This vs MHS2

[Calandir]

Hey!
I wanted to ask what's the difference between the two, and what would you recommend more? As I'm torn if to buy this or Stories 2. As I've heard story isn't connected.

[tikiman572]

Story isn't interconnected though characters from the first do appear in the second.

Both have their appeals. The first Stories is somewhat restrictive in terms of how you can place genes in the gene grid but because monsters also naturally learn active/passive abilities on level up based on their species, it ultimately lends to more unique customization options. The second Stories is MUCH more accessible in terms of how you can place genes and has much more tools in its Monsterpedia to find certain genes and the like without looking up outside resources. The downside is that they made everything regarding a monster reliant on the gene grid so ultimately each monster ends up feeling the same.

Having played both in order, I prefer the original Stories but only just barely. The QoL features in Stories 2 can't be ignored but them removing the actives/passives learned on level up killed the individuality of monsters in that game. Not to mention not being able to element swap anymore. It's still a good game, but it's held back by that immensely.

Hopefully, if there is a Stories 3, they'll learn from that mistake and have things how it was in the first game albeit with the QoL changes from Stories 2.

[VincyHeat]

Personally, i think both games have their pros and cons and its really down to preference on your part.

Stories 1 had the better story to me and i prefer how the monsters and their genes and elements were handled in 1 more than 2.

Stories 2, however, looks a lot better and has a lot of QoL features like quick finishes and being able to change gene slots and more detailed menus. It also has more monsters.

Stories 2 does feel overly easy at times because of the addition of having a partner rather than doing all your battles solo like in 1. The monster patterns were also quite easy to learn in 2 so you could essentially steam roll most fights once you know the patterns. One had a bit of unpredictability with the patterns and sometimes monsters just appeared not to have any set pattern.

If you plan to get both then I'd say pick up Stories 1 first and then get stories 2 after since that goes on sale quite often.

[AchromaticHue]

You are correct and have other people in this thread have pointed out, the events of this game's story do not affect the main course of the story of the sequel, only some character interactions that you'll understand better if you played the first.

Now as for gameplay, both games have their own mechanics and tradeoffs.

Stories 1 in terms of combat and customization is a lot more dependent on RNG and luck, such as many monsters while favoring certain attack types may end up switching to a totally different one mid combat and also the fact that if you want to add genes to a monstie, you have to get them in that specific spot. Though there are some things in this game that did not appear in 2 due to time constraints or just overall QoL trimming such as the Monstie Element change system and the fact all Monsties have a passive moveset (Oh and a special Monstie that I will not Spoil)

Stories 2 on the other hand is a lot more streamlined and accessible when it comes to combat. You have a fully implemented parts and weapon system of which wasn't a thing in one save for like boss fights and just whatever weapon you wanted to use, monsters stick to a consistent pattern, and the gene system allows you to place genes wherever you so desire as well as the ability to upgrade genes. However there is a downside as Monsties no longer have passive abilities and the Element swap system being deprecated in exchange for a lot more accessibility.

Overall I'd highly recommend starting with Stories 1 as while there isn't much customization freedom and easier difficulty curve as there is in 2, there are some mechanics here that are just really fun to mess with on top of some features that never made it to the second game.

[Jack Reaver]

MHS has the following that doesn't exist in MHS2.

Monster Element Change
Battlepouch - Limits the max amount of items you can use in a fight.
Raw+Element
Unique abilities on each monster
Monsters exist in appropriate environments, you won't get a Lagiacrus in a volcano like in MHS2.
Monsters also scale in power in a way that makes sense. No Lagombis that are stronger than Yian Garugas.
A secret collectable monster
Artificial genes
A good endgame
Interesting PvP
Less predictable monster attack patterns
Bingos give a large static percentile increase



MHS2 has the following

Unique abilities were turned into normal genes transferable to all monsters
All attacks deal strictly one element type including the element of nonelement.
Co-op multiplayer restricted to specific randomly generated dungeons.
Team of 4 instead of team of 2.
Special abilities now trigger a mechanic that stops you from taking damage instead of just normal attacks.
Overall rider characters have been made much stronger and given far more interesting and complex mechanics along with new weapons.
Ability to swap between up to 3 different weapons in combat.
You can now upgrade genes by putting the same one multiple times on the same monster.
Overworld traversal while still not great has been improved.
Super Rare Dens
New monsters and new genes.
More populated overworld
Layered armors
Improved quest and forge system.
Royals, monsters you can find later in the game in early areas.
Better visuals
Bingos gives a small stacking percentile increase

At first glance MHS2 seems like the obvious option since it genuinely has improved on MHS in a lot of different ways. That said we lost some pretty major mechanics and there are some issues with MHS2.
First let me explain genes, genes are essentially stickers you put on a bingo board which give your monster its powers. A Rathalos can breath fire because of its fire gene, what if we put that gene on a Diablos? That's what the gene system is.

So when we got to MHS2 we lost element changing and the system of elements changed so that focusing on any element aside from your monsters main is just stupid. No more elemental Diablos, it can still breath fire if you want but it would be WAY worse than a Rathalos where in Stories it might not be as strong but it would be comparible. So we got new monsters in Stories 2 but lost potentially at least 5-6 different builds of each monster that we had in Stories 1. With secondary elements just not being viable it means you don't have much reason to run anything that isn't the monster's main element, IE you don't want Rathian to use her poison because that's a nonelemental attack while she's fire. Additionally since raw became nonelement it's just worse dragon.

Bingos are when you get 3 genes in a row on your 3x3 grid since you naturally have empty gene slots. Match up elements or attack type and it boosts the power of that specific element/attack type.

Stories 1 you had to get 1 bingo of an attack type and that was it. Stories 2 they're weaker and stack so for better or worse you would need to paint the entire bingo board the same thing to get that strong. Which is fine until you realize there just aren't enough genes for pretty much every element but fire. That goes for more than bingos, Fire and Thunder both get level 3 armor abilities which boost their element and damage resistance and lasts for 5 turns. Meanwhile Ice gets level 2 max, and dragon/water/nonelement get screwed.

The unique abilities getting turned into genes was the last nail in variety ironically. This meant monsters have nothing unique about them other than their Kinship which often is just a cosmetic different and their stat sheet. That sandstorm ability that only sand Barioth could get? Every monster can now.
This also means your monsters on average have less abilities than in MHS because you only have up to 9 genes in MHS2 where in MHS you have 9 genes plus unique abilities.

The 4 character teams are also a balancing nightmare since you can't control 2 out of the 4 and in MHS your own monster you have never been able to directly control outside of using a resource called Kinship.

A lot of changes from MHS2 made the game less balanced and not very challenging aside from some really broken stuff come endgame.

As you can guess, I prefer MHS over MHS2, ultimately it's your choice. The reality is MHS isn't perfect. I think from a pure gameplay stance MHS2 is a cleaner experience. Whether that means it's sterile or more enthralling is up to the person. I just prefer the variety MHS had.

Also if you go to a keyseller site chances are you can get Stories 2 cheaper than Stories 1 since it's the older game technically.

EDIT:
I also forgot to mention, massive quality of life boost from Stories 2. You can select where to put the gene you transfer.
In the first you had to transfer it to the same slot, so say if it was in the top left corner, it needs to be transfered to the top left corner.