Support NeoGAF

[andthebeatgoeson]

Capcom.
This demo is terrible. It's obviously suited for the Japanese market to only show what the game will look/control like on each platform, and does zero job in representing what's so great about the full game. They did no work (other than translation) to present this game to new audiences in the west.
They complain about Monster Hunter not gaining much traction in the West? This is the fucking reason. Maybe you should actually create a demo that explains the mechanics of the game to an audience where MH isn't ingrained into the gaming culture.
Some common questions new players I'm sure asked themselves: What's the difference between Barrel Bombs? Why does the big one not explode? What's the whetstone used for? Or food for that matter. BBQ Spit? Why are there two chests? One of them has nothing in it. Flash Bombs only seem to work half the time. Sonic bombs seem to do nothing at all. What's the point of fishing? What's a frog used for? Why would I need bugs?

Why is the Great Sword so slow...?

Yes, people can go on the internet, but they shouldn't have to do that, and it's nothing but lazy development.

The reason why I'm pissed is that if Monster Hunter Ultimate doesn't do well, MH4 is going to cost me $350+.

Edit: I love Monster Hunter. OMG.

No, no no. I asked myself much better questions: 'how the fuck do I lock on? Why can't I pause this game? Why does this fucker keep kicking the ground when I try to pause this bitch? WTF is going on here?'

Capcpcom: '20+ years of pausing....right out the fucking window. Fuck you.'

 

[Riposte]

No, no no. I asked myself much better questions: 'how the fuck do I lock on? Why can't I pause this game? Why does this fucker keep kicking the ground when I try to pause this bitch? WTF is going on here?'

Capcpcom: '20+ years of pausing....right out the fucking window. Fuck you.'

This is actually common place in games focused on online play. e.g. MMOs, Souls, Resident Evil 6 (when not on offline mode). It is not like this is coming out of the blue.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

I have a question concerned weapon crafting in this game. How is the process? Say I want to use Dual Swords, Long Swords and Hammers throughout the game.. What do I have to do to get better weapons... I tried looking on the wiki, but it's so confusing..

Basically, you obtain monster parts from hunting - you can get them from carving the monster and from the quest rewards that appear after completing a quest. You use those parts to either forge a weapon or upgrade an existing weapon in your inventory. Newer weapons will appear as upgrade/forge options at the blacksmith as you obtain more types of materials.

Armor forging and upgrading works in the same manner.

 

[Santiako]

It may be weird, but what I love the most about the switchaxe is the sidestep, it's so useful.

 

[Bel_Air_Jeff]

Basically, you obtain monster parts from hunting - you can get them from carving the monster and from the quest rewards that appear after completing a quest. You use those parts to either forge a weapon or upgrade an existing weapon in your inventory. Newer weapons will appear as upgrade/forge options at the blacksmith as you obtain more types of materials.

Armor forging and upgrading works in the same manner.

Do you need certain drops for certain items? Or is it just the luck of the draw when forging?

 

[Mupod]

I have a question concerned weapon crafting in this game. How is the process? Say I want to use Dual Swords, Long Swords and Hammers throughout the game.. What do I have to do to get better weapons... I tried looking on the wiki, but it's so confusing..

Hunt monsters.

Serious answer: when you successfully hunt a monster either by killing or capturing, you get materials such as scales or horns or whatever as rewards. By going to the village blacksmith and paying a fee you can craft weapons and armor. From there, you can often upgrade the weapon further by hunting more of the monster, or stronger versions.

The process is a bit more complex than this in practice - some weapons can upgrade into entirely different types, or have multiple upgrade paths. Some monster parts can only be gotten by breaking off a certain part of said monster during the fight, some parts are extremely rare unless you capture (trap when weakened and then throw tranq bombs). Some weapons aren't made out of monster parts at all, and are created out of ores you mine in the field (think WoW). But generally, when you beat a monster a few times you'll be able to make stuff out of him. In MH3U there's a hammer that is literally a Plesioth head on a stick.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

Do you need certain drops for certain items? Or is it just the luck of the draw when forging?

The price of forging/upgrading is set in stone. The drops you get on a quest is luck based - there are some rare 1% drops that will either be frustrating as hell for you to get or will be shoved in your face by the game depending on whether you need the part.

There are usually some tougher quests that give out the rare drops more frequently though.

 

[Mondriaan]

Do you need certain drops for certain items? Or is it just the luck of the draw when forging?

The luck of the draw happens when you carve from a monster's corpse and when the game presents you with the rewards screen that has additional monster parts. There's no luck involved in crafting. You either have the requisite parts or you don't.

Crafting something like an armor named after a given boss will generally require you to kill that boss (and possibly also requiring certain parts be broken or cut off) between 10 to 30 times, although there are cases of people killing a boss hundreds of times without finding what they need because they're unlucky.

 

[PaulExcellent]

FINALLY.

On my 4th try, I was able to defeat the bunny with the Twin Blades or whatever. Honestly, it was just a great time finding which weapon was better for me, learning the patterns, and timing the attacks correctly. It felt like I was having fun. Real fun.

I'm getting it Day-1.
That bunny can go straight to hell.

 

[DaBoss]

FINALLY.

On my 4th try, I was able to defeat the bunny with the Twin Blades or whatever. Honestly, it was just a great time finding which weapon was better for me, learning the patterns, and timing the attacks correctly. It felt like I was having fun. Real fun.

I'm getting it Day-1.
That bunny can go straight to hell.

Yea Day -1 all the time. Going to get that digital download at midnight.

 

[Mupod]

Do you need certain drops for certain items? Or is it just the luck of the draw when forging?

Fictional example weapon:

Derpasaurus hammer

Requires: 17,000z (zenny, MH uses the same currency as breath of fire!)
2x Derpasaurus horn (rare drop, unless you break off his horn midfight, which you need a smashing weapon to do)
20x Derpasaurus scale (common drop, but you usually only get 9-12 per fight)
5x Derpasaurus claw (same as above, but maybe a bit less common and you might get more by breaking the claws)
10x Hurpadurpa ore (common mined material)

Upgrades into the Giga Derpasaurus Hammer, which requires you to get materials from stronger versions of the monster that you encounter later in the game, as well as more money for the work. You might even need a

1x flawless Derpasaurus urethra

Which requires either a bit of luck or multiple hunts to obtain.

However, the upgraded hammer is of course much stronger and has better sharpness. Sharpness is good, even for hammers. You can observe the effects in the demo if you don't use your whetstones.

 

[FlyFaster]

Yea Day -1 all the time. Going to get that digital download at midnight.

You may have to wait until the next day (noon or later) for Eshop to update depending on where you live.

That said, I can't wait for the game to come out Day 1 of course. Ive been waiting for this game ~7 months or so.

 

[Hoodbury]

FINALLY.

On my 4th try, I was able to defeat the bunny with the Twin Blades or whatever. Honestly, it was just a great time finding which weapon was better for me, learning the patterns, and timing the attacks correctly. It felt like I was having fun. Real fun.

I'm getting it Day-1.
That bunny can go straight to hell.

Congrats. Now the question is what will happen on your 5th try? That's the thing about Monster Hunter, you may have taken 4 tries to beat a monster, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should now just go and fight the next one. (of course since this is a demo you can do whatever the hell you want). But I'd be more curious to see what you do to the bunny on your 5th try than to hear what happens to you on pleso or using a different weapon. What happens on your 5th try with the same weapon type on the same monster. How much did you improve?

Will you beat the bunny quicker, do you feel your player skill is going up? Will you struggle and maybe not beat him still?

Try the bunny a few more times before you try the hard monster.

 

[DaBoss]

You may have to wait until the next day (noon or later) for Eshop to update depending on where you live.

Well from what I've read, they've been doing a lot of 12AM EST eShop releases, so I'm inclined to believe that they may do it for MH3U.

 

[Nohar]

Crafting something like an armor named after a given boss will generally require you to kill that boss (and possibly also requiring certain parts be broken or cut off) between 10 to 30 times, although there are cases of people killing a boss hundreds of times because they're unlucky.

Let's not exagerate (or, rather, let's be a tiny bit more precise).
An armor is composed of 5 different pieces : Head, Torso, Legs, Belt/Pants, Gloves. It's entirely possible to craft a piece from a set after only one hunt (some sets require materials which are found in the nature). However, some pieces need a lot of materials, and/or need rare drop. It's those pieces of the set that will require you to hunt the same monster numerous times until you finally acquire the missing materials.

It's not rare to have 4/5 pieces of a set and missing the last one because the monster doesn't drop his rarest material, which can be acquired more easily if you capture the monster instead of killing it (though it depends on the material and monster in question), and in some cases it's necessary to break some parts of the monster if you want to acquire something in particular (for example, if you need a Lagiacrus Tail, you won't be able to obtain it unless you cut said tail and carve it during a hunt).

However, that doesn't mean that a 4/5 set will be unusuable. Indeed, with 4/5 pieces, it's entirely possible to unlock most bonuses on an armor, and if you're missing some skill points, you can still craft gems to add to your armor's slots, thus allowing you to unlock the bonuses (though, the hardest pieces to craft are often the ones with the higher skill points, and/or with numerous gems slots).

 

[Pineconn]

1x flawless Derpasaurus urethra

I lost it at this. :lol :lol

 

[BorkBork]

Playing the demo makes me want to break out Tri. Are there still people playing online for that?

 

[Nohar]

Playing the demo makes me want to break out Tri. Are there still people playing online for that?

Tri is still played online, yes. Though, a word of warning : the Tri servers will be closing in April, so online playing will no longer be accessible.

 

[DaBoss]

Playing the demo makes me want to break out Tri. Are there still people playing online for that?

There is always many people online. Though I find that late in it's life, it has many Spanish speaking players, which to me is a bit annoying when we can't communicate with each other, but we still have a blast using gestures lol. I wish they would put a language filter and get rid of the region-locked online.

 

[Kurod]

Seeing so many people poopoo over the demo reminds me of this old comic.

 

[Hoodbury]

thus allowing you to unlock the bonuses

Looking forward to when the game is released and we'll be having to explain how the skill point system works a dozen times.

It didn't even phase me anymore when I'd be in a lobby and see some High HR with no skills and look at their armour and they'd have 9 points here, 8 there, 5 here, 7 there.

 

[Mondriaan]

However, that doesn't mean that a 4/5 set will be unusuable. Indeed, with 4/5 pieces, it's entirely possible to unlock most bonuses on an armor, and if you're missing some skill points, you can still craft gems to add to your armor's slots, thus allowing you to unlock the bonuses (though, the hardest pieces to craft are often the ones with the higher skill points, and/or with numerous gems slots).

Let's not pretend that 95% of the appeal of having the entire set of armor isn't to parade around in it even if you end up using only one or two pieces for some super ugly mixed set that has a better set of skills.

 

[fates]

Seeing so many people poopoo over the demo reminds me of this old comic.

Capcom really are bad about easing new players into this game series.

It's funny because I've seen two of those in this thread, and the "slow sword" from the ONM review.

And the demo IS easing people into the series, as hard as they may be to see for people who are beginning with it. They gave you G-Rank armor and a high rank (?) weapon against at the very least a low Rank Lagombi for easy.

You really can't give a "tutorial" on how to play this game efficiently. It's ultimately up to you to look for openings, attack signals, when to dodge, etc. And had they given you the tutorial phases of the game as a demo, it would give off the completely wrong idea about the game as the tutorial just tells how to gather stuff, and fight little guys.

Start with Lagombi and take it slow. Don't even worry about killing it, take an attempt to try to watch it and see it's signs and when your windows of attack are. Also just spend time feeling the weapons without worrying about kills. When you know the weapon, and you know the monster, you'll know how to deal with it efficiently. For what it's worth, I find the Great Sword to be the best weapon to learn these principles with as it's a weapon that emphasizes the study of the target to be effective.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

Looking forward to when the game is released and we'll be having to explain how the skill point system works a dozen times.

It didn't even phase me anymore when I'd be in a lobby and see some High HR with no skills and look at their armour and they'd have 9 points here, 8 there, 5 here, 7 there.

It's even more depressing when they either don't listen to your advice or try to argue with you lol. Especially ones who have leeched off others to attain their high HR.

 

[Chuckpebble]

From reading the past few pages, it seems pretty much certain that this is gonna be on eShop for WiiU day 1. Is it going to be on 3DS eShop as well? That's what I intend to perch.

 

[DaBoss]

Seeing so many people poopoo over the demo reminds me of this old comic.

http://i.imgur.com/3cw1CpP.jpg

Capcom really are bad about easing new players into this game series.

Well I think Tri is a good turning point for their inability for tutorials.

From reading the past few pages, it seems pretty much certain that this is gonna be on eShop for WiiU day 1. Is it going to be on 3DS eShop as well? That's what I intend to perch.

Yes it is going to 3DS eShop. Though Sven said they don't know if it will be up day 1 on both the Wii U and 3DS. I'm not sure why they're saying that. =/

 

[Conor 419]

It's shocking how players can apparently adapt to Dark Souls but not this, jeez.

Yes, it's hard, but it gets easier, there's a damn good learning curve in these titles.

 

[kobashi100]

From reading the past few pages, it seems pretty much certain that this is gonna be on eShop for WiiU day 1. Is it going to be on 3DS eShop as well? That's what I intend to perch.

I would be shocked if it wasnt.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Playing the demo makes me want to break out Tri. Are there still people playing online for that?

Yes, me and Little Green Yoda play at least once every week. He's helping me get up to speed before Ultimate hits.

 

[Riposte]

Monster Hunter requires a much stronger understanding of space control and hitboxes than Dark Souls. It also has weaker shields/blocking and doesn't have a bunch of OP magic stuff going on. Also no grinding.

 

[Tathanen]

The way I feel about Monster Hunter is kinda the way I felt about Pokemon before I finally just accepted that series for what it is. "Wow the idea suggested by this universe is so great, why didn't they make a better game in it."

It's like, maybe you can "get better at it," you can overcome the slow cumbersome shit that is trying to do anything, just like tank controls in Resident Evil games are "on purpose." It's a style of play, blah blah blah. But it's one that, to me, just isn't fun. And I see a universe that I can imagine a SUPER fun game in. Hunting monsters in a big open world should be fun and freeing! But instead we have a game saddled with years of archaic franchise baggage--a clumsy rickety experience that makes me wish they'd just build a totally different game in the universe.

It's frustrating, is all. And I mean this isn't "my" series, I have no extensive experience with it, who am I to tell the people who play it and love it that it should be different. But I still wish it was, I just see a ton of wasted potential in there.

 

[Mugaaz]

It's shocking how players can apparently adapt to Dark Souls but not this, jeez.

Yes, it's hard, but it gets easier, there's a damn good learning curve in these titles.

Dark Souls has a pretty decent entry into the game. MH intro is always super awkward. Also, Souls doesn't feel clunky in the control department. The controls are good in MH, but they "feel" super clunky because the animations are so long, and most are uncancelable. Its just naturally less intuitive.

 

[fates]

Also no grinding.

Technically yes, but...

 

[Riposte]

Technically yes, but...

For clarity: I meant overleveling.

 

[Mugaaz]

The way I feel about Monster Hunter is kinda the way I felt about Pokemon before I finally just accepted that series for what it is. "Wow the idea suggested by this universe is so great, why didn't they make a better game in it."

It's like, maybe you can "get better at it," you can overcome the slow cumbersome shit that is trying to do anything, just like tank controls in Resident Evil games are "on purpose." It's a style of play, blah blah blah. But it's one that, to me, just isn't fun. And I see a universe that I can imagine a SUPER fun game in. Hunting monsters in a big open world should be fun and freeing! But instead we have a game saddled with years of archaic franchise baggage--a clumsy rickety experience that makes me wish they'd just build a totally different game in the universe.

It's frustrating, is all. And I mean this isn't "my" series, I have no extensive experience with it, who am I to tell the people who play it and love it that it should be different. But I still wish it was, I just see a ton of wasted potential in there.

The thing with the controls though is that they just "feel" wrong. However, the way the work in the game is neat perfect. All the monsters attacks and moves are designed around your controls and animation, it fits together like a puzzle. It does feels super awkward at first, no denying that. However, they really can't change the control and animation speed to something like DMC/Bayonetta/MGR without changing every single monster as well.

 

[Kurod]

And the demo IS easing people into the series, as hard as they may be to see for people who are beginning with it. They gave you G-Rank armor and a high rank (?) weapon against at the very least a low Rank Lagombi for easy.

You really can't give a "tutorial" on how to play this game efficiently. It's ultimately up to you to look for openings, attack signals, when to dodge, etc. And had they given you the tutorial phases of the game as a demo, it would give off the completely wrong idea about the game as the tutorial just tells how to gather stuff, and fight little guys.

Yeah, you're right. I guess it's the nature of the game that is hard to convey to new players. The armor they give you in the demo is actually better than anything you can make in the actual game. I mean auto-detect and cold resistance plus whatever else they have hidden under the hood for all the armor sets. Also, yeah, blue sharpness weapons against what feel like low rank monsters.

 

[Lizardus]

The thing with the controls though is that they just "feel" wrong. However, the way the work in the game is neat perfect. All the monsters attacks and moves are designed around your controls and animation, it fits together like a puzzle. It does feels super awkward at first, no denying that. However, they really can't change the control and animation speed to something like DMC/Bayonetta/MGR without changing every single monster as well.

What MH teaches you is to always be one step ahead of the monster because you are slow and cumbersome (when using heavy weapons anyway. No one can say you are slow when you are using sns and ds)

 

[Insaniac]

Dark Souls has a pretty decent entry into the game. MH intro is always super awkward. Also, Souls doesn't feel clunky in the control department. The controls are good in MH, but they "feel" super clunky because the animations are so long, and most are uncancelable. Its just naturally less intuitive.

the animations are long and uncancelable by design, you're supposed to be cautious with your decisions, knowing when to drink that potion, lay that trap, or end your attack combo early so you can dodge and not get damaged

edit: not exactly sure if you're complaining about the controls / animations or not

 

[RuneFactoryFanboy]

So throughout Freedom 2, Unite, Tri and Portable 3rd I have been a religious Longsword user. I’ve decided since I’m playing through Ultimate and because it’s a lot of the same content of Tri/P3rd, it’s time to freshen things up and try something new.

Bow looks insanely interesting to me for a lot of reasons. The mobility, the ability to inflict multiple status effects (which looks fun) and the fact that me and my group of friends have never had a gunner class on the team.

So I’ve been playing the demo over and over and over trying to get good with it. Finally after about 50+ tries it finally clicked last night. I was able to beat both missions in under 10 minutes. I felt so satisfied after slaughtering Plessy too considering it’s a water bow. I’m not the best player in the world so I was happy. Also….Exhaust coating is ridiculous. Starting a fight out with that makes the entire fight go so much smoother.

I have some questions if somebody more experienced with this weapon can help me out.

Arrow Rain seems awesome, but I really haven’t done too much testing as to how much damage it’s doing compared to a volley of charged shots. Is it a higher DPS standing at optimal distance shooting charged shots or standing far back and trying to constantly pull of AR? I’ve read there are 3 types of AR, Spread/Focus/Blast, is the one in the demo Spread? It’s awesome to spam every chance I get because I find it can cover a lot more distance than the standard shot. This also worries me though because I've read that if I miss then my team gets showered. Also, the best way to use it underwater seems to be just aim at the monster and do a quick R+flick up on the dpad so that the cone is on them. Any better strategies? I have avoided using aiming mode (R) outside of that because it wastes too much time (with no benefit that I can see). Any advice about this skill in general would be appreciated.

Another thing I’m curious about is the cost of playing Bow. The demo is nice that it gives you full stacks of every coating, but realistically how expensive/hard is it to have tons of coatings? Will I be doing tons of farming missions in-between hunts?


By the way, I think the new target camera is amazing. I was planning to pick up a CPP but after using it I don’t feel the need anymore. All I ever used L for was to re-center the camera on the monster anyhow so the fact that it’s automatic and no longer dependent on where I’m facing is even better. I haven’t seen many people point this out yet, but it is also a Godsend for underwater combat. No more fumbling trying to vertically position myself or attack straight up or down.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

Capcom.

This demo is terrible. It's obviously suited for the Japanese market to only show what the game will look/control like on each platform, and does zero job in representing what's so great about the full game. They did no work (other than translation) to present this game to new audiences in the west.

!!!

But the MH3 demo didn't hurt its sales, so maybe we are just over reacting, lol.

 

[DasMarcos]

I would be shocked if it wasnt.

That shizz better be on eshop day 1 or there will be hell to pay man. They can manage that in this day and age can't they?

 

[RobbieNick]

This is actually common place in games focused on online play. e.g. MMOs, Souls, Resident Evil 6 (when not on offline mode). It is not like this is coming out of the blue.

The game has a huge, separate single player campaign. This would be like not letting you pause in CoD because it has multiplayer too.

 

[Insaniac]

The game has a huge, separate single player campaign. This would be like not letting you pause in CoD because it has multiplayer too.

the reason is because in the game the start menu offers things like combining materials and speed combine to craft items like more traps and bombs while fighting monsters. Its like in Dark souls, you can switch your equipment around but you still have to worry about moving and dodging enemies, same thing in MH.

 

[Jawmuncher]

!!!

But the MH3 demo didn't hurt its sales, so maybe we are just over reacting, lol.

But at the same time I'm sure it didn't help very much either.

 

[The Horror the horror]

Played the demo. This is the first time I've played Monster Hunter, and I can tell you right now that it's earned yet another customer.

On my first playthrough, I picked the biggest dude available, with the biggest sword, in my attempt to appeal to my Berserk sensibilities. After getting my ass handed to me, I'm beginning to suspect that the big sword approach isn't very practical, as it adds another element of calculated timing to my attacks that doesn't really plague the other sword types since those attacks are immediate.

Can MH veterans chirp in? I don't want to create a character, only to be forced to start from scratch because he/she isn't practically useful.

 

[Hoodbury]

Played the demo. This is the first time I've played Monster Hunter, and I can tell you right now that it's earned yet another customer.

On my first playthrough, I picked the biggest dude available, with the biggest sword, in my attempt to appeal to my Berserk sensibilities. After getting my ass handed to me, I'm beginning to suspect that the big sword approach isn't very practical, as it adds another element of calculated timing to my attacks that doesn't really plague the other sword types since those attacks are immediate.

Can MH veterans chirp in? I don't want to create a character, only to be forced to start from scratch because he/she isn't practically useful.

In the real game you create a character, not a class. So you can use any weapon you want and switch anytime you want.

 

[Futureman]

does Wii U have offscreen play? May decide whether I get this.

is there a control graphic somewhere? Pretty sure I never saw one in the Wii U demo, though I seemed to figure most stuff out. Would like to see what I'm missing though.

edit: OK... reading the FAQ in the OP

 

[Insaniac]

Played the demo. This is the first time I've played Monster Hunter, and I can tell you right now that it's earned yet another customer.

On my first playthrough, I picked the biggest dude available, with the biggest sword, in my attempt to appeal to my Berserk sensibilities. After getting my ass handed to me, I'm beginning to suspect that the big sword approach isn't very practical, as it adds another element of calculated timing to my attacks that doesn't really plague the other sword types since those attacks are immediate.

Can MH veterans chirp in? I don't want to create a character, only to be forced to start from scratch because he/she isn't practically useful.

Your character has no inherent stats or abilities, everything is decided on what equipment and weapon you use, which can be anything you want, as long as you have the materials to craft such a weapon. My character in tri has his stash full of all the Sword and shields, hammers, lances, great swords, etc etc, and various armor sets, and I basically equip whatever i feel like using / whatever suits the mission

 

[FlyFaster]

Played the demo. This is the first time I've played Monster Hunter, and I can tell you right now that it's earned yet another customer.

On my first playthrough, I picked the biggest dude available, with the biggest sword, in my attempt to appeal to my Berserk sensibilities. After getting my ass handed to me, I'm beginning to suspect that the big sword approach isn't very practical, as it adds another element of calculated timing to my attacks that doesn't really plague the other sword types since those attacks are immediate.

Can MH veterans chirp in? I don't want to create a character, only to be forced to start from scratch because he/she isn't practically useful.

I've been playing the series for a long time. 600+ hours in Tri alone.

GS is my favorite weapon but it does take some time to get used to. I'd say for a player new to the series good weapons to start with would be -- Sword and Shield, Dual Blades or Long Sword.

I feel you on the Berserk thing though. That is what attracted to me GS years ago when I first started playing.

When you start a character you'll have a basic armor set and access to all the basic versions of all weapon types. You can change weapons at any time between missions so your never "stuck". If something isn't getting the job done it will be as simple as picking a new weapon (and upgrading it a bit) and continuing on your way.

That said, MH is one of those games where you can use any weapon type throughout the entire game and kill every monster. No single weapon type is going to hold you back. All types are viable.

Use the demo as a testing ground. Go through the weapons you like and then narrow it down to 1 or 2 and practice. MH games reward practice with a weapon since some play vastly differently from others. After a while you'll get the hang of things. Just stick with it.

 

[Mupod]

Played the demo. This is the first time I've played Monster Hunter, and I can tell you right now that it's earned yet another customer.

On my first playthrough, I picked the biggest dude available, with the biggest sword, in my attempt to appeal to my Berserk sensibilities. After getting my ass handed to me, I'm beginning to suspect that the big sword approach isn't very practical, as it adds another element of calculated timing to my attacks that doesn't really plague the other sword types since those attacks are immediate.

Can MH veterans chirp in? I don't want to create a character, only to be forced to start from scratch because he/she isn't practically useful.

First off, you can make all the different weapons you want. You can switch between missions.

The greatsword probably rewards total mastery of a monster more than any other weapon, but is tough to use effectively even for a veteran player if you don't know the monster. I say 'monster' and not the weapon itself because you need to intricately learn the behaviors of the individual enemy before you can do this kind of thing.

Just try out everything. The sword and shield is the easiest weapon for a new player, but you never know what's going to click with you.