Ok, I can't really make heads nor tails of the combo system

[pretorian]

I just currently started and am in the prologue and I just don understand the combo timings. How do I even know I'm doing a combo? I'm at the practice screen and barely manage anything past PKP. If I say wanna go a PPKKK, it just ends up with a KKK, as if it's interrupted somehow after the PP. How do I know where in a chain I am? Also, what does it mean when there's a dot between the attacks? Like KK * P or K * P.

[Seamus]

The dots are pauses. As for combo dropping on ppkkk, I dunno, never had a problem there.

[pretorian]

Originally posted by Seamus:

The dots are pauses. As for combo dropping on ppkkk, I dunno, never had a problem there.

Ok, but how long pause? Cause I still can't really se a logical pattern at all here. If I say try to execute a PPKKK, the combos that really do happen are all over tha map and nothing like I'd anticipated. Mostly it ends up with a KKK but can also be a P*P or P*K.

[Catbus]

You'll figure things out, it's all pretty intuitive and the combos are almost all consistent across all weapons.

If you're doing KKK when you mean to PPKKK, then you need to make sure you input the K after PP faster. The dots mean pause for half a second.

[Setnaro X]

The timing for each sequential attack in a combo really isn't that strict. Either you're button mashing too quickly or perhaps you are dodging in between attacks, which restarts the combo. If anything, I'd say take it slow and instead of button mashing, press and hold each button in the sequence. This will allow you to shoot off bullets and also give you a small breather in order to perform the next sequence. Holding down the button is also extremely important because it allows you to fire while dodging, and also prevents you from resetting your combos. This is called "dodge offsetting" and this video does a much better job explaining it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOVVmm4KOm4

[Catbus]

Originally posted by pretorian.stalker:

Ok, but how long pause? Cause I still can't really se a logical pattern at all here. If I say try to execute a PPKKK, the combos that really do happen are all over tha map and nothing like I'd anticipated. Mostly it ends up with a KKK but can also be a P*P or P*K.

Oh, are you playing on Easy Automatic? I've never really touched the game below normal so I don't know what to say. The game may just be disregarding your specific inputs to make you look cool. Try playing on normal and see if that solves your problems?

[Setnaro X]

Oh yeah. If you play on easy difficulty, you're equipped with an item that allows for auto combos. Maybe that's affecting you.

[pretorian]

No, I'm playing on normal.

[AlienRenders]

I've had the exact same problem. The timing on punch is VERY quick. You can usually enter them one after the other including the first kick after a punch. But you need to hold kick at least for a small amount of time in order to chain anything after it. Otherwise, it'll stop your combo right there.

Try this is practice mode. If you HOLD punch or kick, this will let you dodge and continue your combo. But if you hold punch or kick, you don't need to dodge. You can also continue your combo. By holding, you can see when the animation changes and this indicates when the next input can be entered. For punches, she'll start shooting. This is when the next command can be entered. For kicks, you'll see the end of the animation and indicate when the next command can be entered.

So start holding K and then entering the next command slowly. After a while start holding K a little less long and you'll eventually see what the actual timing is. That the timings are completely different is really annoying for me. But once you know what it is, you can at least adapt to it.

edit: Note that kick needs to be pressed at a certain time after the kick begins. So this means you don't technically need to hold kick. You could press kick quickly and let the kick happen, but at some point in the future before the kick animation ends, hit kick again. This last button press won't do anything other than to let you chain the next input. So it's very conducive to button mashing in this way. I find that holding K works best because it lets you dodge whenever you want and continue your combo.

[AlienRenders]

Oh, and don't listen to others saying it's intuitive. It's NOT intuitive in the least bit. It's completely different than DmC or any other hack and slash game. Not that this is a bad thing, but the delay on kicks is really annoying for me because I like to chain the combos all in one go. IOW, I'm too damn quick for the system bayonetta uses. I have to slow way the hell down.

[lPaladinl]

For me I have the opposite problem, I can combo just fine, but I have trouble slowing down just enough to get pauses to register.

[AlienRenders]

Well, it's not only slowing down. It also depends if the pause is after a punch or kick. If it's after a kick, you need to make sure you have the kick button down at the appropriate time so that the system will let you chain the next input. Otherwise, no amount of waiting or non-waiting will do anything. You can press the next input whenever you want and you'll start a new combo instead of finishing the last one.

Said another way, if you're used to just tapping K until all the kicks come out, you're gonna have a VERY difficult time getting pauses in there because the continuation K input won't necessarilly be there when you're just tapping K and then suddently stop. The last K must be timed properly. And the annoying thing is that this button press won't actually do anything except let you chain the pause and/or the next input.