Are the vampire knights in Act II a massive difficulty spike, or is it just me?

[default_loser]

Playing on Normal difficulty, I had JUST commented to my friend that I'd barely died in this game, and usually it was just when figuring out enemy/boss patterns. Then in Act II, they introduced the vampire knight enemy (winged guys with purple swords), and I had to replay that first room over a dozen times - and any time encountering them after that would just run past them.

I haven't finished the game yet, but I went on to beat the Act II boss and first two Act III minibosses with ease, thinking how much easier they were than these vampire knights!

Issues I was having with them:

1. Taking one on is usually ok, but once there is two, if you can't get them both on the same side as you (and they seem to love to fly away from you if you try and get them together) they just beat the living hell out of me - usually by closing in on me from both sides so I can't roll past them.

2. Pretty much all of their attacks but one are unblockable, and the one blockable attack is a three-strike hit where if you miss the first strike, you can't block the next and usually get about 50% of your life taken off.

3. They love to put their guard up, and for some reason I've found the guard break move (L trigger +X) to be REALLY finicky in the middle of battle. And even when you do get it off, it doesn't stun lock them, so there is a chance they will just hit you immediately after.

4. Their hits seem to do way more damage than even a lot of the bosses attacks, especially that three-strike hit. Honestly it feels like Dark Souls-level of damage for single attacks, which doesn't seem to work when you're on a 2D plane and can only dodge in one direction (the direction they are attacking in).

5. As I mentioned before, I still do not understand when this game will let me roll past enemies and when it won't.

I don't know how much harder Act III will get, but so far the new enemies and bosses are significantly easier than these guys for me. Overall, I found the best strategy was to just run past them, and when I do have to fight them, make sure it's 1-on-1, corner them in a wall, and just spam Y attack and stun lock them.

[SentinelGest]

Act 3 is actually ridiculously easy. You became so powerful that you just destroy anything. I suggest using the area strike (hold Y) and to keep changing the direction of your strike. Area attacks are more powerful though slower than direct attacks in this game. It essentially is the opposite of the original. Remember that unlike the first one, you can jump and dodge at the same time. You also need to use your magic efficiently. You can use the light magic if you get too low on health. Yet, my advice for the trilogy, if you are not sure, or too afraid, do not block, dodge! Dodging is much easier and less costly. Hit and dodge. When surrounded, jump and dodge.

[default_loser]

Yeah I should say that I finished the game, and nothing after these enemies was nearly as difficult, bosses included - I even finished the last boss relatively easy! No idea why they made these guys so hard.

I agree about dodging rather than blocking, by the way. One thing that was really hard for me to get used to in this game is that the parry move is so overpowered, that the enemies tend to have mostly unblockable attacks with one blockable attack - usually in other games like this, it's the opposite.