Played it for a couple of evenings and I’m one of the people who are finding it really hard to adjust. I’m just hardwired to see a HP bar and think ‘bring HP bar down to 0’ when really (with what my little experience tells me), the HP bar is a slower, shittier way to take off a red dot vs correctly concentrating on the Posture bar. I guess it makes sense they have both when I realise the dots are like Wolf’s but having the HP bars there are distracting me. Oh well, I’m salty, but at least I’m not a friend who’s already using cheats.
Went back to DS3 to take a breather and it feels slow as molasses in comparison.
Man, I'll tell you now, when everything starts to click, and you can parry consistently and almost always Mikiri on react, and start getting through minibosses in 3 or 4 tries, holy shit do you feel like a badass. Have spent my weekend playing the heck out of it.
The biggest things I learned that changed the way I played were:
1) The posture meter, in a complete 180 from every other Souls game, actually depletes faster when you are blocking. It's significantly faster so long as you are not being hit. You are far better off going in aggressively, deflecting/blocking attacks, then stepping back just out of range after an enemy combo and holding block. Not only are you protected from any follow up, but you can stay on the offensive when 2 seconds later you have an empty posture bar. This leads to...
2) Be aggressive, even if you are not doing damage. Enemies will block 2 or 3 attacks, then usually have an automatic response attack/combo. Learn that response timing and deflect it, it's much easier when you can get the enemy to give you a combo you already know the timing to. Minibosses will almost always have a perilous attack somewhere in that combo, or if not, will always have one or two combos that will have a perilous. Memorise it, and you will be able to almost always Mikiri, jump kick or dodge. If you are playing this passively, and waiting for them to attack so that you can react like Souls, or attacking aggressively and dodging away without thinking about attack timing like Bloodborne, you will have a miserable time.
3) Make liberal use of the prosthetic weapons. The cost is cheap as hell, and you can buy emblems at any idol for 10 each. Every time you spend money and have a little left over (50-100), go buy some emblems. They are there for a reason, and can interrupt attacks (especially the firecracker), or help you escape an onslaught (mist raven, umbrella, fire cracker). Also stealth enemies when you can (obviously).
Haven't gotten anywhere near to the end, and still face some rage inducing minibosses, but so far have been really enjoying this game. Does a good job of making you feel like a badass through the animations and deathblows/counters, which I never really got in the Souls games.