Real Talk: Actual issue, or skill issue?

[Ratsplat]

Just wanting to understand from the other side. I currently parry only on highest difficulty, and feel the game is too easy after a few hours (yes, restarted Maelle fight and others a bunch, but hardly any now now that I know how everything works.) I've also stopped using attribute points.

What is the game like on easier settings? Does the QTE option do much? Curious.

[Game kNight Plays]

The monster attack queues are bad though... not easy to see when you need to push the button to parry or dodge... sometimes it is not responsive at all, as it has passed the window, even though the attack hasn't connected.

I think it is a bit too punishing.

I'd love an auto "Guarding" that removed the active part and just gave a flat damage reduction like @stoibs suggest...

[Hi, I'm Ben!]

I've heart that you need to activate V-Sync and stay below 120 fps. Uncapped framerate seems to put down the game logic and thus making the timings really bad. Also keyboard inputs seem to not being registered all the time. Best to be played with a controller I guess?

[Gloomseeker]

Originally posted by Stoibs:

Originally posted by Gloomseeker:

Making parries and dodges automatically succeed would be the same as adding a skip fight button.

As a turn based enthusiast I get people who complain about QTEs but I can't see how the game is supposed to be working if you got rid of them and personally I don't think it's as bad as people say (and for the record I'm not really good at action games).

The one thing I'd like to point out is that it's more about rhythm than actual reflexes. If you get into the proper rhythm and go with the flow you will end up chaining perfect dodges and parries and it makes combat feel immensely satisfying.

That's the problem isn't it; most other games that use the action system (South Park, Sea of Stars, Mario, Like a Dragon etc.) merely reduce damage on a block.

Because these devs have devised an 'all or nothing' system of dodging, they've decided to increase the damage significantly to compensate. So now it's a right mess between people who are parry pros taking no damage, and us non-action gamers taking *too much* damage since we can't even dodge half the time.

Some sort of overhaul would need to be done. I dunno, maybe even a toggle or something somewhere that implies that the party is auto 'Guarding' at the end of their turn and takes reduced X% damage; but removes the ability to parry/dodge entirely?

I get what you're saying with the all or nothing approach but I believe that's exactly what they wanted since they equate fighting with dancing in the tutorial.

I guess that where you see a problem I see the core of their design.

As a rule I hate QTEs because they are synonymous with useless padding and they are not fun since they establish a barrier preventing the player from continuing with the game but here I can't see how fighting would work without them.

After watching the trailers I expected the game to feature real time events so I wasn't surprised but I agree that it can throw off people who expected a pure turn based system.

With that being said I have to point out that I personally have a harder time with minigames in Yakuza Like a Dragon.

[Arleo]

It's not easy in the sense that failed dodges/parries are extremely costly. Most bosses one-shot my team if I fail. So it takes a bunch of attempts to learn the proper timings. But assuming you've gone through that, then it's incredibly easy in the sense that you barely need to engage with stats or pictos to reach the damage cap, and it's super easy to find game-breaking builds very early on. The game also throws a stupid amount of EXP at your team, so with just a little grind you can quickly out-level all enemies.

Lune has a build that can pretty much clear any fight in 2 turns while playing solo. Just 1 lumina required.

Basically, it's the combat is kill or be killed. You need to stay focused and engaged for the whole fight, but the game doesn't waste your time with 15 min+ boss battles.

Only issue in my opinion is that a lot of the game's systems are trivialized by itself; your stats are practically worthless, any healing pictos or skills are also worthless imo, etc...

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To answer the question, easier difficulties make the dodge/parry timings more generous, enemies deal less damage (but can still sometimes one-shot you), and I believe have less health.

[DmonHiro]

100% skill issue. People simply aren't used to it. You need to pay close attention to when the enemy actually attacks. Not just when it moves. When the weapon would make contact, where the spell would be fired, etc.....
Most people are just too lazy to do it.

And for the record, I hate Soul-like games and have never played one. So the BS excuse that only action-gamers are good at this is just that: BS.

[P.Diddy's Baby Oil]

100% skill issue. You can beat every encounter in the game without grind or learning timings the first time you see them. So, doing a little grind and learning timings is a little crutch for low-skill players. But some, even given such a crutch, still can not perform. Thus, it is a skill issue and gaming isn't communism. We all can't aim like Shroud, and some people can't time parries. Daddy isn't gonna come help you get better, either do it yourself or go play Hello Kitty Online Adventures. Easy as.