I am able to play this game super conservatively and still dispatch enemies quickly because of the off hand stagger system, but I'm still dying all the time because of ridiculous awful stun locking from nearly every enemy in the game. The worst of it comes when I'm trying to parry or to 'backstab' a downed enemy, both of which seem to work intermittently. I'm losing full bars of health with out a chance to get away because I'm not close enough on the enemy to get a crit in (even when I like, totally am). It's especially bad because every fight in this game feels like the Capra Demon in that they're in very close quarters -- 90% of my effort in this game is making sure that my back isn't' against the wall, which can make dodging practically impossible

I really hope the areas in this game open up because between the camera, the dodging, and the stun locking make the deaths in this game way more frustrating than instructional

I think you're not just talking about being stunlocked, but also thrown to the floor? Yeah, I'm not having much of a problem with it, but it seems a bit weird to me. I'm fairly sure I'm not able to damage downed enemies, yet they are able to damage me when I'm down. In addition, it seems like my attack will sometimes not stun the enemy, but theirs does stun me; if we attack more or less at the same time. Like their stun takes priority over mine.

Don't know, feels a bit off. But otherwise not having a lot of trouble with it. Side stepping helps a lot, make use of the iframes.

i feel you but you know making sure you are not trapped (in this case backed up against the wall, surrounded) is like one of the first thing you learn to watch out for in fight in real life. For example, getting flank in war or making sure your escape route is open etc.

Here is a quick and dirty tip, if you see an enemy charging, there is no reason you should just stand there n brave an attack just to get a parry in. Quick step to the side or behind the guy and get a quick shot off. If you anticipate it quick enough u can get a parry n just quick step back in-front of him for the crit. In this way, even if u fail to parry, you are still save from the attack.

@zevvion: another quick one. certain enemies are weak to certain dmg types, which in turn dictates if they will get stun lock or not. Example, I hit a demon pig with the kirkhammer big form for 100dmg it does not stagger. I switch to a "sword" (weapon spoiler) n hit it for 80 and that stagger it. At the same time the quick form of said sword hit it for 60 = does not stagger. In conclusion, stagger conditions = right weapon type + enough dmg.

Correct timing is needed to "parry" an enemy with your gun. I don't know if every move an enemy uses can be parried, but I have figured out the correct timing for the attacks I plan to parry. You'll know you parried an enemy correctly when you hear a certain noise and they go down into downed state. Make sure you are right on an enemy to go into your riposte animation. If you use a long range gun you can parry an enemy attack from far away, but you'll obviously be out of position to follow up with a riposte.

@golguin: I think he is saying he can parry just fine, but he can't follow up with the visceral attack. I found you can't follow up a parry with it too quickly. You need to wait half a second to a second before you can initiate it. Otherwise you'll just do a regular attack instead.