The four directional dodge is unacceptable

[Storming Mormon]

There is no excuse not to have omni-directional rolling/dodge in a game like this and limiting it to four directions instead of at least eight directions is beyond unacceptable.

Playing through the game, controls felt mostly good but there was something that just felt off and I didn't realize it until now. You can only dodge in four directions which makes things unnecessarily cumbersome and is an issue brought up in a fair number of reviews. This paired with a fickle lock-on system just makes controlling the character more difficult then it needs to be.

[Dark Soul]

Yeah and the unlocked weapon tracking is abysmal

[IchigoMait]

Oh, so that's why it's dodging so weirdly while being locked on.

[Unrighteous]

Is it only four directions? I definitely felt like I was dodging in the complete wrong direction half the time. I gotta test this, but if it is the case then yeah, ridiculous. Dark Souls 4.5 rofl.

[IrtheWalrus]

yup, it feels extremely unreliable and on a light build it gets you killed very easily

[Unrighteous]

Okay, so I went and tested it and I can dodge in more than 4 directions while locked on, but I definitely noticed it acting wonky at times. It sometimes dodges in the complete opposite direction that I'm holding down, could be some weird input queuing thing going wrong, not sure.

[Shrinkshooter]

I made the same comment yesterday. I don't think it's ONLY 4, but the dodging direction is definitely not properly implemented. Maybe it's only 8 directions, or maybe the game reads input incorrectly. Pilgrim's Perch killed me several times specifically because my character dodged in a direction I WAS NOT pressing towards. He loves to roll diagonally backwards sometimes instead of straight back.

Originally posted by Dark Soul:

Yeah and the unlocked weapon tracking is abysmal

That too. Swinging your weapon without a lock feels absolutely terrible, the character pointing direction doesn't track where it should be, and very often swings that should be hitting enemies simply don't connect (looks like the weapon passes through sometimes).

Locking on, itself, is a problem; it's a coin flip as to whether the enemy directly in front of you will get locked, or whether the camera will recenter itself by 3mm. Badly done.

[Laki]

I'm not sure the four directional dodge is the only problem. There's something weird with the direction you dodge relative to whatever you're locked onto as well. I just had a situation where I was pressing my controller stick down and to the right, and I dodged straight left (camera-wise). Almost threw me straight off a ledge.

[Shrinkshooter]

Originally posted by Laki:

I'm not sure the four directional dodge is the only problem.

It's not. What you just described has exactly happened to me multiple times. Most of the time, it doesn't, but it still happens on a fairly regular basis. It's extremely bad for Pilgrim's Perch.

I don't know if you've made it to Spurned Progeny yet, but when you fight it, what you just explained will happen 95% of the time if you lock onto its legs. It's not because the dodging is "restricted" to some directions, my character oftentimes in that fight literally would dodge in the complete opposite direction of my stick tilt. I had to fight the boss without a lock, which was much better.

So something is definitely broken with the dodging. And I'll just reiterate that lockon is also broken as well. I don't understand how or why, anyone playing through a single campaign would have seen these issues.

[alan.littleford]

Dodge is still very broken particularly when locked on, especially in boss fights. No matter which direction you move controller to dodge your dodge always goes towards the boss, even when controller direction was to dodge to the side or back away from enemy. I have confirmed it's not a controller issue as I have 3 xbox controllers, and it does the same thing on all of them.

[strangerism]

nothing wrong in the controller as it happens to everybody. Dodge player direction sometime is overriden by some logic based on space available, mobs position etc and sometimes it decide there is no space to dodge back and dodges forward instead. This logic it seems is flawed or it's just how it work.
Very weird, fortunately is not pervasive and happens quite rarely but sometime can ♥♥♥♥ you up especially with elite or bosses or just play mobs.
I hope they improve it at somepoint

[tuznecote]

Spurned Progeny definitely shows issues in the dodge implementation. I don't know what the hell is going on but too many times the character is dodging in random directions.

Also I can't tell if there is a last-second dodge mechanic because sometimes it feels like some weird automatic move takes over when the character swings around the character directly to the back of the enemy. If that's the case then i think that is messing with the feel.

[solaris32]

Dodge works fine for me. Sometimes I'll dodge the wrong way and get hit, but it's pretty rare.

[Sobs Echo® Prestige Sounds]

It seems to affect just sissies

[MyuFoxy]

I dont think I have had problems. Switching from bow to sword can be slow, but dodge is my main defense because I normally play with light encumbrance, so I would know. I played several of these game like that. The double tap for a roll can mess with my timing switching between games when I forget.

[umbabrahattasil]

Try changing your lock-on type in the settings. One feels way better to me. Either way it isn't limited to just 4 directions; try Dark Souls 1 when locked on for that.