i finally beat the flying thing(its name starts with a Q, i know that)!

to those who are worrying about a time limit, thats part of the fun and difficulty. with a time limit you cant just reteat every 2 minutes and spend time healing everytime you get hit. you need to strategize, keep fighting, and be ready to use items quickly during battle, and then return to battle. it adds urgency and fun IMO. and besides, most time limits will be like what J-Favs said, 50 minutes.

also i think the no health bar thing is pretty neat. you have to watch the monster closely, which means you have to strategize on the fly based on how it moves and acts. they usually indicate in some way, shape, or form when they will attack or try to escape. if they are breathing really hard, staggering more, attacking more aggresively, and/or trying to get away from you, your getting close to killing it.

just my input to those who may still be a bit doubtful.

a few more questions:

1: what can i do with all the stuff I dig out of the ground or get from dead animals? (ie. mushrooms, honey)

2. In the full version of the game, is there more to exploring the world? What else do you do in the game?

I almost beat the 3 star bastard but I keep running out of time :(

1: Usualy the stuff you get from monsters is meant for making weapons and armour. but you can also cook the meat you can get for an item that increases stamina. the stuff that comes out of the ground i asume can be used to make other things like potions, traps, and status items (whetstones for example). course that what think the other stuff is for.

2: I think the game isnt really open world. you mainly stay in a village accepting quests. you can go to a city where the online hub is, and thats about it to my knowledge. iv only played MH1 at a friend's house a long time ago, and on my brother's PSP (though not that much). i dont know if there is anything other than hunt monsters, but thats all ive heard. i may be wrong.

sorry i couldnt be of anymore help :(

thanks for the info TX109.

I have been playing more of the game and it does grow on you. What I really dont want to do but may have to do is buy the standard controller. Ugh. Didnt want to do this for one game but rotating the camer with the D-pad on the Wiimote is a bit clumsy.

i never played a monster hunter game before. i nabbed the demo, and put about an hour into it. i like it. i liked the variety of weapons they let you play around with in the demo. the game does have a bit of a learning curve, buti t isn't as bad as people say. i still can't beat the 3 star beastie, though.

Well I went to a different Gamestop today, and the guy there ALSO tried to push that "you need to preorder" bullshit on me, until I asked for a manager. The manager completely knew what was going on and let me take the demo home with me.

Anyway, this game just rocks. The only thing I don't like is that there's no enemy lock-on system...but you get used to manipulating the camera angle as you play it more. The monster AI is simply fantastic. You MUST learn when to attack and when to run to heal up and sharpen your sword. That's why I get bored quickly with games like Bayonetta and God of War where I can just kick ass by constantly hitting attack. In this game you have to be able to read your monster's attacks and dodge appropriately.

This just turned into a guaranteed purchase, day one. And now that I have the Wii Speak this is going to be awesome coordinating with fellow hunters online. 3 guys take care of the monster while one takes care of the reinforcements. Awesome :)

I played the demo and it kicked my butt...lol.

I got it yesterday and played it last night. Promptly got my ass kicked. I'm willing to experiment and learn since this was my first time with Monster Hunter.

Hm I am curious. Are you able to play the whole game alone or do you have to join up online to do later missions??

EPIC!