Thanx for your considered response. You strike me as a person of rigorous thinking. There are many fantastically refreshing elements incorporated in this brilliant game, so it’s reasonable to infer that the parry mechanic might be designed to be less than simply useful.
However, these opinions we give are to feed back to the Devs our own personal experiences of playing their game.
My interpretation of a “Souls Like” game, is that it suggests that the fighting in particular will be considerably more difficult than most games, especially where bosses are concerned. I know that there is a group of players who relish the struggle to master difficult games, which is one of the reasons why we have more difficulty settings in many games nowadays. However, I reckon this group to be a minority of gamers. I believe that most of us are happy with the “Normal” difficulty setting because most of us want to have fun in a fantastical world with a good story, where we can feel a bit special.
I guess it comes down to player choice. Give the players who want a taxing experience their ultra super hard, permadeath setting, and give us gamers who just want to have fun, an appropriate setting. After all, that’s certainly why I’m posting here. To give the Devs honest feedback on what it feels like to play their game, which hopefully allows for them to tweak their already great game to accommodate the largest player base. If their parry mechanic is deliberately designed to be difficult, then make it more predictable on easy setting. I haven’t noticed any difference between Normal and Easy as regards this mechanic though, so my belief is that it isn’t designed to be difficult, it simply doesn’t work consistently.
btw StivenHunt, that enemy with the thrust attack was the sword and shield guy as you enter Mariners Keep from the Sage Road end. In my current game, he and his crossbow wielding partner, have been replaced by different, more powerful enemies, so that specific guy is there in the early level game stages. I’d be interested if you, with your superior abilities in parrying, could actually parry his thrust attack.
I completely understand that everyone has their own tastes, but I think it’s a good thing that some mechanics are allowed to remain challenging instead of being designed to appeal to everyone. Difficult games or mechanics like this one are very rare, and instead of simplifying them, I would encourage people to either learn them as they are or simply avoid them. It’s not like parrying is a mandatory mechanic. You can enjoy and complete the game without ever using it.
Sadly, it isn’t that simple. Developers can’t realistically maintain 50 different versions of the game or individual mechanics, the cost would be far too high. If they decide to make parrying easier, they have to make it easier for everyone - as they already did some time ago - and in doing so risk ruining the experience for the people who liked it the way it was.
I also reject the notion that companies should always cater to the majority. It may seem like the best business decision in the short term, but imagine how many great and successful game franchises would never have existed if their creators had simply followed the crowd instead of doing something different.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There has been a huge surge in the popularity of souls-like games in recent years. Elden Ring sold well over 30 million copies, and the older Dark Souls titles also saw a rise in sales. There is clearly a significant demand for difficult games.
The only early game enemy with a sword and shield that performs thrust attacks that comes to my mind is the rapier guy wearing a fancy hat with a feather on top and red clothing. He has multiple thrust attacks, and all of them are parryable.
Nah, he’s just a regular sword and shield guy. Most of his attacks are swipes, but after about 3 or 4 of them, he switches to a thrust attack. I used him most for the parry challenges but never managed a parry on that thrust of his. It just used to wryly annoy me, which is why it stays with me. I did try to parry it initially but gave up and just dodged it. It probably is parry-able for someone with your skills.
I’ve played a bit more today, and it seems some enemies have gained new moves since the last time I played. There are a few early game sword-wielding enemies that now use the thrust attack you were probably referring to, and they do indeed seem to be unparryable, as you said.
These thrust attacks have a longer windup and a more intense sound effect than their other attacks. I have a short recording of it, but video hosting sites have abysmally slow upload speeds unless you pay for a subscription, so I might attach it to this post later.
Anyway, may your parries work flawlessly and your equipment repair bills stay low.
