Introduction
Today we are going to review a 3DS title that also has a sequel on the Nintendo Switch, I am talking about the Monster Hunter Stories series! Everyone might know about the normal Monster Hunter games, recently a part two has been released in the Monster Hunter series, but we are going to start with Monster Hunter Stories 1! Are you ready to become best friends with monsties and ride them into battle!?
What did I think before playing Monster Hunter Stories 1?
It has been a couple of years since I last played this game, due to Monster Hunter 2 Wings of Ruin that has been released recently on the Nintendo Switch, I am revisiting part 1 of the series and also making a review! This Monster Hunter game is a creature collector, you will befriend the dangerous monsters that you see in other Monster Hunter games and befriend them! Together, you must save the world! For more information, we are going to visit the Nintendo Page!
The Nintendo Page
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/monster-hunter-stories-3ds/
If you read the info on this page, you will learn very quickly that this is a monster collector game where you need to form your own team of monsties! You can even ride said monsters if you have bonded with them! Do you dare to ride the mighty Deviljho, otherwise known as the Pickle!?
Rating
I rate Monster Hunter Stories 1 before playing with a 9.5.
The first time that I heard of this game, I was amazed that this even came into existence! I have always been a fan of Monster Hunter games!
Story
The story begins with you and two friends finding a Rathalos egg, even though you are not yet a fully fledged rider, you manage to hatch the Rathalos and bond with him. Everything seems to be fine, but when you are back at the village, it gets attacked by a blighted creature. The mother of your best friend gets killed, you are saved however by the Rathalos, still a newborn and unable to tap into his powers, the Rathalos loses the battle with the blighted creature and gets thrown of the cliff.Â
A year has passed since you have been saved by the newborn Rathalos, you have become a fully fledged rider and set out to find out more about the blighted creature. Perhaps, you are the only one that can stop the black blight!
Rating
I rate the story of Monster Hunter Stories 1 with an 8.7.
The story is very good and the characters all grow in the story, the villages that you encounter are fun and the pacing is just right for the story!
Gameplay
To battle you need a monstie, these can be obtained by raiding monster dens, however there are multiple eggs in a den, which monstie will you get? If you can recognize patterns you might know beforehand, otherwise you might be surprised! There are also multiple tiers of eggs, ranging from no smell to nose tingling stinky, the more stinky the egg, the better it will be! If your Monstie has open gene slots, you can use jewels for new skills! These can also be made from materials that you can find in the field!
All monsties have a gene pool, these can also be edited with gems or genes from other monsters. You can even make a fire dragon spit out water blasts! You have a very high level of customization on how your monstie will turn out, however field skills can not be changed, what is a field skill you ask? On the field, you will encounter a lot of items and enemies. However, some of them might be hidden, for these you might need to fly or even swim! The items from enemies can be used to craft new weapons or armor, if you have the monster armor equipped of your monsties species, there will be a synergy boost!
Items are needed for making useful items for battle or for completing quests, however some items might be hidden and can only be reached with field skills. For example, you might need a monstie that can jump or even fly! There are also field skills like sneak or roar, which can be used to try to avoid combat! Many places that you can reach with a field skill might also hold a little pig called a poogie, if you find them all, you will unlock a special monstie!
During combat, you have three options of attacking, speed, technical and power. This plays out like rock paper scissors, Power beats technical, technical beats speed, speed beats power. Your monsties also have a preference of which attack they will use, but they might also use skills! You will need to have at least a monstie of each type in your party! There is a lot more to Monster Hunter Stories, but I will let you figure that out for yourself!
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Monster Hunter Stories with a 9.0.
This is a new terrain for Monster Hunter, but they did a great job by combing great gameplay with a great story!
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics remind me of an anime meets cartoon, but it works great for this game. There are a lot of different monsties to collect, I am still missing a few, but I am still working on that in the post game content of Monster Hunter Stories! There are many biomes and all of them have different Monsties, but there will be a little overlap in Monsties that might visit a new terrain.
Sound
The soundtracks are fun and the voice acting is done in the language of Monster Hunter instead of Japanese or English, and it works good. There are subtitles, of course! You have the help of Navirou who narrates your adventure, they have seemed to find the perfect fit for him, but he might repeat himself from time to time, but it was not annoying to me. Your character does not speak a lot, but he does in emotional scenes!
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Monster Hunter Stories with a 10.
There is a stunning amount of 109 Monsties to collect in this game! This includes Monstie of the free DLC that you can download! You will still get special Monsties for buying this game from the E-shop!
What did I think after playing Monster Hunter Stories?
I had a great time while playing Monster Hunter Stories, I did play Monster Hunter Stories 2 before returning to this game, but I have to admit that returning to Monster hunter Stories 1 was refreshing as Monster Hunter Stories 2 did not feel as good as Monster Hunter Stories 1, in the next review you will find out why!
There are more Monsties than you would expect in a 3DS game, there are also more biomes than you might think including a lot of post game content, there is a huge battle tower, a lot of tournaments with amazing rewards and a lot more! It feels very rewarding to explore biomes and find a place to use a filed skill, who knows there might be a Poogie hiding there!
Rating
I rate Monster Hunter Stories with an 8.9 after playing.
If you like creature collector games and love the Monster Hunter Franchise, this is the perfect game for you!
What are my personal thoughts about Monster Hunter Stories?
I had a lot of fun when playing this game, I already have a lot of hours into this save file, but I still have a lot to do in the post game content! I am still leveling my team and crafting better armor!
Rating
My personal Rating of Monster Hunter Stories is a 9.8.
I had an amazing time collecting Monsties in this game and exploring the biomes, if only Monster Hunter Stories 2 was this good.
Last Words
Pros
- Experience the story of a new rider and find out what the black blight is!
- Amazing graphics and soundtracks in a cartoony style!
- Collect all the 109 monsties in the game!
- Raid dens to find eggs with great genes, either for a new monstie or to transfer genes!
- Level up your monsties to make them learn new skills!
- Forge new equipment for your character and create synergy with your favorite Monstie!
- Combine items to create, for example, potions in battle!
- Find all the poogies for a special Monstie!
- Download a lot of free DLC that adds new Monsties!
Cons
- Navirou sometimes repeats himself.
- There is no English voice acting, only the language that they speak in the world of Monster Hunter.
If you like creature collectors and always wanted to ride a Pickle, this is the perfect opportunity!
Final Rating
9.2
Let me know what you think of Monster Hunter Stories 1 in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
krutarth
I'd give MHS1 10/10 any day, This brings so many memories, its almost nutty looking this game again on a 3DS! this was a great read, thanks sven!
supersven
You are welcome, I also enjoyed coming back to this game!
Norther
Epona ... lol funny name
supersven
It is the horse from Legend of Zelda, it is a crossover DLC!
Halil KAPLAN
Bacon looks so cute.
supersven
You better watch out, he can breath fire!
kaplan kaplan
😀
Javier del RÃos
Looks pretty cool. You really are going retro lately!
jett cameron
HAHA i'll stick with the main game instead of this ;p
Roman
Bacon? Lol
Lucky Tonzura
Oh, cool to see a review of the first game. Hope it ends up on PC at some point.
perikorozo
I hope so...
supersven
It seems unlikely, but I also hope this to be the case, who knows!
me gusuri
An editable gene pool system would be interesting.
supersven
There is a high level of customization but in Monster Hunter Stories 2 they removed the jewels which lowers the option for monsties, as well as elemental changes!
Gabriel Sueiro
Great review, so far for what i've heard is exactly how u said in here. Sadly i wasn't able to play it since i don't own the console T_T
Thanks for ur hard work doing all the reviews always 😉
supersven
You are welcome I enjoy writing the reviews! the Nintendo 3DS is amazing to have, would you like more 3DS reviews?
Yoni Gafni
Thank you for the review
supersven
you are welcome!
Vaclav Slavetinsky
You must really had a lot of fun with this gem of a game. Thank you very much for another awesome review!
supersven
I indeed had a lot of fun, I am glad that you liked the review!
Jaromir Krzyszczak
seems to be a great game indeed, thanks for this review Sven!
supersven
You are welcome!
Alamar
I heard this saga is cult one, would like to play sometime one of MH parts on pc. Is monster collecting a thing in Monster Hunter: World too?
supersven
This is a classic indeed, in the normal Monster Hunter you can capture monsters, but it is only for the loot!
Ray Law
I only started the Monster Hunter series with the recent Xbox games so it's really cool to see monsters like Ratha appear in earlier games. ^ _ ^
supersven
I hope you enjoy all the Monster Hunter games!
eFe
I have to say that, although on paper I don't really like the idea of a rock paper scissors type combat system, after reading and seeing that you gave the gameplay a 9.0 I decided to see it in a video and the truth is that I liked it, it's more dynamic and much more interesting than I thought it would be.
Thanks for the review 🙂
supersven
I agree with you, The gameplay has a lot of awesome mechanics to it, however part 2 of the series changed it quite dramatically and not for the good!
SensaHuMuR
I've never played the creature collecting genre of games myself - never looked appealing enough. Intrigued by your 9.2 rating of this one.
supersven
Stick with the first game and you will be fine!
jon doe
love the franchise. always enjoy mh games
supersven
Most of the Monster Hunter games are amazing!