Confusion in countering with Tai-chi Kick or Unbound

[Ren Stoker]

I hate having to play the guessing game when an enemy uses a Crimson Attack and I have guess if I need to use the Kick or the Unbound counter, especially when the enemy shows no difference in their attack pattern. Are they gonna lunge forward and glow green or are they gonna leap and I need to prep my Unbound? If you guess wrong, then you've lost the fight and have to trek all the way back to try again.

I have lost to an elite spear enemy 10 times in the Factory, all because his Crimson attacks are identical on start up, and when I make my guess on how to counter, he does the opposite. If I need to use the Kick counter, the enemy should have green flames, not Crimson, so I know what I need to do to counter. And if I need to use Unbound, they should have the Crimson flames on start up.

Having an enemy that can have two types of Crimson attacks that are nearly identical at start up and have two different counters is annoying and poorly thought-out game design. Sekiro had two special counters as well: jump kick and Miriki's counter. But you could tell which counter to do judging how the enemy starts their attack, making it easier to read but still requires fast reflexes because of how fast enemies attacked; making it satisfying to pull off those counters.

[Daimesik]

While I agree to some extent, that there could have been more difference between those attacks, I have no idea why you are having so much trouble defeating this miniboss. Why would you try and guess his attacks. Just jump preparing for Tai-chi kick and if it's longer Crimson attack dodge it. You can even prepare Unbound counter for it since the animation is very fast.

[Ren Stoker]

Originally posted by Daimesik:

While I agree to some extent, that there could have been more difference between those attacks, I have no idea why you are having so much trouble defeating this miniboss. Why would you try and guess his attacks. Just jump preparing for Tai-chi kick and if it's longer Crimson attack dodge it. You can even prepare Unbound counter for it since the animation is very fast.

I just immortal dashed out of the way and took jabs at him and finally beat him. His other attacks were easy to read, but these two attacks he did took massive chunks of health from me; also there are no I-frames when an enemy hits you, locking you in the stun animation while still taking damage. I just used him as an example because trying to explain the attacks of some bosses would be hard and confusing, so the elite spear was easier.

[Ventus]

The rule seemed to be
Crimson forward thrust attacks = Taichi kick/skull parry
Crimson downward smash attacks = Unbound

Though there are some exceptions, like with the last boss

[Seisachtheia]

You can always dash out of basically everything in this game. Granted, you still have to know how to parry because of the dash cooldown but for "special" defensive moves like taichi kick or unbounded counter there's never a situation in the game where you have to use those over dashing...with the possible exception of the talisman dash the final boss uses (trying to dash through that will still result in you getting hit).

If you're having difficulty identifying a boss' moves just fall back on dashing, it's always a reliable fall back.