[TGS 2016] Monster Hunter Stories impressions

Nintendo Everything was at this year’s Tokyo Game Show! We had a low-key presence at the event, but we did manage to try out several upcoming Japanese 3DS titles. Look for our impressions in the coming days.

Monster Hunter Stories is one of the most anticipated upcoming 3DS games that is coming soon to Japan – October 8 specifically. Of course, it had a large area at Capcom’s Tokyo Game Show 2016 booth, and many people lined up to try it.

When we entered the Monster Hunter Stories exhibit, we were first shown a couple of trailers (which are actually not exclusive and also watchable on Capcom’s Japanese YouTube page) and some explanations about the game system. Following that, we were sent to the demo tables and were given ten minutes to play.

The objective of the demo was to gather two different eggs, hatch them as Otomon, and fight against the boss Khezu. Eggs are found inside monster caves, but from the field entrance you still need to go further to reach the actual monster nest. Once there, the parent monster could be sleeping or awake, but if they wake up and spot you, they will definitely go after you. A battle will be triggered if touched.

The egg species will depend on the parent monster guarding it if exists. For example, if there’s a Lagombi guarding its nest, then the egg that comes out from it should become a Lagombi, too. You can take multiple chances at the egg if you want to re-roll the Otomon slots, however in this demo we only took it once because of the limited time. The feature is also not really explored further in the demo either.

Once you have obtained the egg, you carry it slowly with both hands just like in the regular Monster Hunter games. Simply go outside of the nest to add the egg to inventory, and you won’t need to carry it anymore.

Monster Hunter Stories has a symbol encounter system, where monsters appear on the field and having the character touch them will trigger a battle. You can sneak up to a monster from behind to initiate a preemptive strike, though you’ll need to be careful not to get your back exposed to a monster. If that happens, you’ll be on the opposite end of the preemptive strike.

While battling, there are two characters on your side: your character and the Otomon. You can also bring multiple Otomon in a party and switch them as needed. As for the attack moves, the Otomon seems to move on their own accord, while you can choose your own attack style.

There are some gimmicks to the battle system such as clashes that randomly happen, and sometimes you are instructed to mash the “A” button to push the enemy and gain an advantage. But the most important factor here is the Bond gauge, which is located in the middle of the lower screen. This fills up when your party members perform advantageous attacks, and when full can be used to unleash a very powerful blow against an enemy.

That being said though, the battle system in this game is not as easy as we thought. Why? That’s because when the Otomon makes a mistake (for example, losing in the triangle attack battle or the deadlock), they’ll be hurt pretty badly. Players will really need to pay attention to their HP and give them potions regularly.

Also, it was unfortunate that we weren’t able to check out the more intricate features like inheriting skills from one monster to another, so that will have to wait until the full game is out. We’re looking forward to Monster Hunter Stories very much, and we’re eager to find out if there are prospects of localization in the west.