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22 days agoMonster Hunter. There’s tons of recurring stuff between games due to the nature of the series, but other than being able to go “hey, I recognize that from this other game!” there’s no reason to play the games in any particular order. I’d normally recommend World or Rise to new players, but with Wilds coming out in a month I’d say that’s the best option if you have the hardware for it. Wilds is a thematic sequel to World though, so starting with World before Wilds is something you might consider, though it’s not really necessary.
You aren’t wrong, they’re definitely significantly more clunky, but they also absolutely have their own charm to them. If you’re a fan of “older” game design they might really appeal to you. There’s a much greater focus on the out-of-hunt preparation phase, and while the lack of many QOL features might be frustrating to some players, to others it adds to the personality of the games. They’re definitely games worth trying if you’re interested in retro gaming, or in Monster Hunter history, and they’re all easily emulatable.
That being said though, most players should probably just stick to the newer games, it truly cannot be overstated how much of a leap World was for the franchise. The amount of quality of life features and gameplay improvements is staggering, and going backwards from that can be a bit jarring.