0 of 0
About this mod
Improves the Perfect Guard mechanic, making it feel a bit more Sekiro-like. Slightly increased window and decreased delay between attempts.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
OVERVIEW
Increases the Perfect Guard window from 9.3 frames → 12 frames.
Also decreases the Perfect Guard "lock" duration from 30 frames → 21 frames.
The lock duration governs the forced buffer between Perfect Guard attempts - how long after pressing the guard input (without having a Perfect Guard register - i.e., an input that only resulted in blocking) until you can attempt to perform a Perfect Guard again. Or, put another way, how long after a mistimed Perfect Guard until a successful one can be registered.
These changes to window and lock duration are subtle, but feel noticeably better than vanilla and a bit more Sekiro-like, without trivializing the mechanic. The overall goal of this mod is to make the Perfect Guard feel a touch more responsive and better capable of supporting reactive (rather than predictive) gameplay. Note that Sekiro also features a 12 frame window, but punishes spam by reducing that window on subsequent attempts in close succession, rather than the lock duration mechanic that Lies of P utilizes.
An optional, alternate Extended version (window 9.3 frames → 15 frames, same change to lock duration) is also available.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Note that this only impacts the standard perfect guard mechanic when using the input for blocking, not the special charged heavy parry/counterattack of the Two Dragons Sword, nor any of the unique Fable Arts moves.
Also, to be clear, this is not intended as a "cheat" mod to make the game easier, though obviously it will make perfect guarding just slightly easier to pull off. It's not a drastic change, however; 12 frames is still quite tight - this only gives you an additional twentieth of a second. Furthermore, an increased window only works in one direction - no number of additional frames will help if you press the input too late.
INSTALLATION
TECHNICAL ADDENDA
The Perfect Guard window's duration is actually defined in terms of time - 0.155 seconds, to be precise. This mod changes this definition to 0.2 seconds (or 0.25 seconds for the Extended version). At 60 FPS, this comes out to 9.3 frames (vanilla), 12 frames (Standard), or 15 frames (Extended).
In conversation around these kinds of games, such windows are typically described in these terms - number of "active" frames. This makes sense in a locked, FPS constant environment like consoles, but is a poor way to reference them when frame rates are variable. The number of frames fluctuates dramatically depending on FPS, but the window itself is, of course, unchanged - time is the relevant metric.
In Souls games, FromSoft's animation data references 30 FPS, either for legacy reasons, or because most game animations are indeed authored at that rate (prior to interpolation in-engine during gameplay). Consequently, you largely hear windows described in that context, which can lead to confusion when people attempt to compare such data across games, particularly titles that support variable frame rate.
Finally, there's been much speculation that in Lies of P, holding the guard input (rather than tapping it) when performing a Perfect Guard yields benefits - specifically, granting "more" active frames. Nothing in my testing or in the game data that I've seen supports this - the window duration is static (unlike, say, Sekiro), and isn't tied to any animation context (unlike Souls). My theory is that this notion probably originates from an observation that holding the guard input instead of tapping yields less chance of taking full damage from a too-early Perfect Guard attempt (as the hit will still register as blocked, stamina willing), and experiencing overall better results with this approach generated a false impression that nonetheless took off in the community, despite no actual Perfect Guard advantage. Between the advantages of guard regain, the Perfect Guard "lock" forced buffer period between attempts, and the inability to easily cancel other actions into guarding, there are certainly reasons to favor a more deliberate approach here - just none specific to the Perfect Guard window's duration. Regardless, whichever approach you're most comfortable with is likely the right one to use.
ADDITIONAL MODS and SUPPORT
If you like this or my other mods and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.
Increases the Perfect Guard window from 9.3 frames → 12 frames.
Also decreases the Perfect Guard "lock" duration from 30 frames → 21 frames.
The lock duration governs the forced buffer between Perfect Guard attempts - how long after pressing the guard input (without having a Perfect Guard register - i.e., an input that only resulted in blocking) until you can attempt to perform a Perfect Guard again. Or, put another way, how long after a mistimed Perfect Guard until a successful one can be registered.
These changes to window and lock duration are subtle, but feel noticeably better than vanilla and a bit more Sekiro-like, without trivializing the mechanic. The overall goal of this mod is to make the Perfect Guard feel a touch more responsive and better capable of supporting reactive (rather than predictive) gameplay. Note that Sekiro also features a 12 frame window, but punishes spam by reducing that window on subsequent attempts in close succession, rather than the lock duration mechanic that Lies of P utilizes.
An optional, alternate Extended version (window 9.3 frames → 15 frames, same change to lock duration) is also available.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Note that this only impacts the standard perfect guard mechanic when using the input for blocking, not the special charged heavy parry/counterattack of the Two Dragons Sword, nor any of the unique Fable Arts moves.
Also, to be clear, this is not intended as a "cheat" mod to make the game easier, though obviously it will make perfect guarding just slightly easier to pull off. It's not a drastic change, however; 12 frames is still quite tight - this only gives you an additional twentieth of a second. Furthermore, an increased window only works in one direction - no number of additional frames will help if you press the input too late.
INSTALLATION
- download one version of the mod from the files tab (default or Extended version)
- create a ~mods folder in your local game directory's Paks folder
- if using Steam, this path can be found by right-clicking the game and selecting "Manage" → "Browse local files"
- i.e., ".../steamapps/common/Lies of P/LiesofP/Content/Paks/~mods" - extract the .pak file to the ~mods folder
TECHNICAL ADDENDA
The Perfect Guard window's duration is actually defined in terms of time - 0.155 seconds, to be precise. This mod changes this definition to 0.2 seconds (or 0.25 seconds for the Extended version). At 60 FPS, this comes out to 9.3 frames (vanilla), 12 frames (Standard), or 15 frames (Extended).
In conversation around these kinds of games, such windows are typically described in these terms - number of "active" frames. This makes sense in a locked, FPS constant environment like consoles, but is a poor way to reference them when frame rates are variable. The number of frames fluctuates dramatically depending on FPS, but the window itself is, of course, unchanged - time is the relevant metric.
In Souls games, FromSoft's animation data references 30 FPS, either for legacy reasons, or because most game animations are indeed authored at that rate (prior to interpolation in-engine during gameplay). Consequently, you largely hear windows described in that context, which can lead to confusion when people attempt to compare such data across games, particularly titles that support variable frame rate.
Finally, there's been much speculation that in Lies of P, holding the guard input (rather than tapping it) when performing a Perfect Guard yields benefits - specifically, granting "more" active frames. Nothing in my testing or in the game data that I've seen supports this - the window duration is static (unlike, say, Sekiro), and isn't tied to any animation context (unlike Souls). My theory is that this notion probably originates from an observation that holding the guard input instead of tapping yields less chance of taking full damage from a too-early Perfect Guard attempt (as the hit will still register as blocked, stamina willing), and experiencing overall better results with this approach generated a false impression that nonetheless took off in the community, despite no actual Perfect Guard advantage. Between the advantages of guard regain, the Perfect Guard "lock" forced buffer period between attempts, and the inability to easily cancel other actions into guarding, there are certainly reasons to favor a more deliberate approach here - just none specific to the Perfect Guard window's duration. Regardless, whichever approach you're most comfortable with is likely the right one to use.
ADDITIONAL MODS and SUPPORT
If you like this or my other mods and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee.