There’s a lot I love about turn-based RPGs, but grinding is not one of them.
For me, it slows down gameplay and artificially lengthens the game in a way that is not fun. I’m sure there are many out there who love grinding and I’m glad they do. It’s just not for me.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruins is an interesting RPG because it utilized turn-based combat with a modern twist. Combat in this game does not feel cumbersome and it still retains the strategic approach of turn-based games of the past.
One area that was a welcome sight was the “quick finish” mechanic. This feature essentially lets you skip over battles under certain circumstances while still obtaining all the experience points from the battle.
The main caveats to utilize quick finish is you’ve defeated the monster previously and you’re a certain amount of levels stronger than your opponent. This feature does not apply to boss fights or other major battles, only encounters.
This feature was a godsend because of how easy it made it to both level up my weaker monsters and to better explore past areas.
I do enjoy exploring areas but not if I’m going to have to fight something every 30 seconds. It gets tedious at that point and I don’t think it’s worth the reward of exploring.
Quick finish nullified that because whenever I did encounter a monster in a past area, it was a short battle and I could continue on with my exploration. I never felt bogged down with encounters and that made the game more enjoyable.
Furthermore, it boosted my weaker monsters significantly.
As mentioned, quick finish doesn’t work if your monster is too close in level to the encounter. The workaround is you have your strongest monster start out the battle so it triggers the quick finish.
Since all monsters in your party get experience points from any given battle, regardless of their involvement, this method made leveling so much easier. All monsters are born at level 1, even the late-game ones so this method helped get them up to snuff quicker.
There are some drawbacks to quick finish. The main one is if you need to farm resources, you can get significantly less when quick finishing.
Throughout the course of a battle, monsters may drop additional resources, adding to your overall haul at the end. These extra drops do not happen if you quick finish and you only get what you would’ve received for an S-rank battle.
As you can see, there are pros and cons to using quick finish. It isn’t required so players can choose to use it if they please, which I did liberally.
This made grinding so much easier and it didn’t bog down the game. It’s a feature I’d love to see used more in RPGs moving forward, especially monster-collecting games such as Pokémon.
I think its application could be harder in games that have a limited party. At that point, its only benefit may be to speed up battles in past areas. RPGs have found other methods of accomplishing the same goal.
Still, I will never forget how easy Monster Hunter Stories 2 made it to grind. Providing an option is fantastic as it encourages players to better use their time exploring and crafting rather than battling.
What about you? Did you like the quick finish mechanic in Monster Hunter Stories 2? Would you like to see it applied in other turn-based RPGs? What are your thoughts on grinding? Let us know in the comments below or head over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
Featured Image: Capcom (via IGN)
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