There's a lot to every weapon. You can do the one-two-three combo over and over and judge the entirety of the combat, but when you use the switch axe, you're exposed to many different play styles.

Before I explain, I highly recommend the switch axe, especially for the hard creature since it's moderately fast yet very strong. Anywho, with the SA, you can lunge stab to begin a combo or even just horizontally swipe. You can even use the great sword attachment that is also very effective for quick damage and even comes with an assigned element.

So what I'm saying is that, sure, you mash one button most of the time, but there are many combinations to execute with perfectly timed presses and even different buttons.

Try using the R button when using a long sword and/or the SA.

As for my playthrough, I found it very impressive yet easy. Of course I finished both quests on my first try, but I had fun doing it. The variety in terms of weapons is staggering compared to Tri and the enemy variety, including subspecies, is immensely impressive.

I had to get used to the controls (I was very sloppy, lol), and my health bar was practically invisible, but overall, looking forward to it!

Ok well just had my first taste of Monster Hunter and I am confused. What is this game about? I thought it was like a FPS but it doesnt seem that way.

I'm not sure who's more confused, you or me, lol.

I was able to beat the easier quest pretty easily. But I accidentally kept using potions, and I still don't know how to do alot of the stuff. I tried using a bomb, and it wasn't doing anything, so I hit it, and exploded like I thought it would. How do you explode the barrel bombs with out hitting it with a melee attack?
I keep running out of time on the harder one.
I don't even know how to use the standard items. WTF?

Lol. Think more small scale MMO! You hunt carve for items to create better equipment. The fun is the different variety of monsters to fight as well as the weapon and armor choices. Armor and weapons give different stats as well! It gets pretty deep for sure. Like I just said being thrown right into a mission like this can be confusing because the game slows you into it!

How big was the MH world in Tri? These maps are kinda small. Looks and sounds good though.

You can explode barrels in many different ways. Sometimes the monster will hit them, you can use your bowgun to detonate it, or even just throw a sonic boom capsule.

These are the exact areas from Tri. Same size, just better textures. We also get a new HUB in Ultimate, along with a completely new area to explore!

Hmmm... I was just wondering, because I left the bomb in between me and the monster, and it rammed right through it, so I thought I had to detonate it myself. I guess I just need to mess around with the items before I go into a battle and expect to be able to use them.

Ok yeah that makes sense. My son is trying the demo now and I am seeing how mulitplayer would be very helpful in this game.

How many areas are there in total? I noticed both missions have different areas. I think this is the exact same demo as Tri had actually.

If I recall correctly there are 4 different sections in the main game. Not sure if this version adds more or not. Each section has around 6-9 areas to explore. It's not Hugh but it works well.

It still damaged the monster. An explosion is still an explosion after all, lol.

The forest, jungle, desert, tundra, volcano and the new area. Plus two HUBs.

So six total. Five in the Wii version.

This is definitely not the same demo. That demo was basically the beginning of the game and turned a lot of people of to it. A lot of people thought it took way to long to get to anything good in the game and thought it wasn't worth their time.

Let's see here...um...
Deserted Island, Sandy Plains, Flooded Forest, Tundra, and the Volcano from Tri are here. Then there's the new Mountain Peaks...and if you wanna include elder dragon areas and arenas...then...yeah...6 more. lol
So 6 main hunting grounds, 12 total. xD

Tech's right. The Wii demo featured two monsters, the Great Jaggi and Querepeco, which are completely different species. Much easier, tbh.

I tried the hard quest. Dude, idk what happened but I'm liking this more! That was fun for some reason. The underwater hunting isn't that bad. I couldn't beat it, but I enjoyed trying. Fighting that dragon and tracking it down when it killed me was awesome. I can't wait to play the 3DS version and more of this to really make an opinion on it.

The time limit won't be an issue in the actual game since instead of the demo's 20 minute time limit, you're always guaranteed a 50 minute stretch.

That's even better! I'm really starting to warm up to this series!

Well, it seems pretty cool. I'd rather play this than COD. Definate day one buy for me off the eShop. I only played the Wii demo when Tri was coming out. My 3DS XL is getting fixed by good ol' N right now, and I'll get it back in time for this game. Is the demo identical on 3DS? I'm wondering if that LAN adaptor will make it over here. It looks like it turns local play into online, and that could work for more than one game.

Yay! A new fan! xD
Things will seem complicated at first, but once you get into you will be killing these big bad dragons with your eyes closed! (not really, lol)