Absolver

played this a decade ago when it was free with PS plus and didn't understand it and overthought the stance system. Now replaying it, I absolutely love the game. the combat is so fluid and the dodging (if you pick the dodging class) is super satisfying. whenever I died, I never felt angry or cheated, just happy to learn from the experience and grow as a player. patience with the game is rewarding because once it clicks it's like crack. (game length) the main "story" is pretty short and can be beaten in about 7 hours if you are taking your time, (PvE multiplayer/ PvEvP) the game is PvE but other players can also seamlessly enter the areas you are in which is neat. so you and some other players can kind of co-exist going through the different isolated areas. but you have to watch out because they could decide to attack you at any time. (PvE with friends) You COULD play through the game with your friend(s) save for the 3 cutscene bosses of the game. but I don't think that the game's design really supports it. the game has friendly attack damage, so trying to attack the same enemy can get pretty messy unless you space everything perfectly. but I feel that doing so kind of robs you of the learning experience of how the game truly functions since the enemy won't have a chance to attack back. so you would lose out on experiencing the defensive side of the game. ****(PvP with friends)**** I can not emphasize it enough that this game is one of the most fun 1v1 PvP games you could play with a friend. if you both have taken the time to get deeply familiar with the game's mechanics. it is truly one of the coolest 1V1 fighting game that I've played. Cons: 1V1 is amazing, anything more than that and the game begins to suffer, fighting multiple enemies feels more like fighting against the controls rather than the AI. the original settings have you manually hold a button and use the stick to switch enemy targeting, but doing so requires dedicated attention and losing access to half your defensive tools. so you'll probably eat a full combo before you are able to switch targets, and by that time another enemy will probably already be attacking you. which means that 2/3 of the main bosses will be a bit more frustrating than they should be. (lock on fix) about halfway through the game I was able to find that there is a setting that allows you to auto lock-on to any enemy you are attacking. which makes the game MUCH more manageable in group fights, but again, the game still isn't really (well) designed for these multi-enemy fights. the game truly shines in 1V1 encounters (which is most of them thankfully) (connectivity) I was initially concerned when I first played this game years ago because I heard that lag was bad and made multiplayer unplayable. But after numerous online PvP enounters and friendly 1v1 matches, the game runs perfectly fine and moves connect just as responsively as if it were offline. I thankfully have not experienced lag of any kind or delayed timings despite my wifi not being anywhere near impressive. (conclusion) if you are able to convince a friend to also get immersed in the mechanics of the game, I feel that this is one of the most fun/satisfying 1v1 fighting games i've played. it's like if For Honor was fun.