Terrible combat mechanics.

[alvin]

Fan of both games, but expected a better combat system from this sequal, but it's a copy and paste, one of the worst combat systems I have ever played with.

Terrible things are, no lock-on to target, every-time Aloy swings her spear it's an animation that can not be canceled, so you can not dodge enemies from the sides because the animation has to finish, leaving close combat to a death sentence.

Dodging makes no difference, you are not rewarded by a timed dodge, the machine will hit you anyway.

You can't block.

Aloy gets stuck in the terrain easily.

Aloy automatically starts climbing when running into a cliff in combat.

[Black Hole]

I too love the games, currently playing htis on ps5 but I really never cared for the close combat, and not being able to block is rather dumb decision.

[Alcator]

Which difficulty are you playing on, OP?

I can't help but feel like so many players, out of 'ego', jump immediately into Very Hard difficulty, and are then dismayed when the game kicks their ass.

[Apoc]

A well timed dodge is absolutely rewarded by you not getting hit. Certainly a skill issue.

And thus, if you learn to play, the combat mechanics aren't terrible at all.

[acowsik]

Originally posted by Alcator:

Which difficulty are you playing on, OP?

I can't help but feel like so many players, out of 'ego', jump immediately into Very Hard difficulty, and are then dismayed when the game kicks their ass.

Playing straight away on the hardest difficulty is obviously with the fact that you will die A LOT. Its not something that the player should be surprised of. And since you cant change difficulty, you better be prepared for the long haul of getting through the game or quit and start over.

It will take a lot of tries to get through things like the cauldron bosses and killing the bigger machines. Its also about knowing the right weapons to use, using the machine scan to learn the elemental weaknesses and using that to your advantage.

I am on UH on my NG playthrough and I have in game completion stat of 98.97% (basically everything except the final story mission and scanning the last machine are done). The arena challenges were really hard and it took me a lot of tries to get through some of them especially the very last one.

But when you end up achieving true 100% completion on the hardest difficulty, the feeling is something else.

[alvin]

Originally posted by Alcator:

Which difficulty are you playing on, OP?

I can't help but feel like so many players, out of 'ego', jump immediately into Very Hard difficulty, and are then dismayed when the game kicks their ass.

You are correct, but not about ego for me, rather wanting the best experience, but you are correct, I take most of the things I said back. Aloy is quite weak in the beginning so it's wise to get a stronger outfit and a stronger hunting bow, after doing that I unocked some new close-combat moves and things are getting a bit more fluid, but I still don't like that Aloy gets stuck in her animations when doing a combat move, it means that you can't cancel them by doing a dodge, or when you are doing a deathblow to a downed machine other machines can attack you without you being able to dodge, but dodges do reward you I notcied later.

Don't get me wrong I love both games, I'm just a little bit disapointed that they couldn't do a more fluid combat-system for the sequel, it was one of the things I expected, but at the end of the day you will get into the rhytm of a fight no matter what, the game is great.

[acowsik]

Originally posted by alvin:

Originally posted by Alcator:

Which difficulty are you playing on, OP?

I can't help but feel like so many players, out of 'ego', jump immediately into Very Hard difficulty, and are then dismayed when the game kicks their ass.

You are correct, but not about ego for me, rather wanting the best experience, but you are correct, I take most of the things I said back. Aloy is quite weak in the beginning so it's wise to get a stronger outfit and a stronger hunting bow, after doing that I unocked some new close-combat moves and things are getting a bit more fluid, but I still don't like that Aloy gets stuck in her animations when doing a combat move, it means that you can't cancel them by doing a dodge, or when you are doing a deathblow to a downed machine other machines can attack you without you being able to dodge, but dodges do reward you I notcied later.

Don't get me wrong I love both games, I'm just a little bit disapointed that they couldn't do a more fluid combat-system for the sequel, it was one of the things I expected, but at the end of the day you will get into the rhytm of a fight no matter what, the game is great.

There are no iframes if thats what you are looking for... you are completely vulnerable to other enemies hitting you... same goes for machine grapple strikes as well where you have an elaborate animation and a QTE prompt.

I mainly look at targeting weak spots and making use of the elemental advantage as much as possible and ofc trying to shoot off the machine parts that are very valuable for gear upgrades (the sooner you know this the better).

[acowsik]

Originally posted by ⓀⒾⓦⒾ‰:

you cant play hardest modes on a first run
you need good upgraded arena gear and runed armor to survive higher difficulties that are meant for NG+

I am your living example that it damn well can be done... I have beaten games like TLOU part 1, Uncharted, GOW 2018 all on hardest difficulty on NG.

I am 98.97% on my UH NG playthrough with only the final story mission left. I have even conquered all the arena challenges and done everything else there is (side quests, errands, activities). Am working on upgrading the important legendary gear to be prepared for the last quest and the Burning Shores DLC.

I did the same with HZD too... UH on NG as well with 100% completion on both the main game as well as the Frozen Wilds DLC

[acowsik]

Originally posted by ⓀⒾⓦⒾ‰:

cool story bro
you should get an award or smth

I am not expecting any but I just want a challenge and to prove to anyone that thinks otherwise that it is not impossible....

[Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur]

i started and played on hard and i think its fine , my gripe tho is that certain animations do lockon , some dont , so on some atacks even perfect dodge wont avoid you the damage

other then that its decent id say even good

i wish that "other robot fighting game" had half as good combat then here , as shooting weakspots or knowing your enemy pays back a lot

this is different style of game your not used to (et enemies being stronger and faster then you)

compared to monster hunter games or dark souls or souls likes , combat is pretty light , but also has enough depth for casual player.

[Apoc]

Originally posted by Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur:

i started and played on hard and i think its fine , my gripe tho is that certain animations do lockon , some dont , so on some atacks even perfect dodge wont avoid you the damage

Lots of people stick to what they know, and, I too had trouble with dodge timing, so I was looking up some tips on how to improve my gameplay, and look and behold, slide into dodge was a much welcome addition to the array of things I do.

[FFox]

the combat is bad, yes.... it presents many flaws in general, the time Aloy takes to get up, how machines suddently break animation and warp into you, how enemies hit you in a way which seems almost coded to track you even if you do a clean dodge roll... Bow and arrow seems off, not responsive as it was in ZD, as if the hitbox is wrong somehow it is pixel-accuracy, the size of the center dot is what counts, and sometimes even firing an arrow you can see the trail of it passing right through the machine component and clearly being ignored by the game. Is just awfully bad and the climbing? oh boy....

[acowsik]

I went straight on UH for NG so that I don't have to struggle for champion tokens on NG+ on ultra hard and unlike ZD, NG UH also counts for the achievement.