Combat system is extra simple and dull
Like there is few (5) kinds of weapons, they have different range or speed, but exactly the same damage per hit, lol.
SO I just ran with Hammer and Chisel all the time, since it's the fastest.
If compare to Elden Ring - the Mortal Shell is pre-concept of the alpha of the demo-version.
Well, it's also way cheaper (atm, cos discount).

Originally posted by SilverWF:

Combat system is extra simple and dull
Like there is few (5) kinds of weapons, they have different range or speed, but exactly the same damage per hit, lol.
SO I just ran with Hammer and Chisel all the time, since it's the fastest.
If compare to Elden Ring - the Mortal Shell is pre-concept of the alpha of the demo-version.
Well, it's also way cheaper (atm, cos discount).

Cheap is still to expensive if the game is bad. Not saying it's a bad game. But since i like complex or entertasining combat this is probably not my cup of tea. Which is thought from what i have seen so far but i still wanted to ask people who play it about there opinion. Thx

I'd say that the combat is minimalistic, though there are abilities activated on riposte (they consume a resource called Resolve, which charges from your attacks) and 1-2 abilities related to the Hardening mechanic, which (the abilities, not Hardening) I've used once. Also there's a gun. I've never used it, but it's somewhere there.

Combat is pretty good imo. You can utilize many mechanics like parry, kick, riposte, stagger, hardening etc. to make it suit your playstyle.

1. Its not that simple and minimalistic as some people claim. There are ripostes, parrying, dodging and hardening (similar to block), so pretty much all mechanics from souls. Hardening is actually new cool concept of your whole body being invincible for few seconds, with many usages in both offence and defence. Skills and abilities of shells/classes should be also taken in account, as they can alter gameplay and combat.
2. Weapons actually have different movesets and make different amounts of dmg, i dont know where guy from #1 took this nonsense he wrote. Also weapons have additional upgrades that give them new skills (like big aoe shot or imbuing in flames).

I don't have a clue what I'm doing yet but can already tell there's going to be some rhythmic combat here.

It took me 9 hours to beat my very first dungeon...then finished the game in less than 13 hours. I just understood that you can/should (scarce save points) beat the game by running through enemies without killing them, then for boss, just (jump) attack + hardening, then retreat and wait for cooldown. No parry (don't parry), doesn't matter, but it seems important in the DLC to heal. That's pretty basic, the type of enemy doesn't matter, boss included. I beat the other 2 bosses, first try.
You backtrack the entire dungeon when you beat the boss. Poor design imo, unless I missed something. Do we do this in Zelda back in the day even in NES?

Now I'm trying the DLC, seems fun. I liked Hades. Overall, mixed feelings. Nice game, but once you figure it out, that's really basics.

The problem with scarce save points and back tracking is that you basically want to run through enemies without fighting, otherwise you'll rage quit (15 minutes to advance then die by an arrow from the guy above you can't see). So what's the point in playing a dodge game? Was it fun? I'd say, not really. So the game design is meh. Combat could be good, but ultimately one strat works for all type of enemy. I'd say 4.5/10. Fresh experience.

The dungeons change slightly (mostly, the visibility/fog and enemy encounters) after you beat the boss.

I rarely skipped enemies, they give xp to upgrade your shell and its satisfying to learn and beat them. But yea, its how most soulslikes work, you can run past most of enemies, but where is sense in doing so?
I really like to see the progress of your character, to easily beat enemies that gave you trouble in the beginning.
4.5 seems kinda harsh, imo game is really decent and deserves better.

You're right, overall this game+DLC was fun.

I just finished the DLC. The DLC is great 8/10, nice concept, 1h ~ 1h30 for a cycle (for people who don't know, that's Hades + souls, so the goal is to farm a little bit, then you get boons and you destroy the game with the OP abilities). The base game as a souls game is just average, but at least you know what to do in the DLC. In total, 17h.

combat is incredibly clunky and just awful to play, on top of the harden mechanic being really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lame its just a terrible game

it's slow/clunky as people have mentioned, but think it's probably more along the lines of really dull. the game offers very little variety in terms of how to really make progress to get better or stronger. It will give some sort of weapon addons that can make the weapon do a gimmick thing... and that's all it will really be, a gimmick. In soul games, you can slowly upgrade a weapon with ores, add elements to it, enchant it with spells, and have far more variety in weapon choice, weapon animations, speeds, and some weapons/armor with innate abilities that otehrs dont, plus the enjoyment of looking for them and discovering them. But there's little to no exploration here, minimal weapon choice, as in like, what was it, 4-5 weapons total in the entire game, all of which do the SAME damage just being faster or slower with changing weapon length. no real armor choice, no stat customization, just 4 pre-determined shells that hare class archetypes that you cannot customize, only swap between one or the other. This game is a cashgrab attempt to leech off of the success of souls games.

Originally posted by vukotlak:

I like the souls genre but i dislike the "minimalistic" approach to combat.

I get bored pretty fast if i have to left right swing my sword at countless enemies.

I love Nioh and Surge cause the combat is much more diverse and you can do some fancy combos and finishers.

So where does this game sit exactly? Is it like dark souls or more like nioh or surge.

I know i could watch some clips but even then it depends a lot on who is playing. I have seen gameplay footage of surge before i playedit and it looked terrible but that was the fault of the dude playing and not the game itself.

The toolkit is limited when compared to DS3 or Elden Ring, but the limited kit allows for more in-depth combat than those two games. The dlc, The Virtuous Cycle, converts the game into a rogue-like, with unique bosses at the end. The overall product is more enjoyable than Shadow of the Erdtree, as a point of reference, and certainly has more replayability than ER if you include Virtuous Cycle.

Well I just beat the boss in the Ice Arena (forgot his name...First Loser or something).

My god that was awful. I would volunteer for 100 Malenia fights, but please never again this boss.

Combat is so terrible, the dodge and parry timings are very strange, it feels clunky and wooden, there is no flow like in Elden Ring.