I like how it's used in the new Indiana Jones game. You can approach fights like a hack-n-slash and just wail on people, but occasionally they dodge or parry, and you need to react. But fights aren't about waiting to parry like Jason Bourne, it's just a useful ability.
this post was submitted on 30 May 2025
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My summary, for those who don't want to watch a ten minute video:
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Parrying has gotten very popular.
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It works fairly well.
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Not everyone wants to play a game that relies on responding to cues.
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It doesn't give a feel of being able to control combat.
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Overuse of one mechanic can make it unappealing.
It doesn't give a feel of being able to control combat.
I feel this way too often. Some combat become a simon says moment. I think replayability is reduced when bosses are designed to strict - and parrying for big damage is a huge influence here.
Not everyone wants to play a game that relies on responding to cues.
Overuse of one mechanic can make it unappealing.
I feel the same about games that rely on reactions during cutscenes or climbing. On the one hand having to be on edge all the time is annoying, but on the other, the absence of interaction can hamper suspense.
For example, I've been playing Horizon Forbidden West lately - There's a lot of climbing, and the devs love to throw a mid-climb "post you're hanging on starts to fall" gag, but with no reaction mechanic, it's pretty much always harmless and kinda feels "why bother"
Prime 'content'
Because that’s all that content is. Stuff to fill emptiness. I hate our timeline so much.
The guy who made the video (Ben Croshaw) is a long time game journalist. I often prefer written things over videos as well but he's not padding his run time with a story about his grandma before he gets to the recipe or anything like that. The above bullet points get to the gist of the content but the rest of the video has examples and deeper explanations
Semi-Ramblomatic is also his long-form content. Fully Ramblomatic, which used to be Zero Punctuation, is even more concise.
Glad to see second wind is doing so well. I haven't been back to the escapist since the exodus.
There was bad drama last year that cost them some goodwill and support, but that's over and done. Overall they seem to be doing well.
Was that when Frost left? I know there was some disparity between his and SW's accounting of how the company was run but I didn't look very deep into it.
Yeah. A lot of accusations around misconduct, abuse of power, and misuse of funds. And though there was a kernel of truth, the serious / deliberate stuff did not check out, the evidence was presented in a manipulative manner, and the whole thing was clearly personal.
The other creators and co-owners of SW eventually came out with statements on the situation. And I don't see how all these smart folks that had just struggled to depart a terrible management situation and do have access to SW's financial records would let themselves get duped like that.
Anyways like I said, over and done.
This is fairly benign compared to the AI generated slop which is now in the process of taking over every social media.
The funny thing about Clair Obscur is that because they made parrying "mandatory" people now focus on all-hit runs as the hard thing to do instead of no-hit runs. So they're proving that it is actually not mandatory and that the game is really a normal JRPG that is just a bit hard in the beginning.
It's a core game mechanic
This like complaining that jumping is required to beat Mario
I love Yahtzee and have since a hundred years back when a friend introduced me to him via...Amnesia or something like that (then had me play his bomb ass adventure game - the first one I ever played). I am so thankful that he posted a video on this. Cause these modern games going hard on timing based hyper-tough combat have pretty much made the inaccessible to me. Everyone has gone gaga over these modern souls-like games. I just don't think I have the brain for quick responsive reactions. That's okay, cause not every game is made for everyone. I do however love bigguns, body horror and phantasms. I have seen the majestic and creepy things in games like Elden Ring, and would love to smash the hey out of them. I just don't think there's a chance I could ever "get gud" enough to play to the expected parameters of this type of game when I can't even do quick time events right. First mil to the person who can bring Soulslikes to the common man! Until then, I'll play my turn-based clicky games with a dumb smile.
I had to give up on Soulslike games. It's not that I can't do it, it's that every boss makes me feel frustrated for 30 mins to an hour and I'm cursing a blue streak, pissed off when I'm supposed to be having fun. Not worth it to me or my blood pressure.
That's a fine take. If you realize you're not having fun, there's no shame in stopping. For me, the dopamine rush of finally killing a boss after several attempts is worth it. Although the number of attempts I'm willing to put in is quite limited (~15), and I have quit several games after hitting a road block.
It's funny, I think soulslike games gave me a lot more patience and endurance, I remember several times fighting a boss for an hour+ over and over until I "get it" then when you finally win... The victory feels sooooo earned.
Yeah, this is how I feel sort of in general. I think as I get older. If I am not having fun, it doesn't really seem worth the venture. No matter how pretty something is, or how good everyone says something is. I also think often a lot of these games aren't really designed with a player like me in mind. Which is fine, cause I suppose I am a minority in gaming. I just figured if someone could make a Soulslike that mobile gamers could play (easy enough to adapt) they'd make a mint.
I've tried a couple soulslikes and I think I could get into them but it seems like they need a decent chunk of time dedicated to them before you can have any fun. I did enjoy a more stripped down version that I found in Titan Souls though-- it's a boss rush game with simple and tight mechanics, so you can jump in and try a boss or two without any other lead up.
Dude, I'm fucking AWFUL at parrying - to the point that it's just a mechanic I simply don't interact with at all - in Soulslikes (and I'm not great at dodging tbh either) and I've made it through the majority of the bosses in Elden Ring base (haven't gotten the DLC), ALL of them in DS3, and I'm currently working through DS2. (Plus both the Star Wars Jedi Souls games completely solo, which are honestly just My First Dark Souls with a SW skin lol)
If at first you don't succeed, roll a caster and summon people lol
I beat every boss in base game Elden Ring without parrying once, using melee only, and no ashes or player summons either (I summoned NPCs a few times if it was an NPC I liked or an interesting story, which meant summoning them for Morgott, Fire Giant, and the two gargoyles). I even got Malenia, eventually! I don't say this as a brag, because I am NOT good at these games. I say it to say that if I can do it, basically anyone can.
I think it's a matter of mindset. You've got to go in psychologically prepared to fail a over and over again, and you've got to be analytical enough to figure out why you failed. If you're really struggling with a boss, maybe don't even try to attack for a couple of runs, just focus on figuring out when to dodge and when you have windows. Maybe your current weapon isn't the right one for the job because it's a bit too slow to hit this boss or it does a damage type that the boss resists. Maybe you just need to go somewhere else for a bit and come back with more vigour and a better weapon. Elden Ring is really good for letting you do that.
Obviously that's not going to be a process that everyone enjoys, and if someone doesn't enjoy it that's totally fair enough. It's a game, we're all just here to have fun. But the actual skill floor is one almost everyone can achieve if they want to and approach it ready to experiment and learn
I mean, I am all for failure as a whole. Cause it really is true what they say about the growth being in the action of failure. I also like tactics, but I like to have the space to think on the tactics I am enduring. I think it's cool that a game introduced that in a very action-oriented way. There seems to be a lot of creativity in the creatures as well, which I like. I will say as I get older my reaction time has lessened even worse than I'd say it originally was. I never played shooters or anything, although I had friends go ham on them. I think perhaps it might be an incongruity with what I want out of a game with swords x boss battles. The game I think of when I think of big papa boss battles is Shadow of the Colossus. Cause it's pretty much the only one I have ever played like that. I feel the game though, while exciting, is actually pretty slowly paced. Which makes it more accessible to me. Most "sword" games though, I want to play like a dumb-dumb. I wanna hack, slash, and feel all powerful. Smash everything in sight (Dynasty Warriors). I think the two clashing might also be making it difficult for me to pick it up.
But I guess the third thing is that pretty much any time I have grabbed a game that is hyper popular nowadays I don't really seem to like it much. That might be an age thing too, idk. Might be a lot of things, but I generally think I might not be the audience for most AAA games. In fact, I know I am not =P!
That's totally fair! I'm very much of the opinion that while From's soulslikes are great and much less insurmountable (a word I choose carefully — they are difficult, but they can be learned) than their reputation suggests, that still doesn't mean that everyone will actually find them fun. If the combat isn't to your taste then that's an entirely reasonable position. Elden Ring is particularly demanding in terms of the pace of combat compared to the Souls games as well
Shadow of the Colossus is such an incredible game. I think it was the first game I played that showed me that games could do more than just being fun to play. It wasn't the first to attempt to do that, certainly, but it was the first to show that to me and it has stuck in my memory ever since. The soundtrack is phenomenal too. Have you seen that the dev team teased a new game late last year?
Get out! I was thinking lately that I wish they would (re)release all of their games again so I can finally play the damn game with the bird-dog. A long time ago, a friend showed me a trailer for that game before it came out. I missed it, and maybe with them releasing a new game they might consider putting the old ones up for funding? I don't care how awful the controls or the ai is, their games blow my mind, just like you said =)! Thanks for the heads up! I wonder if it'll end up being an Playstation exclusive, or if they'll open the channels up a bit more?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJHXe_9uhxw
Here's the teaser, since they reformed the team with a new name so it might not be easy to find. I think this is the only thing they've released about it so far, which doesn't really tell us much other than that they're making something, but honestly I'm just excited to see more from them. It being published by Epic suggests to me that it'll come to PC, which is a relief for me because I don't have a console
Thank god! I know a lot of gamers still hug their consoles, but I haven't had one since ninety dickety two, and I figured at least I could watch the pretty game if I couldn't play it. Because I am not about to grab a console for one game =P!
Thank you by the by! It was super sweet to pass this along =)
***Oooo, looks like Nausicaa-ZoE!
I think of the lot of them the two that would be the most interesting to me would be Dark Souls and Elden Ring. I didn't have an X-box and I left gaming for quite some time. So I didn't even know about any of these games until I came back. I like the idea of sneaking around a castle slowly. I liked it in Ico at least. So I figured it might be like that. Idk too much about it though.
When dabbling in fencing and (watching) Historical European Martial Arts, I find parrying pretty satisfying IRL.
Somewhat related, parrying system is almost a requirement in many VR games to prevent melee from devolving into just twisting your wrist fast to dice everything in front of you.
I think no discussion about parrying is complete without mentioning Ultrakill. It strikes a good balance between being usable without being an auto win button.
In Ultrakill, besides from dealing extra damage and gaining style points, parrying enemy attacks is one of the most effective ways to regain health. Low on health? Find an attack to punch and you’re back in action.
This creates a risk reward system. Committing to a parry is risky. If you miss you lose health - and it’s easy to miss when there’s 10 other things going on at the same time. It’s not always easy to find an opening to commit to.
It also had a bug in early development where the player could also parry their own shotgun bullets if timed correctly. This was developed an intended mechanic, so Ultrakill is the game where punching your own shotgun bullet makes them go faster.
Didn't Furi do this in 2016? I'd be surprised if it was the first game to tie parrying to health gain either. In the slew of action games that came out in the PS2 era, someone must've done it.
Pretty sure this kind of game mechanic (expose yourself to an enemy attack for a skill check that regains health) can be traced back at least to the Dodgeball DLC for Outside™. Game mechanics are like TV tropes, they echo what came before them, almost without exception
Cuz it's a fun mechanic
It can be, if it's implemented well (like Sekiro). A lot of games just do it lazily to hide that their combat doesn't have a lot going on (Doom The Dark Ages for example).
If you ask me, if done correctly it's very satisfying when parying, feels like a rhythm game.
I agree..
It's very rewarding
To make people who can't parry complain about parrying.
That's not it though. No one complained about parrying in Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden II because this is where the mechanic belongs. But when you start seeing it in Resident Evil or Doom, or even new IPs like Slitterhead, you have to start questioning if combat designers are being pushed to ride a trend or if they're being lazy and using parrying as a crutch.