if you look at the JPN first screen shot and the English first screen shot, you'll notice that:
a) the screen shot is maybe a few pixels out, but from the same scene
b) players are in the same locations
c) icon colours are wrong
b) the English communication box text is a translation of the Japanese text
so ... yeah.... not sure what this means for the game. Not yet done? Real time language switching?!
However I literally spent the first 10 hours of Tri collecting bug semen and doing other weird things, avoiding a "big" monster (Jaggi) that is barely fodder for you by the end of the game. I imagine that's the biggest turn off for new players outside the combat system.
The slow start is easily the most painful thing about the game - i just want to jump straight to having all my traps/support items sorted out and to go kick some arse.
As for, "are they good?" Yeah. There's a lot of quality and work put into each game in the series (except Portable 3rd HD which I'm told was a hack port job.)
I think you need to stop listening to certain people.
The monsters all have unique animations and those animations are so good they seem like they mocapped real animals.
what - the - fuck - are you talking about?! the animation is one of the things i'd leave of the list for the series. It's okay but it's serially canned animation; largely the same from MH1 - it's good in parts, okay in others and damned awful in others.
The game goes through several phases but the core of the battle mechanic is that it's one gigantic game of poker. You are reading bluffs and tells from a monster and acting accordingly. Knowing when to hold back and when to go for it, discovering what each monster is weak against, what it's strong against, and what quirks it has.
