered effort. The combat and character progression are endearingly addictive, and the cast is fairly memorable. Still, the lacking difficulty for the story's duration and the monotony brought about by what can feel like overt simplicity make this a turn-based title best experienced in brief bursts.

As a collection, both Monster Hunter Stories games have received an excellent glow-up. The visuals both look great with enhanced graphics, and I loved the newly recorded voice lines for the characters. Hardcore series fans may be put off by Monster Hunter Stories’ easier combat that can be mastered quickly but I had a good time with both games. Finding and then training the monsties made me feel like a kid again playing Pokémon for the first time. I think that younger fans will find more to enjoy here, with its simplified combat and less mature story, Monster Hunter Stories’ is a low barrier entry into the larger Monster Hunter Universe. Despite its shortcomings, this one is worthy of the hunt.

Capping all of that off are some lovely visuals. While still feeling limited by the game's 3DS origins, Capcom has done a fantastic job of updating textures, and boosting the overall quality of environments for this re-release. When looking back at 3DS gameplay, you can see the stark difference.

The Monster Hunter Stories Collection for PlayStation delivers around 70 to 80 hours of pleasant gameplay with fine round-based combat and a motivating character system. The remastered version of part 1 increases the experience by some nice visual improvements and benefits a lot from the totally new voiceover. It’s not on eye level with current productions, but that does not affect the atmosphere too much. The second part Wings of Ruin is still the better game with a richer world and a more complex combat system. But if you already played it on a PC or Switch, you do not experience much new. In total, the Monster Hunter Stories Collection is a rich compilation of two games, you should play if you like the Monster Hunter series and round based combat.