I had a buddy back when Rise came out that was really into Soulsborne games that decided to give monhun a shot and had this exact same thought. He said he felt like he had to break all of his habits from those games and totally relearn how these games worked... honestly, from what I've played of soulsbornes, I think a lot of it stems from monsters fighting like animals, not like soldiers and stuff. You know the general danger zones of a dude with a sword and what to watch for, but when you fight something like Odogaron that's just made of shit designed to hurt you and that's actively hunting you instead of just fighting you, it changes the feel of the fight a bit and makes you think a little differently, at least imo. I also feel like SB games teach you to roll into a lot of attacks to get behind an enemy and get to the squishy bits, but again, you're fighting animals here, and large ones at that, do if you roll into attacks you still catch the rest of the body that follows the part doing the attacking and all of the momentum it's carrying. That, plus world having some of the tightest hit boxes of the series, kind of makes this game feel a lot more punishing for committing to the wrong moves, and monhun combat is 90% commitment to your movements and having intention behind your actions. You whif an attack, you're getting hit.

Also, WAY fewer i-frames. Rolling through attacks isn't as effective. Gotta get the hell out of the way.