Monster-collecting games have been on the rise ever since the genre became mainstream thanks to Persona, Shin Megami Tensei and other monster-collecting games. Now, the most logical franchise to take a step towards the genre happens to be Monster Hunter and trust me when I say this, it was high time we finally got to see it in the form of Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin. 

Monster Hunter Stores 2: Wings of Ruin may just be one of the best monster-collecting games that may have come out in recent years, even giving Pokemon a run for its money simply because the developers have taken extra care at implementing mechanics Pokemon fans have been wanting for years. In fact, Capcom has improved upon many of the best elements you would find in monster-collecting JRPGs. 

The beauty of this game is that it appeals to almost every kind of player. Whether you’re familiar with the Monster Hunter franchise or not, this game demands your attention even if you disregard it as just another monster-collecting game. 

© Capcom

Having said that, there are some improvements needed in the combat system. For starters, you cannot control the move types of your monsties which gets very annoying after some time. Instead, you would see monsties fighting amongst each other using weak attacks that would often make me look away from the screen and scroll Twitter on my phone. You also don’t see the health bar of any new monstie you encounter in the world. I would often make fatal decisions as I would never know how much health the enemy monstie would have left after taking some damage. 

Collecting monsters also does not work the same way as it does in Pokemon. You need to head to several dungeons that contain eggs that later hatch into monsties you can use. These dungeons are randomised most of the time and are of different sizes. You can also get rare eggs from these dungeons which hatch into powerful monsties that you can use in your battles. In total, there are 128 creatures that you can collect. Every creature comes with its own different stats and abilities which you can leverage throughout the game. 

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