I’m currently running a build that relies heavily on the parrying mechanics of the game. Normally I rarely use the parry mechanic in Soulslikes, as I usually don’t internalise the timing well enough. In No Rest I had planned to use the parry mechanic more during my current run, as I have the feeling that the risk/reward ratio is very good overall. I’m not a player who finds parrying particularly easy or difficult. I think I’m somewhere in the middle, being able to parry like 50% of the time.
However, there are some enemies that have attacks that cannot be parried, such as certain pushing or charging moves. The problem with these moves is that there is currently no clear indication that you cannot parry them. So for a player like me who’s not super consistent with timing, this leads to the problem that I have to start guessing whether a particular move is parryable or not, which usually results in me going up against that enemy and trying to parry a move that can’t be parried, only to find out after multiple deaths that it (probably) can’t be parried. (Still not certain, maybe my timing is still off)
An example of an attack that I would think could be parried, but I’m still not sure about, is the jump attack of those Nithe dual dagger guys.
Suggestion:
My suggestion is to add a colour code for certain attacks. For example, all attacks that cannot be parried would get a slight orange shimmer during the attack. Or a smoke effect or something similar. It shouldn’t be too distracting, just enough so that you can recognise that you dont’t need to attempt a parry the next time you see the move.
This way it would be immediately obvious that I as a player have to dodge/block the move or improve my parry timing.
(I’m sure that the artists at Moonstudios are good enough to add colour coding to the game that is not distracting and blends in well with the world. For the people who still find it annoying, there could be an option to disable it in the game options.)
Optional addition:
A bonus of the colour coding would also be that you could add more attack types. For example, you could introduce attacks that you can’t dodge. These would then have the colour blue, for example.
This way you could add a little more depth to the reaction game of to enemy attacks.
no marking: everything works
red marking: dodge, keep your distance
orange marking: dodge, block, keep your distance
blue marking: block, parry, keep your distance
etc.
This suggestion is based on my own opinion of how to improve the game. I’m not saying it’s the best way to do it, or that it needs to be done at all, but I think it should be considered to make the combat system clearer and less confusing about how to react to certain attacks. I don’t want to change the overall difficulty of No Rest, just to give more clarity on how to react as a player and make the learning process easier.
