the combat for monster hunter stories is. wack
it's a fairly standard rock-paper-scissors thing, but in the second game, you're able to rely very much on:
A. your partner monster always using one specific attack in the matchup (though some skills can have different attack types)
B. an opponent always using one specific attack in the matchup (outside of getting enraged/changing between forms, etc.)
but in the first game, it's way more randomised. opponents will often use different attack types at random with no indication they're doing so, and your partner will often just use random attack types without any way of changing them. i don't get it