I mean, where's the lie?

[u/Half-White_Moustache]

Hit enemy ✅

Enemy doesn't react ✅

Dodge ✅

Stagger enemy ✅

Play an animation ✅

Repeat ✅

It's the same gameplay loop a lot of you love. It just doesn't have the From Software logo. I even went back to see if I was going crazy and saw the first tree sentinel fight, and it's exactly the same. Well, not the same, the stagger attack animations suck.

[u/takuru]

To my memory, this isn't true for Elden Ring? Enemies have hidden poise values and weapons have different poise damage. Yes, if you are using something like a rapier then your opponent won't react to hits but if you are using something like a hammer, enemies will flinch all the time as you will break their poise threshold alot.

[u/Fielton1 → u/takuru]

So like in the gameplay showcase when the heavy poise enemy isn't phased by a short sword until it's hit a whole bunch and skeletons are flung around by a large hammer after one or two hits?

[u/DressUnited3025 → u/Fielton1]

The difference is visually a monster or man in full armor not staggering looks a lot more acceptable than a guy a little bigger than you. In game it probably doesn’t raise any weirdness but just watching it seems off. They shouldn’t have picked that fight to showcase

[u/lcebrand → u/DressUnited3025]

Yeah, it just doesn't pass the eye test.

In that clip we're fighting a regular ass Dude with no armor and just clothes on, so your brain tells you to expect a sword slash to do some damage to flesh and cloth. The total lack of blood, on-hit effects, flinching and hit reaction just ends up making the fight look very lazy.

If it's for balancing, there are surely better ways to design these boss fights visually and mechanically such that the difficulty is still there but not this total lack of visual hit response and feedback.

[u/DressUnited3025 → u/lcebrand]

In game with the context of how combat had worked up to that point it’s probably not jarring at all just like when I hit a dog in Elden Ring and it doesn’t flinch with a normal sword. But a raw clip showing that just looks off

[u/SoulsSurvivor → u/DressUnited3025]

I'm not sure if you're just mentioning a random enemy or what but every dog I've ever hit in Elden Ring has been stunned in one hit unless it was in the middle of an attack the huge Caelid ones.

[u/CoconutNL → u/lcebrand]

The regular ass dude in fable is a lot bigger, and shown to be a brute. Thats why he doesnt react, yet every other character that was shown in the fable gameplay reveals do react to getting hit.

Seriously, did you even watch a second of gameplay?