Monster Hunter Stories: additional details, trailer, screenshots, artworks, boxart

Following the press conference, Capcom sent a press release to share additional details about Monster Hunter Stories, along with a lot of screenshots and artworks.

But first, here’s the third trailer for the game:

Characters

First, we have several new and already known characters:

• the protagonist (male / female) and Nabiru (a peculiar Felybe, and your partner throughout the game);
• Simone: he’s the captain of the research unit of the royal institute researching monsters and their ecology;
• Cheval: childhood friend of the protagonist, also wants to become a Rider;
• Rivelt: a Hunter, who takes an interest in the protagonist;
• Lilia: a bright and active young girl, who often drags the protagonist around, and is always the first to move into action. She will also go on a journey, but for a different reason than the protagonist.

Head after the break for the rest of this post!

Otomon

Otomon are one of the central “elements” of the game: they’re monsters the protagonist shares a deep bond with. You can ride them on the field if your bond is deep enough. You can even do so during battles, which allows you to use powerful Kizuna moves (once you’ve filled a gauge). The kind of Kizuna moves you can use depend on both the Otomon, and the depth of your bond.

But that’s not all: thanks to your Otomon, you can also perform various Ride Actions on the field, such as jumping, swimming, and more. The kind of actions you can perform also depends on the monster. In order to fully explore the world, you will need to swap Otomon, and use their Ride Actions to discover areas you cannot reach while on foot.

Battle system

Capcom also provides some details about the battle system, but nothing really new. Here’s what we previously wrote about it:

In Monster Hunter Stories, battles are turn-based, with three command options:

 

• Power
• Technique
• Speed

 

In order to win battles, you have to pay attention to the monsters: they all have some habits, so by reading their movements you can tell which command to use. In the [Famitsu] interview, the developers explain[ed] that this is not a game of luck: for example, the Velociprey likes to use Speed. In order to perform well in battle, you really have to pay attention and memorise the habits of each monster.

 

You also have to take into account the type of weapon used, as your attacks change depending on which one you’re using. For example, Large Swords come with the Nagiharai special skill, while one-handed swords come with Shield Bash.

 

Next, we have Otomons: those are friendly monsters you can befriend as a Rider. They act on their own, but if the right conditions are met, you can perform a cooperation attack together. Once your bond is deep enough, you can use a “Ride On” technique, which greatly increases the abilities of the monsters. Finally, the Kizuna Stone allows you to use Kizuna moves, which vary depending on the monster.

Talking of the Kizuna moves, you need to fill up a gauge during battle in order to use them. It looks like you can charge it up to three times, and naturally, doing so makes the moves more powerful.

Capcom also confirms what was pretty obvious: you can have several Otomons in your party. By fighting and winning battles, both the protagonist and the Otomons will get XP.

Eggs, traditional ceremony

As mentioned previously, you can find eggs while exploring the world. If you bring them with you, you can make them hatch, and the monster coming out of the shell will become one of your Otomon. You can raise several monsters, and when they get enough XP and level up, they will learn new skills.

Capcom also details a traditional ceremony, that you can perform in order to “unlock” the dormant abilities/attributes of your Otomon. Just like in Pokémon, two monsters of the same species can end up completely different from each other. It all depends on the abilities/attributes you choose to awaken during the ceremony (which implies you will have to make decisions: you will not be able to get everything).

The ceremony involves two monsters:

• the base monster (the one who will “receive” the abilities/attributes)
• the source monster (the one “transferring” the abilities/attributes)

One of the screenshots below shows the “transfer screen”, with various slots: those correspond to abilities/attributes you can transfer. You can only transfer them to the same slot, so if it’s already taken, you’re of luck.

Thanks to this ceremony, your can really strengthen your monsters, and make them more versatile. For example, one of the screenshots below shows Lagombi using a fire attack… quite surprising, given fire is the very element it’s supposed to be weak to!

Capcom also confirms that Monster Hunter Stories will have multiplayer, with 1 vs 1 battles. Those battle will be playable via local wireless, but also via the internet. You can chat with the other player using “Stamps” (similar to the stickers from LINE and other IM services). They’re basically icons with pre-recorded messages, such as “You got me good…” for example.

Early purchase bonus and Monster Hunter X / Generations bonus

As mentioned in this post, there will be some bonuses for players who buy the game at launch, and those who have a Monster Hunter X / Generations save data file:

• Rathalos costume for Nabiru (early purchase bonus)
• Dinovaldo sword for the protagonist (Monster Hunter X / Generations bonus)
• Dinovaldo costume for Nabiru (Monster Hunter X / Generations bonus)

Capcom specifies that the early purchase bonus will not be sold separately. The download code will be found inside the box for the retail version of the game, and will be available for a limited time to players picking up the digital version. As for the Monster Hunter X / Generations, you need a save data file of that game on your SD Card to unlock it.

Collaborations

Just like the mainline entries, Monster Hunter Stories will have its own collaborations. Capcom announced two today:

• one with Daigo (the famous singer)
• one with PomPomPurin (a Sanrio mascot character)

There will also be special Otomons as retailer bonuses:

amiibo

Here’s pictures of the three amiibo releasing on October 8th in Japan, along with Monster Hunter Stories:

Finally, here’s the boxart for Monster Hunter Stories, along with some artworks and plenty of additional screenshots:

Want to see more of Monster Hunter Stories? No problem: the game will be showcased next week, during the latest episode of Capcom TV. Besides the usual team from the show, there will be Ryozo Tsujimoto (Producer of the Monster Hunter series), Kaname Fujioka (World Director), Kenji Oguro (Director), and some other guests such as M.A.O. and Mutsumi Tamura from the anime series.

It will be streamed live on June 1st at:

• Europe: 1PM
• UK: 12PM
• North America (EST): 7AM
• North America (PST): 4AM
• Japan: 8PM

The episode will be streamed live on YouTube (but also NicoNico, AbemaTV Fresh, or Twitch). Here’s the YouTube livestream:

https://youtu.be/cnAcy-y8KXM

We have a separate posts with a trailer and details about the anime series: click here to check it out!

Monster Hunter Stories (3DS) comes out on October 8th in Japan.

Source: Inside-Game ( 1 / 2) / Game Watch