User blog comment:Kogath/Poll: The Monster Hunter series is 10 years old today. How long have you been playing the series?/@comment-24688378-20140315170938

I've been playing this since 2004, when the first game came out. I remember my friend TJ and I both got copies of this and Playstations just to play it, but we ended up hitting a wall with the Kut-Ku. We tried for months to beat it, trying every weapon and tactic we could think of, until one afternoon I managed to defeat it right in the nick of time with some Agito great-sword- we were so surprised and happy, I was nearly physically sick! I played the first until 2006 (Unzeqube was my online name), and didn't touch the series again until Tri came out. So little content, but I managed to be a pretty decent Lancer online (Zephyr Gold, you'd remember me- all Urugaan armor and the Babel Spear), and in MH3U, I'm a lancer/light bowgunner (Zod, specializing in normal gunning).

The most epic moment I've ever been in? I've got two, though they may be a little off thanks to nostalgia.

The first is back in the original game, close to the online shut down. I was dabbling in heavy bowguns at the time, rocking full Gypecros armor and weilding the Tankmage. Seeing I had pretty decent attack, I figured I'd go take on a Rathalos and Rathian quest, to test my skills. The Rathian was easy prey, but the Los proved to be more of a challenge, by far- the thick fog of the forest area kept me from being able to properly track the thing, and I'd ran out of nearly everything but pellet shots. The Los was doing his 'around the world' attack, and as I wasn't quite able to track him, as I've said, I ended up sort of just firing into the air. I catch a glimpse of him coming at me from between a few trees, and fire away- knocking the beast out of the air and killing it on the ground. 6 minutes left, I was elated- one of my proudest moments, for sure.

The second was somewhat more recent, in MH3U. I decided to test out my (at the time) new Normal Gunner set against an event quest, and decided to take on the 'Colourful Beasts'. I brought all the ammunition and everything I needed, but ended up forgetting my usual items to create mega potions; needless to say, I was hurting by the time I got to the Zinogre. Both the Zin and the Brachyiados (something that's always been a trouble for me) were after me in Area 5- explosions and electricity filled my screen, and one of my Shakalakas was down. I'd not been paying much attention to the state of the beasts (truth be told, I was simply trying to dart around and shoot as needed), but I'd noticed that my Chacha, wearing the Pitfall Mask, had spawned. I had him activate his face, figuring that trapping one of them might help me out quite a bit. The Zin lept at me, slamming it's claws into the ground as energy seared and sizzled off it's back, and on it's third swipe, it sunk itself into my trap. I lobbed a couple tranqs, and wouldn't you know it, I captured the thing! The Brach was irrelevant at this point, but I was beyond pleased that I'd survived- 45ish minutes, 2 carts, mission complete.