An expanded game of Monster Hunter G
Known as "Monster Hunter Portable" in Japan, Monster Hunter Freedom is essentially a PSP version of the preceding expansion to the original game, Monster Hunter G. As such it features very similar content, reworked to be a portable experience. Monster Hunter Portable does not features Minegarde Town from Monster Hunter and Monster Hunter G, and was focused around local multiplayer rather than online. As such, the game was completely rebalanced to be more friendly to solo players. The game features a single new monster that was not in the series prior, Yian Garuga. The game revolves around the player completing quests and gathering materials to upgrade their equipment in order to advance. The more rare the items and equipment, the stronger the main physical aspects of the character will be. Unlike other hack 'n' slash games, this game requires planning and skill in order to overcome large monsters instead of brute force. There are many weapons which the hunter can use to bring down the monsters, these are sword and shield, great sword, dual swords, hammer, lance, bowgun and the heavy bowgun. Each requires a variety of items to create which are acquired by completing quests, and collecting the spoils carved from monsters or found on the ground.
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I'd recommend playing Freedom Unite instead. It's honestly a better, and more polished version of this (also with more content as it's 2nd Gen). I probably will go back to this game some time in the future when I have time to spare, but for now, I'll skip it.
Played through this one on a whim a few months back (Up to Village Monoblos) and honestly didn't find it as bad as I'd heard. I still agree that there is very little reason to play this game, as it's just Monster Hunter 1 with a frosting of quality of life changes, but a lot of these changes really address a lot of issues I found myself having the first time I played MH1.
The farm, free roam gathering quests and new armor skill system are some of the more standout improvements. With the first two really helping chip away at the mindless grind the beginning of MH1 can feel like, especially for someone not well-versed in tackling old MH titles.
But as a whole, I feel there's not a whole lot to say beyond that. I've never been to Minegarde, but I've heard the HR grind can be a massive pain within 1/G. I do like the idea of the old cities/towns of old Monster Hunter, but from what I've read (I've only personally been to Loc Lac myself, albeit briefly) the HR grind is always a point of contention. For me personally, if the addition of a laundry list of content, QoL, and monsters not always juiced up to 4-player HP pools comes at the cost of losing these very soulful cities, I feel it a necessary sacrifice.
To cap it off, I'd say this: If you really want to play something within the first two generations of Monster Hunter that isn't Freedom Unite, just play Dos. But if you really want specifically first generation Monster Hunter, you can't go wrong with this game. It's not bad, it's simply outperformed in content and mechanics by the second generation titles.
Yian Garuga is pretty cool too, man should've been on the cover. He'll always be a flagship in my heart, and apparently, even in Capcoms.