Monster Hunter Demo Part III

I was more successful yesterday in my attempts to defeat Qurupeco. I mostly used the long sword character again.
Finally, after three days of playing this game, I discovered what the whetstone that is given in the demo disc is used for. Apparently, beating up on monsters weakens your weapon. A message is given stating that your weapon has decreased in power. When that happens, you can select the whetstone out of your pack, and when you activate it, it sharpens your weapon which restores its power. Very Cool!
I have typically NOT been an RPG or MMO gaming fan. But so far, I LOVE this game, and I am so looking forward to getting it when it's released in April.
I mainly used the long sword in my hunt again yesterday, and did pretty well, until......Qurupeco called Rathian into the frey. OH MY GOSH - Rathian is HUGE, and I really had no hope of completing the quest with that beast involved. He tossed me around like I was something less than a rag doll. I tried to avoid him and stayed focused on Qurupeco, but it was not easy. Now I had two monsters with projectiles offenses. Qurupeco spits green slime balls, and Rathian shoots fire balls. Oy - what a challenge. Still, I stuck with the strategy of staying close to Qurupeco so that Rathian would have a hard time getting me. It seemed to work a litle bit. I actually managed to knock Qurupeco down three times in the same quest. Each time, when it got up, it had a nasty limp, so I figured I was close to beating it down for good. Alas, that never happened. Maybe today.
I did try the switch axe again. Now that I am used to the controls, it was a bit easier to use a different weapon. The "Switch Axe 1" character has a pretty good combo going, but it does take some time to wind up the combo. Also, in sword mode, it has what looks like electricity or fire running up and down the blade in mid-swing. In addition to that, its reach is pretty good. It has the ability to hit enemies beside and behind the character using it, which sometimes came in handy. It was slow however, and Qurupeco man-handled me while using the switch axe. Maybe woman-handled would be a better term, as the character using it was a woman.
I also successfully deployed a flash bang at Qurupeco, which caused the beast to be dizzy for about 30 seconds. I thought I would be able to just walk up to it and wail on it in it's confusion, but I was wrong. While affected by the flash bang, it thrashes wildly in defense until it recovers. It's hard to get close to it to attack while it's doing that without getting damaged.
All in all, I had another enjoyable day of hunting. Like I said, I still did not beat Qurupeco yesterday, but I am not giving up. That beast is going down.....sometime.