Thought I'd give some advice for anyone who is thinking of getting this.

1. Pick a weapon and Stick with it. Being proficient with a weapon starts with learning its moveset. Some are simple but effective like the hammer or sword and shield, some can reward smart play like the hunting horn or switch-axe and some can yield fantastic results with skillful play like the gunlance.
2. Play Online. I would recommend hoping online as soon as you can, seeing how others play can help you improve your skills. Also don't be bothered if your getting carried, there are plenty of experienced players out there that like to help out. Monster Hunter can seem like a secret club at times, but if your willing to learn we like to help.
3. Make a complete armor set. This usually requires you to fight a monster multiple times.(I would recommend great jaggi cause its ez pz) It also provides you with an example of who armor and skills work in Monster Hunter. You need +10 points in a skill before it becomes active, some armor sets can also give you a -10 skill that gives you a skill that can detract from you if it affects your play style.(this can be avoided by a item in the accessory slot that provides +1 to that -10 sum) later you may want to research a set that works for you.

So I've tried playing Monster Hunter games in the past and it sure is a very intimidating game to try and get into. My one question is how do you know when you've beaten the game? Is there a definitive ending or do you just end it yourself?

@i_stay_puft: There's usually a "final story boss" that will roll the credits after you beat them, but that's rarely the end of the content. In fact, from what I can tell that's not even half the game in MH4.

Granted, after a certain point it's mostly fighting harder versions of monsters you've fought before, so you could choose to stop earlier.

Gonna disagree with 1. Yes, it is good to become familiar with a weapon, but different monsters call for different tactics. A monster that might be a nightmare to fight with a Hammer might be a braindead cakewalk with a Gunlance. There's nothing wrong with having preferences but there's no reason not to branch out and experiment.

@i_stay_puft: There is a monster at the end of the single-player progression that caps off the narrative arc, and I'll bet that beating it in this game yields a credits sequence of sorts, but there's a breadth of stronger monsters that grant you significantly more powerful equipment beyond that. You never "beat" Monster Hunter, you set goals for yourself and decide when you have no more goals you want to reach. It could be clearing all of the single-player content. It could be killing all of the strongest monsters in the Guild Hall. It could be crafting all of the strongest weapons and armor.

I'm going to agree with StarvingGamer about #1. Definitely master one weapon, but have an alternate that you know in and out as well. There are just some monsters that aren't very easy to fight with certain weapons, so these cases will be easier if you can switch to secondary weapon. You're given a base version of every weapon at the start of the game, so don't feel afraid to try them all on the 2 star quests (1 star if you're online).

I'm also going to disagree with #2 sadly. It's so much easier to learn the game when you're the only one fighting the monster. Who cares if you fail the overall mission the first time or two. If you're in multiplayer, the monsters will be tougher to accommodate more people, and those other people are likely skilled enough to kill it so quickly that you never really learn how to fight it in a timely manner on your own. The game starts you out easy in single player. You can only fight the bug and the great jaggi right away. Grinding gear off of these will is a much easier learning-battleground than the other monsters online in my opinion. In multiplayer people will be taking you to fight much tougher creatures much faster.

Anyway, I'll add onto this instead of just being a jerk and disagreeing with everything.

4. Pay attention to elements and status on weapons. You'll want a couple types for the weapon type(s) you prefer because monsters will be much easier if you can exploit their weak elements or get status on them. Some weapons specifically are better with specific types of phials as well (power, elemental, etc.). Pay attention to which is on a weapon when you craft it.

5. Gather resources. Don't just fight monsters all day. You need to supply up. The stuff you get in the chest at the beginning of a hunt will get you by the easier hunts, but you will want higher quality items as the game progresses. Either gather stuff while you're hunting or go out into the field looking for specific stuff. There is a preparation phase before you go hunting, and the game makes you do those boring fetch quests before giving you monster to fight for this very reason. Don't ignore it! Keep yourself stocked up.

6. Don't be afraid to look up info. This isn't dark souls. You aren't spoiling some big secret if you look up weapon trees to know whether that weapon upgrade you're looking at leads to a dead end or not. It will save you lots of frustration and help you wrap your head around your gear. It's up to you if you want to look up boss info or not, that could be a bit spoilery so I wouldn't recommend that.

7. Combos combos combos. Know how to combo with your weapon. Experiment or look up a video on youtube. This is like a fighting game in that some moves combo into others well while others don't. You can do a lot of unexpected things like infinite combos with some weapons. There are also optimal combos for damage, so if you really want to master your weapon learn your highest damage combos!

I feel the main thing about this game is that it seems practically impossible to figure out if you don't have someone giving you step by step instructions. My friend and I got MH3U for the Wii U and spent like 40 minutes just trying to figure out how to get into a working co-op mission.