I Want to Love This Game, but...
While the combat may be theatrical, it sucks, and is broken. There are just much needed features that are missing from this type of game that make it not work.
Like:
1) When fighting a crowd, the WILL stat should have governed some sort of adrenaline rush that helps mitigate damage, or slow down time - something. There is no form of crowd control. Getting jumped by five enemies ALL AT ONCE that peck you with Jump Out Elbow, and Charged Haymaker, while the enemy you have a lock on dodges/parries/and blocks (like the pastry dish surrogate fathers for the world's best martial arts psychic were Neo, Spiderman, and Nicholas Cage in Next) some of your most sneakiest attacks. That is downright trash mechanics. I have fought over 150 players, and nobody can dodge that precisely in a crowd of 5 NPCs - NOBODY. And if there is one, they are the proverbial needle in a haystack and probably not human, only substantiating my point.
2) There needs to be a feature that stops players from just butting in to an already ongoing fight. Sometimes the player isn't trying to defeat the opponent as much as learn from them. Also, it stops dishonorable players from getting free kills off of you while you're already weak from a just won fight.
3) There needs to be a lock feature for clothing and some sort of way to isolate the clothing the player actually likes.
4) Kahlt based charge moves are broken as hell. And unless a deck consists of at least one "stop charge/break guard" attack, a combatant is going to lose getting punched all day in the face by Charged Haymaker, thereby diminishing diversity in builds.
It is the stupidest, slow, broken, equip-to-win move out of the plethora of options. Without the Kahlt ability being attached to Charged Haymaker, the move is mediocre. It's this ability I'm referring to that makes it broken. There is nothing in the game fast enough to attack twice and stop a Kahlt move. And don't get me started on the ridiculous range the move has.
5) Blocking and/or parrying are not seamless enough so as to allow for a quick fluent counter-strike.
6) Stamina should recharge while blocking for all fight stances; especially when being hit from all sides. The fact that the already over-powered Kahlt can do this is insane.
7) I'm an Absolver... Now what? Leveling via fighting can't be the only purpose to the game. Can it...?
8) Voice chat please. Why is everyone a faceless mute? What are we absolving? Are we in kung fu hell? How do we breathe? Do Absolvers brush their teeth? Why can't we take it off? Oh that's right... THERE'S NO DAMN STORY.
On the bright Playstation Plus-side, it was technically free.
Rant over. 
Like:
1) When fighting a crowd, the WILL stat should have governed some sort of adrenaline rush that helps mitigate damage, or slow down time - something. There is no form of crowd control. Getting jumped by five enemies ALL AT ONCE that peck you with Jump Out Elbow, and Charged Haymaker, while the enemy you have a lock on dodges/parries/and blocks (like the pastry dish surrogate fathers for the world's best martial arts psychic were Neo, Spiderman, and Nicholas Cage in Next) some of your most sneakiest attacks. That is downright trash mechanics. I have fought over 150 players, and nobody can dodge that precisely in a crowd of 5 NPCs - NOBODY. And if there is one, they are the proverbial needle in a haystack and probably not human, only substantiating my point.
2) There needs to be a feature that stops players from just butting in to an already ongoing fight. Sometimes the player isn't trying to defeat the opponent as much as learn from them. Also, it stops dishonorable players from getting free kills off of you while you're already weak from a just won fight.
3) There needs to be a lock feature for clothing and some sort of way to isolate the clothing the player actually likes.
4) Kahlt based charge moves are broken as hell. And unless a deck consists of at least one "stop charge/break guard" attack, a combatant is going to lose getting punched all day in the face by Charged Haymaker, thereby diminishing diversity in builds.
It is the stupidest, slow, broken, equip-to-win move out of the plethora of options. Without the Kahlt ability being attached to Charged Haymaker, the move is mediocre. It's this ability I'm referring to that makes it broken. There is nothing in the game fast enough to attack twice and stop a Kahlt move. And don't get me started on the ridiculous range the move has.
5) Blocking and/or parrying are not seamless enough so as to allow for a quick fluent counter-strike.
6) Stamina should recharge while blocking for all fight stances; especially when being hit from all sides. The fact that the already over-powered Kahlt can do this is insane.
7) I'm an Absolver... Now what? Leveling via fighting can't be the only purpose to the game. Can it...?
8) Voice chat please. Why is everyone a faceless mute? What are we absolving? Are we in kung fu hell? How do we breathe? Do Absolvers brush their teeth? Why can't we take it off? Oh that's right... THERE'S NO DAMN STORY.
On the bright Playstation Plus-side, it was technically free.
Rant over.
Comments
2.You can set the link to private if your having trouble here and if you do set yourself to public then you can only blame yourself. This is in fact a pvp based game and letting people play with you is always a risk.
3.I do think their are icons if the armor/cloths are in a custom set. Not 100 percent sure about this.
4.As you get more experience and advance into higher rank your gonna see a lot less of these moves due to players knowing how to counter them.
a. dodge attacks work well vs them if you can tell when their coming.
b.Double attacks break it as well as a fast jab,hook combo etc.
c.Their SUPER easy to use your defense type on since their slow.
5. This mostly effects windfall rather then the other specs. As you get better with the parry function you will learn what you can do it with.
6. Stamina does not recharge during block to allow players to punish players in pvp. This is intended and a common punish for many games.
7. I would suggest you look at the upcoming features for pve that will release next month. Also this is mainly a pvp game and is advertised as such. I however agree that needs to be more to do in the game other then just the two modes. Suggestions for school idea's or pvp functions should be taken to the suggestion box!
8. Most people on ps4 do partys...Like 80-90 percent...it would be a waste of time.
2. Not familiar with how to set a link to private, nor do I know where the game instructs in this regard.
3. Whether there is an icon or not does not address the fact that I mentioned a 'lock feature', so as to make sorting easier.
4. a. They are not slow, and Charge attacks are often being used while an attack is be delivered to the opponent, so dodging is not an option.
b. I know double attacks break it. The problem is that there are barely any double attacks. Also having to set a deck to deal with charge attacks is counter-productive to creating a diverse deck, according to the style that is preferred.
5. It shouldn't just affect Windfall.
6. I know why it was done; and the reason doesn't matter why. What matters is that it should be fixed to recharge especially during group fights. I also notice you didn't address the fact that teammates hit each other during combat. There should be less damage or no damage received from allies.
7. 80 to 90 percent of developers also include a mic or chat feature of some sort... so there's that fact as well... A good story is never ever a waste of time. It delivers purpose, depth, and reason.
2.you can easily do it at any standing stone.
3.A more easier way to sort things would simply be a favorites tag.
4. I have seen players fail a dodge only attack and then actually dodge the same attack.
Double attacks,your own super armor attacks,dodge attacks and guard break attacks all work to counter the move. How many options do you want to deal with this? Often you can hit them with a attack then use your style defense anyways making not quite as op as you would think.
5. It should not but it does at the moment. For blocking a attack you just have to wait and see a opening to counter attack and if they are just spamming little attacks they will stam out at one point or another. Switching to a doge attack while guarding is also very effective. As for effecting windfall its mostly due to risk reward being poorly done with it. The normal dodge action is meant for certain moves for all styles not all moves for all styles. At one point it could be used to dodge everything and it really really hurt the game.
6. They can hit each other too so its not just you that suffer form it and it makes getting ganked a bit easier to deal with as well.
And yeah the reason matters a lot. Imagine a player that just turtles all day waiting for his stam to recharge as he only focus's on dodge stam breaking attacks. This would bring the game to long drawn out slug matches that would be beyond annoying to fight. and while khalt does gain stam when they use their power they also take damage and must hit the opponent before regaining their their health. They are gambling with their health whenever they use their ability. Only stagger does not regain stam on successful defense by the way.
7.This is a small studio with a limited budget to improve the game with. I rather not have them waste money on something less then 10 percent of the players will use. I rather have new features that add more content to the game. Also since where using the silly saying but every else has this useless feature I will also point that most of those games have really really poor in game chat over the mic. In fact 90 percent of the time it hurts my ears so bad I turn it off anyways.
What I really like to see are better idea's for the developers to use in game form your issues. Some of them have been tried and had the community angry(the overpowered basic dodge for example). So why don't we think of solid solutions that are NOT based on preference and then take it to the suggestion box.
1. In real life, getting mobbed is an automatic loss. You cannot win. In real life, a master swordsman cannot best 3 spearmen. A martial master cannot defeat a mob of angry drunkards. Much less can any master defeat a group of 4 or more well-trained individuals unless they’ve a weapon that elevates them levels above their opponents. Numbers win in a fair fight. Any game or media that portrays otherwise is lying. You have to think like a martial artist and use everything around to your benefit. Kiting is only one thing. This is what I really like about Absolver: you aren’t better outfitted than the NPCs. (Generally speaking, of course.) You are a normal person, not a hero, not a demigod, not the “chosen one.” You attain your greatness through your own efforts, not through aid in technology or magic. I do not enjoy getting ganked. But the only thing I find unfair about it is the difficulty grouping promises when trying to learn a move that one individual in that group has. But that is really mostly linked with how long it takes to learn a move. Weapon-specific moves are even more difficult to learn. But group fighting is and should remain difficult. That is life. You can beat it. You have to play smart.
2. Either go to the settings at the start up screen and select “Offline” play, or go to an altar and choose “Private” as your encounter settings. That’s what I do when I’m grinding moves.
3. I’d love a “lock” feature for items. I hear horror stories of accidental dismantling all over the forum; I dread the day it happens to me.
4. I rarely go up against this. It is actually easy to dodge, you just have to know when it is coming. The more they use it, the easier it is to dodge, and easier to punish. Dodge at its beginning and use your own heavy hitter. I’m still missing my tries with this, but it is definitely doable.
5. I actually would not mind the parry or evasion making for a more seamless counterattack (visually and in tempo), but it is entirely possible to counterattack successfully atm. You simply have to use a follow-up attack with a start-up speed within the opened time-frame. You can’t — and should not be able to — use evasive moves for big hits. They are already very disruptive abilities, and making any following attack inescapable is just way overpowered. This is fair balancing in action. Learn to use the ability correctly.
6. If you mean that stamina should regen while no one is hitting you, it already does, just at a much slower rate. If you mean that you should regain stamina while actually blocking hits, then you need to ask someone to punch your arms and legs, then try to use them. They get worn out, not rejuvenated. Kahlt may reverse this, but it is by a deliberate attempt to redirect energy, not simply absorb it and retain it.
7. I always felt like PvP was the intended end-game result for Absolver. It never felt like a really story-driven game. I agree that it feels empty, even before progression. I don’t know how to fix that, though.
8. I’m glad there is no automatic voice chat, I don’t want to know that the master who just wrecked me is 10. PS4 chat is definitely the way to go.