i also think enemies use the judo throw way too much. i had to completely forget what i learned about fighting and become completely defensive, it seems the only way im able to kill people is by dodging to throw followed by immediate kick/thrust, or throwing a weapon at the exact right moment the enemy cant catch it(they catch it EVERY damn time if just randomly thrown, u gotta wait for them to jump or something).
armed combat doesnt feel good at the moment, every rancid noob enemy can just grab your weapon and kill you with it. which is not that of a bad thing, it does make it more interesting, but i´d like to have the amount of time you have to counter that judo throw doubled. like the op said, the immediate reaction to having an unarmed enemy charge you is sheathing your weapon, cause they will disarm you at the first hit, or catch it when thrown. so its just safer to sheathe your weapon and just disarm enemies, stab them on the ground and sheathe the taken weapon too.
i also dislike the possibility of ARMED enemies to use a judo throw on you(and vice versa), cause i think you need both hands for that, also it doesnt rlly feel like swordfighting if you get grabbed at any attempt to slash somebody, and its your only real chance to even hit people when you downed them with a counterthrow yourself. just dodge to slash will just get you countered again, and when youre really fast you can get that hit/get countered/counter that counter game on for awhile and eventually maybe land a hit(or get killed randomly by some sweep kick which breaks your neck), but its not fun^^
sorry but i think you guys gotta rework that swordplay a bit, especially daggers feel weak, much weaker then unarmed actually, cause the attacks dont do much dmg and dont have the knockback/break neck possibilities of unarmed attacks.
how about this: let bosses/strong enemies keep the ability to judo throw, disarm, leg cannon, catch thrown weapons but take it from lower enemies so fights vs multiple foes are less of a matter of luck.also make timed blocking stagger the enemy, remove judo throw entirely from armed combat and give us sweeping attacks with two handed swords and make enemies more likely to dodge them then blocking, and make them stagger when blocking a two handed sword with a dagger/onehanded sword. that way oneself could cleave it around to keep enemies at a distance, and if one blocks you can follow it up, though if theres another enemy in the line of that strike who doesnt have to dodge it anymore cause his friend blocked it has an opening for an attack then for sure forcing you to dodge, or you swing that thing around until somebody decided to attack, you block+stagger them follwing it up with an overhead slash and have one less enemy to deal with, while theyre of course not inactive when youre trying to kill their friend
(in addition the the mentioned disarm counter time-window increase)
i realise that would be a big change, but if you like it feel free to use the ideas
a major problem for me is to defeat the 4 rabbits with swords in the arena, i never managed to do that actually. they ALWAYS gang up around me, and wait for me to react to the first hit (whether i dodge or counter or block or hit makes absolutely no difference), and then the 3 others stab me instantly. just staying alive is rlly damn hard, let alone defeating even one.(once i almost pulled it off by just jumping on cliffs, waiting them to follow and then throw at that moment they cant catch it, roll off the cliff, but then lol. have fun getting that sword back with 3 armed rabbits chasing you. also it didnt feel like a fight, it was just bug-using.)
what i kind of disagree with are the wolves, they arent that hard to kill when you have a sword.
just dodge, stab,stab, dodge, stab and theyre dead. but fail dodge=fly against the next wall and die
tried various tactics. blocking doesnt seem to work, throwing weapons doesnt do that much dmg and getting close enough to pull it out WILL get you hit even when dodging, cause the animation takes too long and the second sucker punch will send you flying. sometimes wolves even punch you out of the air when attempting to use a leg cannon, so i just dodge and attack then with a weapon. can be exhausting when doing that with a dagger, though, cause you have do dodge a lot of attacks until theyre finally dead^^ theyre supposed to be strong though, so i think its ok, but i´d like a "ministun" or stagger when pulling out a thrown sword/dagger out of a living wolf, so you can retreat instead of getting knocked into the next solarsystem. i mean cmon, that must HURT, right?
