Monster Hunter Stories Review (Neøcat)
Ok, so I've made it to Gildegaran , one of the checkpoint cities in this game, and I wanted to make some comparisons between the Nintendo 3DS version and this remake and what they added/changed.
Firstly, I want to go over one of the biggest annoyances to me in this game: the camera.
The 3DS version's camera isn't bad, since it was meant to be controlled using the d-pad/c-stick. But in the remake, it's awful ! The camera does this thing similar the 3DS version where it has a slow start but speeds up to match your sensitivity, but it doesn't feel fluent at all when using an analog stick (SOLVED). It's even worse if your using a mouse to move the camera because the camera's max speed is too sensitive to trigger. If your trying to move the camera slower, you have to move the mouse veeeery slowly to slow it down. Moving the camera up/down using the mouse doesn't feel natural on mouse either. So if you are going to play this game, either use a controller or use your keyboard keys to move your camera.
Next thing I want to talk about is the graphics and framerate
The graphics made a huge jump in this remake and I love it! Capcom kept the simplistic feel from the 3DS version and polished it up a lot. I'm glad they didn't try to remake the graphics too detailed. It still looks modern while keeping the feel from it's 3DS counterpart. The only time I see a graphical change is when there are certain cutscenes, where the style changes to a "Dragon Quest Builders"-like style. And since they made the graphics how they are, the framerate is very smooth at all times with no dips whatsoever (your results may vary depending on your computer's specs), even during cutscenes. The render distance is also higher than before.
Audio
There isn't much to talk about here. The audio is higher quality, and you can change some settings now to fit whatever audio device you're using. Plus, you can now change more than just BGM/SFX volume and sound settings (mono, stereo, surround)! There are now options to change your overall, voice, and system volume too! Sometimes, mainly in the main menu screen, the sound effect quality can sound like it was ripped straight from the 3DS version, but it's not too major.
Gameplay and new content
Finally, the juiciest part of this review! The story, at my current part of the game, is the same as in the 3DS version. But straying away from the main story, the subquests are a tad different. The speech bubbles for subquests and quests have been made bigger and thusfore, more noticable. So it'll be harder to be missing or accidently skipping over some speech bubble subquests. The combat, gathering, egg hunting, movement, shopping, forging, and crafting is the same from what I can tell.
The character customization has been improved quite a bit! Not only does it have more features, but it also allows for you to select bits from some of the characters in-game! So now you can be Cheval's doppelganger or just take certain features from Dan, Hyoro, Reverto, and other side characters! The voice acting has been improved, now with English and Japanese voiceovers. But they also have the option to do the original Monster Hunter language found in the 3DS version. There are some new settings such as the ability to change your resolution, framerate, brightness, and v-sync for your display settings. The option to change keybinds for controller and keyboard were added, and rumble toggle and autosave were also added as well.
So, should you get Monster Hunter Stories or not?
Yes, this game is amazing! Despite having small annoyances like the camera controls, those kinds of things aren't a dealbreaker for it. The concept for this game was amazing enough to get a sequel after all! However, I wouldn't recommend this to you if you don't like turn based battles and/or a little bit of grinding.
EDIT: Disable camera acceleration in the settings for a better experience