A Story? In my Monster Hunter? It’s more likely than you think in ‘Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’, which brings about a bit of politics into a world apparently doomed to ill omen. I spent a few hours with this game over the last week, checking out the gameplay, narrative, and seeing what’s improved from CAPCOM’s last entry in the series who knows how many years ago. I’m not going to bother counting anymore, I’m at that stage in life.
Twisted Reflection has players take on the role of Princess (or Prince) of a kingdom surrounded by majestic, snowy mountains. Our people, however, seem to be on edge as a ceremony that was taking place seems to have gone a bit awry. See, a monster Monstie egg that was brought forth to the king and queen turned out to birth not just one Rathalos but two of ’em—supposedly spelling doom for the kingdom.
But that was in the past, our younger selves have since become fine adults in present day Stories. We are the leaders of the Rangers, a motley research crew that tackles the challenge of investigating local wildlife and these strange crystals that have fossilised the (presumed) of Monsties that came long before. We are a smarter, leaner, and less of a greenhorn character compared to the protagonists of previous Stories games, but that doesn’t mean we’re all that much wiser as you’ll soon see.
(CAPCOM)
You won’t get more story beats from me right now and instead, I’d like to sell you on the kind of game that Twisted Reflection is: a fun one and one with a unique twist to how traditional turn-based games work. Stories in essence combines aspects of regular ol’ Monster Hunter and instead compartmentalizes mechanics into such a way that retains the identity of the series while giving you flexibility on how to take on challenges. A quick example: in battle, Monstie parts can be targeted separately depending on the weapon damage type that its weak to. Depending on how you damage enemy Monsties, you can topple them faster and wail on them just like you would in a mainline Monster Hunter.
But I am getting ahead of myself (again)! The basics of combat are pretty simple: each battle features four members, two of which are human and two are Monsties. Your health is dictated by two bars: one is your shield bar and the other is your “true” health bar. The shield bar, when wiped out, will take one heart away from your health bar. As you only have a total of three hearts, losing all of these will cause you to forfeit the battle, so watch out! And something to remember is that you and your Monstie share this bar, so you have quite a bit of work cut out for you against some of the tougher monsters, who will be more than happy to completely one shot you in a single turn.
Thankfully, we have a tonne of tools at our disposal to counter these dangers. For one, enemy Monsties will always (at least, as far as I’ve played) dictate who they’ll attack next via an enmity line. This give you ample time to decide whether to use heals, buff and debuff, so on and so forth. This is where one of three of your equipped weapons comes into play. As I mentioned earlier, certain body parts are weak to certain attacks and ideally, you’ll want to wittle down the Monstie’s stamina as quick as you can to go for your team’s all-out attack as often as you can. A good Monstie is one that can’t fight back, after all.
As you fight, you’ll accumulate rider points with your currently deployed Monstie and, once it’s full, you can hop on board to deal even more damage and use specific skills you’d otherwise not be able to dish out. You can stay on the Monstier so long as you have enough Rider Points and/or you don’t lose two head-to-head encounters (I’ll touch on this in a moment). Speaking of skills, each of your weapons has unique skills that you can fire off at any time so long as you have enough stamina meter. Run out that and you’ll be in trouble, so do keep that in mind.
(CAPCOM)
Twisted Reflection has the same amount of weapon choices from past games. If anything, the longsword has actually replaced the sword and shield from previous games, so on one hand I was disappointed to see the lack of weapons in this new entry but on the other hand, we technically did get a new weapon here. So, in all, we’ve got the following this time around:
- Greatsword
- Longsword
- Hunting Horn
- Bow and Arrow
- Hammer
- Gunlance
Weapons are either support or attack-oriented, but being able to bring three along with you comes in handy as sometimes you’ll face a variety of Monsties in a single battle. Fights don’t exactly mirror other turn-based RPGs in the sense that you’re primarily trying to tire out your foe before you can really damage it. In a way, it’s almost like a stagger system but not in the traditional sense because of the variety of attack patterns and modifiers that can impact whether your attack even makes it. Many attacks have strategic properties: tactical, speed, and power attacks work in a janken-style system where one will trump the other and if you choose poorly against the Monstie targeting you, you’ll lose that head-to-head encounter and see your body flying across the map.
By setting the right weapon for the right team member, you’ll be in as best hands as you can be. Preparation is key, not just for yourself but because you will only be able to command your playable character’s moves, not anyone else’s. Thankfully, so far the friendly AI has been quick to target weaknesses and heal and I don’t see a situation where anyone can spam Salvation at even the slightest bit of shield loss.
All this and I’ve not even covered how nice this game looks compared to its predecessors alongside the increased scope of the game world. The world size has increased dramatically to incorporate a new traversal mechanic for the overworld: flying!
…Okay, I lied. There’s no flying per se, it’s more like “gliding”. See, apparently the Princess’ special apex predator (a stinkin’ Rathalos) can’t fly but rather it rides these upstreams of air bursting all over the map. Why this is the case, I’m not sure. The Rathalos doesn’t seem to have flight issues in cutscenes. Obviously this is a mechanic that exists to deter you from flying to places you can’t (or shouldn’t) get to yet, but I don’t know if I like this all that much. Still, it’s a significant step forward for exploration from previous games as the player character and Monstie not only control better but have more option on hand such as being able to fireblast enemies for a preemptive if not an insta KO to some weaker enemies.
As you explore, you’ll also encounter Monstie Dens, which house Monstie eggs that you’ll need to collect if you want to add to your roster. You can find some rare Monstie eggs by doing this, but don’t take too long as you’ll likely aggro the Monstie guarding the nest and, in some cases, you definitely do not want to get the attention of a high level mother who is ready to throw tail (and elemental attacks) your way to defend their nest. Another way to encounter these nests is to significantly weaken some overworld enemies and follow them back to their dens for more specific eggs.
And, as you’ve seen from all the screenshots I’ve pasted above, this game looks league above prior entries in the series. The art style is complemented by lovely model work, great lighting, and excellent cinematography. The cast so far is excellent and they’ve all got their personalities that compliment one another and the work that they do. Plus, this game has no Navirou and that alone is a major boon in my eyes. Well, that dump Palico hasn’t shown up yet and if it does I’m going to roast it alive.
Monster Hunter Stories 3 has me interested in completing a Stories game for the first time ever. The combat system is incredibly unique and presents a good challenge all the while keeping the best aspects of Monster Hunter intact. The story has me interested so far and I can’t wait to see how it unravels over time. There are some seriously cool surprises that I’ve seen too that I don’t want to share yet, but I’m sure veteran Monster Hunter fans will be happy to see when they get ahold of this game next month.
Meowsers! Stay tuned for the review! ∎
