During combat with crowds of enemies, it's much easier to string together combos if you just let go of the left analog stick and focus on getting the timing right on X/Y/A. Nilin seems to have an idea of "current target" that stays locked (even between dodges) until you move her towards a different enemy. I'm playing on a PC with a 360 controller, but I assume that there's a KB/M equivalent.

My other tip would be to constantly remix your combos; some enemy types are way easier to take out using the S-Pressens (especially some of the bosses), so focusing on cooldown reduction helps a lot. Other times, raw damage or regen may be what you want.

Could you say what type for what enemy or maybe use the fantastic guide feature that this site has to help people understand what should go to what :-D

I'm only a few hours into the game, so I'm by no means an expert. The reviews I've read have mentioned that the combat can be frustrating at times, in part due to how hard it is to execute a combo in a crowd of enemies; I thought I'd share something I'd figured out about the game mechanics that makes executing combos much easier.

Perhaps once I finish the game, I'll have more to say. Do people actually use the guides here? I've never even clicked on that tab...

I have had zero problems with the combat. The dodge is so forgiving and the pop-ups above enemies heads are so predictably timed that I actually find it too easy at times. People never attack when you're flipping over an enemy and It only ever becomes a problem when there's flying enemies spamming shit from off screen. As long as you have one combo tied to attack/recharge and one with the first three moves tied to healing (preferably all the same button) you will never ever lose.

I found having a combo that has early S-Pressens in it useful because there are enemies that like to block, and the game teaches you that using S-Pressens are a good way to break through the blocks. Also another tip I've been using is that when facing multiple enemies, always have the enemies in front of you, because your attacks can hit multiple targets and that helps with crowd control. Also I think there is a way to dodge in a combo and keep that combo going as long as you hit the correct button.

Combat in this game is super easy, the fun comes in min/maxing combos. At the end of the game my 8-hitter did so much damage that everything would die before I could complete it, including bosses. I'd use an all-power combo for general combat and an all-cooldowns combo for special situations where spamming S-Pressens is advantageous. Then you can throw your regen pressens wherever you have extra space.

@dvdhaus: To keep a combo going you have to dodge in between attacks. If your next attack has started-up and you dodge out of that animation, the combo breaks. Also you have to dodge over the enemy you're attacking, which Nilin will do automatically if you just press the dodge button without messing with the joystick. This only works on regular-sized enemies. Dodging will always break your combos on bigger enemies that you can't flip over.