Why this game's story is stupid. (SPOILERS)

So I go to the Volcanic Gates and I'm confronted by a rage-rayed Astalos. Naturally, my boi rushes out to fight it. After the fight, which of course I win effortlessly, Cheval decides to yell at me. I'm the WORST RIDER EVER! A disgrace to Red's name! I don't even see how I'm driving my monsters to exhaustion! Ratha just almost lost control and passed out! And I want to fight a Nergigante too?! What is WRONG with me! I need to seriously reconsider if I should even BE a rider!

So I go to the Lake of Flames for one last chance at proving myself. There, I'm confronted by a rage-rayed Brachydios. Naturally, my boi rushes out to fight it. After the fight, which of course I win effortlessly, Ena gives a speech about how what we need to do is continue pushing forward no matter what. Now Cheval gives a knowing smile and says that, yes, at last we understand! The answer was to KEEP DOING THE EXACT SAME THING HE TOLD US WAS WRONG THE FIRST TIME. Now to go fight that Nergigante that we were supposed to not fight!

And this isn't the first time the game has pulled this crap either. I'm reminded of back in Loloska when I was SO NAIVE for thinking my measly Bond of Kinship could control the legendary Razewing Ratha, and it's all our fault that Ratha went crazy and blew up the windmills.So we spend an entire night thinking of a solution and realize... yes! The answer is to use the Bond of Kinship! The very thing we already were using that didn't work!

And yes, I get that the actual point was SUPPOSED to be that we needed to have faith in our decisions. But the game does a very poor job of presenting that. The way it's actually presented is that we're the worst rider ever for doing exactly what we're supposed to do and just not quite being good enough, and then "at last we understand" when we do the exact same thing except this time it works.

...so I guess, exactly what it's like to be a kid surrounded by unpleasable authority figures. Nevermind, carry on, I guess.

It's largely a case of poor writing, and how you perceive the moment in question.

For me, in order of plot:

Razewing losing control in Loloska/Kuan is most likely a case similar to how he was "losing himself" in Terga.
Being near 3 Rage Ray Pits in Loloska consecutively [Zamtrios > Seltas Queen > Legiana pt.1] likely applied a stressor to the still young Razewing. At the third, he snaps into Dark Razewing, in a transformation that's somewhat similar to Black Blighted Ratha in MHStories 1.
Prior to this, the Protagonist had been repeatedly slammed with doubts on their capabilities by the elders of Rutoh, along with the sheer weight of what their failures would be should Razewing genuinely be destructive. Following this, Navirou rather carelessly forces the regrettably voiceless protagonist into the slot of imitating the Legendary Rider from MHS1, which again is a load of responsibility on the Rider. Being the center of deception clearly is not something that sits well with said Rider, but lacking a character voice to speak with means they can't actually say anything to change their situation. Silent Protagonists are not very good character types to be involved in this sort of morality issue.

With the weight of responsibility and the seed of doubt planted, the Protagonist effectively has the wrong mindset when approaching Razewing, and when Dark Razewing's wings spread and it takes off on its own, the Rider is paralyzed because the one thing they feared happening was now becoming a reality.

At the resolution, the Rider realizes they didn't have faith in Ratha, and equally so, Ratha didn't have faith in the Rider. Their "Bond" was basically nothing until the Rider realized that they CAN'T doubt Ratha, nor themselves. If the Rider doubts themself, then what stops Ratha from sharing those same doubts and even trusting in the Rider?
The rider opens the door of trust, greatly enhanced by Dede's rite to unlock Razewing's power, and that door of trust unlocks the ability for Razewing to use Savage Fireball and the Kinship Skill.

It's a character development arc if you focus on what the Rider's primary motives and pressures have been.

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The arc in Terga likewise is very similar, but with a different motive

Do recall that immediately after recovering Ratha from the capture incident in Lamure and unsealing Razewing's wings, we had a long string of heroic antics in the Felyne Shelter with almost no set-backs directly associated with Ratha.
Contesting dangerous foes and saving the day by our collective power [Regardless of whether or not you used Razewing], being quite the morale boost despite Kyle being doubtful.

The only hiccup, which goes unaddressed after the fact, is Razewing's loss of control when fighting Rage Ray Mizutsune. The scene is stolen by the fact Kyle decided to trust the Rider and Razewing, and strike the Mizutsune, giving the protagonist the opportunity to regain control and finish the fight.
We again have Razewing lose control once we cross into Terga and behold the sight of the large worm beast that emerges from the holes, which again goes unaddressed. That not addressing it part is important.

Joining with Cheval to investigate the entire area of Terga, we find Rage Ray Astalos.
Empowered by our previous and successful acts of heroism and strength, excluding the one hiccup with the demon worm beast, the Rider charges ahead without hesitation, and ignoring Cheval's own warnings, and challenges the Astalos. The rider's resolve is basically "it's what we do! We stop the Rage Ray Monsters!"

This of course sits wrong with Cheval, who begrudgingly helps us a moment later in the fight.

Following this fight, Razewing loses control again, and the Rider is honestly stunned, as if finally realizing that Razewing is having an absolute problem right now. Cheval moves in to quell Razewing's rage and calls on the Rider to help, which stops Razewing from losing control.

Thiiis is when Cheval berates the Rider.
He has one good point, and one moronic point.

• The moronic point is that "The Rider is obsessed with Nergigante" which, no, this has no evidence supporting it. Cheval is misappropriating his own objective with information Navirou shared about Red's defeat to a Nergigante IMMEDIATELY BEFORE we fought Astalos. Thankfully, Cheval does apologize for this terrible call, partially redeeming his character.
• The good point is that "The Rider is dragging Razewing along on their own objectives, without considering Razewing's condition." Which has evidence based on the encounters with Mizutsune and Demon Worm Beast, where Razewing lost control and nothing was mentioned about it. This is a perfect display of ignorance and recklessness on the Rider's part and a clear show of the consequences of that ignorance and recklessness: Razewing is losing control despite the opened door of trust.

The good point is resolved against Rage Ray Brachydios with how the Rider approaches Razewing. More as a symbolic gesture than anything really physical, this moment represents the Rider addressing Razewing FIRST, before the fight in front of them, instead of jumping the gun and engaging in fight without thinking about those around them. It can also be seen as the Rider now being up front with Razewing, and being willing to shoulder the same burdens together. Just as Razewing was supporting the Rider, the Rider now supports Razewing.

Of course this can seem like a "Uh, weren't we already doing that?" because of the Kuan arc where we opened the door of trust.
But opening the door of trust isn't exactly the same issue.

The Kuan arc involved the Rider casting away their personal doubts and opening their heart to Ratha.
The Terga arc involved the Rider admitting they were ignorant, reckless and careless, and resolved to be mindful and considerate of Razewing and the others.

It's both parts of the "power of friendship", but different specific elements related to it. The issues addressed aren't one and the same, and the Rider did make some mistakes.

At least, that's how I interpret this plot.

Eh, Cheval apologized for being harsh, not for making a dumb argument, though. The game doesn't really admit that the "obsession with the nergigante" was a dumb allegation.

Like, oh, so you mean that a savage beast is disrupting the ecosystem, slaughtering innocent people, including a member of my immediate family, and I'm not supposed to feel like I should do something about it? I've been told for however long this story has been going on that I'm uniquely powerful and exhibiting unheard of growth, my partners are literally the most powerful force in the world (WIP edition) and Super Saiyan Fathead Cat (extra dumb edition), I'm being told that I'm doing right and need to press on by people from every group in the known world, even the super-reclusive isolationists, and when presented with an opportunity to investigate stuff and put this power to good use, I should . . . what? Sit on my hands? Voicelessly ask my voiceless beast buddy for permission?
Bad writing, for sure. I get what Knight means with that last line; it pretty much feels the same as a stereotypical boomer conversation.

It also points out the greater flaw of the narrative. Everything's about a bond of "kinship," treating the monsties as family, but that's really not the nature of the relationships. They're animals. They're pets. What they want is the same as any good pet: food, water, shelter, affection, and what their master wants. That's not derisive or reductive; it's just honest. The narrative treats us like we're idiots for somehow failing to treat pets as though they're just as mentally complex and have the same rights as humans. Uh, and wyverians. People. You get it. Anyway, when Ratha keeps raging out long after we've been established to have a strong bond, we, the players, start to doubt the narrative. As in, what if all the doubters were more right than we're giving credit? Games like this always have some bland, intellectually deprived takeaway of, "See? No one should ever doubt things! Just belieeeeeeve~!" that is derisive of people's very legitimate concerns, and we shrug it off as a typical kids' storyline, but when the story tries too hard to be condescending and serious about it, we start poking holes back in it.

Noah_Ivaldi posted...

It also points out the greater flaw of the narrative. Everything's about a bond of "kinship," treating the monsties as family, but that's really not the nature of the relationships. They're animals. They're pets. What they want is the same as any good pet: food, water, shelter, affection, and what their master wants. That's not derisive or reductive; it's just honest.

While you are not specifically wrong, I can say you're short-changing the idea of a pet.

Members of the same species of animal can have strikingly different "personalities", relevant to how active they are, what they prefer to do, what they prefer to eat, and the like. While they clearly lack the same mental capacity of a human, it's more than just basic Eat, Drink, Sleep. There's more to it. Though obviously, the actual mental capacity of the species in question does affect this. I wouldn't put a housefly on the same mental level as a domesticated dog, obviously.
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I do agree that the story is rather poorly written. The two sides are in severe opposition and it's kinda working with very little middleground, and as our protagonist is on the side of "Save Ratha!", it does feel like it ignores legitimate concerns...

Ratha raging, however, feels like an isolated incident, more put on via stressors in his environment.
This is really because the idea of "Kinship" itself is a quantitative trait that could possibly be measured. Kinship Attacks are only performed with enough of it and establishing a Kinship Bond is pretty much a sharing of some form of metaphysical energy.
Variations of this energy are likely present in the main series, such as with the Dragon Element, "Bioenergy", Nature effects brought on by the mere presence of Elde Dragons, the Longsword weapon's charge mechanic, same to the Dual Blades, Armor Skills, and other "Game mechanics" that are relevant to some form of build up and usage of 'inner energy'. Kinship could be one such form of energy.

Razewing Ratha itself is also proven to have some form of energy within it, and one that is clearly affected by the presence of Kinship. The worm demon's presence could be a sort of "opposite" to Kinship, and also reacts with the energy within Razewing Ratha.
Technically, Ratha isn't quite raging when he's affected by the rage rays following the release of his wings. It's easy to say he is "Suffering" because of the presence of the Demon Worm's energy, the Rage Rays, affecting his own odd natural energy as Razewing. Of course, it's easy to say he IS raging because he's wromping about without control, but this is more likely to do with actual pain being endured than him just snapping violent.

I don't think there's a bond issue going on, just a case of accidental neglect that led to Ratha suffering, which is easily resolved by "being a better animal friend" [which I understand is an element in your complaint]. Razewing Ratha never loses himself after we create a bond with Ol' Dede's help, until our obvious villain does a thing at the end of the story, which again is an exterior stressor that is no doubt helped by Demon Worm being there as well.
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Still, weak writing is weak writing.

Cheval's still absolutely moronic for shoving the Nergigante obsession idea on us.
At least he apologized for something.

The whole argument over whether Ratha is good or bad is so hamfisted it's still honestly dumb on both sides of the argument.

Increasingly dumb is WHERE ARE OUR OTHER MONSTIES?
We have Ranmar for 3 scenes, then he's mysteriously gone.
We get Ratha, and suddenly NONE OF OUR OTHER MONSTIES are even remotely present.

I get why we can't have a full squad of 6 bouncing around, but we could have had Ranmar sticking around for the better part of the plot, being the Monstie that Ena/Navirou ride along in cutscenes. He could have helped significantly in a few things.

The plot is way too hinged on Ratha itself. The problems caused by Ratha could be addressed by fellow monsties and all, yet we never see that.

...
Despite all that, I did enjoy the plot. Yeah, it's campy and a lil' dumb, but I found it more enjoyable than most of what Pokemon has pumped out for its Main Series.
...Course the Pokemon Spin-offs, particularly Mystery Dungeon's early installments, blow this outta the water for a "Spin-Off Series Story".

I hated the story and what they've done to the characters of the first game; and I skip all of the cutscenes now that I'm doing a second playthrough. It's proving to be a better time that way. It doesn't help that Navirou's voice hurts my ears.

Also, (for the record) I never actually used Ratha the first time. He was so much weaker than the rest of my team, couldn't use his kenship skill for the longest time, and the level gap only grew over the course of the story. So I was especially angry about everyone saying that I was forcing Ratha to fight. He was benched and never once had to so much as lift a claw.

The point being, I feel your pain. I loved the first game and it's story. I just have to let gameplay make up for poor writing and (literally) painful voice acting.

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying about pets, but I'm not meaning to shortchange that. Pets can be wonderfully individualistic, no question. What I was specifically referring to was the matter of motivation.
"I want to eat when hungry.
I want to rest when tired.
I want to drink when thirsty.
I want to mourn when at a loss.
I want to celebrate when joyous.
I want to show my affections.
I want to play."
These statements aren't entirely universal even when you narrow down the sample size to vertebrates, the animal kingdom, just mammals, or even all humans, once you account for mental disorders, but they're so common as to be seemingly universal, observed in creatures spanning thousands of species. My point is not to be reductive of the mental capacity of pets, but to say that there is still a vast gulf between people's minds and animals' minds, so when evaluating what is healthy and what is motivational, we don't need a human conversation to determine animals. We have a pretty good idea of what they want going in.

Take Lilia and Reverto for contrast. They're largely left uncredited for it, but they have the squarest heads of anyone on the matter of Ratha.

Lilia: "This could be dangerous to the whole world, but it could not be. I want to study this matter. I don't want to be rude and take things without permission, especially a monstie from its rider, but I'll do what must be done. I don't want to conclude that a rider's kinship may not be miraculous enough for this specific challenge, but I must observe and find out. (This next one is implied.) I don't want to kill a monstie that hasn't done anything yet, but if I conclude that waiting will only result in assured destruction, I'll sign off on whatever has to be done. Until then, though, I must try to be understanding, supportive, and kind." That's all on one matter. A conversation with Lilia should make her perspective apparent, and Navirou shouldn't be so dismissive of that. If the game wanted to yell at the protagonistic duo, it could've been for that.

Reverto: "I want to protect the world. I want to protect my friends. I want to act aloof, but I want to observe this for myself/I was aloof, but now that Lilia has foisted this upon me, I've reconsidered and want to observe this for myself. I want people to mellow out, observe things, and see things from a healthy perspective. Just as the plesioth was driven to flee by the cephadrome, we may be driven to a fight-or-flight response by Ratha, and since there wouldn't be a way to actually flee, we have to see as soon as possible whether or not we're fighting. That's what Lilia, the rest of the scriveners, and people of the world in general are trying to tell you in their skepticism of Ratha."

The way that these characters act and impose their motivations is actually really good. It's realistic, understandable, and to tie together this contrast, complex.

Ratha's motivation is just the basic stuff that most animals share, as noted above. That's it. Actually, better yet, Ratha has been directly observed to like combat and like defending his rider, so it's only natural for the default position in a potential combat encounter to be that Ratha is cool with it. Why would we assume elsewise? I mean, this is why no one likes Green in Pokèmon, right? He's a projection of that ancient "Pokèmon battles are just animal abuse!" allegation that is explicitly discredited by the clearly established lore that they're into it. The trainers just facilitate it into non-lethal sport, rather than feral survivalism. Likewise, we direct monsters' violence toward maverick monsters and in sport battles against each other.

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Agreed on Ranmar and other monsties seeming like a total afterthought when they realized that they were making a monster catcher game, but didn't care to adjust anything beyond "Script says the player is forced to have Ratha in the party still." I'm not asking for a whole lot of dynamic programming, but maybe show my other monsties in their idle animations back me up in a fight? Have them run behind me when we rush off somewhere? Show them getting into the MH equivalent of a pokèball so that there's some explanation as to how this lagombi managed to meet up with me in combat after I flew onto this cliffside and waded through freaking lava? Just . . . something.

As long as we're talking about story-mechanical conflicts, if you're going to give me flight, just give it to me. Don't give me fliers beforehand that just inexplicably can't fly for me until a different one does. Don't give me flight and immediately take it away because you only allow it in certain areas, even if it would be totally safe to fly everywhere. Don't make me keep escorting an entire team for jumping, climbing, swimming, lava walking, dashing, burrowing, and still expect me to somehow have room for stealth and rock-breaking, after you have given me bloody flight! I'm glad that we didn't have to wait until the end of the game to fly like in many other JRPGs, but there's a reason for that, huh?

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Birdetta: I don't see how a level gap can occur when he's forced to be part of the party even when you'd rather switch in a party of weaklings to grab subquest experience to unlock genes (a totally unnecessary mechanic, by the way), but otherwise, yeah, agreed. It doesn't help that the options menu only has two sound options, "Music" and "Voice," with the latter being every voice, including monster roars and cries, and every sound effect in the entire game. Just let me shut up Kyle's snide remarks when he's in the party and Navirou's dumb, vastly overused catchphrases all the time without taking away the fact that this is a modern, voiced (sans silent protag) game.

This game is a great case study in why silent protagonists suck - because at the end of the day, they are always pre-defined characters, they're just pre-defined characters whose dialogue you don't get to see and therefore any element of the story that relies on them in any way falls flat. The Loloska and Terga incidents can both work if our Rider actually does and says stuff to support them, but instead we get dumb s*** where other characters just narrate after the fact what our hero supposedly was doing and saying all along that we never get to see.