So I've been using the Charge blade alot more, and while I do enjoy it alot, it's still very hard to handle properly, and so I haven't been using it on any usual hunts (I'm getting to the end of the 5*'s, plus I'm HR2 and almost done those as well), just mainly only using it on expeditions sofar. It's a very good weapon, good for cutting tails, plus I love how you can dominate with the phail bursts. I'm using one that has a Fire elemental attribute, while regular ones has impact. I should just upgrade my other charge blade I have to do more damage... but there's nothing more satisfying to me than watching a giant fireball explode when hitting the monsters with the blade! Then again... I do have the Djinn blade for the Sword and Shield (Second favorite weapon, Dual Blades are my #1) which has an impressive damage output for a SNS for early game (198 when most are 140) as well as a good fire elemental damage ontop of that and, to top it all off, a decent sharpness bar with a respectable green and yellow bar for an SNS.
I'm currently trying to get some Rath Marrow from expedition hunts via tail cuts in order to get a really good Dual Blades fire element weapon due to the fact that Rathians and Ratholos are... resistant to being captured from what I'm experiencing. Plus, they seem to love to run away too often as I'm concentrating so much on their tails rather than trying to kill them... so looks like I'll be revisiting some hunts in order to get the job done. With impact phials. They seem to not take extra damage from fire (which makes sense... fire breathing dragons)
I've tried the Switch Axe again today, I remember trying it once in MH3U, and I just don't like it. I do like the concept, just not the handling of it. Then again, as you can probably infer by the weapons I use, I prefer the faster type of weapons, and the charge blade does let you do some decent attacks quickly in sword mode, plus it has an incredible defense with the shield. You also don't need too much precision with the axe part unless you are going for landing the Phial Burst. You just need to be facing the general direction and in reach of the monster. Plus, you can roll out of the combos quite easily to readjust/dodge.
I dunno... alot of people like the larger weapons, like the Long Sword, Great Sword and War Hammer, but to me they are highly disadvantaged when compared to the lighter weapons. Yes they do larger damage per hit, but you have to land that hit, which is a bit difficult when the monster is moving around, let alone enraged. With the lighter weapons, you can move around alot faster, hit faster (therefore more often) and can dodge a bit easier. There are also better less stated advantages to the lighter blademaster weapons. Sword and Shield, you can use items without sheathing your weapon! Also, the Sword and Shield blades cut better than the other weapons of the same level of sharpness (i.e, a yellow sharpness level SnS blade won't bounce off as often as a different weapon of the same sharpness). Dual Blades, you have Demon and Archdemon mode which gives you a stackable attack boost! Demon mode your attack output is raised, which is raised again in Archdemon mode, then once again if you reenter Demon mode in Archdemon mode, plus you can use any attack boosting item to farther increase damage! Add in the Demon Dance and you are doing serious damage there! Also, elemental/status damage is always inflicted no matter if the blades cut or bounce.
Charge Blade I've gone into, but it should bare mentioning that, unlike the Switch Axe, you can switch back and forth between the two different modes at will,and the switch from Axe to Sword mode is near instantanious by using a fast spin attack! You can also amp your damage by 20% if you charge the shield
One weapon I haven't mentioned is the Insect Glaive. It's a very good weapon, and is one that I level up just as I get the nectar and the materials that I get alot of that I don't really need for anything else, but... I don't know. There's nothing really bad I can say about it, it holds tremendous advantages (you can pole vault at any time and jump attack monsters for a mounting chance, plus it has a decent reach) and speeds (when used correctly) that can almost match the Dual Blades, but for some reason I'm not too inclined to use it.
Anyways, I'm grabbing my Dual's and going to hunt a Basarios. I'm hoping it's not as annoying as Gavios is (the adult form). but something tells me it's going to be a faster creature so thus more annoying...
I've been getting some Earthbound/Mother 3 vibes, leaning more on Mother 3. Plus, the battle system is really neat. You can try to befriend monsters and spare their lives, and you get to dodge attacks by playing a quick minigame thing. (So far it's mostly been small bullet hell patterns.) The soundtrack is also pretty dang good too. Definitely worth checking out! 
) There are a few times where I found the humor to get a little annoying, but if that's the worst I can say about it, I don't think it's doing too bad for itself. 
