New hunter here, just thought I'd share my experience so far:
Two of my closest friends have been playing Monster Hunter for years, starting with the PSP games. They always tried to get me in on it, but I never found the appeal and hated the controls. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and my buddy, who had just bought a 3DS for the sole purpose of Monster Hunter, offered to pick me up a copy and finally get me into it. I respectfully declined, uncomfortable with the idea of him spending $40 on me for a game I knew I wouldn't like.
Well he did it any way, and within hours of killing Kelbi and Jaggi, I was actually finding the game pretty fun. He took me on to hunt Royal Ludroth, a fight during which I did absolutely nothing but float about in the water trying to make heads or tales of that shit (I still fucking hate it) but generally impressed with how much fun I was having when I got a hit or two in. Fast forward a couple days and I've worked up the nerve to finally take on Great Jaggi, which takes me for goddamn ever to whittle down because I'm still using the default sword and shield. Fast forward another few days and I've begun to learn hammer (still using it) by fighting Arzuros, who then became my spirit monster because of the number of times I fought and capped him. He's still one of my favorite fights, even though he's so piss easy, just because of how much I learned on him.
It's now been about two weeks and I'm just under 30 hours in. Rocking Wroggi gear (I am the goddamn Hombre) and just ditched my Carapace Hammer for a Vortex Hammer that I intend on upgrading to a Vortex+ today after I lucked out a Lagi cap mission and got his plate. I'm in 5* of LR Moga quests, currently fighting lots of Rathian, Lagi, and similar monsters. Me and my two bros are working our way through all the Tavern quests, and I just made the Azi Dahaka for Paralysis in group play. We're going to get together tonight and hunt it the fuck up. Last time we did Lagi, Rathalos, Uragaan, Nibblesnarf, Baritoth, and Giggi, and it was so goddamn much fun.
I get it, you guys. I finally get it. Monster Hunter kicks so much ass. Honstly, I've played most of this year's biggest releases, like Bioshock, Tomb Raider, and Crysis, and though I enjoyed each of them, Monster Hunter pulls ahead of them all by quite a margin. It's just pure distilled fun. Nothing in those games is nearly as satisfying as getting my ass kicked by a Lagiacrus over and over again, and when nearly at the brink of quitting, I not only cap his ass, but break his horn, and get a fucking Plate. Triumph. Pure and utter triumph.
