Is the 1 any better than the 2 ?

[Paolini]

Gameplay-wise

[AchromaticHue]

Gameplay wise, 2 is a lot more balanced then 1 but 1 still has its charms and some features in that were never carried over fully to 2 such as the ability to change a Monstie's elemental typing

[Nezumi]

1 is beautiful and full of memories but 1 and 2 is worth to buy, the storie is perfect. I think 2 is a little better because you can choose companions that help you but i dont know if this feature gets 1

[Nezumi]

Oh i forgot that 2 has a Co-op funktion where players can help you in a monster Nest not in so normal gameplay only on the Board where quest are
1. Has only pvp

[ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣]

IIRC, the main thing 1 did better than 2 was the combat. That is, the enemies actually have some randomisation in their moves, its not just a memory pattern game where the only real difficulty comes from multi-hit moves and npc idiots eating all your lives. Apart from that and monstie element changing i think mhst2 was an upgrade in every aspect

its still a good game worth checking out though, and i personally miss that old endgame grind involving the tower, im pretty excited to play it again

[Jay]

IMO they're equal. Channeling system is different is the only real main difference (and maybe how it handles weapons changing, it's been years so I can't remember).

Btw, with channeling in MHST1 (at least in the 3DS version) you can also change your monstie's *color* by changing its elemental typing.

[hua]

MHST1 has better story and pacing imo, gameplay is mostly the same with some differences in regards to channeling

[Unicorn]

Story 1 had a much more engaging story imo. Stories 2 feels like a "hey remember this person" throughline making it lack its own identity in a lot of ways.

[Metalshock]

I'm playing it through and I still like it. However, if you've played Stories 2, I only recommend stories 1 if you want the story of this world; 2 is just the better game. Lacks one or two things, but improves on many other things.

... I'm already missing my Gunlances, though...

[Irion]

The biggest deal for me compared to 2, its the coop dungeons/multi.
This one only has vs mode.

[tikiman572]

Both games have their charms but my own opinion is that 1 beats out 2, but just barely. The QoL improvements introduced in Stories 2 were fantastic and VERY much appreciated. But, the dev team, in my eyes, got a little too over-eager with that game's gene system when compared to the first game.

See, one of the fun things to do in the first Stories was make up insane builds with the gene system while also balancing them with what the monster naturally learned through leveling up. This gave each monster species a certain flavor of uniqueness that could alter builds entirely. To give an example, say my one monster naturally learns Power (M) as a passive ability. Now, I COULD slot in Power (L) as one of its 9 genes but the two of these abilities do NOT stack. Power (L) would take priority and be a marginal upgrade in exchange for one of your precious gene slots. Not a very good tradeoff, there, so it paid to think a bit outside the box to come up with some really crazy, but effective, stuff. Plus, being able to element swap monsters and REALLY create something unique looking and all your own? Awesome. My Gold Rathian, Iris, started as a Fire type but I decided to focus her all-in on Poison so she became a Water type. And she ended up as my Fatalis DESTROYER.

Then, we get to Stories 2 and where things kind of fall apart. You see, outside of how a monster looks and their own natural stat growth on leveling up? Nothing. They don't learn new passive abilities, they don't learn new active abilities... just nothing. Everything was foisted on to the gene system to determine what a monster can, and can't, do. And while you were able to freely slot genes wherever and even reinforce them to make them stronger? It just felt like there wasn't any uniqueness to the monsters at that point. And element swapping? Gone. Oh, sure, you COULD make a monster a different element temporarily if you slot in a powerful enough elemental gene when it's first born but its natural stat growth towards its native element will eventually overtake it and you're back to where you were before.

I sincerely hope for a Stories 3 that they go BACK to the way things worked in the first game with the gene system and natural passive/actives learned on level up BUT with the QoL improvements from Stories 2. That'd just be fantastic.