haha this was me. i have a buddy that has always loved these games and he'd put on the recent release on whenever I'd come by to hang out and try to get me into it and it'd always go like this
I always felt like the gameplay was stiff, clunky, and awkward, and just... not fun, even if i like the idea of hunting monsters and and gathering gear
Somehow with World I really got into it. I kinda felt the same way about the gameplay. Every weapon like the gameplay greatsword is just so slow and clunky. I tried the dual blades but they were the opposite... too spammy and out of control. Then I tried the Insect Glaive and took to the skies and it felt amazing. I really enjoyed it. I tried to other weapons that looked cool but even though theres like 15 different weapons with varied styles they all felt clunky. But at least the insect glaive was awesome. Once I had my weapon, the wonderful environment exploration, boss fights, following monsters, and weapon progression paths were suddenly open to me and I really liked the game.
Then I stopped playing for a few months when I got to Iceborne endgame and then tried to go back in... and the gameplay felt stiff and clunky and awful, even the insect glaive, and I could not bear to play it at all
What a strange experience. We'll see if I can get into Rise.
lol, the insect glaive is what I just tried in the Rise demo and "stiff and clunky and awful" is exactly what I felt. I'm sure I didn't spend enough time on it, and presumably there's more to attacking then just hitting A and X, which is basically all I did (with some attempts at a slow and clunky dodge roll sprinkled in). But yeah. I might try some other weapons, but I just don't expect to enjoy it.
Now Monster Hunter Stories 2 on the other hand, that's more my jam.