The Monster Hunter Stories series has always struggled to be as relevant as the mainline Monster Hunter games. This is because it tried to sanitize the concept of hunting animalistic monsters, slaying them, and making hats out of their skin for a kid’s audience. Naturally, it didn’t work, not helped by featuring NPCs with some of the most annoying voices in video game history (I’m looking at you, Navirou).
It seems Capcom has learned its lesson and decided to make a turn-based Monster Hunter RPG for an older audience, closer to Fire Emblem than Pokémon. The difference in tone is startling, in a good way, with the iconic dragons and wyverns of the Monster Hunter franchise treated in a fresh new way.
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Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection represents a bold new direction, and it starts with its setting, with war-torn kingdoms that could come from the pages of A Song of Ice and Fire.
A Tale of Two Rathalos
Starting out, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection asks you to design your protagonist, who is the heir to the kingdom of Azuria. The choices you make during character creation also influence the child version of your protagonist, who you’ll be getting to see a lot of soon.
Once the protagonist is created, the game shifts to a flashback in which a mysterious monster egg is found. It’s brought back to Azuria, where it spawns two Rathalos, the iconic red dragons that appear in many Monster Hunter games. These specific beasts have blue horns, signifying them as rare Skyscale Rathalos, and the birth of two at once signifies a great calamity is coming, just as the protagonist moves towards them…
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection represents a bold new direction, and it starts with its setting, with war-torn kingdoms that could come from the pages of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Skip ahead to modern day, and the protagonist is now a Ranger, someone who has bonded with their now adult Skyscale Rathalos. Along with the other Rangers, it’s their job to deal with wayward monsters (which still have the nauseating “Monstie” name from the previous game) and control the ecology of each area through claiming eggs from lairs and hatching them.
It’s not giant Monsties that are the true threat, however, as conflict is brewing with the nearby kingdom of Vermeil. The encroachment of Monsties with strange crystallized bodies is endangering the people of Vermeil and forcing them to flee, and war may soon break out with Azuria if no solution is found.
A Song of Ice & Felynes
For this preview of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, Capcom has requested that players not discuss events after a certain point, bu I’m not going to discuss any more story points than the basic outline listed above. Why? Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is the first Monster Hunter game with a genuinely interesting story. I would be doing fans a disservice by saying anymore.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is the first Monster Hunter game with a genuinely interesting story.
I should clarify that this mostly applies to the stellar main story, which has all manner of exciting twists and surprises. There are optional quests you can take on for extra loot, and they’re pretty pedestrian: standard fetch quests and monster-killing stuff. There are also side stories for each companion, which run the gamut from interesting looks into fascinating characters to boring dungeon runs.
The world of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is gorgeous to behold, with aesthetics and scope that feel like a mixture between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Everything is colorful and pops, while the character models (for the most part) are more realistically proportioned than the game’s predecessor.
Exploring the world of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is also a treat. The player can have six Monsties with them at any time, many of which have unique traversal abilities, such as gliding, climbing, and swimming. The kingdom of Azuria is full of life, with lush fields, vast forests, and wild beasts roaming the plains. I spent a good chunk of my preview just exploring the world, gathering resources, and filling out the map.
25% to 50% (But Not 100%)
Of course, it doesn’t matter how pretty a game looks if the gameplay sucks. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is a monster-collecting RPG with turn-based battles, using an upgraded version of the same combat system as its predecessor. It’s here, the Fire Emblem comparisons are the strongest, thanks to its triangle of weaknesses.
In Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, the protagonist fights alongside their Monsties, one of which can be in battle at once, as well as an AI-controlled party member, and their Monstie. In fights, characters can use one of three attacks, which are strong against one and weak against another. The Power attacks are strong against Technical, but weak against Speed; Technical are strong against Speed, but weak against Power; Speed is strong against Power, but weak against Technical.
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When you face enemies, a line will appear showing which character they’re targeting, which sometimes provides a hint at what type of attack they’re planning on using. If you pick a move that’s strong against them, you’ll deal more damage, and if it’s weak, you’ll take more.
I previously reviewed Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’s predecessor, and by far my biggest complaint with the game was that you had a four-character party, and you only controlled a single character. In Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, you controlled the main character, but the AI controlled your Monstie, your ally, and their Monstie, meaning you only controlled 25% of the gameplay.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection has improved things, as you now have a lot more control over your Monstie than before. You can select the type of attack they’re going to use, meaning there’s a better chance of exploiting an enemy weakness. It’s still not enough, though. At no point in the preview was I able to control the other two party members, meaning I was still a slave to the AI.
There’s a ton of interlocking mechanics to the combat system. The protagonist can bring three weapons into battle, each with unique skills that use Stamina (MP). It’s possible to target Monstie body parts; breaking them causes them to stagger, granting the party a free group attack. Many of the familiar items from the Monster Hunter series are here, and you’ll need to earn specific Monstie parts to craft gear, with resource gathering being a huge element of gameplay.
At no point in the preview was I able to control the other two party members, meaning I was still a slave to the AI.
You can also improve Monsties by swapping genes, with each possessing a 3×3 grid/skill tree, and moving genes from one Monstie to another allows you to put specific attacks and buffs on your teammates. Creating lines of genes on the grid that share an element will also unlock more abilities, meaning it’s worth seeking out specific Monsties, just to strip their genes.
There’s a ton going on with the combat system in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, but when it clicks, it feels great when it all comes together. It’s a shame you still don’t have full control over the party, at least not in the early game. Capcom needs to wise up and learn the same lesson Atlus learned with Persona 3: RPG players like having control over the entire group, and don’t like sitting there watching the game play itself.
Monster Hunter Stories 3 Gave Me a Reason to Care About Eggs
Monsties don’t grow on trees. They hatch from eggs, which the player finds in lairs and dens that spawn around the map. When you enter, you can search the nest for the egg you want, and try to run away with it before the parent comes home to turn you into dinner.
At the start of the game, the egg mechanic felt pointless. Once I’d acquired one of each Monstie, there was little reason to return. The more I played, however, the more important eggs became. The gene-swapping aspect mentioned above was part of it, but a new system introduced in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection really made me want to go digging through nests.
In Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, once you defeat a powerful boss Monstie that resides in each area, you get to set up a camp, which acts as a fast travel point/shop/stable for hatching eggs. You then get to engage with the ecology system. See, there are tons of invasive species in the world, and it’s the role of Rangers to maintain the balance.
The shift in tone to a more mature story, the well-written narrative, and the drastic improvements to the gameplay loop have me excited for the potential of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection.
In order to ensure certain Monsties thrive, you need to hatch them and release them into the wild to bolster their numbers. Doing so will unlock rare and more powerful Monsties. For example, restoring Rathians in the first ecosystem of Azuria will let the more potent Pink Rathians return, followed by the deadly Dreadqueen Rathian, all of which you can hatch and recruit to your team.
The ecology mechanics are a stroke of genius, as they made me care about hunting through dens and acquiring eggs, thanks to the tangible reward for breeding Monsties. Throw in the gene swapping, and the result is a game that had me sticking around the starting area, having a ton of fun shaping the wilderness, all while strengthening my team and facing stronger foes, even though I was dying to see where the story was going.
The shift in tone to a more mature story, the well-written narrative, and the drastic improvements to the gameplay loop have me excited about the potential of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. It’s no secret that I was disappointed by Monster Hunter Wilds, as it felt like it took away from the excellent core gameplay loop of Monster Hunter Rise and put nothing in its place, but with Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, the opposite is true, and it feels like a much-needed evolution for the spin-off series.
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Exhale, and squeeze the trigger.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
