I don’t think the game is all that good or fun(personally).
I’m a pretty seasoned SoulsBorne player playing all of the games aside from Elden Ring. I’ve only had trouble on two of the bosses so far. But my big issue is I’m just not having a good time like with the other games and I’m almost done with it.
I know the combat is much faster paced which I appreciate but its also very dull. Its the same Dark Souls combat with most of the creativity removed and a looooot of parrying. And the parrying isn’t even rewarding, it makes it like a rhythm game.
Problem with it being a rhythm game though is that I expect to know when I need to parry but the timings are all over the place. I also just don’t think the enemies are all that different to fight, most of them are the exact same in this game just different timings or tells.
I mean I see the reviews, everyone loves this game and I loved all the other games but is it just the fast paced combat and grappling hook that helps it? Having a visible story is nice so far too I suppose.
I’m just curious if other people do or don’t like it and why or why not.
It took me a long time to get the sekiro timings down but they are not “all over the place”. They are literally timed with when you would get hit and take damage.
Deflect (there is no parry) too soon and you won’t take damage but you’ll receive posture damage. Deflect on time and you get no damage and no posture damage. Deflect too late and you get damage and posture penalty.
What i liked about sekiro is that it taught me how to be a better DS player. In DS i never bothered to parry, but after being forced to learn the deflect mechanic i went back to DS and was able to do parry more consistently. That aside, the game had fun, challenging combat and the narrative was compelling.
They are all over the place for certain enemies, you’re probably just used to it and are using sound and rhythm for most of it. Which is something I’ve had to get used to but I noticed many of the enemies make it harder to learn them because what I expect vs what I get out of the parry makes less sense.
I think most of the sword based enemies you’re correct, their attacks are fair and the timings make sense. It’s on the other enemies that I have issues. Specifically any spear enemy or any enemy who puts their weapon in the wall or floor or any enemy who has an exceptionally large weapon.
For enemies that put their weapon in the floor, of which there are quite a few in this game, they are incredibly hard to parry. How are you supposed to parry a weapon you can’t see coming? You just have to memorize the timing on most of them.
Similarly due to how circles work, if you’re close to an enemy with a large weapon you’re going to get hit sooner if you’re closer to them. Works mostly fine if the enemy is still, this makes sense to the brain. But when the enemy is jumping, flying, moving quickly it makes it very hard to even understand when the weapon might land. And if you’re close up to one of these enemies, the hitbox often extends even from the hilt of their sword. For instance I’ve been hit several times while hugging an enemy who thrusts away from me toward the side but the hilt of their sword does damage to me because its hitbox is likely a cylinder.
It’s not the worst thing in the world, it’s an improvement from other souls games. But they even do this intentionally just to mess with you and make swing speed varied at times even though there’s no way you can do it visually for some enemies.
So yes the timings are all over the place but it’s even intentional. Each different weapon used by the different enemies is something you must die and learn to parry. On the whole it’s mostly fair, but certain enemies it’s deliberate and frustrating.