I can't even (parry)

[Valkirye22]

Anyone with more hours in this than me has a useful tip or strategy when it comes to parrying in this game? I got the Mage-rebound and triple tap trophies but more through trial and error than figuring out the game mechanics. There doesn't seem to be a clear 'point' when a particular attack could/should be parried.

 

Playing on normal, tried parrying on the Taro boss without any success - is it even possible to parry bosses? At least standard sword attacks?

 

I'm by no means a Souls-pro when it comes to melee in games but a little indication i.e. Batman would be nice. I can block/shield - sure but the parry window is either non-existent or lasts for 4 microseconds.

[takeshikitano3]

I've always been bad with a parry in games.  Apparently they just made it easier with the most recent patch, but I'm not aware of a tell here.

[P_Pigly_Hogswine]

They did patch it to make it easier but it's still really hard to pull off. The enemy attack needs to be almost touching you. 

I almost feel the difficulty of this game needs a rebalance. A lot of the combat reminds me of Bloodborne in the sense that parrying is key to victory. But also that there is almost no room for error. I'm playing on Normal (the second of four difficulties) and I'm dying constantly to anything above a standard enemy. Master difficulty must be an absolute nightmare (considering there's no NG+).

For bosses and sub bosses you basically need to be fully upgraded to that point and have a really solid strategy. Deviate from that and you're dead. Take one or two hits and you may as well restart as arenas only ever have two or three health refills and even then they'll refill about half your health which is good for about one boss hit.

What makes it needlessly harder is that all bosses spawn grunt enemies. So you're trying to focus on a boss with zero margin for error while getting attacked from behind by infinitely spawning grunts. It's really annoying tbh.

I've beaten all the Souls games several times over, but this game is breaking me. I nearly feel like leaving it to see if they rebalance it. One second you're collecting pancake hats for your cute little friends, the next you're getting absolutely whipped by another golem style boss with 4 minions.

For Taro, I don't think I parried him, but I did find rot hammer helpful. Also, don't attack the rot thing on his back (the purple thing you tell the rot to stick to then detonate) until after his second phase around half health when he starts doing laps around the edge of the arena. Try and use the rot attack on his back then. Otherwise you'll have to dodge like crazy because his grab attack in unblockable.

 

7 hours ago, Valkirye22 said:

I'm by no means a Souls-pro when it comes to melee in games but a little indication i.e. Batman would be nice. I can block/shield - sure but the parry window is either non-existent or lasts for 4 microseconds.

 

This is what annoys me with the grunt enemies during boss and sub boss fights. You have no way of knowing if they're about to attack. And because they infinitely spawn, boss fights just turn into a tornado of camera anxiety as you're madly looking around trying not to get hit.

Edited September 27, 2021 by P_Pigly_Hogswine

[Akrioz]

7 hours ago, Valkirye22 said:

 

Playing on normal, tried parrying on the Taro boss without any success - is it even possible to parry bosses? At least standard sword attacks?

Yes, it is possible.

[damcrac5]

1 hour ago, P_Pigly_Hogswine said:

.I've beaten all the Souls games several times over, but this game is breaking me. 

Not to say from your struggles but I'm running on expert and plan to glitch to avoid master as to not completely cheese it, but you have given me hope when it comes to plays Demon's Soul after this. I'm really worried about not being able to get through a souls game, but I'm about to face off against the second major boss.

 

As far as the minions, I've been leveraging them for Rot charges. Smack em around while dodging the boss/mini-boss and build up that yellow stuff I can't remember and then Rot hammer them down. Also explode bombs with r1 instead of bow and arrow to break up certain attack animations. Not sure what other hints I can give as I'm dieing fairly often on expert, but I have yet to utilize Parry at all.

[P_Pigly_Hogswine]

2 hours ago, damcrac5 said:

Not to say from your struggles but I'm running on expert and plan to glitch to avoid master as to not completely cheese it, but you have given me hope when it comes to plays Demon's Soul after this. I'm really worried about not being able to get through a souls game, but I'm about to face off against the second major boss.

I will say that I've always found the Souls games a bit hyped up in difficulty (Ninja Gaiden says hello). They are tough but fair, with a sensible difficulty curve and multiple ways to tackle a boss to suit different builds. Demon's Souls on PS5 is glorious. Can't recommend it highly enough. Favourite game of all time.

Also, from what I've read, patch 1.06 has removed the Master glitch. If you have a digital PS5 like me, you'll have to beat Master legit.

[Stargazer14096]

Yeah, I feel you. The parry is my main complaint about the combat system. To whoever thought making the parry a "hold" input instead of a "tap" input was a good idea - we need to talk lol. There were some cool things done with the combat that I would like to see explored further in other games, but the parry is not one of them. For the most part, I didn't find the risk of attempting a parry to be worth it.