Topic: Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

@DomGC
Not sure what you find so funny. The fanbase for games in this genre are largely Pokémon players. Which means, if a game is this genre is to succeed, it must draw in those players. Unless it manages to make new fans of the genre, which is clearly not the case, as the first entry struggled to even make a dent despite the mainline series consistently breaking 4 million. And even now, if you watch MH focused YT channels, you’ll notice the low view count for this game despite massive numbers when Rise released. I see countless comments from people saying turn based RPGs are just not the type of game they’re in to. Maximilian Dood is a perfect example. Massive influencer and fan of MH Rise, but every time this game gets brought up he reminds everyone how he has no interest whatsoever.

This game needs the Pokémon fan base to buy in if it’s ever going to be more than niche. Those are just facts. How do you sell millions of copies if not to your native fanbase? Bring in a new fan base. That’s the only way. And the new fan base this game is looking to bring in are the people that enjoy this type of gameplay. And the people that enjoy this type of gameplay has been playing Pokémon for years.

@VoidofLight
I think I would caution correlation vs causation. I do not believe those games failed because of comparisons to Pokémon. I believe those games failed because they just didn’t have broad appeal. In fact, had they been compared more, they may have done better. Most gamers are normal human beings who are looking for fun experiences. They are not radical ideologues on fan sites like you see for the Pokémon gamership, trigger happy and desperately looking to hate anything that’s not Pokémon. That may be what you see but you must remember those people do not represent the masses. There are 20 million people out there that enjoy games of this genre, notably Pokémon. And those are the people who are most likely going to be interested in other games of the genre. Getting visibility in front of those people is paramount. Making a comparison isn’t going to kill a game, it’s going to help it. But it needs to actually be good enough and high-quality enough to garner that attention and actually keep it. If it’s not, most people will just brush it off and move along.

I believe with all my heart MH Stories 2 has what it takes to reel fans in. So right now this game should be preached in every single Pokémon subreddit and fan community on the Internet to let them know there is a new, noteworthy game in the genre they enjoy. And if they don’t take to it then it’s no loss anyways, because they wouldn’t have known about it in the first place had it not been compared.

@DomGC
Pokémon fans aren't gonna buy this i because they won't care

You know this based on your extensive statistical research and polling of the community? You have suddenly declared 20, million people aren’t interested in a quality game in a genre they enjoy? That’s not based in reality. If even 10% of them try this game and like it that’s a massive conversion.

And Monster Hunter fans are absolutely gonna be excited for the game

Some are. Most aren’t. I’m not saying that. The data is saying that. There are indeed some MH fans excited just because it’s MH. The numbers, however, indicate that is not a majority. So we don’t have to imagine- we can see it with our own eyes. It’s a completely different genre and no matter how much they like MH, if they’re not into turn based RPG‘s then they’re just not into turn based RPGs. Go watch Maximilian Dood. Doesn’t matter how good the game looks or how much he loves MH. Every time he covers a MH direct that showcases the game alongside Rise he mocks it, or says, “it looks fine, I’m just not into these types of games”. And he speaks for a lot of fans in the community because it is a drastically different type of game. If that wasn’t the case, the original would have done far better. We have side by side comparisons of MH mainline vs MH Stories on the exact same system, where one barely sold 5% of the other. That’s not the result you’d expect if most MH fans were interested.

Not to mention, the reason games such as this are made is to expand the audience. It’s to bring new fans into the series who weren’t persuaded by the mainline games. New fans who like turn based RPGs battling monsters and collecting them, breeding them and min-maxing stats. Hm. I wonder what demographic that appeals to…

Went ahead and preordered this from Walmart while the deal is still active. Went in halfsies with my sister. She tried (and failed) to get into the mainline games, which are too challenging and gruesome for her. But these cute turn-based MH games are right up her alley.

As for myself, I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but it looks like it's worth supporting, and only $27 out of my own pocket means it'd make no sense to wait months/years for it to drop significantly in price.

@Ralizah
Right on. She’s a gamer too then, I take it? I’m surprised she even gave the main series a go. Then again, Gaijin Hunter’s daughter is like, 10 years old or something like that, and she’s put 1000 hrs into Rise, maybe more. I saw the video he posted where she was playing the final boss with a blindfold on lol. She had fought him 100 times and had learned the fight that well. Absolutely incredible, much more so considering her age, and the fact females aren’t typically drawn to such games.

I’m enjoying the demo so much- way more than I was expecting, even. I’ve already crafted and upgraded the Kulu Ya-Ku armor, and the bow, as well as a Velocidrome Greatsword and Yian Kut-ku hammer. The addiction of fighting monsters for parts to craft armor and weapons has already started to sink in. It’s different than Rise, such as getting a bit of freedom to pick and choose which materials out of several to use when crafting (although that mechanic is present for some upgrades and layered armor, it’s typically a set number of specific materials).

I also love how each monstie has a skill that can be used when traversing the environment. Nest Search comes in handy in the dens. Need to find a monstie that can swim across water though, and one that can climb vines.

@JaxonH Well, everyone in my family is a gamer in a sense that they all have some games they like to play. My mother adores Animal Crossing and Toejam and Earl (the original Genesis one). My brother-in-law can't seem to get into console gaming, but loves playing stuff on his PC. My sister sticks mostly to cute/light-hearted stuff on PC and Nintendo handhelds (she's playing Story of Seasons to pass the time at the moment). My father has never been a huge part of my life, but I do know he loves retro gaming on his PS1, and in fact I just sent him a PS1 game as a birthday gift. My nephew primarily plays games on his Nintendo handhelds.

Other than my father, everyone either owns a Switch or a Switch Lite.

She only gave the series a chance because I wouldn't stop talking about 4 Ultimate at the time, and even then, she stopped after the first couple of monsters because she felt horrible killing and gutting them, and has pretty much ignored subsequent games.

Whereas, with Stories 2, I've been hearing: "When does that come out?" every few weeks, and she's been asking a lot of questions while playing the demo, so I guess bloodless turn-based carnage just doesn't have the same impact. This one seems to have hooked her more than the first one on 3DS did.

I need to get back to the demo. I haven't been able to get into anything for very long since we've gotten all this info and footage about SMT V after Nintendo's Direct. But I really do want to see what was added in the 3.0 update for Rise, and play Disgaea 6 for a while, and really, thoroughly explore the demo for Stories 2.

@Ralizah
Dang. Now that's what I call a gaming family.

I recommend the demo for Stories 2 first since it's not that long to complete and it all transfers anyways. And, it's really good. I'm super addicted to collecting everything everywhere I go, killing monsters for mats and upgrading and crafting new gear back at the village.

For Rise, you'll want to get your HR up to 100. Seems like a lot but it went super fast for me. Especially if you're doing all the Quests. Crimson Glow Valstrax is incredible, the final boss is way better than the first incarnation, and the final two Quests in the new area are seriously awesome.

@thiz

This looks incorrect and I would hold off making judgments until the game releases.

The manufacturer of the boxart had to have made a mistake. For one, the entire game isn't even 15 gb, much less there be an additional download of that much. That's just not possible. And up until recently, one could have argued the eShop file size was wrong, but the game is 5 days from release and already downloaded onto my Switch. The grand total file size is only 13.5 GB. Not even a download code in the box would require 15 GB, much less an update for a cart.

There's also no in-game purchases. Anyone who's played the demo knows that. It's not even set up for it. There's not even a link to the eShop, which even MH Rise has in game from the courier, and yet MH Rise does not say that. If the file size wasn't a dead giveaway its wrong, this basically confirms it.

So ya. It has to be a misprint. Somewhere along the lines the wrong boxes got checked. It just doesn't make sense otherwise.

I would be very angry if that is NOT a misprint. It will automatically result in "no buy" for me

@JaxonH Looking back at Spyro, the situation was:

• Digital version was 15GB
• Physical version had a warning "at least 10GB download"
• Actual physical version download was 8.7GB
• So overall situation was Activision used a 8GB cart

The only way I see this download warning for MH Stories 2 being true that comes to mind is if Capcom used a 1GB cart (the smallest cart if I recall correctly?) and the cart only contains a very small file (KB or MB in size) that acts as DRM much like Overwatch on XB1.

@Grumblevolcano
Exactly. Which means it's just not possible.

Capcom isn't going to pay for a cart with a menu launcher where you download the entire game. In that case they'd just do download codes in the box.

This has to be incorrect. It doesn't make sense. And again, it's not just the "download" being nearly 2gb larger than the entire game itself (and I can confirm it's 13.5 GB as I have it downloaded right now), but the "in game purchases" is a dead giveaway its a mistake.

There are no in game purchases in MH Stories 2. Not even an eShop link from the menu. Compare that to Rise, which had an eShop link IN-GAME from the courier, and it still didn't have that on the box. If Rise didn't have it on the box, there's absolutely no way Stories 2 gets the label.

Misprint or hoax. There's just no other possibility.

I just completed the demo.

Absolutely incredible. It ends on the perfect note, too. I dare say I’m as hyped for this as I was for Rise. I was excited the moment they announced it but after playing this demo, the hype is on another level.

I mean, “In game purchases” is slapped onto anything with DLC. It probably does something akin to rise, with a DLC page on the home menu.

@VoidofLight
Maybe, but Rise never got that label on the box. And, Rise even had an in-game eShop option from the courier, and it still never got that label on the box.

Stories 2, on the other hand, has no such options in-game. But even if they added one for the full release, it’s still no different than Rise, so it makes no sense for them to be classified differently.

Which is all the more reason I lean toward this being a mistake. But, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I just wanna play the game. That cutscene at the end left me hanging!

I doubt the mandatory update will be 15GB, but I am concerned enough to cancel my preorder for the physical copy. I'm sure one of you fine folk will be the guinea pig and report on the size and scope of the mandatory download. Meanwhile, there are other games I could use the $60 on.

I'm just hoping that this won't require 15 GB to be installed, since I don't have any space for that on my switch, and new SD cards are super expensive.

Base game before updates is 13.2 GB. Any time a game is split on a cart with a download, the pre-update version is smaller, and the rest shows up as “Update Data”.

The fact the entirety of the game is listed as “software” and only a few hundred MB as update, basically disprove this entire thing.

Software: 13.2 GB
Update Data: 0.32 GB
DLC: 0.0037 GB

Now, compare that with XCOM 2, where only part of the game was on cart.

Software: 6.4 GB
Update Data: 17.9 GB

Furthermore, you can see the eShop listing has the full file size. XCOM 2 shows the full 24 GB while MH Stories 2 shows 13.5 GB. Meaning that's all of it for the base game. Meaning, there's no hidden 15 GB download for the game to run. The 13.5 GB is a functional copy of the full game, and 13.2 GB of it is in the base download, which cannot be split on a cart.

MH Stories 2 eShop

XCOM 2 eShop

@JaxonH I hope it is this way! But still I will wait for people here to confirm first hand if the game is fully playable just from the cartridge

@DomGC You probably shouldn’t save, since it will probably corrupt your demo savefile when the game releases, due to not having the correct code.

Misprint confirmed

@JaxonH This is great honestly. I won't have to worry about space on my console!