User blog comment:AnimalKirby/Guran-Miraosu Discussion/@comment-4563270-20111214174941/@comment-969093-20111214181441

Difficulty has been fucked from the rear ever since MH3. Unite still had difficulty, after that, it went downhill. To compensate for lowered damage capcom decides to "improve monsters's AI", but that is only a temporary solution as people will find ways to outsmart them entirely sooner or later.

MHFO is something I consider a gem for this reason. There, call it cheap, monsters can destroy you no matter how well you know their patterns thanks to godmodding their damage output. Fortunately there's still some sense of legit difficulty in mhfo. Improved AI, combo'ing, more realistic behaviour and staggering, lessened susceptibility to ailments, downgraded damage/defense on the hunter's side, it makes the game more realistic in the good way, imo.