What am I missing regarding the stagger mechanics?

[Nikanuur]

Please advise.

With numbers and danger levels of enemies ever rising, I feel more and more at a loss with how my attacks are going to impact the former, and I have to resort to a bland hit-hit-dodge or dodge-hit-dodge tactics. I am overexaggerating, of course, but it's getting close.

I mean, sometimes a light attack staggers an enemy visibly, so that the player is enticed to continue whacking his foe because of this visual clue. Sometimes, at what seems precisely the same situation this doesn't happen at all. So, enemy whacks me instead, dumbstruck why this has happened.

With heavy attacks it's the same—and more. I'm completely at a loss here. Every other "smart" game featuers heavy attack as a stagger attack. The very much desired added effect is outweighed by its risky execution—heavy attacks are usually slow and that means the protagonist gets vulnerable. Timing, positioning, all that stuff is a factor. Cool...

Not here.

I feel like the game staggers an enemy whenever it wants, absolutely inconsistently, often creating a mess of a "what's even going to happen" combat. At least I haven't got the foggiest after 50 hours of gameplay when and how this is supposed to happen.

And above all, the creme-de-la-creme of action games—hitting an enemy (excluding bosses or very heavy enemies) with an attack during their own should stagger them even more consistently. Again, the usability is outgweighed by the risk of split-second timing.

Not here, again. Enemies, even the lightest ones, happily continue attacking you when you attack them and vice versa.

Man, but we're talking about a game that otherwise features stagger, stun, heavy/light attacks, dodge, parry, block, i.e. the absolute majority of action game tropes.

So, what gives?

PS: I am not talking about the stun-meter. I hope you understood.

[B]

Difficulty might play a factor into the aggressiveness and overall how the enemies react. I just recently beat the game on the highest difficulty excluding the difficulty that is locked. Yea I do find it weird that certain enemies even the grunts just attack even if you are using the heavy attacks or any powerful combos. It's kinda refreshing somewhat, but it really does take away from feeling very powerful outside of just using your runic attacks back to back to back. Some enemies I just will not even get close to cause either they hit like a truck or it's just really hard to notice when they are actually going to attack. I really don't have the answers you seek, but I can at least back you up and say that it really does feel like you really need to adapt in combat cause you never know what the enemy is going to do.

[Nikanuur]

Originally posted by B:

Difficulty might play a factor into the aggressiveness and overall how the enemies react. I just recently beat the game on the highest difficulty excluding the difficulty that is locked. Yea I do find it weird that certain enemies even the grunts just attack even if you are using the heavy attacks or any powerful combos. It's kinda refreshing somewhat, but it really does take away from feeling very powerful outside of just using your runic attacks back to back to back. Some enemies I just will not even get close to cause either they hit like a truck or it's just really hard to notice when they are actually going to attack. I really don't have the answers you seek, but I can at least back you up and say that it really does feel like you really need to adapt in combat cause you never know what the enemy is going to do.

Thanks for the reply. Right, so I am not the only one who registers this weird behavior.

I mean, I don't complain about the game's difficulty—that's a different topic, and I can see myself finishing it, having gone pretty far already. It's just that the said inconsistency creates an unnecessary mess by lessened control.

[michapod]

I have similar problems after the fight with Odin, as if the combat mechanics were broken, Kratos constantly gets blocked and interrupts his attack animations, I am unable to defeat a lower level opponent because of these problems. In the endgame phase there are some strange problems with Kratos's control and responsiveness which makes it almost impossible to play the game now

[Nikanuur]

My brother came up with a theory, that the stagger is based off of Luck stat.
That would've made sense.
And also, if this is the case—a poor approach to the said mechanics.

[Pegula]

Are you reconsidering the Runic buff that some enemies have?

Or you ask just for regular attacks?

[Nikanuur]

Originally posted by Pegula:

Are you reconsidering the Runic buff that some enemies have?

Or you ask just for regular attacks?

Nn, any kind of attacks on normal enemies. Heck, eben runic attack seem to "work" inconsistently, it would've seemed. But not 100% sure there. I don't use them all that much tbh.

[Nikanuur]

And now I have a reason for a serious slight: I am fighting Hardrefil (boss), sometimes my "hard" attacks during Flame Whiplash cancel his yellow-level charged attack, and sometimes he continues as if nothing's going on.

1. I made sure to notice that the yellow circle was on every time I tested.
2. He had little to no stun at any given moment (it's a boss so most of the stun meter dissisipates very soon).

This is really bad design :/

[Nikanuur]

Be it as it may, this video has shown me a lot of things I didn't know nor used. I recommend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v87pdsNP4Ps