Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

Apparently there are 18 games in Capcom's Monster Hunter series, and I haven't played a single one of them. Except for once trying a demo once and not liking it. This is not because of the basic idea of hunting monsters for parts and crafting gear with those parts, which sounds exactly like the sort of game I like. No, my problem with the Monster Hunter series is that the large majority of these games use action combat. I'm not good at most action combat game, probably because I'm getting too old for rapid and precise button-mashing. So I always felt that this wasn't the series for me. Until today, where Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (MHS2) was released; and that on the day where I am packing my bags for my summer holidays. MHS2 is a turn-based game; presumably like Monster Hunter Stories 1, which I never played, because I didn't have a Nintendo 3DS.

I like taking a JRPG with me on my Switch on summer holidays, because these usually can occupy me for many hours. And the currently installed JRPG on my Switch is Bravely Default II, which I found has a rather bad "flow" and isn't that much fun. Now there is some curious psychology at work when I buy games for the Switch: I don't mind buying them full price on release day. MHS2 also has a PC version on Steam, but if that one would have caught my eye, I would probably have wishlisted it and waited to pick up a half-price version. But for a Nintendo Switch game you can't count on getting it heavily discounted sooner or later, so you might as well pick it up on release day. I did.

On the other hand, Nintendo isn't getting my money for the new Switch OLED. I had hoped for a "Switch Pro" with features like better battery life, faster processor, and non-drifting JoyCons, but apparently the OLED version doesn't provide that. It mostly provides a minimally larger screen with brighter colors, which isn't really what I was looking for. Yes, if my Switch broke I would buy an OLED one to replace it. But as my Switch is still running perfectly, the upgrade isn't that big as to justify spending $350 on it.