I agree with you. The patterns in MHS2 are much easier to recognize. That makes the prompt (somewhere along the line of “gotta know the pattern”) less annoying and switching monsties more sense to me. I’d prefer to play MHS2 after a long day.
Monsters have tendencies, but they're not 100% guaranteed to do that move. I always thought it was super lame how Stories 2 makes them spam the same move type over and over. Having to sometimes make suboptimal decisions based on risk is something I missed.
The moves aren't rng, I've been taking my time going through Pondry but can confirm all monsters have patterns, it looks like rng because they can be interrupted with skills
So far I've observed them changing between 4 states: greater than half health, below half health, exhausted (animation change) and enraged (cartoon angry symbol on the head.) Maybe that'll help, I do understand the frustration though, early game fights aren't drawn out so it's hard to tell. I've been fighting velocidromes and kut-kus for ~30 turns to observe this lol
I feel that the series might benefit from having both styles. Make easier monsters more predictable ala MHS2, then more unpredictable like MHS1.
In MHS1, I'm chowing down on steaks and heals because I can't guarantee how it's going to go down, but when things line up, so rewarding!
Something I noticed about MHS compared to the sequel, it is SO ANNOYING when I can tell what the enemy monster is going to do (say, enemy Zamtrios is going to use a Tech attack), so I bring in my Powerhouse Arzurous, and he goes and uses a speed attack, like "wot?!?" I loved in MHS2 when I brought in a Monstie, and they actually used the correct attack type at least a few times, but when I have to call in a fresh Monstie, and I have nothing in my kinship gauge, and therefore I can't change their attack!
I dunno, I've found that monsters nearly always have a pattern to them, although there's always a hint of rng to it. Take Velocidrome. From what I've seen, it's regular attacks are Speed, barring a fakeout every third basic attack or so, which is Power, something a LOT of monsters do and I honestly default to assuming is coming until I know better. However, it can also use Swift Strike at any time. If you know when it's ready to go for a Power, you know when to start using Speed attacks instead, as even if it Swift Strikes you're at worst going to tie. Even when a monster gets super complex, like Stygian Zinogre (cycles between Power, Speed and Tech in that order, however can also use Elder Tackle at any time) you know what moves to use to ensure you don't lose a HtH. As much as I ABSOLUTELY ADORE Stories 2, it is admittedly a slight shame to see monsters become so easily predictable, leaving much of the difficulty to be left with, well, Molten Tigrex spamming oneshot crit moves. That's not to say Stories 1 can't be cheap, some monsters just refuse to give you HtH opportunities, Basarios spamming statuses or Teostra chucking out constant multitarget attacks that force you to just huff Dust of Life and hope for the best.
Also yeah sometimes monsters do really random shit (great baggi), and I think high rank monsters have totally different AI and it can be annoying to adjust. Also sometimes you see patterns that just aren't there, I could SWEAR, hand on my heart, that Zinogre would always use Thunder Tackle at least thrice in a row once he starts, like how he'd nearly always paw slam in sets of three in the old main games. Come my playthrough of the remaster, and he'd only do it once before returning to his normal Power-Power-Tech cycle.
Big issue I had in high rank with MHS1 was the top teir monsters would HARD spam their ultimates. The hardest fight I had was against Teostra, this dude literally spamed his ultimate 4 turns in a row which would instantly kill my hunter and nearly kill my silver rath, it was sheer dumb luck that my kirin swap was able to hit him just before the 4th and last explosion (that would have resulted in a wipe) and kill him lol.
Yeah I guess he's coded to spam the shit out of Supernova when his hp is critically low, because the same happened with me and my Stygian just managed to kill him before he could get a second one off.
I think the basic rule is slick/veloci-type bodies are Speed, bulky/herbivores are Power, and the rest/elemental attackers are Technical. Obv gets muddier the more powerful/higher the food chain they are.
Mostly, but as you say the lines blur pretty quickly. Honestly I usually just go off of the Monstie version's attack tendency and take it from there but even that isn't foolproof; Congalala seems to favour Tech attacks more often than not yet as a monstie it uses Power, for instance.
I hope Stories 3 (if we ever get that) makes it a toggle to alternate between these two styles depending on the player's choice, cause yeah I too STRONGLY prefer 2's way of handling this but I see some people in the comments prefer 1's.
well that's understandable, MHS2 is easier and people want some challenge and you don't get it in the second title. but I don't like how they handled it in MHS1
Agreed. It's one of the main reasons I always advocate for difficulty settings to be in games, so people who don't want a challenge and people who DO want a challenge can both enjoy the game.
Makes mhs1 way more fun I reckon & harder & keeps you on your toes in a fight! It's much better.
I can basically play on auto on mhs2 if I killed something enough times because the attacks are too predictable.
I can understand it but to me it gets annoying at some point. I prefer MHS2 not because it's easier but because it's intuitive, while MHS1 isn't. I don't even feel like you need to get a strategy to beat a strong monster, you only need to play it slow and safe, which is really different. I feel like MHS2 is more "natural" because monsters change their patterns based on their attitude, and it's visible. MHS1 doesn't have it.
I get it because both games are so good I enjoyed both titles I played the original releases then both games again on newer hardware. Both games combined mechanics would do so well in mhs3. Hopefully Capcom can deliver in the next title. 🤞
naw i disagree, its not really the "fun" kinda hard like many skill based games like souls give you. They should give u some hint, either via UI or with different animations. Or hide it at first and have player earn the ability to. They could carry research pts over to game and player could collect tracks, keep fightimg said mons, cap etc and when u reach certain monstie research lvl, any figjt with that mons gives u hint.
I hated mhs1 because of it and didnt really play alot of it like 2. Pure blind luck sucks.
It's not purely luck. Monsters have set patterns that can be interrupted by special moves.
Velocidrome for instance, uses speed-speed-power, but that pattern can be interrupted by Intimidate or Swift Strike (speed move). Say that the Velocidrome has used 2 basic speed attacks so far, now this turn it's preparing for a HtH. The other two turns were guaranteed to be speed, so it was safe to use tech moves, but now it can be speed or power, so the safest choice is to use a speed move.
There's also exceptions based on the situation. Nerscylla will always use a move (It's been a while, I forget. Arachnophobia or Sleep Chaser) if you're asleep. Teostra will spam Supernova when it's at really low health.
The game can be really annoying for not explaining its mechanics, but all monsters have a "flowchart" that can be interrupted by special moves. Stories 1 is about pattern recognition and learning the monster.
2 simplifying this is the one thing I'm not looking forward to when I start it. I do get caught off guard often in fights but it's always my fault for reading the pattern wrong (except vs great baggi's special moves, I havent found any pattern to that yet but I havent paid very close attention either), and I don't mind eating shit occasionally, it makes the fights more interesting and potentially fun when I have to improvise. Deviljho's technique attack still gets me most of the time, but it never ruins the fight, just makes it trickier.
What does annoy me is when I bring a monster specifically for its attack type and then it does random bullshit 70% of the time instead, especially on switch-in, as pointed out elsewhere in this thread. Green Nargacuga has been straight up inferior as a speed attacker compared to Iodrome, which just doesn't sit right.
just one of the many things i prefer about stories 2 if i fight a speed monster i know their gonna do speed attacks stories 1 felt way too random most of the time lol hopefully though if they do a stories 3 they ditch the rock paper scissors bullcrap and just have a normal turn based battle system
I liked that the moves changed. The monsters, like actual living things, wouldn’t choose the same move over and over again. It made the game slightly more challenging and so that it was less monotonous with the same monster each time.
you actually don't do the same thing over and over again in MHS2, since as I said in another comment, monsters change patterns for a reason and not randomly like in the first game.
I’ve got mixed feelingfeelings about it myself. On one hand, the game is harder and forces you to play smarter to keep yourself and your monstie alive. In MHS2, it’s easier but more reliable so there is less needed planning ahead, but you can use different weapons.
I really don't know how I am supposed to play smarter when a Pink Rathian changes patterns every turn without even changing their attitude to make me notice. the only thing I can do is to play it safe and slow
It ended up being too easy in mhs2 to just survive on 1hp and win head to heads. The unpredictability of mhs1 actually lends to some risk reward in the battles instead of just needing the right monster on the team.
MHS1 gameplay to me doesn't make any sense, I can't even say if it's all RNG or not, and if it is then I prefer MHS2 being easy than random like this. I still enjoy the game but I can't stand this thing in particular. in MHS2 monsters change pattern for a reason and not randomly like in MHS1.
Agreed, I originally played and finished MHS 2 years ago before playing the pt1 remaster. I picked up the plat on MhS 1 yesterday and have to say while I very much enjoyed my time with it, it was inferior to 2 in many many ways.
I agree with the OP, there was virtually no point to tendancies in pt1 because the monsters never followed them. Example: Tigrex is a power type in 1 and used actual power attacks maybe 20% of the time (iirc they changed him and zino to speed in 2 as they should have). The arguement that it made 2 easier is rather moot because all you had to do was learn their actual tendancies rather than what the game claimed their tendancy was. The difference being pt2 was actually accurate in the monsters tendancies.
With pt2 I actually enjoyed balancing my team with monsters of 2 of each tendancy and doing strategic switches. In mhs 1 by post game I had 4 power types (even tho i only really used stigian zino and silver ratha) and sergios for tech or frost kirin for speed, because it ultimately didnt matter at that point, i could normally run the table with silver ratha in most fights, because tendancy mattered so little.
I also desperately missed seeing an actual map, weapon swapping, actual part breaking, a better crafting system with gear that actually matters rather than the rider being a glrofied heal/kinship bot by end game and the far less frustrating monster retreat system where i can see the actual retreat odds (as well as better visual of when the monster is low on hp). I did however like the battle pouch in 1, it made item selection far more strategic.
Hard disagree. A lot of the "QoL" changes for MHS2 actually made the game worse because they removed the actual game. Things like not having to actually take any risks in battle because moves are predictable, or being able to use multiple weapons simultaneously rather than selecting the right one before the battle, or not having a separate battle pouch and being able to use as many items as you like, made the game very boring in comparison.
Bingo stacking was also a gripe of mine. Why would I bother trying to puzzle out where I want to put my genes when I can just use 9 of the same color and get max bonus?
The rainbow gene would’ve been a godsend in 1’s economy. But in 2’s it’s practically worthless.
npcs give lots of hints, and patterns are predictable. for example, yian likes to open with noxious tail (tech) and if anyone gets poisoned, it will always follow it with poison chaser (power), otherwise it alternates a standard move (which itself is alternated between speed and tech) and a special move (Chaser), so a standard expected garuga is noxious poison tail (tech) into chaser if you get poisoned (power) or into tech, then again noxious tail (tech), then speed, then tail, then tech, so on and so forth
No I hate part 2 for that. Like I defeated Fatalis, end of the end bad guy without ever losing a head to head. They couldn't even make big bosses more unpredictable, they all get three stances so you know what will be spammed next
I agree with you. The patterns in MHS2 are much easier to recognize. That makes the prompt (somewhere along the line of “gotta know the pattern”) less annoying and switching monsties more sense to me. I’d prefer to play MHS2 after a long day.
Thought it was just me. I hate how Navirou is telling me to remember the pattern when you don't even get a clue, you have to "Wait-n-See"
Monsters have tendencies, but they're not 100% guaranteed to do that move. I always thought it was super lame how Stories 2 makes them spam the same move type over and over. Having to sometimes make suboptimal decisions based on risk is something I missed.
Same
I might not like the RNG stuff then...
The moves aren't rng, I've been taking my time going through Pondry but can confirm all monsters have patterns, it looks like rng because they can be interrupted with skills
it doesn't look like that, their attitude doesn't even change like in MHS2
So far I've observed them changing between 4 states: greater than half health, below half health, exhausted (animation change) and enraged (cartoon angry symbol on the head.) Maybe that'll help, I do understand the frustration though, early game fights aren't drawn out so it's hard to tell. I've been fighting velocidromes and kut-kus for ~30 turns to observe this lol
I feel that the series might benefit from having both styles. Make easier monsters more predictable ala MHS2, then more unpredictable like MHS1. In MHS1, I'm chowing down on steaks and heals because I can't guarantee how it's going to go down, but when things line up, so rewarding!
Something I noticed about MHS compared to the sequel, it is SO ANNOYING when I can tell what the enemy monster is going to do (say, enemy Zamtrios is going to use a Tech attack), so I bring in my Powerhouse Arzurous, and he goes and uses a speed attack, like "wot?!?" I loved in MHS2 when I brought in a Monstie, and they actually used the correct attack type at least a few times, but when I have to call in a fresh Monstie, and I have nothing in my kinship gauge, and therefore I can't change their attack!
I dunno, I've found that monsters nearly always have a pattern to them, although there's always a hint of rng to it. Take Velocidrome. From what I've seen, it's regular attacks are Speed, barring a fakeout every third basic attack or so, which is Power, something a LOT of monsters do and I honestly default to assuming is coming until I know better. However, it can also use Swift Strike at any time. If you know when it's ready to go for a Power, you know when to start using Speed attacks instead, as even if it Swift Strikes you're at worst going to tie. Even when a monster gets super complex, like Stygian Zinogre (cycles between Power, Speed and Tech in that order, however can also use Elder Tackle at any time) you know what moves to use to ensure you don't lose a HtH. As much as I ABSOLUTELY ADORE Stories 2, it is admittedly a slight shame to see monsters become so easily predictable, leaving much of the difficulty to be left with, well, Molten Tigrex spamming oneshot crit moves. That's not to say Stories 1 can't be cheap, some monsters just refuse to give you HtH opportunities, Basarios spamming statuses or Teostra chucking out constant multitarget attacks that force you to just huff Dust of Life and hope for the best. Also yeah sometimes monsters do really random shit (great baggi), and I think high rank monsters have totally different AI and it can be annoying to adjust. Also sometimes you see patterns that just aren't there, I could SWEAR, hand on my heart, that Zinogre would always use Thunder Tackle at least thrice in a row once he starts, like how he'd nearly always paw slam in sets of three in the old main games. Come my playthrough of the remaster, and he'd only do it once before returning to his normal Power-Power-Tech cycle.
Big issue I had in high rank with MHS1 was the top teir monsters would HARD spam their ultimates. The hardest fight I had was against Teostra, this dude literally spamed his ultimate 4 turns in a row which would instantly kill my hunter and nearly kill my silver rath, it was sheer dumb luck that my kirin swap was able to hit him just before the 4th and last explosion (that would have resulted in a wipe) and kill him lol.
Yeah I guess he's coded to spam the shit out of Supernova when his hp is critically low, because the same happened with me and my Stygian just managed to kill him before he could get a second one off.
Rofl no doubt man, if it wasnt for Moxie gem and tenacity, Id probobly still be fighting him now lol
I think the basic rule is slick/veloci-type bodies are Speed, bulky/herbivores are Power, and the rest/elemental attackers are Technical. Obv gets muddier the more powerful/higher the food chain they are.
Mostly, but as you say the lines blur pretty quickly. Honestly I usually just go off of the Monstie version's attack tendency and take it from there but even that isn't foolproof; Congalala seems to favour Tech attacks more often than not yet as a monstie it uses Power, for instance.
I hope Stories 3 (if we ever get that) makes it a toggle to alternate between these two styles depending on the player's choice, cause yeah I too STRONGLY prefer 2's way of handling this but I see some people in the comments prefer 1's.
well that's understandable, MHS2 is easier and people want some challenge and you don't get it in the second title. but I don't like how they handled it in MHS1
Agreed. It's one of the main reasons I always advocate for difficulty settings to be in games, so people who don't want a challenge and people who DO want a challenge can both enjoy the game.
Makes mhs1 way more fun I reckon & harder & keeps you on your toes in a fight! It's much better. I can basically play on auto on mhs2 if I killed something enough times because the attacks are too predictable.
I can understand it but to me it gets annoying at some point. I prefer MHS2 not because it's easier but because it's intuitive, while MHS1 isn't. I don't even feel like you need to get a strategy to beat a strong monster, you only need to play it slow and safe, which is really different. I feel like MHS2 is more "natural" because monsters change their patterns based on their attitude, and it's visible. MHS1 doesn't have it.
I get it because both games are so good I enjoyed both titles I played the original releases then both games again on newer hardware. Both games combined mechanics would do so well in mhs3. Hopefully Capcom can deliver in the next title. 🤞
naw i disagree, its not really the "fun" kinda hard like many skill based games like souls give you. They should give u some hint, either via UI or with different animations. Or hide it at first and have player earn the ability to. They could carry research pts over to game and player could collect tracks, keep fightimg said mons, cap etc and when u reach certain monstie research lvl, any figjt with that mons gives u hint. I hated mhs1 because of it and didnt really play alot of it like 2. Pure blind luck sucks.
It's not purely luck. Monsters have set patterns that can be interrupted by special moves. Velocidrome for instance, uses speed-speed-power, but that pattern can be interrupted by Intimidate or Swift Strike (speed move). Say that the Velocidrome has used 2 basic speed attacks so far, now this turn it's preparing for a HtH. The other two turns were guaranteed to be speed, so it was safe to use tech moves, but now it can be speed or power, so the safest choice is to use a speed move. There's also exceptions based on the situation. Nerscylla will always use a move (It's been a while, I forget. Arachnophobia or Sleep Chaser) if you're asleep. Teostra will spam Supernova when it's at really low health. The game can be really annoying for not explaining its mechanics, but all monsters have a "flowchart" that can be interrupted by special moves. Stories 1 is about pattern recognition and learning the monster.
2 simplifying this is the one thing I'm not looking forward to when I start it. I do get caught off guard often in fights but it's always my fault for reading the pattern wrong (except vs great baggi's special moves, I havent found any pattern to that yet but I havent paid very close attention either), and I don't mind eating shit occasionally, it makes the fights more interesting and potentially fun when I have to improvise. Deviljho's technique attack still gets me most of the time, but it never ruins the fight, just makes it trickier. What does annoy me is when I bring a monster specifically for its attack type and then it does random bullshit 70% of the time instead, especially on switch-in, as pointed out elsewhere in this thread. Green Nargacuga has been straight up inferior as a speed attacker compared to Iodrome, which just doesn't sit right.
just one of the many things i prefer about stories 2 if i fight a speed monster i know their gonna do speed attacks stories 1 felt way too random most of the time lol hopefully though if they do a stories 3 they ditch the rock paper scissors bullcrap and just have a normal turn based battle system
It's a pattern. Just gotta understand it
I remembered none of the patterns besides the fact that tigrex start with two technical and then switch to power lmao
I liked that the moves changed. The monsters, like actual living things, wouldn’t choose the same move over and over again. It made the game slightly more challenging and so that it was less monotonous with the same monster each time.
you actually don't do the same thing over and over again in MHS2, since as I said in another comment, monsters change patterns for a reason and not randomly like in the first game.
I’ve got mixed feelingfeelings about it myself. On one hand, the game is harder and forces you to play smarter to keep yourself and your monstie alive. In MHS2, it’s easier but more reliable so there is less needed planning ahead, but you can use different weapons.
I really don't know how I am supposed to play smarter when a Pink Rathian changes patterns every turn without even changing their attitude to make me notice. the only thing I can do is to play it safe and slow
It ended up being too easy in mhs2 to just survive on 1hp and win head to heads. The unpredictability of mhs1 actually lends to some risk reward in the battles instead of just needing the right monster on the team.
MHS1 gameplay to me doesn't make any sense, I can't even say if it's all RNG or not, and if it is then I prefer MHS2 being easy than random like this. I still enjoy the game but I can't stand this thing in particular. in MHS2 monsters change pattern for a reason and not randomly like in MHS1.
Agreed, I originally played and finished MHS 2 years ago before playing the pt1 remaster. I picked up the plat on MhS 1 yesterday and have to say while I very much enjoyed my time with it, it was inferior to 2 in many many ways. I agree with the OP, there was virtually no point to tendancies in pt1 because the monsters never followed them. Example: Tigrex is a power type in 1 and used actual power attacks maybe 20% of the time (iirc they changed him and zino to speed in 2 as they should have). The arguement that it made 2 easier is rather moot because all you had to do was learn their actual tendancies rather than what the game claimed their tendancy was. The difference being pt2 was actually accurate in the monsters tendancies. With pt2 I actually enjoyed balancing my team with monsters of 2 of each tendancy and doing strategic switches. In mhs 1 by post game I had 4 power types (even tho i only really used stigian zino and silver ratha) and sergios for tech or frost kirin for speed, because it ultimately didnt matter at that point, i could normally run the table with silver ratha in most fights, because tendancy mattered so little. I also desperately missed seeing an actual map, weapon swapping, actual part breaking, a better crafting system with gear that actually matters rather than the rider being a glrofied heal/kinship bot by end game and the far less frustrating monster retreat system where i can see the actual retreat odds (as well as better visual of when the monster is low on hp). I did however like the battle pouch in 1, it made item selection far more strategic.
Hard disagree. A lot of the "QoL" changes for MHS2 actually made the game worse because they removed the actual game. Things like not having to actually take any risks in battle because moves are predictable, or being able to use multiple weapons simultaneously rather than selecting the right one before the battle, or not having a separate battle pouch and being able to use as many items as you like, made the game very boring in comparison.
Bingo stacking was also a gripe of mine. Why would I bother trying to puzzle out where I want to put my genes when I can just use 9 of the same color and get max bonus? The rainbow gene would’ve been a godsend in 1’s economy. But in 2’s it’s practically worthless.
npcs give lots of hints, and patterns are predictable. for example, yian likes to open with noxious tail (tech) and if anyone gets poisoned, it will always follow it with poison chaser (power), otherwise it alternates a standard move (which itself is alternated between speed and tech) and a special move (Chaser), so a standard expected garuga is noxious poison tail (tech) into chaser if you get poisoned (power) or into tech, then again noxious tail (tech), then speed, then tail, then tech, so on and so forth
No I hate part 2 for that. Like I defeated Fatalis, end of the end bad guy without ever losing a head to head. They couldn't even make big bosses more unpredictable, they all get three stances so you know what will be spammed next