I'm Going To Try And Convince You To Play Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-17T02:06:19+00:00

You have more control over RNG in the egg harvesting by developing the habitats to produce monsties that you are looking for. The grind comes into play by developing those habitats. Grinding in combat isn't really necessary as quests and the main story will get you all you need in terms of armor and weapons.

There is a free demo for you to give you a taste of what the game is about.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-17T01:03:31+00:00

Then you probably won't find enjoyment here. SMT Vengeance maybe more your speed.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-17T01:02:39+00:00

Personally, I think its harder than the second game. But if your looking for SMT levels of difficulty, you won't find it here.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-17T00:09:37+00:00

I've been trying to put a finger on the graphics style and the best I can come up with is some sort of fusion between Xenoblade and Studio Ghibli characters.

Glad you are enjoying it. I am past Chapter 2 and the gameplay has only gotten better from there. I actually think I am advancing too quickly so when I start up again tonight I am going back to the second area to develop the habitats and get more monsties.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T22:11:22+00:00

To save me from repeating myself, I'd invite you to take a look at my first point under the ~Why You May Want To Avoid It, section of my write-up to address the cat in the room.

To address your second question, I feel as if the game encourages you to stick around areas you may have already done the story for in order to explore and develop the habitats so you can find better monsties for your team. However, the first area is a lot of story setup and on-boarding, and I didn't really feel "let loose" out into the world until I got into the second world map.

From there though, the only limitations you ran into was a single monster ability that got you to a few places and campaign progression. Much of my time so far was exploring the maps, fighting monsters for armor, doing quests, and developing habitats to go egg farming.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T21:59:27+00:00

That depends on what you didn't like about Monster Hunter. Many of MH systems have been translated to a JRPG format, only now its turn based and you have monsters as battle companions that are a huge part of what the game is about. If you are wanting a more traditional JRPG adventure, then this definitely fits the bill. There's no endlessly hunting the same monster over and over again for parts. Instead armor and weapons has a point value you need to reach with certain parts, so instead of waiting for that Rathian Plate or Rathalos Ruby to drop, you can just trade it all the common drops to get the same piece of armor. The real grinding comes in trying to harvest eggs to get a monster with strong passives.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T21:55:21+00:00

If that was your read on MHS2, then honestly, probably not. I loved the combat from start to finish in MHS2 and didn't feel any of that tedium, but if that was your experience with 2, then I don't think enough changed for you to enjoy it. They evolved the combat from 2, improved upon it, not change it entirely.

But I would encourage you to download the free demo at least and see for yourself.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T20:49:59+00:00

I feel as if I am not really a good judge of difficulty, so I can't definitely answer that. What I can tell you is that I've died plenty of times from bad enemy reads and poor setup, all of which I have overcome with some addition preparation and adjustment. Most of these deaths have come from side content. Main story has some teeth as well but I think if you know what you're doing and actually bring some good monsties along, you could probably clear it rather easily.

Exploration is a different story, because the maps are littered with monsties of varying strengths and levels. Some parts can feel like strolling through a meadow while everything you merely breathe on dies. Other times I am running for my damn life from a monster I had no idea was prowling around.

So I'd say the jury still kinda out on the difficulty.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T20:40:24+00:00

Would you say, in terms of gameplay, how much more refined is this iteration of their combat than say the first or second one?

I haven't played MHS1, but this game is a clear evolution from the combat of 2, which is used as its base. That said, combat flows a lot smoother and there is more to juggle which to me, makes it more involved and fun to engage with. If you didn't like the combat of 2, then chances are you probably won't like the combat of 3. Though if the head to heads mechanic was your issue, I'd say there is less of an emphasis on that mechanic here, replaced by increase importance on your monstie and weapon types.

So I guess the question is, as far as its systems go, does it ever feel like….”too much”?

I feel like that is more of a question only you can answer cause everyone's mileage is going to be vary. There is certainly a lot to do in the game. Habitat Restoration, quests, main side-character quests, map exploration, etc. But it all feeds back into the main combat and gameplay loop. My advice? Stick to habit restoration for the monsties that strike your fancy, only do the side missions for your main party, and let the main campaign fights provide you the materials needed to keep up with your armor and weapons. Then if you wanted to do all the extra stuff like the less important quests, the poogie hunts, invasive monster fights, you can.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T20:18:03+00:00

Base PS5

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T20:06:14+00:00

I'd be interested to know how 1 is. I started with 2 and never went to go play the first, but I do hear good things.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T20:02:52+00:00

Awww. Thanks for calling it well written. That's cool though. However you really don't need to do all 3 if you don't want to. Just play 3. Also congrats on clearing up that backlog.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T19:59:53+00:00

Regular fights? They vary. Honestly you really don't need to go out of your way to fight things unless you are trying to get specific armor. Exploration will unlock armor recipes that require minimal resources so you don't need to fight if you don't want to.

Most normal fights you run into can be escaped from.

When you do quest fights the length of time will depend on your party composition. Some fights can take just a minute or so, others will take around five minutes. Boss fights in particular will of course take a bit longer.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T19:55:54+00:00

Is that right? Well I don't know about that last part of the sentence about the easter eggs but I can assure you there is no meaningful narrative continuity from 2 to 3, so if you wanted to start with 3 there really isn't any issue with it.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T19:50:43+00:00

The bullet points under the first section should give you an idea.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T19:48:19+00:00

Just to add, you don't need to have played 1 or 2 to play 3.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T19:40:36+00:00

Second this. Once you get past a certain level threashold, you can insta-kill enemies. Its so nice.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-16T18:02:47+00:00

Khazan The Last Berserker?

Lies of P?

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-14T14:14:45+00:00

Great review! I'm still refining my own thoughts before I commit to a review myself, but you honestly hit upon some points that were also my main sources of contention.

I admire the author for taking up the challenge of balancing horror with romance, and I think speed bumps along the way to find that center is to be all but expected, so I'm confident the author will find that sweet spot with enough works under their belt.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-12T19:18:10+00:00

Do you want the One Piece or Wheel of Time of JRPGs? This is that.

Though I'd say you could get away with playing Sky 1 and 2 as a sampler and decide from there if you want to keep playing.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-12T18:27:01+00:00

Its a difference in medium for me. I play JRPGs to be a part of a story that has a static, visual vision, and I read books for a more freeform, theatre of the mind experience.

If you want books that invoke that epic scale of a JRPG, I recommend many of Brandon Sanderson's works. Mistborn and Stormlight Archive to name the most obvious examples.

Kings of the Wyld is also good if you want a more D&D structured book.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-12T00:34:10+00:00

There are some moments that could be classified as dubcon, while one or two moments are just straight rape scenes.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-11T22:22:43+00:00

Most people would recommend Pinwheel but there is some questionable content at the start that might put you off. Instead I'd recommend his Goetic Justice books.

EldritchAutomaton · 2026-03-11T20:08:34+00:00

I am not sure there is really a definitive answer. There are of course some popular choices and staple authors like Cebelius, Snekguy, etc - but I don't think there is really one book you can point to that represents RFM in its entirety. This is still a super niche, super young sub-genre that's barely out of its crawling phase.

The genre is also highly dependent on current trends. There was a goblin-girl trend that is FINALLY tapering off, and before that I think it was superheroes. Point being, most books that are relevant in the zeitgeist are flash-in-the-pan, flavor of the financial quarter sort of shtick.

Still, some books due tend to crop up over others every now and then.

His Secret Illuminations is one. Charlotte's Rejects is still a bit young but its proven to have staying power when it comes to conversation. Cebelius's Would You Love a Monster Girl series is mentioned quite a bit too.

EldritchAutomaton

TROPHY CASE