Well, I tried playing the demo again, this time picking up the pawn and hurling him to his death, then ignoring the riftstone. The difference is night and fucking day. Suddenly, I'm becoming immersed into everything, I get to stop and look around the cave for treasure and talk to people without being cut off by helpers who act as if I can't think for myself, the fights aren't giant clusterfucks from three other CPUs going apeshit before I can even see the enemies (and are quite fun), and the fight with the chimera is incredibly thrilling and challenging and does a great job capturing the spirit of Monster Hunter without being beholden to its minutiae. If the full game has an easy way to remove my pawn, I may actually be interested.
