I don’t feel like writing hundreds of words on Dead Account‘s season finale, so here are some thoughts on Monster Hunter Stories 3. I rolled credits a few days ago, and just popped the platinum trophy last night. Spoilers galore, so you’ve been warned. If you just want to get down to brass tacks, it’s a solid 7/10 title, maybe even 8/10 if you’re being generous. The graphics won’t blow you away, but everything looks decent enough for a JRPG. The music is nothing to write home about. I honestly can’t recall a single track that stuck with me. The primary problem with the MHS3, however, is that the story feels unfinished. Even worse, it shies away from engaging your emotions directly.

It’s Monster Hunter, so like always, the overarching plot is about coexisting with nature, harmony with the monsters, yadda yadda yadda. I don’t even mind this. It’s fine. What I do mind, however, is that the antagonists barely get any screentime, so the resulting conflict falls woefully flat. Clarissa, the apparently elected queen of Vermeil, is desperate to save her people who are suffering from the effects of crystallization. Unfortunately, we never see Vermeil itself. We never see her people’s suffering directly. The first big problem is that Clarissa’s cause feels hollow. They just tell us bad things are happening. I don’t deny that Clarissa believes in her cause. I just don’t feel it.

The second biggest problem is that Clarissa is barely present in the story, so the logic behind her actions makes little sense. She keeps insisting that the Sacrosanctum offers her people hope, but based on what evidence? Unless you’re dealing with a complete maniac like Kefka or whatever, you would expect the bad guy to at least deliver a semi-cogent argument to justify their bad actions, but no, you get nothing. The game doesn’t tell you until the ass end of the game how Clarissa intends to save her people, and even then, it’s just another hare-brained scheme to abuse and enslave monsters. You know, the one thing that is causing the problem to begin with. Fine, she doesn’t know that, but why would she think enslaving Aenshin’s child would actually solve anything? Oh, it’s because she’s desperate, which, again, I would have an easier time swallowing this pill if the game would show me her people’s suffering, and not just tell me. It’s simply not a well thought-out story.

But Clarissa isn’t the only character who gets shafted. After the first chapter, we basically fuck off to go on our little journey, never seeing our father again until the very end of the game. Even when we return home, we still don’t speak to him. Typical father-son relationship, am I right? But seriously, like with the antagonists, we barely know this dude. But of course, he gets a dramatic moment anyway. Near the end of the game, he ends up having to sacrifice himself in order to protect you. Tragic, right? Well, it’s unearned, because the characters barely interacted.

Likewise, Simon has a grand total of one side story to establish the bond between him and the MC. Annoying ass shippers will still insist that you and Simon are lovers, because hey, two characters are interacting. That means they’re fuckin’! But I felt nothing for his plight by the end of the game, because these characters are practically strangers to me. Angered because he hid his origins from you? Betrayed that he has been working for the other side all this time? Nope, because in the story, he doesn’t actually do anything. Sad because he’s afflicted with crystallization and will probably die soon? Nope, barely spent any time with him!

I also feel similarly short-changed by the last second plot twist that your mother has been near you all this time, except, of course, she has amnesia. It’s not that I was surprised the twist. The story wasn’t exactly trying to hide her as best as it could. Rather, I hate the timing of the twist itself. A better writer would’ve revealed Amara’s identity much earlier in the story, allowing the MC’s feelings to develop and coalesce around the reality of what happened to her. Think about it. Relief over the fact that she’s still alive. Denial over the fact that she has lost her memories and can no longer remember who you are. Anger over the fact that she abandoned her own flesh and blood for a freakin’ Rathalos. Acceptance over the fact that you just have to accept the new reality that you may never get your mother back. Look at all the things they could’ve done with this subplot, but simply didn’t. I always liked how Final Fantasy X didn’t hold back on the Sin == Jecht reveal, because it allowed Tidus to go through several stages of character development and reflection. It didn’t shy away from his (oftentimes childish) emotions. Everyone wants a late-stage plot twist for narrative impact when an earlier reveal allows you so much more freedom to explore a character’s inner psyche.

So why is the game still a 7/10 if the story is, well, frankly kinda shit? ‘Cause I still had fun with the game. I had fun collecting “monsties,” protecting endangered species, restoring habitats, etc. More importantly, this is one of the few turn-based JRPGs that remain relatively challenging from start to finish. Even at max level, you can easily eat dirt against the myriad endgame bosses if you fuck around too much. Still, the gameplay has serious flaws. First, you can’t control your AI partner. What is this? C’mon, it’s 2026. Why do I have to deal with my party members doing whatever the hell they want? Granted, they’re actually fairly competent compared to, say, Persona 3‘s Mitsuru constantly spamming Marin Karin. But I would still vastly prefer to have the ability to control them. Second, once you get to the endgame, practically every difficult boss just spams AoE attacks constantly. If you don’t have the right resistances equipped, said AoE attacks will one-shot you. But even with the right resistances equipped, you’ll likely lose around 80% of your HP anyway. So what’s a player to do?

Well, you gotta stun-lock the enemy to the point where they aren’t even allowed to act. Therein lies the problem with MHS3‘s combat system. Right around midgame, you hit the sweet spot where any playstyle is viable. This is the game at its most fun. Once you get to the endgame, however, your options are limited. It’s just so much more efficient to play a certain way. Unfortunately, less viable strategies also means less fun. As a result, I’m not looking forward to any of the future DLCs. They recently announced that they’ll be adding royal monsters in the summer. I assume this means even hard-hitting mobs with even bigger HP pools to chip through. Well, thanks but no thanks. I’m not interested in spending hours and hours farming eggs for the rare chance of an XL gene just so I can go into every battle armed with a hammer anyway. I’ll happily play the next game in the series whenever Capcom decides to make it, but I’m done with MHS3 for good. My final playtime is nearly 100 hours, so I certainly got my bang for the buck.

(By the way, what does it even mean to be an elected queen? For example, Eleanor, the younger sister, is fittingly referred to as the princess of Vermeil. But is that also an elected office? Or is she just automatically a princess because she’s related to the person who got voted in? It’s ridiculous.)

My next game will either be Etrange Overlord, an action JRPG that also claims to be a musical, or Screamer, the indie racing game with anime visuals and an extensive 20-hour story campaign. I haven’t decided which one to play first.