The 'feeling of weight/impact' in action games.

I'm seeing these terms thrown around a lot due to GoW 2018, usually in its defense, and often to say that it's better than games that don't have it.

I'm not a fan of this what is it called? Hit stop? It was in the Castlevania reboot and it bothered me at all times.

What do you think?

Honestly, to me, it falls under the category of "I'm a reviewer who has no clue what I'm talking about, so I'm throwing around buzzwords". Having made lots of B2B animations, it falls in the category of "our business is transparent, dynamic and efficient". 

The main thing that 'weight' really is, imo, is that the combat is well animated with action+reaction on hits, good build up, sound effects etc. Which God of War 2018 really does not have, it feels like you're hitting the enemies with a rubber stick looking at the way they react. Note that these are the same people that said the axe was really good and fist moveset was useless, while after only 2 hours of play most veteran players found out it was the reverse. These guys have no clue what they are talking about, at all.

The 'hit stop' you mentioned can be fun, on certain moves to give emphasis. Putting it on every move...god no.

I'm a reviewer who has no clue
I'm seeing it a lot from regular users too. There's a recent topic claiming GoW has the best melee combat EVER. Lots of shitting on games like DMC and Bayonetta, as they don't have 'weight'. Honestly, it feels like they're just butthurt mad that they couldn't be good at faster, more technical games.

on certain moves to give emphasis
This is fine. CL does it for counter hits. There is a half second pause on impact, with a different hit and sound effect, and you really get a sense of utterly smashing the enemy.

I guess MGR's perfect parry is the same. Such a satisfying hit.

But yeah, on every hit, like in GoW and Lords of Shadow 1, it was really bothersome. Best reserved for counters or special moves.

Here's that example I was talking about.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/691087-playstation-4/76818237?page=12

One thing you note is regular users, but you have to remember they tend to just parrot terms and sentences they hear the big boys and/or reviewers use. People don't think. Depth? What does it even mean? They don't know, they have no clue. But hey, they do know God of War 2018 has more of it than DMC will ever have. That's their one certainty. Why? Because IGN told them.

> Emphasis
In animation there are so many ways of doing this. My favorite is still the white-frame. Just on the frame the hit connects, insert a completely white-frame. Ninja Gaiden does this in Black, so efficient. Gives a ton of 'oomph'.

> page
I use a different page-layout (50 posts per page), could you link the specific post number?

123.

There's more after that but that's where it starts. Another who simply doesn't understand mechanics in other games and most likely got destroyed and can't get over it. Once such people find a game where they can win, they defend it to the death, usually while trashing the games they aren't good at.

That is something that always annoys me, and I talked about this just seconds ago on Gamefaqs (again). People talk in conclusions, and parrot reviewers who also talk in only conclusions. They state "this is the best combat ever" and just expect people to go along with it. When confronted with factual statements on how the game works and how others work in comparison, they shout "troll" and "lol go back to your xbox". They aren't there to discuss. These are 'drive by opinions'. They just open the window, drop their opinion, and walk away feeling satisfied.

Is this guy referring to sales and praise to justify the combat being the best ever?

What I found weird was the 'best weapon ever' comment? How? Aside from the throw and return, it functions (in terms of basic melee hits) like any other axe. The strings are basic.

The throwing is the only unique thing to its name and even that isn't THAT unique.

Again though, that's all parotting and talking in conclusions. They note sales, but have no idea how the number is actually unimpressive compared to the series originally. They say the throw is great, but have no clue how the combat works. They say it is unique, but have no idea how old it is.

There is no discussion possible with them either sadly. Only rarely do they talk back and allow you to speak and have a talk with them, usually ending with them either seeing 'the light' or just getting worse.