Okay, since most of you seem clueless about this series of games, Monster Hunter series is based on home consoles, while Monster Hunter Freedom series is based on portable consoles (well, until now, PS2 and PSP respectively). You get some buddies together, form parties and go on quests (hunting monsters, obviously, getting items etc.). There are gigantic beasts to fight, and they are very hard to kill by yourself later on in the game. As far as I know, the PSP renditions have never been online, which is quite unfortunate, because you would physically have to get some pals together to go hunting. I think with MH3, we will get an online component. Unless they are completely daft.

 What about Mario Strikers Charged and Rayman: Raving rabbids? They recieved average to good reviews and sold well.

Baten Kaitos Origin (GC)

Cars (PS2)

DragonBall Z Budokai series (PS2)

Dynasty Warriors (10+ games and spin offs on PS2) 

GTA Vice City/Liberty City stories (PS2)

Metal Gear Acid 

Cruis`n USA (N64)

Almost every Mario Party

Kirby 64

Tales of games (most of them, not all) 

 Man, can't believe I forgot about theMario Party games!

 I was never arguing whether or not they sold good, MH sold fantastic, Mario Strikers and Rayman, well the whole series is mediocre, no matter how well they sold.

GTA VCS and LCS were meant to be played on the PSP that's why they have all those problems on the PS2.

MGA was meh

Every other game on that list is mediocre.

I trust gamerankings.com 100%, haven't failed me yet. MH is a mediocre series that just happens to be insanely popular in Japan.

 Exactly, each of those series are mediocre, and they all sold well. Isn't that what we were comparing?

@Arkk

No

I asked Soriku if he could give me some examples of other games that got mediocre reviews and were found to be good by the general public. Remeber, just 'cause it sells doesn't mean it's good.

Is Monster Hunter and Monster Hunter Freedom the same thing?

Because the Monster Hunter Freedom and MH Freedom 2 sales are awesome.

The PS2 sales of Monster Hunter and Monster Hunter 2 suck the worst kind of ass...

Didn’t see this thread until now.  Thanks to Arkk for detail explanation.  Let’s me give it some supplement.

Have you ever played Final Fantasy XII?  The side quest “hunting bills” feels just like playing monster hunter.  It’s very obvious that SE borrowed this idea from Capcom because MH is so successful in Japan/Asia.  MH can be considered as an RPG because you need to collect materials, earn money etc. to obtain/upgrade to the better armors and weapons for the bigger hunts.  There are multiple types of weapons you can use and each of them can be useful for certain monsters.  Sometimes, you need to team up with people who are specialized in weapons different than yours to kill certain monsters.  Yes, TEAM-WORK!  Playing with your friends is the best part of this game and there is no way you can get to the end if you don’t collaborate with your friends.  Playing MH needs SKILLS and STRATEGY, more than just hack 'n slash.  You need to plan with your friends, combining different weapons, setting up traps…..  Trust me, if you don’t have skills, you won’t last very long in the game (even though you have the best equipments), particularly at the later stage.  Some skillful players are SO GOOD and they know which part of monster’s body to “hack’n slash” (yes, you can’t hurt “certain monsters” if you hit them at the wrong spot).

You can say it’s just like Pokemon, rather than catch them all, you want to kill them all.  But this game gives you the feeling of “reality”, you feel like you are in the nature, trying to do everything you can to finish the mission.  And the “killing” part, make you feel like it’s a real hunt.

If you haven’t played MH, You should definitely give it a try.  It is a really good game and I hope you will like it.  MH2dos (PS2 version) has never been released in US, but you still can pick up Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP), which is by far the best one among this series.

All the reviews are sort of mediocre, but I don’t think those reviewers really spent enough time in this game.  It really grows in you and you will become very addicted to this game if you play it right.