Monster Hunter Stories 3 Preview: Me and My Pet Rathalos

At immoderate point, idiosyncratic astatine Capcom indispensable person looked astatine Monster Hunter and said, retired loud, “You know, the monsters successful this atrocious lad are really beauteous cute. And there’s these talking cats, and they’re beauteous cute, too. We’re kinda leaving wealth connected the array by not making this a turn-based monster-capturing RPG.” And the executives did grin, and the entity opened, and the wealth rained down. And they saw that that idiosyncratic was right, and they said, “We gotta marque much of these.”

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is the 3rd 1 of these, successful fact, if the fig didn’t springiness it away, truthful that somebody’s thought had immoderate staying power, but it’s this writer’s first. Not my archetypal Monster Hunter; similar astir folks successful the West, excavation was Monster Hunter World. But it’s the archetypal 1 of these babies. And aft spending respective hours with it, I’m beauteous impressed. There’s a batch to get utilized to, but I enjoyed my clip successful this satellite and with these characters, and I’m itching to caput backmost and bash immoderate monster huntin’.

Twisted Reflection starts with a beauteous fantastic quality creator that does a batch to present you to its gorgeous creation style. I made a pistillate with agelong reddish hairsbreadth and mismatched eyes, and not knowing that I was making a princess, kept Leia arsenic her default name. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection 1, Will 0.

Pull disconnected the close moves successful combat, and you’ll physique kinship with your Monstie. Max retired that meter, and you tin equine your Monstie and unleash a beautifully animated, cinematic smackdown.“

Our communicative begins with a pistillate discovering a monster ovum preserved successful crystal. Naturally, I thought this was Leia. Extremely large incorrect buzzer. It was really her mamma, who is the queen of Azuria. She hacks the ovum retired of the crystal and brings it home, wherever it hatches into the Monster Hunter poster child, a Rathalos. The Rathalos is extinct successful Azuria, truthful everyone’s beauteous stoked astir this, particularly small Leia, who says she hears 2 sounds coming from the egg. Turns retired she’s right, and a 2nd Rathalos has deed the throne room. As Leia, enamored, reaches retired for her caller friends, a vaguely vizier-shaped dude informs the king that portion 1 monster is each good and dandy, 2 monsters, particularly 2 Skyscale Rathalos (Rathaloses? Rathalosi?) is Bad News, Chief ™ and lone 1 whitethorn beryllium allowed to live. Cut to black. Surely this volition not irrevocably traumatize my miss Leia for the remainder of her days and go a important portion of her backstory. Surely.

Several years later, Leia, present a young woman, is pursuing successful her mother’s footsteps and studying a monster preserved successful ovum quartz erstwhile her buddy Simon appears and summons her backmost to the castle. Once there, we larn that Leia is the Captain of the Rangers and that she’s studying thing called the Encroachment. Proper nouns are mostly bad, and Leia has truly made advancement connected the Encroachment, but that’s possibly not the astir pressing concern. Relations with the neighboring kingdom of Vermeil are fraying, and her begetter warns Leia that the Rangers mightiness spot combat. Leia protests, arsenic that’s not what Rangers beryllium for (they’re present for the monsters), but she rides Azuria’s lone Rathalos (uh oh), and they whitethorn request her. My miss is besides informed that she volition be talks with Vermeilian envoys, and that her conspicuously absent parent was Vermeilian. In a aboriginal speech with Simon, Leia reveals that her parent is known arsenic “The Turncoat Queen.” The crippled thickens.

But Leia can’t walk excessively overmuch clip reasoning astir that. She’s the skipper of the Rangers, and she has a occupation to do. That means grooming caller recruits, and you’re got a caller 1 successful Thea, who is stoked to beryllium present and larn from Azuria’s lone Rathalos rider and Rudy, my Felyne. This is wherever my clip with Twisted Reflection truly takes off. In grooming Thea, Twisted Reflection is grooming me.

I larn however to thrust my Rathalos (your monsters are called Monsties), but things truly footwear into cogwheel erstwhile we participate combat for the archetypal time. Like I said astatine the jump, combat is turn-based. Attacks travel successful 3 types; Power, Technical, and Speed. Power beats Technical and Technical beats Speed, which loops astir and beats Power. Normally, these attacks work, well… normally. But if a monster is targeting you and you onslaught it, you’ll participate a Head-to-Head wherever the rock, paper, scissors of it each volition play out. And if and your Monstie are attacking the aforesaid foe and a Head-to-head happens, you’ll get a Double Attack. Monsters person their ain onslaught preferences. Velociprey, for instance, volition prioritize Speed, truthful you gotta spell Technical if you privation to win. If you’re successful the marketplace for thing a small fancier, you’ve besides got abilities, though these instrumentality Stamina, truthful you can’t conscionable spam them.

Of course, you’ve besides got your Monstie. You don’t power them straight truthful overmuch arsenic springiness them lasting commands that they transportation retired erstwhile it's their turn, whether that means going for a regular onslaught oregon an ability, immoderate of which transportation elemental properties similar fire, lightning, oregon water. Since Leia’s the main character, she’s besides got further Monsties she tin power to if the 1 she needs isn’t close for what you’re up against. Thea and her Monstie, Kaguchi, are besides successful my party, but I don’t power them. They bash their ain thing, for amended and worse.

Because of this, combat goes quickly, and similar your much accepted Monster Hunters, there’s strategy erstwhile it comes to which portion of the monster you’re warring that you target. Break the close assemblage part, and you tin weaken an onslaught oregon unfastened it up to much damage. Stagger a monster, and you tin unleash a Synchro Attack wherever everyone successful your enactment lays connected the hurt. The biggest spectacle, though, comes successful the signifier of kinship attacks. Pull disconnected the close moves successful combat, and you’ll physique kinship with your Monstie. Max retired that meter, and you tin equine your Monstie and unleash a beautifully animated, cinematic smackdown. I excavation it.

Once Thea and I are breached in, we get to research a bit. We prime up plants and bugs and different items connected the ground, get into immoderate fights, and I springiness Ratha a interruption truthful I tin usage my Tobi-Kadachi to standard a lookout constituent and conscionable an Explorer Felyne who gifts maine a map. We proceed on, learning however to usage melee and enactment attacks to interact with the situation and commencement fights aboriginal for an advantage, oregon roar and get monsters retired of the way. We besides negociate to rescue a Poogie, an adorable, pig-like carnal who someway got up determination my Rathalos needed wings to reach, and adjacent get Thea a sensation of the Encroachment, which seems to beryllium what causes those ovum quartzes we saw earlier.

Yeah, things are looking beauteous bully for the location team, until we travel crossed a nest and marque a Paolumu mad. Once we whack him enough, helium transforms, altering his attacks and weaknesses. Since he’s inflated an aerial pouch, it’s bow time. It’s a amusive combat that puts everything I’ve learned truthful acold to the test, but it’s thing compared to what comes next.

Here, we tally into our archetypal feral monster, which has been altered by the Encroachment. Crystals sprout from its back, and it’s highly powerful. Hitting the crystals provokes a backlash attack, truthful we person to beryllium smart. It tests our smarts and our patience, but yet helium wears down, and we destruct the crystals. Then it’s crippled on. Eventually, helium falls, and we instrumentality the eggs we’ve gathered location and adhd immoderate caller Monsties to our ranks.

Before we commencement feeling excessively bully astir ourselves, Leia is called into that gathering with the Vermeilian envoys. Things are going severely – Vermeil is getting deed hard by the Encroachment, and they’re convinced salvation lies successful the Sacrosanctum, which would mean breaching an past pact. They’ve travel to inquire Azuria for assistance getting determination – and warfare seems inevitable until Vermeil’s Princess Eleanor offers herself arsenic a hostage until Azuria relents. Unwilling to dainty her similar a prisoner, Leia offers to amusement her around, and she ends up palling astir with the Rangers.

If bringing Thea on was astir learning the game, Eleanor’s accomplishment is truly wherever things unfastened up. Before mounting out, we get caller skills and forge caller armor and weapons. It’s a bully thing, too, due to the fact that portion we’re showing Eleanor around, we tally into a caller feral monster. Eleanor, her Anjanath (which I’m beauteous jealous of, honestly), my Monstie cohort, and I instrumentality it down, but not earlier we’re knocked down a fewer times ourselves. Losing each your HP isn’t fatal. You tin get backmost up a constricted fig of times, but it lets america cognize that the situation is ramping up.

Soon after, we acceptable up a camp, and Eleanor shows disconnected her cooking skills. This is simply a Monster Hunter game, truthful eating nutrient people boosts your stats and the cooking cutscene is immaculately rendered. I spell for immoderate experience-boosting bread, due to the fact that who doesn’t emotion bread? Leia and Eleanor besides enslaved implicit their shared realization that their countries don’t truly recognize each other. The concern successful Vermeil is worse than Leia realized, and Azuria isn’t astatine each similar Eleanor thought. Neither is arsenic atrocious arsenic they’ve been led to believe.

Our extremity present is to analyse invasive monsters and way them to their dens truthful we tin prevention eggs from the taxon they’re crowding out. From here, the satellite is fundamentally our oyster. We person to run astatine nighttime to way these invasive species, but different we tin kinda bash what we want, whether that means warring monsters successful the field, oregon completing broadside quests wherever we reunite a Felyne with his mislaid maestro oregon assistance different Felyne get escaped of immoderate bug monsters.

Eventually, we find an invasive Yian Garuga. We steer wide agelong capable to analyse its tracks and get a consciousness for however it works, but eventually, the combat is on. The Yan Garuga is incredibly strong; successful a stand-up fight, we astir apt wouldn’t basal a chance, and we’ve got to prime ourselves up and particulate ourselves disconnected a fewer times earlier it’s over. But our extremity isn’t to termination it, it’s to marque it retreat to its lair. That means figuring retired its weakness – successful this case, its legs – and piling connected the wounded accelerated capable that it stumbles erstwhile trying to deed america with a almighty complaint onslaught and retreats. Once it does, we way it to its lair and bargain a Rathian egg, but we’re not looking to marque it a Monstie. By releasing it into the wild, we tin reconstruct the earthy ecosystem. That means caller and amended monsters for america to catch. Restoring a situation has benefits for us, too. You mightiness get monsters with elemental skills unsocial to that habitat, oregon unlock mutations that imbue monsters with elements extracurricular of the norm. It’s bittersweet to spot our Rathian go, but it’s for the greater good.

Our task complete, the Rangers instrumentality to the castle. The king’s inactive focused connected what mightiness hap if the Rangers person to spell into battle, and we larn wherefore Leia’s truthful opposed to it. Remember that different Rathalos that came retired of that egg? She saved it arsenic it was astir to beryllium executed and fled. Everyone assumes she headed to her autochthonal Vermeil. The full Traitor Queen happening makes a batch much consciousness now, and it explains wherefore Leia’s truthful fond of her ain Rathalos – helium got her done her ma leaving – and wherefore she’s truthful devoted to the Rangers. She wants to find retired what happened to her mom.

As if inspired by this revelation, Twisted Reflection decides to unfastened up Side Stories – escapades you tin caput connected with different Rangers to get to cognize them better. I determine to pal astir with Eleanor, who, impressed with Azuria’s quality and abundance, tasks america with tracking down immoderate items that are autochthonal to Vermeil: a Sucklebug, Witherweed, and a Molted Gumshell. After getting the laic of the onshore from a adjacent lookout operation – and a fewer broadside excursions wherever we grabbed immoderate eggs from monster dens – we headed out. The archetypal mates were casual enough. Hitting a Paolumu with a enactment onslaught snags america our Gumshell, and we find Witherweed successful a shady area.

The existent bugaboo turns retired to beryllium the Sucklebug, which likes to fell down rocks. I searched for it behind rocks for a portion earlier realizing that “behind the rock” means “break the rock, Will, you doofus.” Once we’ve got each the ingredients – yes, ingredients – Eleanor turns them into Vermeil Dumplings. Leia and Rudy are grossed out, but it’s a bully infinitesimal that helps them recognize conscionable however dire things are successful Vermeil – and however fortunate Azuria is by comparison. Plus, it unlocks a caller look for our camps, and Eleanor is excited to stock her section cuisine with everyone else.

My clip with Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection ends soon thereafter. I could person kept going – we had entree to a generous magnitude of the crippled – but my adjacent communicative ngo saw maine getting perfectly rocked by a brace of Feral Velocidomes. I intelligibly needed to get immoderate caller Monsties with antithetic elements and upgrade instrumentality to continue, but it felt similar a earthy end. I’d spent fractional a twelve hours with Twisted Reflection by that point, and gotten a consciousness for what it was shaping up to be: a gorgeous RPG that combines the accepted elements of Monster Hunter with a turn-based RPG and a amazingly compelling formed and communicative that invited maine to befriend and bid monsters, not conscionable hunt them. Don’t get maine wrong, those Velicidomes are going down the adjacent clip I occurrence Twisted Reflection up, but for now, I person a consciousness for this world, these characters, and the crippled they inhabit. And it was much than capable to person maine to crook this snack into a meal. I mightiness conscionable instrumentality with the bread, though, you know? Vermilian Dumplings don’t truly look similar my bag.