Recommended weapon for new hunter to MH1JP?

[Shupport]

Right now I'm using the SnS but I wanna try using a different weapon but I ain't sure of what was good in the original game.
I'm usually a LS or SWAxe user but since neither of those are in the game I'm kind of at a loss of what kind of weapon to use.

Ya'll got any recs for a newbie to the og that started it all?

[Dewqu]

Great Sword is a good pick, its not like in newer games, its all combo gs in 1.

[Artylo]

In terms of gameplay nothing is really going to suit your tastes. My view on MH1-JP is that it's not really at that stage where the series generally allowed you to just main a weapon and do everything with it. MH1 essentially forces you to make a small selection of each type of weapon and use them for different hunts. You're probably on special mushroom picking duty currently, so you choice of initial weapon doesn't really matter, but I suppose stick with either S&S or branch out into GS. My advice'd be to stick with S&S while you get your initial gear from small monsters and your initial stock of materials from gathering quests.
Once you get to proper large monsters, lance starts getting progressively better in terms of dealing with all their janky hitbox bullshit thanks to the added shield. It also happens to be one of the better weapons in the game in the long-term. Greatsword has its niche in cutting off tails and generally being annoying to use for Vespoid quests. Switching to Gunner is kind of a grab-bag in terms of utility, but I'd wager it's better in multiplayer and not really good to start with because of the ammo and upgrade costs. Hammer is pretty alright for most types of content, but its first few upgrades don't really do much, so I'd consider it a more mid-game weapon, because it gets really good once you have more materials. S&S essentially falls off after a point, as far as I am aware and it gets mostly reduced to helping you get Monster Fluid from vespoids and some of the elemental upgrades are good for certain fights.

[Shupport]

Oooo thank ya'll for the suggestions!
I guess I'mma pick up the GS for a bit then try the Lance out :]

[Lori]

It's been said, but god as someone who used SnS for a while and actually had a decent time, GS feels so *correct* for this game's combat system. The guard in particular is extremely strong and fundamentally changes all of the game's problem fights; Rathalos in particular is SO much less random this way because you have good precautionary measures now vs the things that can randomly kill you.

To top it off, good GSes are... actually pretty available! Even for elemental, it feels like GS gets good access even before hard mode quests.

[FeatherFox]

Just to add to the niceness of GS, it has one of the strongest low rank options available in the game that you don't have to mind numbingly farm Rathalos Wings for in hopes you get that 1% drop.

The Great Serpentblade is a very very good weapon for low rank in general.

[Jurther]

If you go with GS I recommend you making Serpentblade.
It is really good to start and easy to make.

[Rune]

all weapons in mh1 are fairly simple to understand compared to later games, so i think it's fine to go with your gut here.

this is the only mh game where i like greatsword, since charging isn't in the game. if you're looking for raw effectiveness, lance is great against everything; sword and shield has issues with some very tall monsters, but is otherwise good. hammer is the weakest blademaster weapon (maybe since it's not a blade?) but it's also fine, it's kind of an aggro/beatdown weapon compared to the others since it has no shield.

bowgun is probably the most mechanically complicated weapon in the game, especially if you engage with bowgun glitch, and it has an inventory management component. it's probably the only thing i wouldn't recommend starting with until you have a handle on the game's general mechanics, but it's still not a 500iq weapon or anything

[Nayru]

Lance is really great for not dying, which I found to be a big help when I cracked into MH1 for the first time, since it was my first old school Monster Hunter and took a fair bit of adapting. You can make a lot more mistakes when you have a giant shield to protect you.