Delayed attacks are not not a fun mechanic.

[Fox]

I hate delayed attacks.

I see an enemy raise their weapon/arm to attack. Over a decade of muscle memory kicks in. I press button to parry. Attack doesn't come. I get confused and panic a little. I press button again. Still nothing. I press button a third time but it's too late. The enemy swings WITH LIGHTNING SPEED AND I GET HIT.

This is so infuriating that it happens over and over again. So many enemies are like this. It makes it even worse that there is a small delay between pressing the button and parrying.

At least with the robots, you can watch their red eyes and wait for the flash for your cue to parry. Not with the necros, not with the church bots.

What makes even worse is the waiting. I must *WAIT* in the middle of combat. I'm not doing anything. I don't need to heal, and I don't have to cast a spell. I just wait for a second or more. This breaks the rythm of combat and just stresses me out more because *WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, YOU PIECE OF ♥♥♥♥,* ***ATTACK ALREADY!!***

I hate it. It's not fun. It's not engaging, it's not even challenging because I can stay away and spam spells. It's just annoying. Irritating. Infuriating.

[UnlimitedNC]

That's why it's souls-like, not a dumb slasher based on reflexes for impatient children. Buy Khazan and enjoy easy mod.

[mercurialblonde]

Could be worse. Khazan delay attacks are far worse.

[Tenshu]

I get it when it's an enemy that conceptually is learned, meaning the enemy is supposed to know how to fight, but a decaying, lobotomized, feral beast has no reason having the rationality to delay attacks lmao.

[Xijit]

You are gonna hate life when you get to the Hunter of Blades.

[Kitsune]

Have you tried not parrying everything and just attacking them?

[De_faulty]

Man, the game gives you infinite stamina, a broken ass parry, have every dodge being a fast roll dodge.

Yet, somehow, you still complain about the mildest delays on attacks

[ParadoxicalNexus]

This is how I feel about Uth Duna from MH Wilds. I understand your pain, I still get hit by the heavily telegraphed attacks some times but its not that bad. Activate piercing claw and flinch them to hell

[shudouken]

Only time I don't like this is when the enemy jumps then hovers and delays the attack in mid-air. Like, that's not how gravity works.
And being able to change their trajectory mid-air and following your dodge is also breaking physical laws.

[1zva]

Originally posted by shudouken:

Only time I don't like this is when the enemy jumps then hovers and delays the attack in mid-air. Like, that's not how gravity works.
And being able to change their trajectory mid-air and following your dodge is also breaking physical laws.

Dude is worrying about real life physics in a game with giant magic laser beams

Jokes aside , I don't see why the topic in question is a problem at all. In the end it's still just a choreographed attack, and you'll eventually learn that you shouldn't try to parry everything lol

[Akameka]

it's called suspention of disbelief. Even science or magic needs to feel like it's 'realistic'. It might be small details such as an energy discharge before you go from full immobilism to mach 9 speed in less than 0.1s. or a slow an heavy attack that deal a huge damage VS a lightning fast on that deal low damage.

I'll take an exemple : The first boss in Nier automata. During the intro, Engel will raise his arms very high before lowering them to crush you. This attack is a one shot from full life in hard difficulty mode, It's also unavoidable asside from perfect dodge. Now, it make sense because it's visually slow, and hit the ground at a visually expected time.

Now imagine the same :
> Engel raise his arms very slowly, then hold high for 3 seconds, and it hit the ground less than 0.1s later, leading to a Oneshot.
> Worse, Engel raise his arms slowly, then lower it at a constant speed. But 1 meter above the ground, he stops midway for the duration of a dodge animation, then hit the ground immediately after and still Onsehot you.

This is what I call delayed attacks, and this is why it's bad, because it makes no sense. Unless you know exactly at what point you need to push the button or get lucky, there is no way to dodge. It's a cheap way to add 'difficulty' that isn't real

[Squeezit]

Pretty sure all soulslikes have delayed attacks.

[Xijit]

Originally posted by Squeezit:

Pretty sure all soulslikes have delayed attacks.

Nah, it mostly started with Sekiro & then went nuts with Elden Ring. The Deamon, Dark, and Bloodborn games all had predictable Attack cycles that were fast and aggressive.

[PINGAS]

Originally posted by UnlimitedNC:

That's why it's souls-like, not a dumb slasher based on reflexes for impatient children. Buy Khazan and enjoy easy mod.

soulslikes were never like this until elden ring. dark souls 3 had a couple delayed attacks for a couple tough bosses but that's it. you're the dumb one

I agree, Fox. I still enjoyed the game despite that, and I can see why they made weird ass necros and doll-like bladers have weird patterns, even if I don't find them particularly fun. The genre turning into a game of "memorize these weird unintuitive attack patterns" is the death of it, but it feels right at home for this game because it's not a series that had satisfying medieval knight combat for a decade. Like, I can't be mad at a fire katana-wielding hunter of bladers hanging in mid-air for a second before delivering a roundhouse kick

[PINGAS]

Originally posted by Akameka:

it's called suspention of disbelief.

Suspension of disbelief doesn't work when the enemy leaves themselves open for an extra second or two because they've decided to delay their weapon swing. It's illogical and stupid no matter the context because you get stabbed and killed in that timeframe. This game made a smart decision and at least gave these properties to weird non-human enemies who also just swing their ♥♥♥♥ around like in an epilepsy episode, and the human enemies mostly have intuitive attack timings, save maybe a boss or two.

[De_faulty]

Originally posted by PINGAS:

Originally posted by Akameka:

it's called suspention of disbelief.

Suspension of disbelief doesn't work when the enemy leaves themselves open for an extra second or two because they've decided to delay their weapon swing. It's illogical and stupid no matter the context because you get stabbed and killed in that timeframe. This game made a smart decision and at least gave these properties to weird non-human enemies who also just swing their ♥♥♥♥ around like in an epilepsy episode, and the human enemies mostly have intuitive attack timings, save maybe a boss or two.

Delaying for an extra second or two is called a feint