DJOGamer PT
Arcane
Guy has some cool moves
Though some of the strats he did, where more to make the video look cool, than they were to because of gameplay efficiency
Honestly, I am still mad at the fact that prosthetics and the good combat arts require spirit emblems
The one thing that would give figthing a decent amount of depth and they tie it to a limited, non-regenerable, consumable resource...
I guess implementing a meter mechanic would be too much trouble
Fuck it, I would take cooldown timers over this
Not even close to the degree you were doingBut aren't you doing the same?
And I was doing it to poke fun at the fundamental flaw at the core of the game's combat mechanics
But that's the elementaryYou first need to understand the move set, and second you have to discover when, where and how you even get to do anything.
The minimum a game with figthing mechanics should have in order to work
Even the janky ass combat of Witcher 1 gets this (to an extent...)
Because since the game punishes playstyles distinct from the developers intentions, it ends up heavily encouraging memorizationI don't see how deflecting his attacks is as simple as just reacting thoughtlessly
Plus since the mechanics are simple and consistent, this rapidly turns into instinct
And please don't give me pedantic answers like "Well by definition memorization implies a mental process, so technically it can't be a thoughtless action."
The game likes to throw an ocasional mix-up, sureThe only time this game requires a literal "see, do" reflexive action is pelirious attacks, but those still require you to pay attention as low sweeps and thrust attacks can easily be confused with one another, especially if you are just going to instantly react when you the Kanji sign without thinking.
Imo they way From implemented here, ends up being a lazy method to "spice" fights
In bosses in particular they go the extra mile to fuck players for not figthing the way it's intended - as bosses have multiple animations to trick players into a "gatcha!" moment
To give an example:
> Owl Father
> his charged move is telegraphed in order to seem like he will perform an overhead attack
> indeed that is what he does, but only if the player doesn't move, dogding just at the last possible second
> if the player tries to side step, Owl Father will shift animations mid-way through, turning the overhead into a full horizontal sweep
> if the player back away, Owl Father will suddently jump towards the player's position
Ironic that a few years before, people complained incessantly about excessive tracking in DS2.
Those clips of enemies spinning like crazy to track the player's position become a point of ridicule, even though most those were genuine bugs.
So with subsequent patches From fixed those bugs, but also heavily nerfed all instances of tracking even in places it made sense (like the wizards in the Shrine of Amana, the knights in Heide's and Dragon Eyrie)
Yet this game does the same fucking thing, but better animated as to not appear as artificial, and lo and behold this is not only good it's actually the "best combat system From has designed"
This is what reading that comment, sound to meTo me your entire argument smells like Codex contrarianism, sorry. Skyrim is popular now therefore = shit.
I don't think From is bad game studio (yet), but they have unquestionably stagnated
I also don't think Sekiro is a bad game, I've said as much before
I didn't like it, but I recognized it has many good qualities - the aesthetics, music and atmosphere are top-notch, the level design is very good, the exploration is enjoyable, the story and worldbuilding is engaging (it was a good surprise that they went with a more "traditional" approach at storytelling, instead of the usual assortement of vague post-its), the campgain is well paced and has the right length
What I take issue with, is the fact that the combat, mechanically, is not good - its mediocre at best and the fact that in some elements it goes against the standards of figthing games, which are tried and tested, confuses me (sometimes it's almost like they were intentionally going against the conventional ideals)
And much like Skyrim (for RPG's) back in the day, everyone thinks THIS is what a 3rd person figthing game should strive to play like
But unlike Skyrim, you can find this being the majority opinion even in supposedly "elitist" forums
Really this has only conviced me that for people inexperienced with this type of gameplay, good = satisfying game feel, not intricately designed mechanics
And I admit that the game feel of Sekiro's combat is outstanding
So much so, that it was the reason why it took me nearly until the end of the game for me to thoroughly realise why there was something in the back of my head that kept bugging me about the combat
And it's funny that in your next post you mention "stillness over motion", as it was because of a similiar situation it finally dawned on me why I could never fully enjoy the combat
It was during the Isshin battle
In the first attempts I kept trying many different approaches
But the combat being designed the way it is, I kept getting filtered
So after a while I simply stopped, I stopped showing initiative and instead just limited myself to react
The fight became so much easier
After a couple attempts of this approach, I could reach the final phase without sweating
It was there when I realised: "This is it! This is what the game actually wants from me. To sit here, like a little good boy, patiently DOING NOTHING, waiting for a treat. Waiting for a specific queue, so I can follow it up with a specific counter."
Understanding the flow of the combat here really boils down to trial and error
And at the end of the day what Sekiro is trying to teach the player is that, despite apparences, you shouldn't approach it like a fighting game, instead this is a game of "
There is almost no variety playstyles, there is almost no room for improvisation, there is almost no opportunity for clever set-ups
In short, there is almost no possibility for the player to have fun with the combat system
If that's the case, you should play NIOH instead...i just like the process of studying, learning and discovery.
Anyway
I think I am done discussing this game
My autism got the better of me and this post took way too long to write...
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