Topic: Is MH sluggish and clunky or is it me?

So I tried getting into monster hunter with the demos and I never had any fun with them due to how fast the monsters are compared to your character. It feels like it takes a minute to perform a attack and by the time the animation ends the monster has already moved outta the way.
And I looked up if anyone else finds the games to be slow and clunky and apparently some other people find it to be slow and clunky. Is there any way to make your attacks more faster or not-sluggish or should I just stick with games like dauntless?

You just don’t know the monster. It is faster sure, but the only reason why you can’t get a hit in is because you don’t know the monster, or it’s tells, so you don’t know when you can or can’t hit it, and when you try you get attacked.

If you want faster attacks you can try duel blades.

I wouldn't say the combat is slow - more like there is actual weight to your attacks and feels just a bit more realistic as well there being move endlag on moves so you forces you to actually think and incentivizes you to learn the mosnter patterns than just spam your attacks all willy nilly with no consequences.

I would also add that Monster Hunter combat is the fastest it's ever been with Rise. Monsters seem to die faster than ever and it seems the opposite as to what you're asking. If anything the monsters have trouble keeping up with the hunters because there are so many movement options in Rise.

For the older games they are definitely more grounded and harder to get into for players new to the series but I still think they're an amazing experience, specifically MH4U and MHGU which are some of my favorites in the series.
Just keep in mind attacks are even more weighted in them and some quality of life features you may have already gotten acustomed to in Rise and World probably won't be present there.

Monster Hunter is just a game you have to learn. You have to learn your enemies, learn your weaponry, and keep tells in the back of your mind whilst in combat against the monsters. Tells for when the monster will execute their next attack, and tells for when the monster is low on health. It's definitely not for everyone, but generally if you start with Rise or World, it's easier to pick up in comparison to the older games in the series.

Also, as for the demos, don't start with those. It's better to just purchase the game and go through the in-game tutorials, helping you learn how to craft your own load-outs, adjust to new weapons, and adjust to the hunt. The demos are more built for vets, showcasing the new stuff that the game has to offer for them. They stick you with gear you aren't allowed to customize or change, and pit you against monsters without really explaining the mechanics of the game to you.

I highly recommend trying Dual Blades if you haven't given them a shot. They are really fast-paced, especially in MH Rise. The Sword and Shield is pretty quick to compared to other weapons and you can use items without sheathing. The Bow gives you a lot of mobility if that's more your style, it's focused on mid-range combat and evading.

Other than learning the monsters, the weapon type you use will affect the speed of gameplay.

I think almost everyone feels this way when they first play a Monster Hunter game whether they want to admit it or not. Monster Hunter games have poor tutorialisation and difficulty to a degree that you cannot just pick up and play (or at least not well).

While I usually despise any suggestion that you "just need to dedicate more time", sadly that is really all you can do. Monster Hunter games are ones you either commit to, or don't. I think what makes this less of a dauting task here though is you have lots of weapons to try and lots of monsters to face, you're never necessarily stuck and I am sure you'll find a weapon for you, eventually.

For example, Monster Hunter World didn't truly come together for me until I tried the Insect Glaive, after spending many hours struggling with all sorts of different weapons and not getting the fuss around that game. Generations Ultimate didn't really click for me until I used the Sword and Shield. Rise doesn't really click until you start unlocking more Switch skills and so on.