So I've been playing Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for about five or so hours and having fun... I think. But I'm confused about progression and a few other quick things, I thought it best I ask some questions in this separate thread. So here goes:

First of all I have to ask how quest and crafting new weapons/armour works. Now I understand I need to kill monsters to gain the materials to build new equipment but is the only method to gain more materials from a specific creature to redo quests? For example I was told that its a good idea to build Great Jaggi armour set but would have to redo the Great Jaggi quest you get early on again and again to get all the material I need... is that how forging new pieces works?

I'm not far from reaching the next village I think and I haven't messed with multiplayer, but do you have any tips on enhancing the experience for it to make a little more sense and so I can understand the overall flow of Monster Hunter?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go along, still trying to get to grips with this games oddities. Thanks.

So, I'm a beginner just like yourself and have a few answers for you, but I'm sure a veteran might correct me on a thing or two.

Yes, you will need to re-do some quests to get the materials you need for better weapons and armour. You will naturally start redoing some of the quests in multiplayer (more on that in a minute) but redoing a quest like the great Jaggi will only help you get more used to the controls and flow of the game early on. It's not so bad. You can also use those quests (once they're rendered easily defeated by your experience) to gather blue mushrooms/herbs/honey for mega potion crafting. Useful grinding!

As for multiplayer? I switched to playing almost exclusively multiplayer sessions with random people after I reached the third town. It's so, so much more rewarding than solo hunts. If you can't be bothered to wait that long then there are a ton of rooms up that are typically designed to help out people new at the multiplayer. It's almost a completely different experience if you get the right team.

I really recommend you wait until you at least finish the second town. You'll be introduced to one or two more quest types that are easier to understand in a solitary environment and you won't be rushed through them by a team of hunters.

You gotta grind for materials to craft equipment, which does mean repeating quests. Sometimes over and over again.

Thanks for the tips. I think I will follow you're route of playing more single player before I jump into multiplayer as I'm still trying to get to grips to some of the finer details. At the moment I'm trying to get some King's Frill from a Great Jaggi and was able to damage the jaggi on the head but failed to get a frill, apparently there's a 30 percent chance of getting one.

I'm also constantly getting herbs, mushrooms etc and storing them in my item box and experimenting combining stuff to see what happens. I've done some expeditions which are an interesting diversion though I've had to rely on picking up the glow balls from the ground because I don't think I'm strong enough to take the monster down but I still complete the expedition.

I was new to the series when MH4U came out, so I went through a bunch of similar questions and such. The answer to your question is yes, you need to redo quests or expeditions to obtain the materials required to forge weapons and armour. You will have to do some reading on what might unlock with each monster.

I can't comment on the multiplayer as I have not tried to get into it to date as I know some folks want to Skype to communicate etc... But if you're looking for a hunter to mess around with, feel free to add me. Veggiesbro is my Nintento ID.