Huh I must be in the minority. I thought it had excellent combat. Certainly better than something like the Witcher
This forum and the old one is literally the only place I heard multiple people call the combat bad in a single thread. Mindblowing.
I'm about 7+ hours into Neir Automata and I'm having a hell of a time coming to grips with fighting enemies, which is a problem considering that's the meat of the gameplay. I'm constantly downing health kits, taking hits that I really shouldn't be taking, and none of the combat feels particularly satisfying.
Like, I don't know what determines when I can launch an enemy or not after countering with a small sword. Sometimes the counter attack will hit and launch the enemy up for an air combo, but lots of other times 2B is left hanging in the air flailing around because the enemy ignored it. Enemies seem to ignore a lot of attacks come to think of it. Against harder enemies I often find myself sitting back and pelting them with bullets because when I get close they super-armor through all of my attacks and take off half my life. But that's pretty much the opposite of fun.
I get that this isn't supposed to be Bayonetta or MGR. It's supposed to be a game that can be beaten by RPG fans, not just Platinum fans. But there really seems to be nothing to get a hold of here.
So please, is there anything I'm missing? Should I just grind levels to trivialize the combat?
Light's school of Nier:
0) git gud
0.5) Kids Mode?
1) You can cancel pretty much any animation at
any time into a jump or dodge.
2) the dodge animation (the actual slide) has a TONNN of invincible frames. You will go straight through any attack that isn't still touching you when it's finished, and for the most part this can be spammed.
3) Learn to observe enemies, learn their attacks. Just because they attack doesn't mean they're finished. Just because they're not looking at you doesn't mean they aren't dangerous.
4)
You don't have to hit everything with a sword, that is stupid. Sometimes the danger is just too dense and you should play it safe.
5)
You don't have to combo everything until it dies. Learn to get a few hits and back off if you aren't confident that you've got them staggered/launched.
6)
If an enemy has Super Armor, #3 is your life. Sometimes, enemies have Super Armor that can be broken, making them vulnerable to projectiles.
7) Use the Pod charge attacks.
8-infinity)
E V A D E C O U N T E R. The timing is lenient, the amount of frames is lenient, and once you start doing it you can LITERALLY keep spamming it until nothing is hitting you anymore. It is completely busted, get used to abusing it.
Nier Automata becomes a bit less difficult once you realize that 2B's defensive options make her broken as hell
If you still can't win...just invest in alot of Defense chips.
The combat is extremely satisfying, you just aren't very good at it atm
Edit:
Also, later in the game, there's a chip that quickly regenerates your HP after not taking damage for a while. Equip this and
never unequip it.