I've never had a 3DS and I've never played a Monster Hunter game but for some reason I bought the Monster Hunter New 3DS. The game has been on my mind for a while because of what I THINK the game is, but what am I really getting myself into? My vision of the game is an RPG with real time combat and a multiplayer element. What is the level progression / weapon upgrade progression like. What kind of gear do you get. What is multiplayer like? I don't have any friends that play so I would have to party with random people, this is a good experience?

Monster Hunter is one of my favorite series but it can be tough to break into. MH4U is probably the most newcomer friendly game yet though and purchasing an N3DS for it was a good idea since it has better visuals and a more stable framerate. Progression is gear based as in there are no levels in this game, in simple terms you make gear from the monsters you kill. The higher the rank of the monster the better the gear will be, there are other factors to consider with your gear but that's the basics of progression. There is no story in this game either, the singleplayer is usually along the lines of "help, our village is under attack kill all these monsters" and it serves as a way to ease you into the mechanics and various monsters.

Multiplayer is a huge part of monster hunter and this is the first handheld monster hunter with online connectivity and since everyone is on one console instead of being split between say the 3ds and WiiU the community should be pretty large. And partying with random people has always been a great experience in MH for me, most veterans will gladly help new players. And you will undoubtedly make some friends among the randoms you play with that you can go on hunts with. So yes I think you will have a good experience, the game will be pretty grindy at times since you will have to fight the same monster multiple times in order to get the gear you want. But every fight is usually different and a lot of fun.

Can't say anything about MH4, but Monster Hunter usually is all about item/gear progression. You start with crapy stuff you can directly buy with money from the vendors.

Later and better Gear (which is necessary to progress imho) needs to be crafted from the items you get from killing "monsters".

There is a lot of other stuff you can craft (like traps, bombs, and so on) from items you can harvest in the various zones you visit while completing your missions (in which you are usually killing a specific beast or harvest items).
In MH3 you also had some kind of harvesting zone you can visit without starting a mission.

The missions difficullty gets more and more challenging, so you will find yourself farming easier missions to gear up. This is at least my experience.

Great thing about Monster Hunter is of course the multiplayer in which you hunt the big beasts with your friends. :)
Grouping up with random people can be challenging, since it needs some sort of coordination to for example catch (not kill) a beast, which lets you gather more valuable items.

I wouldn't really classify Monster Hunter as an RPG, as there is no real level progression. Your ability to kill stuff is entirely dependant on your gear and your own skill.

The entire gameplay loop pretty much revolves around crafting new gear. You fight monsters, carve them up for parts, and then head back to town to try and craft some new weapons or armor. If you don't have enough parts you go back and fight more monsters until you do. Then when you do craft the gear you go fight tougher monsters until you can make better gear. Rinse and repeat.

There's also more mundane elements of resource gathering, like mining and farming and fishing.

It's a really grindy experience. You have to pour A LOT of time into it to progress, and you'll spend a lot of time killing the same things over and over again. To some this is incredibly tedious and boring but to others they love the challenge of learning the enemies patterns and generally getting better at the game. I have to admit getting that next armor/weapon set is incredibly satisfying.

I've said it before but the online community in Monster Hunter is incredibly accepting and, in my experience, almost always willing to help with anything you could possibly need.

It's definitely not a series that's for everyone. It's pretty damn difficult and the grinding is what I think would turn a lot of people off from really getting into it. You should definitely give it a shot for yourself though.

Ok so when crafting do you usually have an open ended list of things you can craft or is it pretty linear?

@jacoba: It all depends on what mats you have. Armor pieces just take x of this and y of that and boom done. As you reach higher ranks you'll be looking at single armor pieces in a 5-piece set requiring a 2% drop from an extremely difficult boss... each.

Weapons are a little different. You take a basic weapon of a type, be it bone this or iron that, then upgrade it, and upgrade it, and upgrade it. The upgrade path branches numerous times to allow for multiple weapons of varying strengths for every element and status type. If you have the right materials, you can also craft weapons further up the progression tree from scratch.

Some special weapons are also crafted as one-offs, like armor. There are also ability gems you slot into armor and weapons to activate passive buffs that are crafted in the same way. Basically, what you can craft is only limited by what you can kill, meaning the options you have only increase as time goes on.

@jacoba: I would consider it pretty open ended, yes, because you're not strictly upgrading down a linear path of stats, the abilities that your equipment gives you can often be just as important as stats, if not moreso. In other words, you aren't necessarily upgrading your armor every time a new one becomes available, you pick and choose based on what suits your needs. (In past games I would often keep several armor sets to suit specific needs.)

You have a wide variety of weapons to choose from, but every weapon also has several upgrade paths to go down. They always stay within the same class of weapon, but they still can lead to some noticeably different variations.

Alright sounds fun, super stoked to get it and play next month!

Monster Hunter is all about you developing as a player.

Yes you get gear upgrades and skills which make things easier (such as Attack up etc).

But it is a skill based grind game. If you fail a quest; don't blame the game. You did something wrong.

Even some of the more vicious combos have counters if you prepare just right. Tired of a Ratholos/Rathian (dragon) roaring then fireballing you to death? Equip Earplugs to negate the roar. Getting screwed against a Wroggi due to the poison debuff? Gem in Negate poison.

The better you get at actually playing the game, the less you need to prepare. But until you get that good at the game, get good at preparing and learning.

It's a great game but can be frustrating and a little convoluted to new comers.

Check out these two channels;

Monster Hunter Beginner's Guide

&

Gaijin Hunter

Both seem helpful.