The elites have modifiers denoted by a title like Juggernaut or Crusher, but again, it's not very clear what the difference between them is. Enemies, who are at least plentiful and come in all shapes and sizes like little goblin-like soldiers, hulking ogres, and shifty tree spirts, have both standard and elite forms.

After the 15-plus hours it took me to beat the main story the first time, I still have no idea what a multistrike is, or what the Luck stat does. Keywords tied to buffs, debuffs, and abilities can sometimes be straightforward like staggering enemies or bleeding, but others are far less obvious and occasionally not even defined in the codex. That said, there's so much about the systems that interface with combat that feels obtuse. The rewards for getting good at these techniques are well worth the risks, and are essential for taking down late game enemies and bosses. In addition to helping you avoid damage, well-timed dodges put you in a frenzied state that supercharges your attack speed, while perfect parries can knock enemies down. With only a couple of combos for each, successful hacking and slashing comes down to mastering the satisfying dodge and parry systems, both of which give powerful combat buffs when executed precisely. Greataxes and the sword and shield are good for staggering, while greatswords have a wide swing that's good for clearing crowds. Each of the five weapon types have unique properties you’ll start to notice after playing with them a bunch, though I wish they were explained more clearly from the start.

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