@Yosher
Appreciate that. I think you’ll find the Monster Hunter community the most amazing in all of gaming. It’s a very special community. I mean, it’s not perfect. World’s popularity drew in a bunch of toxic people, and there were always a few elitists even back in MH3U, but the overwhelming majority are good people who truly want to help others get into the series.
I think this is rooted in the fact that, for many years, Monster Hunter wasnt really popular in the west. It was a phenomenon in Japan, but in the west it was just another overlooked series most people never heard or cared about. The ones who were into it knew how incredible it was, and you know how it is when you discover an amazing masterpiece- you want to shout it from the rooftops and tell the world! Unfortunately, the game was incredibly obtuse for newcomers with a notoriously high barrier of entry. I can’t think of a single game that was so difficult to get a new player into.
And that meant getting new players into the series was a constant uphill battle. Every time a new game would come out, veteran hunters would declare how amazing it is, so people would try it, and 9 out of 10 would come away saying “it feels clunky” and giving up on it. From the perspective of a community trying to convince everyone else how amazing it is, it’s been rough for MH fans.
As a result, the only way we could really get people into the series was help them. Show them the ropes, assist them in overcoming the barriers of entry, hunt with them online, etc. And when a new player did finally get far enough in for it to click, where suddenly they’re screaming about how amazing it is, it felt like a million dollars. I believe this is why the community is so friendly and willing to help newcomers. It was born out of necessity due to the archaic design of older titles with respect to teaching the player how to play the game. MH has always been a masterpiece- the single greatest video game franchise of all time imo, but they were always designed as if the player was already a vet, without a thought in the world for proper tutorials or easing new players into it.
As for the demo, they always offer 3 hunts- easy, medium and hard. You use a preset armor build and weapon, and just choose which weapon type to use and start the quest. So it doesnt do much to teach new players. The full game will do much more to ease you into things, and will have a training area to practice combos, etc. But the demo can still give you a taste of the action. But you’ll have to learn through experience. Find a weapon you like (long sword or dual blades are great beginner weapons) and watch a quick Gaijin Hunter tutorial on YouTube for the weapon you like most to learn basic combos. Then hunt a few times and just learn through experience. Hunt online to learn through observation.
