Nightmare mode question

[Lord Wholesome]

So here's something I was wondering...

I've played through Ys II just bumping into enemies from a diagonal angle and I never got hit once. However if I do the exact same thing on Nightmare mode I (more often than not) get hit right in the face, forcing me to play like I did in Ys I.

Also worth mentioning is that for this playthrough I picked Ys II complete instead of Chronicles.

My question:
I know the complete and chronicles edition don't change gameplay mechanics, so I'm wondering, is this a Nightmare mode only thing?

[Korzic]

Not sure, but I have this problem as well when playing Nightmare, so I usually switch over to traditional off-center, or using Fire Magic. I'm thinking it may be that sometimes the diagonal angle ends up more towards their front (head-on damage), when it probably needs to be closer to their backside, or them not facing you in general.

[Lord Wholesome]

Been playing for an hour now and I can pretty much conclude that what you said is the case. Diagonal is fine as long as it's off-center. I'm mainly using fire magic for now, I noticed that lining them up to hit them off-center only works well when they haven't seen you yet, while trying to do it when they are chasing you down usually results in me getting blown up. I can't say for sure if them not facing you matters at all, I see them turn around when they are being hit, I'll test this for sure.

[lolCindered]

There's definitely a difference between how diagonals register between normal and Nightmare(and hard as well, maybe). On normal, you don't even need to bother with positioning so long as Adol's sprite is oriented in some diagonal direction(You can be running against a wall, moving in a horizontal/vertical direction and walk into an enemy dead center and it will give you the hit).

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

That's definitely a unique way to handle difficulty settings.

[Berahlen]

I'm pretty sure Nightmare starts registering head-on diagonal hits, because I had to adjust the same way. They're difficult enough to estimate that you're much safer pinning enemies against a wall in a cardinal direction like in Ys I.

It's also possible that increasing difficulty tightens the offset angle that's allowed before you automatically take damage. Like, enemies only face and register hits in cardinal directions. If an enemy is facing left, and you come from a diagonal that impacts the left face, you hit him very far off-center -- but he also just hit you in the side.

I'm not sure which it is, but ultimately it means you're back to Ys I basics. Or fire.

[Lord Wholesome]

A couple months ago I've beaten Nightmare difficulty, although I had to play like it was Ys I again, ultimately I found it was wayyy easier, and aspecially the final boss. Still, thanks for your comment!

[Admiral Awesome]

Iunno about nightmare, this happens to me in Hard enough times for me to stop even trying diagonals. The thing is they're probably smarter in how they move -- if you're running diagonal into their face, then of course even on easy you'll get hit. It's a lot easier on lower difficulties probably because they're not so quick to correct their positioning. The worst is usually if you walk diagonal right in the middle of where they're facing, you'll get hit and won't even hit the enemy, because it's considering the enemy is walking straight into your diagonal, not you walking into them.