Monster Hunter Stories: more details (homing, battle system), screens, Famitsu preview

4 October 2016 Lite_Agent Capcom, Famitsu, Monster Hunter Stories

Today, Capcom started a new video series for Monster Hunter Stories, with commentary by Lilia. But that’s not all: the company also shared some more details and screenshots for the game. Let’s start right away with a feature called “Homing”, which makes it easier for you to get the kind of egg you want.

Homing happens at the end of a battle, when you’ve defeated a monster: said monster goes back to its nest, which is then marked on your map (on the bottom screen). You can easily find it, and go inside in order to steal the eggs. But what’s really interesting about homing is that, when it happens, the eggs you collect will always be of the same kind as the monster you just battled against.

Thanks to Homing, you can easily find the right eggs in order to get a particular monster. You will not have to blindly search many nests in order to find what you want. What’s more, when you enter the nest after Homing, the monster will always be sleeping: this allows you to collect the egg without too much trouble, but be careful… the monster can still wake up at any moment.

Sounds too goo to be true, right? Well, it’s true that Homing doesn’t happen automatically, and you need to meet certain criteria to trigger it. Said criteria vary depending on the monster, and you have to figure them out by yourself.

That being said, there’s a pretty useful item called Paint Ball, that you can only use in battle. Basically, it increases your chances of Homing happening at the end of the battle. According to Capcom, using a Paint Ball during battle and then defeating a monster within 3 turns greatly increases your chances of getting a Homing.

Next, Capcom details special events that sometime happen during battle:

Flight showdown: when two flying monsters end up clashing, they sometime take the battle to the air. You have to press L and R to control your monster.
Strength showdown: when two monsters end up clashing on the ground, you have to keep mashing the A button to overpower your opponent.
Breath showdown: when two monsters who can use breath attacks end up clashing, you have to move the Circle Pad in quick circles in order to overpower your opponent.

It looks like those special events have an impact on your bond with the monster.

Here’s the latest batch of screenshots for Monster Hunter Stories:

But that’s not all: Monster Hunter Stories will also be featured in Famitsu magazine this week. The game will get a 12-page article with details about the adventure, Otomon, the battle system, new characters, equipment, and more. In the Rider Corner, launched last week, there will be another 4-koma manga featuring Nabiru, but also details about the Monster Hunter Stories mobile game based on the anime series.

Also, the digital version of the magazine will have a supplement with a collection of all previous articles about the game.

Here’s the preview from Famitsu magazine, along with additional screenshots: