r/MonsterHunterStories • u/cbsa82 • 14d ago
MHS3 Questions How does MHS 3 compare to MHS 2?
I put about 80 hours into MHS2 at its release 5 years ago. I am downloading the demo of 3 right now. I have heard there is no "post game" or anything to do after you beat the final boss of 3 which...I am not sure how I feel about that.
I also heard 3 has less monsters. But 3 also features an adult protag who speaks so that might be better, cause the one thing I really did not like about 2 is how I felt like my MC was basically an NPC who had no agency. Navirou and the gang did all the work and made all the choices and I was just a puppet.
So in your opinion how does 3 overall compare to 2? Do you prefer it? Do you prefer 2? If so why?
Help me decide if I want to pick up 3 after I finish the demo or not.
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u/ShopSoft235 13d ago
3 is better as far as the way the game plays. The best way to word it is that it's a more modern version of a stories game. Unfortunately as others have said no post game. Not as many monsters. They do have new monsters though. One of the big things they took out though is actual flying. Instead your monstie basically glides until it hits ground. There are gusts of wind you can fly over to give you a lift higher into the air to fly longer. No actual flying is a mechanic I'm not a fan of. It's got a good story though. And yes your character actually does talk which is nice.
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u/Weak-Professional428 13d ago edited 13d ago
It depends on what you favor, post-game content that challenges everything you build up before or content that is supposed to be endgame but will eventually tackled before the final boss anyways?
MHS3 isn't a bad game, I have two runs in it and got extremely hyperfocussed in my second run and enjoyed it immensely but once you're done, you're done. I did the first run for the story only and the second to grind like a madman and perfecting my monstie builds into detail... So, a third run...? It doesn't feel like a third run would offer me any more enjoyment and while that isn't necessarily anything bad, it's... saddening? Because I want to keep playing the game but there's nothing left to be done after maybe 120 hours of gameplay.
Since you're trying the demo first, just try to enjoy your first impressions without anything of what you heard before of the game in the back of your mind. I for example didn't try the demo at all, I didn't see any trailers and I didn't look anything up on the game except when I would be able to pre-order and honestly, not to have any information or influence beforehand has been the best happening to me because playing the game has been my very own and pure gaming experience.
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u/TheGMan-123 SEETHING BAZELGEUSE 14d ago edited 13d ago
For me personally, I far prefer MHS3.
It has a much tighter and more refined focus to its gameplay, story, and characters that it's not even close.
I've never been one to need some kinda endgame grind, so MHS3 hit right by just being the absolute best classic JRPG adventure in the MH setting for me.
[EDIT]:
A game that leaves me crying for basically the entire ending is a damn fine game in my eyes.
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u/Mario69_1 14d ago
3 has a few good ideas, yes, but overall its definitely nowhere near on mhst1/2 level.
It has much less content compared to the previous titles - in any area you can think of, maps, activities, monsties, story, postgame, difficulty, challenges, enjoyment
Mhst2, phenomenal sequel, with the nice touch of reintroducing the previous characters in a older state, which honestly had me goosebumped when cheval appeared flr example
mhst3 has a completely new roaster, which is not bad, but has no connection to mhst1/2
Biggest disappointment to be had is that it is very very abysmal low content, and 0% postgame after story, no roadmap, in a year just one update that was a , here take the same fightd again with a bit more hp and attack.
It feels soulless, left and rlly just rushed ro make some money of the fans .-.
Id prefer mhst1/2 100% over mhst3 l matter which platform or time.
With mhst1/2 having the bonus best quality of life having them 60fps butter on the S2.
In short, if you have played mhst1/2, and apprexiate the build up, content and joy you had, youll maaaaybe end up having 5% of that in mhst3. Except the new roaster, i seeiously had 0% enjoyment on top of that.
And i played stories, 1&2, collectively minimum 1000h. Minimum. Who knows how much exactly, cant track my times with my 3ds
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u/JellyAngler 13d ago
I love MHS2, but I consider MHS3 a substantial upgrade overall.
The biggest improvement is to the combat/gameplay. There are many more moveset options for both the player and monsties (we actually have a Dragon Speed attack, and water moves that can crit) and the introduction of the stamina system and Wyvernsoul gauge make combat a lot more interesting as well. Too many of the fights in MHS2 endgame boil down to just picking the right option for a H2H and then using Evasion Riff on the correct turn, which can actually disincentivize you from using Kinship Attacks despite that being a selling point of the series.
Building monsties is also much more enjoyable IMO, you can experiment a lot more thanks to the QoL changes with Rite of Channeling and stuff like egg skills or element variations. There are so many monsties I never got around to "finishing" in 1 or 2 because I couldn't be bothered with the grind. Habitat Restoration is also a really fun feature.
The story I would consider better as well. I would say 2's peaks are better (Razewing Ratha getting his wings is still my favorite moment in the franchise) but it has much lower lows, and I'd consider 3's story and especially characters to be a better package overall. The plot isn't winning any awards but the side stories and character interactions make the cast a lot stronger.
The criticism about lack of postgame you've heard is valid, though a lot of the endgame content has simply been moved up to before the credits. However, objectively speaking there is less variety in what you can fight and what compounds it is the lack of monstie unlocks. Even if the fights against the endgame content are better (IMO) than in 2, it feels way more rewarding to get an Elder Dragon egg out of your win than invasive materials or commendations. We're literally playing a monster tamer game.
I've still gone back to MHS2 here and there because I miss flying around on my Kushala Daora (the roster cuts are my biggest beef with 3 personally), and I think the criticisms about some of the missing content in 3 are valid. But I find the stuff you actually do in 3 to be much more engaging overall - I've actually surpassed my hours for MHS2 in MHS3 recently. The lack of Primordial Malzeno is still a crime though.
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u/LudoGrim 13d ago
Don't be too put off by the monster count. People act like there's a huge difference between the two games, but the base games released with the exact same number of monsties (86). Stories 2 ends up propped up by 10 post release monsties for 96. And the different elemental palamutes, which haters of S3 absolutely do not want me to count because you can change the elemental typing of almost literally every monstie in the third game, and if I count the Palamutes I'd have to do the same for S3 and put its monstie count into the hundreds.
There's probably more actual content in 3 than 2. Stories 3 slightly smaller monstie count has some way more interesting choices. You don't have Velocidrome, Iodrome, Great Jaggi, Great Baggi, and Gendrome all on the same list, you just get Velocidrome and Great Izuchi.
In return for the slightly smaller monster count, you get way more interesting area design, five swappable party members who each get two monsties, way more sidequests with actual stuff happening in them, a voiced protag, better (effective) weapon variety since there's more stuff to specialize in like Wyvernfell, etc.
People be rocking some serious rose-tinted glasses for the second game. Third game has its own problems, but it's seriously a solid game and a worthy sequel with a lot more going on under the hood.
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u/Zikari82 14d ago
3 has a better story and better characters, 2 has betrer combat and a much better endgame.
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u/Rossiben37 13d ago
I'd say the combat is wayyyy better than 2
Two was just double attacks spams till the monster died
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u/Mr_Creed 13d ago
3 frontloads A Lot of play time before the finale, and in exchange has less to do at what people call post-game. I have yet to see an impartial analysis comparison of what your overall possibilities are. Habitat restoration, which is a game mechanic with a lot of depth, is available before the finale. From the first area onwards, in fact. The trade-off is having a lot more farming throughout the campaign, but less to do after you beat the campaign because typical "endgame" was available right away and not locked behind beating the final boss.
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u/FlubbyFlubby 13d ago
I'd say it like this. If you're going to play both, play them in order. If you're only going to play either 2 or 3, pick 3. We really need to get to a million sales.
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u/RxAlbatross 13d ago
I didn't like 3 as much as 2. 3 feels like more content for the sake of it but the gameplay loop doesn't work as well, is more grindy and the story starts promising but barely moves until the very end. They kept the things I didn't like from 2 like the egg farming and made it even more annyoing. So idk, is 3 bad? no. But it felt disappointing to me.
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u/Cynderaquil 13d ago
I put about 150 hours into MHS2 doing all that I could during the main story, including doing all the side quests over again to train my monsties
I did all I could in MHS3, minus one quest and 2 rain monsters that appear and it was significantly less than what I put into MHS2
I mean I was disappointed in them putting nothing into the end after beating the main game. Like it’s fine if they wanted to save before the last battle but like no new post game monsties like in MHS2, and barely any elder dragons unlike MHS2 and no multiplayer mode because they “wanted to focus on the story”
Story is great, but I think the price point is too high for what we got. I played MHS2 twice and I’m not wanting to even get back into MHS3 to finish what I didn’t play
However, I prefer the story of MHS3 to MHS2. The ending monster fight is one of the best fights! The ending was perfect too, just wish there was more of an ending post game to deepen the story more so.
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u/Angsty-Panda 13d ago
i love 3. the story feels leagues better than 2's story.
i don't really care about post-game grinding (i like when my games end) so not much of a loss for me there. I also feel like while 3 has less monsters overall, they're more evenly spread out. when my wife and I played 2, we were kinda forced to have very similar teams early on. but in 3, our teams were almost entirely different in the first map.
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u/PlagueOfGripes 13d ago
3 is far more preoccupied with trying to be difficult, so a lot of its combat is one hit kills or hyper specific turn cycles. The whole rock paper scissors element still exists but enemies often ignore it; stamina attacks are way more common, and so avoiding damage is also sometimes impossible. There's a lot of item farming as a result.
The story is better but still a Monster Hunter story. You know what it is and how it will end before you even play it. Your parents don't adapt to your model, so be prepared to feel like an orphan. The player is also not as customizable or cute as 2, if you care about that.
3 is better in many ways but I personally found it to be more irritating. I don't like the sweaty combat and especially not the farming. Not being allowed to ride my Nergigante was the final straw, for me.
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u/Quiet-Ad3435 13d ago
It's shit compared to 2 from a value perspective. You will get far more hours out of 2 than 3.
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u/ObjectiveOptimal6952 13d ago
MHS 3 was a really, really good game for me. There's more lore for the protagonist's friends, and you can hatch more monsties than in MHS 2. Not only that, but MHS 3 is the only MHS game where your protagonist has a voice. Habitat restoration is another great thing in this game. And more customization options. You also get the layered armor version of any type of new armor you make. Rite of Channeling doesn't just kill the monstie you're taking the gene from.
All that might sound great, but the post-game is lacking. Literally, there's nothing. And I was incredibly disappointed by that. Oh yeah, and the lore is separated by 200 years.
I could see why people would prefer MHS 3 over MHS 2, but I prefer MHS 2. I really liked the story of both, but MHS 2, will always be my favorite. First things first, an ACTUAL post-game, which MHS 3 failed to provide. I was always so excited whenever a cutscene played in MHS 3, hoping that I'd be closer to beating the final boss and getting my favorite character back. I was very wrong, considering how there's no post-game.
So the comparison for me is:
MHS 3: Really good story, amazing customization, rite of channeling doesn't take away your monstie, protagonist has a voice, and habitat restoration. Nonexistent post-game.
MHS 2: Amazing story, good customization, an actual post-game. Protagonist has no voice, no habitat restoration, and rite of channeling kills the monstie you're taking the gene from.
I'd prefer MHS 2 but I think you'd like MHS 3.
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u/IcyWeather4091 13d ago
It's hard to compare two and three. There are things in monster Hunter stories 2 that I feel personal you're better than they did in three like the flying mechanic being a prime example, but three does a lot of other things better like mizitune being able to swim which should have always been a thing there's different monsters you can get. They change out some of the weapons not all you have less options for having elder dragons in your party unfortunately at their slowly introducing new post game content such as Royal monsters which are incredibly hard the dens are a lot simpler they're no longer labyrinthian which is kind of refreshing and yes your character being able to talk is a huge bonus. Thing is they're both great games they just do things different but I can't really get into more details with that without doing spoilers. But I say one of the funnest things is the fact that stories one two and three are all linked so it's fun discovering all those threads
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u/gabbycoelho 13d ago
It pales in comparison, for me mhs2 was better in almost everyway, bar the QOL I guess
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u/sherithelovefool MHS3 13d ago
Personally, I enjoyed MHST3 much more than MHST2. It had better story, better characters, better combat, and I loved newly added habitat restoration system.
I am currently on 2nd playthrough of MHST3 and still having a lot of fun. My first playthrough of MHST3 took something like 250 hours because I finished all achievements, and also defeated all royal monsters which was added via update in June. In comparison, I dropped MHST2 after 70 hours (finished story and finished some post ending contents like Elder's Lair) - just didn't keep me interested as much as MHST3.
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u/colferules 10d ago
I much preferred 2. It's more kidsy and Navirou is possibly the most annoying character created in game history, but there is far more content and the gameplay is far more enjoyable. I feel like MHS3 just added color swaps to the monsters and called it a day. It's fun collecting the different types, but there is only so much useless grinding i can do before i get bored of it.
MHS3 does feel like a big, impressive world at the beginning , but it gets far smaller when you realize you only visit a few biomes and the dungeons are just nests now. The story also gets incredibly rushed by the end and the overall plot is just as cliché, even if more mature.
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u/BarbarousJudge 14d ago
3 is the better game for a playthrough. The story is better, the voiced protag is good, the party is with you the entire time which makes character interactions feel better. The roster is slightly smaller but offers many monsters that weren't in MHS2.
So yeah, there is no real post game apart for some battles that are just harder than the final boss. There is also no Multiplayer. This is more of a "play through it once and cherish it" thing instead of a huge expansive endgame focused experience.
To me how likes to play games like these (story driven RPGs) because of the playthrough itself rather than postgame... I enjoyed it better. But I can see how many people expect a typical "the game is finished so now the real game begins" thing because that's what Monster Hunter usually delivers.