Ive been playing monster hunter since the first PSP version. loved those games. I will give gameplay tips on this.
some general conduct
-The amount of playtime you have is not directly proportional to the size of your dick, waving it around like it is will only make you look like a sad shit with too much time on his hands. Go out and meet people, make friends, maybe get a job or something.
-Don't get pissy because you fucked up.. seriously, getting pissed at the guy who passed out once after you fucked the dog and passed out twice is not acceptable.
-No johns. If you play single player, and your friend has been playing longer than you, take his goddamn advice on difficult monsters instead of shitting on the game.
-I SAID NO JOHNS! If you are having trouble with a monster but your equipment is well over the monsters level and your still having trouble, its not the games fault. something is wrong with your strategy.
-Don't flail around at people while they are trying to get carves after the big hunt. No one likes it when the velociprey/jaggi/vespoid/bnahabra do it, why would they like it when a shitlord does it?
-split the supplies evenly. by hogging all the first aid meds, you may be crippling a weaker hunter. also, taking the gunnery supplies when you are not the gunner is a pretty shit thing to do unless your party has no gunner.
-if you take supplies like EZ flashbombs, EZ sonicbombs, or supply traps, dont just let them languish in your inventory, use them. they were given for a reason. and for gods sakes dont throw them out when you run out of inv space while mining ore or catching bugs.
general advice on prep and knowing your enemy
-read up on your monsters. its a fact that an armor sets elemental weaknesses are tied to the original monsters weakness. -2 thunder and -3 fire? the monster is weak to thunder, but is even weaker to fire.
-the previous fact goes for status ailments too. if an armor set gives negative points towards a skill that resists a status ailment (poison res -1) then that monster will be weak to that element.
-bring the right traps. pay attention to the monster you are fighting when going for the capture. if the monster has an affinity for electricity, then a shock trap is probably not going to work. if a monsters armor gives points towards evasion skills, they will be trapped for less time. also pay attention to a monsters description when it comes to traps. for example, yian-garuga. a trap evading monster. sounds like just a description right? wrong. the yian-gargua can trigger your traps without getting caught in them and they end up wasted. this mostly happens if its looking directly at you when you place the trap though, and mostly with net traps.
-bring the right weapon for the job. tails can only be severed with a blade. claws, horns, and teeth are easier to break with a hammer.
-experiment, some monsters have parts that are unbreakable unless you use a certain class of weapon or a certain element.
-always eat a big meal before going on a hunt. its not required and costs a little bit, but the buffs eating gives you can take the edge off a difficult hunt.
-bring along ten potions (and mega potions) as well as the materials to make ten more. if you want, you can also bring along honey to make them into mega potions, but thats something I dont usually do myself.
-once you have demon drug an armor skin, try to bring them on missions while you have them. the bonus they give stacks with food bonuses, hunting horn buffs, and charms/talons.
-bring at least two crafting books with you, but no more than three. if you bring all five, you clutter up your inv with books, two or three is optimal as it allows you to craft most basic supplies in the field without taking too much space.
-when they become available, buy the armor charm and power charm. they give their respective stat boosts in exchange for a slot of inventory space, but remember that you can only carry one of each in your inv.
-once you have access to lao-shan claws (rajang claws in later games) upgrade your charms into talons and buy another pair of charms. the charms and talons stack together.
-grinder and eating gems are your friend. unless you have a certain skill set you want, either grinder gems or eating skills are highly recommended. the grinder skill makes sharpening your weapon in the middle of a fight very quick and painless while the eating skill makes using consumable items much much quicker, which allows you to heal faster.
weapon usage tips
I am by no means a master of arms. I am not good with the dual blades, the switch axe, the great sword, or the hammer as such, I cannot give advice with them. I am average with the horn, lance, gunlance, and all ranged weapons. the long sword, charge blade, and sword with shield are my forte.
-lance and gunlance- low mobility weapons. they are more built for up close and personal plinking damage. the gunlance is a bit more about damage output and is less a blade and more blunt than the lance is. making up for mobility though is the shields a lance or gunlance user carry. they can block pretty much any attack without being staggered. the lances special is a charge attack that hits multiple times and can do a hefty amount of damage with no cooldown except how long it takes to regain your stamina. the gunlances special is the wyvern fire shot, a massively damaging explosion which tears its way out of the end of the gunlance. huge damage, long cooldown. I dont use these weapons often as I do not have the patience to use them. you are incredibly slow while the weapon is in use, and I dont like slow.
-horn- figuring out the note combos is key as not knowing them in advance of a hunt can make for accidentally playing useless songs in the middle of a fight. the most useful and easy song to play is three white notes. it raises movement speed even while your weapon is unsheathed, making the horn user very mobile. The horn is a blunt weapon, so its best to land blows on a monsters face. a stunned monster is a vulnerable monster. other than the music, the hunting horn has a decent general damage output. memorize the def boost songs, if your horn is capable of playing the notes required, youll be needing it. The horn is very vulnerable to attacks if you decide to start playing in an area with monsters, big or small, in it. small item horns and the hunting horn itself have a habit of drawing a monsters attention.
-bowgun, heavy bowgun, bow- the most I can say, is stay mobile. in the newer games, you get a separate pouch to carry your ammo in, which is helpful. pay attention to what your guns can and cannot fire. carrying around shots that dont fit your weapon is a good way to lose out on supplies and materials. The bowguns are great support weapons, but personally, they are a bit trickier to use in SP. having a friend to hold the monsters attention while you pump it full of status effects and raw element damage is great, a word to the wise though. DO NOT USE PELLET S ON LARGE MONSTERS WHEN PLAYING WITH OTHER PEOPLE! Pelllet S best use is against small, hard to hit enemies. using it against large monsters is a great idea in single player, but in multiplayer, you can accidentally stunlock your friends and get them hit by the monsters. be careful with crag and clust S as well. powerful shots, but you can hit your allies with them pretty easily. the bowguns also have access to healing shots, which heal about the same as an herb, great for clutch moments, but hitting your allies with it is difficult. The bow is a better assualt weapon. than the bowgun. less variety in shots, but much more mobile, and when charged it fires like a shotgun that wont stun your allies.
-sword and shield- The weapon I started with long ago. quick, mobile, versatile. most S&S have high status or elemental attack powers. they allow you to slip in, afflict a monster with something nasty, and slip back out again. remember that the S&S has the worst shield in the game and can only block light attacks effectively. most blows you block will stagger you but its better than getting hit and another benifit of the S&S is that you can use items while its unsheathed by simply hitting the use item button while blocking. Not great for a single player assualts on big monsters, but their are people out their who can make it work. I still use the S&S on occasion.
-Charge blade- I usually call it the charge axe. the sword and shield combined with the switch axe. it has most of the mobility of the sword and shield combined with the sheer damage output of the charge axe. Remember to refill your phials contantly though. if they become full and the "CHARGE" message starts flashing next to them, you are going to be in trouble. no matter what sharpness you have on the bar, if that "CHARGE" light is on, your attacks will always be deflected. recharge while the guage is yellow and you will avoid this crippling weakness to the charge axe. it has a higher base damage and blocking ability than the sword and shield. the downside is that you cant use items while its out and every attack you block lowers its sharpness. the upside is that the charge axe can do blunt damage in huge bursts if your carrying one with impact phials instead of elemental ones. Impact phials are usually found on charge axes with status effects while elemental ones are found on ones with... elements. If a monster is trapped or tripped, take the advnatage and press the full force of this weapon into it. unfold this bad boy and let the sparks fly. the charge axes special is that it unfolds into a longer weapon with reach AND can unleash its phials as massively damaging elemental explosions. use them to your advantage and you will utterly wreck large monsters.
-long sword- The weapon I moved onto after I realized I couldn't progress any further with the S&S. The long sword has mobility, high power, and big status/elemental damage. It is one of the best balanced weapons in the game. It makes up for the fact that you cant block by being extra mobile. If you start an attack but feel like you arent going to hit, or are about to be hit, you can cancel your attack by rolling away. I always believed it was a weapon for beginners until I was informed by a lance user that he couldn't play with the longsword because of its lack of defense. You can play this weapon one of two ways. the first, and usually the way I play while fighting a monster for the first time, is the nickel and dime method. nicking a monster with light quick attacks and then moving away. the other method is the berserk method. jump into a blind spot and go at it. while you are swinging a long sword, minor attacks that usually cause you to flinch, stagger, or trip fail to do so. which allows you continue to swing even when being hit. the berserk method is made more viable by the long swords "spirit gauge." attacks will fill the gauge up and at full charge, the gauge gives a boost to attack power and sharpness. A new feature though is to further fill the gauge by using it in spirit attacks. if you can do a full string of spirit attacks, you execute a draw out at the end of the string which does massive damage, sheathes the weapon, and places an aura around the swords blade. you can do this three times and each level increases attack power exponentially, but its best to execute this string while the monster is stunned or otherwise helpless.
I have more stuff to say, but ive run out of time. maybe later Ill throw up some more I can think of.