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[Nighthawk]

Ah, good ol' getting OHKO'd after quaffing an antidote because your brave hunter had to flaunt his strength... a monster hunter staple we hope will never go away.

[BlitzDungeoneer]

Oh, you meant that part...
Heh.
Yeah, that's kinda funny, I must admit.

[Wimopy]

I still stand with my "you can handle it with only the target lock" idea. More than one monster at a time is harder like that, but it's usually better to try and get the enemy to fight 1v1 (either dung bombs or smoke), so that doesn't matter, I think.

Sword and Shield is beginner-friendly not just because it's fast, but also because of that extra guard option while you learn how to time your dodges and attacks. I say it's nice until you get to the monsters whose legs are taller than you. At that point, you can look for something new. (You'll get what I mean, I think. If you can pass under the monster, it might be time for a new weapon type. Or the SnS might just be perfect for your rhythm).

My tips for starting:
-Read all the text. Most of the time you'll find useful hints or tips.
-As a new player, I really advise playing all the tutorial/weapon guide quests you'll unlock. They give you a feel for the various weapons and give some guidance on the weak and strong points and basic combos.
-Try the bow and bowguns, but don't use them. Toying with ammo/coatings is a chore and you have less defense,
-Harvest everything. Especially bugs and ores. Always carry at least 5 bug nets and 5 iron pickaxes. You'll need materials to upgrade or craft gear, so it's worth investing time as soon as possible. I believe the tutorial part also covers this.

About the fluidity of combat... I never had a problem with it. It's sort-of like Dark Souls (as mentioned while I took a break while writing this), but in a way more enjoyable way (subjective opinion, I never liked DS, but love MH from the start). It's basically 98% Capcom boss fights after the intro part. Skill is more important than gear and there are no stats, so there's that. Gear is still important though. Especially good weapons. A pro can beat the strongest enemy in the game naked (after a lot of practice), but not if he doesn't have a weapon that deals enough damage to kill it in 45 mins...

Well yeah, basically nothing that hasn't been said or written before either here, on the wiki or in the game. Still, it's a great game once you get into it. And I'll be honest: The demos seem to be pretty bad so far. The MH3U demo felt terrible. MH3U itself was heaven.

Man, I've gone and written a long and meaningless post again. I should limit myself to a set number of words or characters...

[flabort]

Hey, figured I might as well share my equipment.

I have:
Defender's Blade (Charge Blade, which is an awesome combo of SaS and Axe, which can reach the big monsters while still being defensive, and more damage than SaS)
Velociprey Helm and Psychic Jewel
Velociprey Mail
Velociprey Braces
Velociprey Tassets and 2 Psychic Jewels
Velociprey Greaves and Psychic Jewel
Bishop Talisman (Starting +10 Auto-Gaurd one)

Palicos: My first stringers are three support and two attack
Main Palico Skills: Demon Horn, Shock Trap, Tracker's Eye
F Kecha Harrow, F Kut-Ku Mask, F Kut-Ku Wear

Secondary Palico: I got this one via Streetpass
Support Forte, Cat Nap ability
Paralysis Edge
Non-Stick Fun
Artillery Meowster
Ranged Barrage (Meownster H.)
Arowana Catcher (Casting Machine)
F Yukumo Bokken, F Bone Helm, F Monglo Tee

[etgfrog]

It would be better to list what armor skills you have then palico skills.

As for the demo, my brother had played the 4u demo ALOT and really enjoyed it, it lets you use every weapon against 3 different monsters, including the game's flagship monster, the gore magala.

As for needing a criclepad or second thumbstick, not a necessity, I've done most of the stuff in the game with just using the lock system and the touchscreen camera control.

[flabort]

Oh, right. Autotracker, Attack up (S), Halve Stun, Auto-Guard.

I'm capable of doing some 5 star single player quests, and am Rank 3 for multiplayer.

[SirAaronIII]

Yeah, you don't NEED the New 3DS' C-stick. It's a very helpful addition and I've gotten used to it myself, but it's very much possible to do well without it. As pretty much everyone else said, the target lock (press L and the camera will turn towards the monster) is good enough.

Any weapon is passable in the beginning, but you will have to practice and get to know it better before you can safely take on the big boys. Don't be afraid to try a different weapon out if it's not working out for you. That's why they gave everybody 1 of each in the beginning.

And if you need anything, you can just ask here. We've got a lot of really knowledgeable people with a ton of experience under their belts. I bet collectively we've probably spent over a thousand hours in the two short months it's been out, and we're still not really close to being completely done. It's a learning experience for everyone.

[Ozyton]

I have a 3DSXL.  Not the "New" one.  Is this game even worth playing on that system?  I also don't have any add-on stick thing that I've heard about, and wouldn't plan on getting one.

The new C-stick is not required, in fact you may actually be disappointed because using the C stick is no better than using the D-pad aside from being able to use the analog stick while looking around. I say this because, for whatever reason, Monster Hunter's camera can only move in 1 of 4 ddirections at a time: up, down, left, and right. You cannot move diagonally, despite the analog nature of the C-stick.

The Z buttons on the New3DS are, sadly, pretty overlooked. You can't bind them to use items like you can on the touch screen, and even with the ability for one of them to open the chat I find myself using the button at the top of the touch screen for that anyways. It does let you cycle between which monster you have locked, but since I don't use target locking it's not that useful to me. The Z buttons had potential, Capcom didn't use any of it. The C-stick is also poorly implemented as described above.

The biggest issue might be FPS. Supposedly you might get higher framerate if you use the new DS but it's perfectly playable on the old one. I played through much of MH3u with the 30FPS (or whatever it was) and did fine. If you play with the 3d turned off then the improved face-tracking 3D on the new system won't be much use to you. MH also uses the extra graphical power provided when 3d is off to add some anti-aliasing which is great.

Not being able to adjust your lance aim a few degrees left or right is pretty bothersome, but to compensate you can do up to three side/back-hops after any attack. Still infuriating when you're missing by two inches and waste precious seconds adjusting/dodging.

[Shakerag]

Not being able to adjust your lance aim a few degrees left or right is pretty bothersome, but to compensate you can do up to three side/back-hops after any attack. Still infuriating when you're missing by two inches and waste precious seconds adjusting/dodging.

So, yeah, what role does the lance play then?  It seems like it's too unwieldy to be effective against anything non-trivial.

[umiman]

Not being able to adjust your lance aim a few degrees left or right is pretty bothersome, but to compensate you can do up to three side/back-hops after any attack. Still infuriating when you're missing by two inches and waste precious seconds adjusting/dodging.

So, yeah, what role does the lance play then?  It seems like it's too unwieldy to be effective against anything non-trivial.

The lance is about invincibility:

1. With Evade+3, you become completely invincible during the hops, of which you can do three at a time. This means you can keep up an unrelenting assault while just dodging everything trivially. Nothing else can do this or even come close.
2. With Guard +2, you can hunker down and use the lance's special ability of attacking while blocking at the same time. No other weapon can do this. With Guard Up, you basically become immortal.
3. Lance has the best block in the game. You take almost no damage and you don't really get staggered. You can just sit there and poke poke poke at enemy weakspots until an opening appears.
4. Lance can do jumping attacks really easily. It's arguably the best weapon for mounting in the game as you can't really miss the jump unlike the bugstaff.
5. The lance charge is crazy strong. It does a lot of damage really fast and covers a lot of distance.

All the weapons in the game are good. It's not a joke, they're all good.

[chaoticag]

The main thing that attracted me to the lance was it's ability to use the best of impact or cutting damage. I'm using other weapons at the moment, but it's something that's worth noting.

[majikero]

Speaking of lances. Shark Lance is Best Lance.

[Ozyton]

Plus if you have Evade Distance you can move faster than any other weapon while it's drawn, just do backhops towards the monster (and be invincible while doing so with evade+3) and then hit them with your lance which will use the best armor value for the part you hit (so if the monster is resistant to cutting but not to impact it will use the impact damage modifier)

If evading isn't your thing, Guard +2 and Guard Up will let you block everything forever. You will laugh at "unblockable" lasers and other such things (congalanga farts and other 'gas' attacks). If you do two normal attacks then then a counter it will reset your combo, so you can do stab-stab-counter-stab-stab-stab-hop stab-stab-counter-stab-stab-stab-hop. I haven't tested it fully but with some fast-attacking monsters you can theoretically do infinite combos, specifically with Kushala Daora who has a wind pressure aura (shield blocks wind pressure). Stand underneath him and do counter-stab-counter-stab-repeat forever, the wind pressure seems timed just right that you can do this for as long as you need to, but again haven't gotten to test it.

One of the big disadvantages in multiplayer is the lack of "super armor" which prevents you from being tripped while attacking. You have to give other players a wide berth or you'll spend more time falling on your ass than attacking the monster. I didn't even know super armor was a mechanic until I started using switchaxe.

Also, you can safely detonate barrel bombs because of your ridiculous reach.

[Wimopy]

Still, at first, don't use the lance. It's hard to get a decent DPS out of, so hunts will become boring (happened to me in MH3). I think the Switch Axe or the Charge Blade is a decent start, since you'll have high damage, but also a pretty adaptive weapon style. (Switch axe because you can dodge after any attack, Charge Blade because it has a shield in sword mode and the axe mode has some nifty damage boost or impact damage). And because Switch Axe sword and Charge Blade axe (charge attacks only on that one? Not sure) can't bounce off monsters.

[Ozyton]

I'm not sure about charge blade because I've only tried it once in the demo, but it seems to be a pretty complicated weapon. I can highly recommend the switch axe though because the combos are easy to learn.
Axe mode

• X repeatedly: a 3 hit combo (overhead, side, uppercut). The overhead attack does really good damage but is slow unless you do an advancing thrust first. Side attack is a fast attack and can combo into the advancing thrust if you hold the analog stick, or the uppercut if you don't. You can also do the side swing by just hitting A, and it's also your draw attack.
• X+A: The uppercut has the highest reach of any other melee weapon in the game and you can go straight into it by hitting x+a instead of doing the whole combo, or as the rolling attack. This can launch other players to allow them to mount monsters.
• A after uppercut: tap A repeatedly for a very fast infinite combo that drains stamina. Pressing X during the combo will do a powerful overhead finisher swing. R will do a powerful roundhouse swing that makes you step forwards, and pressing R again will do a switch attack into sword mode.
• The advancing thrust can combo into a switch attack by hitting R.

Sword mode
The combos in sword mode are complicated because they connect in numerous ways. Instead I'll list the attacks and what they combo into

• Overhead: The overhead is part of your main combo and you access it by either hitting X or as your draw attack with R+X+A. X combos into the fade, A combos into the uppercut.
• Uppercut: Second attack in your main combo, also accessed as your rolling attack. X combos into the overhead, A combos into the fade.
• Fade: Part of a lesser used combo but has some utility. If part of the second combo you step forwards before attacking. X combos into the one-two, A combos into the overhead, R does a switch attack.
• One-two: Attacks twice but only uses one attack's worth of your phial, great for applying statuses and is the only attack that combos into the elemental thrust. X combos into the overhead, A combos into the fade, X+A combos into the stab, <EDIT: and R combos into a switch attack (I did not know this...)>
• Stab: You do this by pressing X+A. It's slow but has decent reach as you step forwards and is used for the overcharge. Press A to combo into the fade, or mash X to do the overcharge. If you do the one-two strike and combo into this the stab comes off almost immediately and you'll be able to do the overcharge without winding up, giving the secondary combo its utility.
• Overcharge: This is why your brought this weapon... right? So damn satisfying. 6 quick discharges and then a final powerful blast as long as you keep tapping X. You can do the finisher early if you think the monster is going to move by holding back on the analog stick as you tap X but it will be less powerful. If you stop tapping X you will end the charge but can combo into the fade, but if you do the final blast then you will be thrown back and reverted to axe mode.

Knowing which attack leads into which will help you greatly, but here's some basic combos. X>A>repeat for your first combo. If you do a roll attack remember you need to do X>X>A>X>A as the roll attack counts as an uppercut instead of the overhead.
The second combo is A>X>repeat. This attack is much less popular especially in multiplayer. The fade slash hits low to the ground so you might miss monsters high up, but the one-two attack can apply statuses quickly while using half the phial and can also combo into a very fast stab>discharge if you see an opening. (EDIT: Now that I know that both the fade and one-two can combo into a switch attack, this combo is useful if you know you're low on phial but don't want to have to manually switch back to axe mode and possibly get hit during the animation or waste DPS.)
In axe mode: Uppercut>A repeatedly>R (when stamina gets low)>R(sword mode)>attack at your leisure. Or, A+X for uppercut, A to start the infinite combo, then immediately hit X or R to do an attack after the first swing.

Finally, there's this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRv1_mGf2R8&list=PLDR3ta7VqKrwAHPSAudDagumWffFyHK6g&index=4

Oh yes. I forgot to mention that if you roll into a climbable wall with your weapon out you can hit A to immediately sheath the weapon and start climbing, useful for jumping attacks or if you need to quickly climb a ledge.