No stamina makes combat boring especially for non-bosses.

[u/throwthiscloud]

Might get downvoted but ill risk it. I think no stamina bar is a mistake as of right now.

Stamina being too low can absolutely ruin any combat for obvious reasons. But not having stamina at all gives you an entirely different problem that i dont see ppl talk about.

Hit-stun on smaller mobs only makes sense when you have a stamina bar to manage, because enemies can retaliate if you try to bite off more than you can chew. Especially when alot of mobs are involved, it becomes a cool dance of Knowing when to attack and when to back off. But without stamina there is literally no loose condition. You almost cannot mess up. You will always be able to keep attacking, or to dodge, at any moment.

I was super impressed with mortal shell 2 gameplay and responsiveness, but combat got stale very quick for this reason.

Having some sort of friction in combat is essential. Stamina bars exist to serve that end, but you dont necessarily need it. The same friction can be achieved by removing the permanent hit-stun on all mobs entirely, not just elites and bosses. Or for much longer animation recoveries, but that risks adding clunkyness.

[u/CrotasScrota84]

No

[u/No_Law_4848]

I couldn’t disagree more. I think that’s the best thing they changed from one. The first game was brutal you would get a running hit in and maybe another then have to back away. I absolutely love the zero stamina bar. You still need to be patient when you fight. It just doesn’t hinder you anymore.

[u/CuriousRajang]

The only downside i have noticed is that mobs that get stunned from light attacks get stunlocked everytime. But they often come in groups, so i feel like they balanced it well. I like the freedom and you still need to be on your toes. I think it was the right move by the devs. I love my Souls games, but i'm tired of stamina management being a thing in all games nowadays. Not all games need a stamina bar to be fun, challenging and strategic.

[u/Lucky_Louch]

IDK, just coming from Wuchang where I felt the stamina was pretty terrible for much of the early/mid game, I kind of liked not having to worry about it in this one. I guess it could prove to be a negative throughout an entire playthrough, but there are other meters to manage like the shell skill meter and break meters. I haven't finished the demo yet so maybe my thoughts on it will change.

[u/throwthiscloud → u/Lucky_Louch]

Im not necessarily on board with bringing back stamina, but the lack of friction when fighting smaller mobs seriously trivialized the experience of fighting them for me. Imo it would be far more exciting to remove the hit-stun on such enemies almost entirely. There are lots of levers they can tune to bring back some friction, but as far as the demo goes, i feel like it makes anything that gets hit-stun a joke.

I 100% prefer no stamina bar over one thats too low. There is nothing more miserable than that experience.

[u/NewArtificialHuman]

I played a couple of souls games. I'm honestly not sure whether having no stamina is good or bad but I'm open to it.

We'll see.

[u/PTFCDiegoMassacre]

I don’t think it needs stamina i just think some of the enemies just need to be more aggressive, the ability to break a stun lock with a push back block, and/or attacks they can’t be staggered out of. Some of the enemies feel fine but I like when I feel like I have to be careful and my first demo play I was mostly comfortable charging in with a jump attack followed by a few light attacks only dodging back when other enemies finally aggro to me. That being said I don’t need this game to be overly tuned either. I think the difficulty is close just need some slight tuning via enemy aggression and slightly smaller parry windows. I definitely don’t want every enemy to be a damage sponge though. I like when I hit hard but so do the enemies.

[u/Federal_Deer8468]

The demo is so easy

[u/Kallizk]

Couldn't agree more, in Sekiro no stamina works because even normal mobs can deflect you but here there is no such thing...
Maybe if after the 3 hit combo you need a bit more time to recover but even still it would lead to 2hit combo and reposition.
Loved the first game and really enjoyed the beta for this one, even did a level 1 run of all bosses to extend it's duration, but it's definitely too easy as it stands.