Topic: Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

@VoidofLight
Doing two concurrent playthroughs actually isn’t that bad. I don’t even mind redoing the progress I made on PC. Because the game is just so enjoyable to play. They should have offered cross save though. That would have been el perfecto. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t given the fact they did for MH3U on Wii U and 3DS, as well as MHXX on Switch and 3DS, and save transfers from MH Gen to MH Gen Ult.

They get a lot more sales from double dippers. I just don’t understand these companies sometimes. Something so trivial could incentivize an extra 10,000 copies sold from people who want to play PC at home, Switch on the go, like Witcher 3.

@JaxonH I hate using my phone battery and the screen is way too small, but I'd consider a separate tablet. What I've tried of xcloud so far is absolutely fantastic to the point that makes me really prefer a steamed xb game than a half quality switch game unless it's exclusive. Plus it has docked and portable modes like switch with a physical xb and cross save. I haven't adopted it yet. Need a device to make it really work as well as switch that's bigger than and not draining my phone battery first. But it works great.

Agreed on handheld though. Debated for months on ys9 ps or switch, got it on switch. It's garbage. But I'd end up never playing it on ps. Wonder if there's any difference between lite and launch
for this, positive or negative? I know it should be the same, but maybe it actually is better on your lite and that's what you're picking up on.

Rise runs well docked but honestly most switch games are so mediocre docked I don't even consider switch a hybrid anymore. Tv out is a nice convenience, but I don't think of it as a console, just putting the handheld on the big screen. Imo OLED+lite kind of signal Nintendo views it that way too.

Idk who the voice of naviru is but it's really yokai watch level awful on an "only kids could like this" level of bad . Should have just got Sam reigel like every other game with an obnoxious but lovable sidekick.

@Snaplocket idk, going back and forth between them, handheld only, mind, ys9 is waaay jankier then mhs2. I mean it's just so bad idk how they released it. Yeah dungeons are ok, but the city is horrid. Mhs2 by contrast is sometimes better than 30fps which makes places like rath forest and ruto stand out even worse.

Only thing I can't figure out is why mhs2 would be pc focused. It's a sequel to a 3ds game and very kid oriented in presentation. Not sure why switch wasn't the priority.

Honestly, Yokai Watch 4 has way more performance issues in comparison, making me feel like MHS2 isn't as bad.

@NEStalgia I wish somebody would tell Monolith Soft that Switch is better as a handheld. Still waiting for a handheld Xenoblade game that doesn't intermittently look terrible.

There shouldn't be any performance differences between OG and Lite. Some games look better on the Lite's smaller screen, but framerate is unlikely to differ.

@NEStalgia
If games could be streamed to the actual Switch itself where it's a sleek handheld profile with built in buttons, and if those games could run smoothly based on mobile data Hotspot, then I'd be interested.

But if it can't stream smoothly from Hotspot it's pointless. And I've tried cloud from hotpot. Its a sideshow. Absolute mess. Even at home on wifi, the lag is noticeable- tolerable but noticeable. But the whole point is to play away from home. It can't do that yet. Maybe one day that'll change, and a sleek handheld gaming device with built in removable controllers like joycon will be readily available to stream to, but today is not that day. And so, streaming goes onto the "I don't care" back burner. The only exception I see is for games that can't run natively on Switch to get a cloud version. But even then, I'll just play on PC and choose a different game to play on Switch.

@Ralizah haha yeah, monolith is the only one that makes console games that run in handheld rather than handheld games first.

@JaxonH yeah, sheer laziness of the switch form factors convenience keeps me on it. Razer kishi gives phones a similar form factor, but the whole phone clamp thing is still a pain. And yeah 4g hotspots still suck, and no carrier wants anyone to use them (which was hilarious with Verizon's e3 presentation about 5g gaming.). I think a whole lot of switch handheld players are playing it places where wifi is available and non sucky. Ive only noodled around with it. Control in switch felt laggy. Nicer automata on my phone via xcloud is almost as smooth as on the x1x and runs way better than anything on switch. Honestly I play my handheld around home 90% of the time (omg I'm hallway guy!!) so even streaming from my consoles would do what I need technically better than switch most of the time, but the hardware form factor of switch is so convenient. Just wish it didn't suck.. If even jrpgs start sucking on a Nintendo handheld that's bad.

This game does impress with how it translates my into an rpg. The styling makes it look simplified, bit it's really almost as complicated as the main cant. This is really what I think World really should have been, minus the turn based battle system, obviously.

@NEStalgia
This pretty much sums up my thoughts.

@JaxonH I agree but on the other hand it will be the future at certain point (2 to 3 generations)

@Balta666
We’ll see.

America's subpar internet infrastructure and lack of access to competing services in major parts of the country is going to keep video game streaming from becoming the norm over here. Too many people are shackled to slow services that won't allow for anything playable. And our politicians are too busy reenacting the Hatfield/McCoy feud on the national stage to do anything that would benefit everyone in the country.

Also, being tethered to constant internet connectivity just doesn't make for a good portable experience, IMO, as it's too unreliable and situational. Which is why I think Ninty's hybrid model will continue to remain relevant into the future.

@Ralizah I live in europe and even on the side of my router with download of 80+ and upload of 30+ at 5G connection the lag is very noticible (going to unplayable imo) on xcloud or any other server like that

@DomGC That makes sense. The worst part about the framerate is how it messes with inputs. It's not as important as Rise, as a turn-based game, but I can't tell you how many times I'm running through trying to pick up materials as I go by and the game misses the button intputs causing me to circle back around to pick up the item. Sometimes multiple times. It'd be comical if it wasn't so annoying.

@Ralizah @JaxonH Generally agree with all that, and in a broad sense it's true. BUT, if this game were available on xCloud and I could stream it in 1080p/60 with max settings to a device other than my phone, it would, on my home connection, play, and look, far better than it does on Switch. I want them to stick with sucky old switch for years now, though, because I'm (probably) buying OLED, so I don't want to be shoved a new console in a year (or two) to tell me it was a completely useless purchase to reenact my 32x->SegaCD experience all over again.

@NEStalgia
That's not the framerate. That's just the game. It's the same way on PC. You have a short window to pick up items and have to do it the moment the prompt shows. Framerate wouldn't affect inputs anyways. Two completely separate things (the lag from streaming, however, does actually affect inputs. Until they can figure out advanced machine learning algorithms that can run simultaneous instances in the backend and retroactively apply the input to the one that applies).

As for streaming, everyone has their preferences. If you'd rather deal with streaming, hey, you do you. I, however won't even deal with it in the home. It's why I never used PS Remote play on Vita, and my Shield TV and Steamlink is still in the closet. And frankly, most games look amazing on Switch and run just fine anyways. MH Stories 2 looks immaculate in handheld and frankly, plays great. And I relish the low response times of games running on native hardware.

@JaxonH I'm guessing the camera control still feels a bit weird even on PC? Doesn't seem like it'd be an issue tied to framerate. Although bumping up the camera control to max and setting auto-camera speed to high did mostly address my irritations with it. The camera control default setting makes the game almost unplayable for me, lol.

@JaxonH That's nasty if the PC version has the annoying pickup, too. Maybe than can fix that, then. It "feels" framerate related, but it sounds like it's not.

Vita Remote Play was terrible, no matter what, even direct. It wasn't the bandwidth, it was the poor Little Vita that Couldn't. I'm not saying I'm a streaming fan in particular, just that as games seem to really be unable to run correctly on current Switch, I think the "hybrid" of streamed on a handheld and then come home to a power console for perfect play may be more ideal than "janky 2-gen old hardware with mediocre ports" - internet pending, and including local console streaming.

You know....like WiiU wanted to be....

@Ralizah
It's the exact same, ya. It just feels weird due to not having analog speed where moving a bit results in slow turning and the farther you tilt the faster you turn. Instead, it's binary. Turn or not turn. And when you turn it takes a moment for acceleration to pick it up to full speed.

But oddly enough, I've gotten used to it, and when I came back to play on Switch, the first thing I thought was, wow, the camera actually feels great! How did I not like this before?

I turned the auto camera off. That thing was horrible and moving the camera when I didn't want it to. So annoying. I prefer to point where I want and have it stay there unless I change it.

I keep speed 3 notches below max, and just use ZL-targeting to swing camera behind my back if I need to change direction suddenly.

@NEStalgia
Nah. Most games look and run great on Switch. There's a few exceptions but I just ignore those or play them elsewhere. Not like half my library is an unplayable mess. There's maybe a dozen games on my full 1 TB SD card that are playable but not perfect. None that are downright unplayable.

As for the pickups, I'm gonna be honest. I love it. They designed it in such a way where picking up items as you're moving becomes very easy once you learn the timing, and it almost becomes a game of skill for me. It's kind of thrilling trying to time it perfect to grab while moving each time. I've gotten very good at it.

I get the complaint. I just happen to like the mechanic.

The day gaming goes full streaming is the day I quit playing games.

@DomGC I can't imagine it's intentional to be that weird. Not after how Rise does it so smoothly and effortlessly. They might as well just bring the old mining and foraging animations from Tri back, while they're at it!

@JaxonH I've noticed a resurgence in recent Japanese games of going back to the PS2 era of auto-cameras, and enabling them by default. It's nauseating. The video game equivalent of sea sickness. Why do I want a camera randomly moving around while I'm looking at something? I hadn't even realized it was on in this game, but that probably is contributing to the framerate irritation. Falcom games, first thing I do is turn it off.

I can't imagine anyone likes a janky pickup mechanic where basic features become a game of chance skill...but...ok. Do you like it at 120fps on PC, or do you like it at 20fps on Switch?

@VoidofLight when that day comes you will have literally thousands of games from previous generations to play anyways

@NEStalgia @JaxonH actually altough definitely jank I also got used to the pick up timing and now I don't miss more than once every twenty times at most even when running along