haha so true. Lance and gunlance is what the pros use.

Believe it or not, the only reason I am still interested in MHFU is because everyone keeps mentioning how difficult it could be. I actually REALLY enjoy games like that I would probably begin playing with a powerful yet very slow weapon like a lance or heavy axe (If they have one) or giant sword.

Those big swords probably move in the same way the Dragon Bone sword moved in Demon's Souls.

I also hear the game gives you a co-op partner and if that is true I guarantee I can last even without online co-op. I have always been a single player kind of guy, even in a game like this.

Sometimes I can tend to be sort of a gaming masochist. Also, as mentioned, I could always use Ad-Hoc party on PS3 to play MHFU over WiFi on the Vita (If it works with Vita, has anyone tried this?).

So with 300-500+ hours possible, I am sure I will pick it up anyways. I need something to absorb my time once Uncharted is done because the only Vita game I will have from now until Gravity Rush is MLB 12 The Show (possibly, might buy the PS3 version for the Move support).

As I learned with many games before it, weapons only seem slow if you are accustomed to using weapons that move at very high speeds, like katanas and short swords. Even when playing older games like Vagrant Story I prefered the slower moving weapons such as maces or the Holy Win Rood Blade.

I am sure Monster Hunter is nothing I can't handle, even if my AI partner is incompetant. I am sure you get plenty of incompetant human partners as well. Hell, I know for a fact that I have run into a few of those throughout the years.

The other thing that has me interested is that I hear that even though it is a lot of fetch quests, once you really get into the crafting of weapons and armor it becomes so much fun. Just like when I played Diablo 2... even though it sucked doing all those Hell Rushes, nothing came close to that feeling I got when I finally recieved that Jah and Ber high runes and finally was able to create that Enigma armor on my Mage Plate.

I assume that a big part of this games fun factor comes from it's sense of accomplishment, not only from finally obtaining items needed for crafting, but also from beating the seamingly unbeatable.

I have about 350 hours in MHFU.

There is no partner. There is up to 4 player co-op, but definitely no help whatsoever. Also, when you have a partner, the enemies get stronger as well. Something like 4 players makes the monster 75% stronger, which means that even though you have help, that 4-5 hits before you faint becomes 2-3 hits.

Also, I think great sword is slower than in demon's souls, but I think it's also more manageable. Lance isn't that slow though, it's just that you move like a snail. You can block really easily and have lots of defense, so it's not really a problem surviving.

However, I really recommend starting with the dual swords or the long sword. Those are highly mobile weapons that will help you learn how most of the dragons move, and help you get the timings down. From there, hammer and bows are easy transitions. Then hunting horn, heavy bows, great sword, and lances.

The best weapons in the game are probably gunlances, hunting horns, and great swords.

Correction: You do get a felyne helper, but really all he's good for is distracting the enemy a little bit. It's a good idea to equip him with bomb barrels and the theif ability so that he can snag extra loot for you.

Also, each monster has a particular weapon type that it is weak against. And I don't mean they have a weakness to it, but that they are stylistically weak to it. Like, a fast moving enemy like any of the velociraptors is hard kill with the great sword and long sword (katana), but get diced up with the dual swords, and an enemy that's really big like gravios is weak to heavy bows with the penetrating bolts that hit in a line. Obviously, short, small monsters don't get hit as many times by the penetrating bolt.

Greatswords are basically for slower monsters with a head at ground level.
longswords are mid speed monsters with weaknesses to status effects
dual swords for fast monsters with status effect weaknesses
Lances for really strong medium speed monsters
Gun lances for really strong lumbering monsters (or slow animations)
bows for large fast monsters
heavy bows for large slower monsters
hunting horns and hammers are really all'rounders

Also, dula swords break faces the fastest (to get drops like ears and beaks)
hammers break shells
longswords break wings

So, there is kind of this weapon specialization portion of the game. It's important to be good with everything. And f you can get reallygood with the hunting horn, you're unstoppable.