YMMV / Monster Hunter: Stories

• Base-Breaking Character: Navirou is either liked for his comedic quirks and Character Development after the player learns about his backstory, or is hated for his massive ego, cowardice, and ugly appearance. This is exacerbated by the differences in how he's depicted in the game and the anime^note For instance, in Ride On, Navirou frequently won't shut up about doughnuts. In the actual game though it's only in passing twice., with those more familiar with the anime disliking him while those more familiar with the game enjoying him. For some who played the game though, he is still disliked for falling into Annoying Video Game Helper territory.
• Broken Base: The anime that covers the first game uses a mix of 3D models for the monsters and 2D animation for everyone else, and the differences are very obvious. As a result, fans either like the choice as it helps the human cast stand out when placed next to or over their monsties, or they hate how jarring the differences are and liken the comparison to taking in-game cutscenes and animating over them.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: It's quite common to see Riders using Swords and Shields in PvP due to them being the simplest of the four weapon types to use, being the only one capable of guarding, having access to both Stun and Skillseal, and possessing a unique passive skill^note Saver, which has a 10% chance of allowing used items to stay in the Rider's inventory. that is well-designed for support, a role Riders are the most suited for due to them possessing lower stat spreads than Monsties.
• Complete Monster: Ride On anime: Lord Anvis, the ambitious ruler of the Ebon Riders, has coveted the power of the Rite of Overlapping since he was a child and envied those who harnessed its power. Anvis's first attempt at the Rite involved forcing the man capable of performing the ritual into doing so with a knife pointed at his wife's neck, resulting in a botched ritual that killed both the man and his wife anyways. Anvis later repeats another attempt at the Rite he knows is doomed to fail with one of his loyal minions in his place, resulting in the annihilation of her soul. Anvis manages to cajole the son of the sorcerer he murdered years ago into performing the Rite on him, and with his newfound power Anvis promptly annihilates the nearest town and attempts to obliterate the gigantic city of Gildegaran simply because he believes the strong must eradicate the weak. Anvis is the sole demonstration of genuine human evil and the only figurative monster in a franchise full of literal monsters.
• Cult Classic: Stories was a commercial failure, selling just over 300,000 copies in the Japanese market over the course of its release and underperforming worldwide due to it not standing out in comparison to games like Pokémon and Yo-kai Watch among children, but has managed to amass a dedicated playerbase who wanted a change of pace from those two series and appreciated the complexity of the Monsties and Channeling system.
• High-Tier Scrappy:
  • Ivory Lagiacrus and Stygian Zinogre are reviled in PvP combat because they're such effective Monsties. Not only do they both have top-level Attack, making them well-suited for offense, but they also have above-average HP and Defense, and their average Agility can be boosted with a non-Elemental row, allowing them to keep up with faster opponents without detracting from their power and defense. In addition, Ivory Lagiacrus has access to Spread Shock Breath, which deals considerable damage and hits both Riders and Monsties, while Stygian Zinogre has access to Repeated Dragon Strike, which can one-shot or two-shot most Riders due to it striking foes five times in a row, and both of these attacks can be made even deadlier if the player bolsters their already high Thunder Attack and Dragon Attack values with more Thunder and Dragon Genes, respectively. Although they're respectively weak to Dragon and Thunder, many monsters that use one of the elements are weak to the other, which can make them difficult to counter when they're on the field, and Ivory's additional Fire weakness isn't much of an issue when many of the best Fire monsters, like Silver Rathalos, are vulnerable to Thunder as well. There's a reason these two are considered by competitive players to be among the best, if not the best Monsties in the game.
  • Silver Rathalos is widely hated in PvP because it's highly effective as a Monstie. Like the aforementioned Ivory Lagiacrus and Stygian Zinogre, it has top-level Attack paired with above-average Health and Defense and average Speed that can be boosted with a non-Elemental row, making it a solid Lightning Bruiser, and in addition, it has a high affinity for and resistance to both Fire and Dragon attacks, allowing it to shred through a wide variety of Monsties and take almost anything they throw at it with the right implanted Genes. What makes it more effective than almost any other Monstie, however, is its ability to naturally restore the Kinship Meter with Solar Cry, an ability no other Monstie has, and being one of the only three Monsties with access to Kinship (L)^note The others are Ratha and Kirin, both of which don't fall into this category despite their utility due to being held back by a lesser stat spread and low Health, respectively., a skill that allows its users to fill the Kinship Meter a lot faster when using moves, making the cost of its stronger attacks moot. with these two traits, a clever player can fill the Kinship Meter in mere moments while crushing the enemy with Fire and Dragon attacks. Although it has a weakness to Water and Thunder, the former doesn't see much use in PvP due to its lack of viability and users compared to other elements, and the latter's most effective users are either weak to Fire and/or Dragon, or take neutral damage from them. Because of this, it is considered by many to be the most effective Monstie, and if not the best, it's very close to being so.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: When Stories released, many fans noted how Capcom made a Monster Hunter game that is more in line with the Pokémon series due to being a Mons themed-game. Come Pokémon Legends: Arceus and fans have noted that Game Freak made a game more in line with the Monster Hunter series due to a large freedom of exploration and huge overworld enemies.
• Periphery Demographic: Monster Hunter Stories was the series' attempt to attract the younger Pokémon and Yo-kai Watch demographic. It instead ended up capturing a portion of the usual older demographic for the series who wanted a change of pace and often came from the Periphery Demographic of those two series, especially in the West where Monster Hunter has been more of a niche franchise until World. Its Spiritual Successor, the mobile game Monster Hunter Riders, drops the pretense and seems to target the franchise's usual demographic, with older protagonists and a still-colorful but more serious anime-styled take on the Stories artstyle. The actual sequel, Wings of Ruin, continues this trend and seems to take after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in tone and aesthetics more than Pokémon and similar franchises.
• Scrappy Weapon: Between the four weapon choices in Stories, Hammer is widely considered to be the worst among them, both in PvP and PvE. Although it has access to heavy-hitting attacks and high chances of inflicting status debuffs and Stun with some of its attacks, the accuracy of many of its special attacks is tied to the Rider's HP, meaning that if the Rider's HP is below max, their chances of hitting the opponent are near-kaput, a drawback no other weapon type suffers from, and in addition, all but two of its unique moves^note  War Cry!, which raises all allies' Attack and lowers their Defense, and Brave Blow!, which has a 75% chance to inflict Stun, but becomes less accurate the more damage the user sustains. have a deduction to action speed, making the player a sitting duck in many cases. In addition, while it boasts some of the highest Attack stats among weapons, rivaling or even exceeding the various Great Sword types in power, Attack is, with few exceptions, largely considered to be a Dump Stat for Riders due to them primarily focusing on support, as their stats are low compared to the Monsties', and it lacks the ability to intensely bolster its own strength through Focus ^note  Focus provides an impressive 75% boost to all attacks while War Cry! grants them a strong, but noticeably weaker 35% boost, doesn't come with stat reductions, and costs nothing to use, and thus, is seen as more efficient for DPS despite its buff lasting for just 1 turn while the effects of War Cry! last for 3 turns. or hit multiple opponents at once like the Great Sword does, its ability to inflict stat-reducing debuffs is viewed as inferior to the Hunting Horn's despite the Hammer's being instant as opposed to a gradual process due to the previously mentioned accuracy and action speed issues, and it lacks the utility of the Sword and Shield, which can make more efficient use of Stun due to not being held back by accuracy deductions and additionally comes with the ability to guard and inflict Skillseal. Furthermore, its unique passive skill, Peak Performance ^note  Raises the Rider's Attack and Defense by 10% when they're at full HP. is viewed as being wasted on the weapon due to its attributes being more suited for Monsties. Overall, the Hammer is seen as providing too much risk and too little reward, whereas the Great Sword and Hunting Horn are considered Difficult, but Awesome, and the Sword and Shield is viewed as an efficient all-rounder.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: When Cheval's design was released, many players thought he was a girl due to his long hair and androgynous appearance.

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