Improved Perfect Guard

OVERVIEW

Increases the Perfect Guard window from 9.3 frames → 12 frames (0.155s → 0.2s).

Also decreases the Perfect Guard "lock" duration from 30 frames → 21 frames (0.5s → 0.35s).



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.



Updated for the new DLC expansion, Overture. Compatible with game v1.12.0.0.

Fully compatible with my other Lies of P mods, Light Weight and Hardcore Mode.



ADDITIONAL NOTES

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 more forgiving. 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.



That said, what constitutes an improvement is subjective and may depend on your level of experience with the game. While I recommend this mod for your first few runs or for more casual players who don't intend to return to the game, I'd encourage a run without it once you're more familiar with attack patterns. Further, if you've really internalized the timings after multiple playthroughs and would like an additional challenge I recommend my mod Hardcore Mode, which has an option to reduce the perfect guard window to 6 frames (among other adjustments, all modular). This window is still very doable and rewards intimate game knowledge, but is obviously much more predictive than reactive (the opposite of this mod).



Note that this mod (intentionally) 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. There are now other mods available which increase these (to an extremely generous degree), but it's worth noting that the window for these is already much wider than the base Perfect Guard - the Two Dragons Sword, for example, has a 0.25s (15 frame) active duration in the vanilla game; the challenge in using it effectively is in leading your parry correctly, which additional frames can't really help with. You could potentially move the flag forward, earlier in the animation, which would make the move easier to "land" for sure - but would make no sense visually, keep you animation locked after the point of parry impact (the remainder of the animation would now essentially become a very punishing set of recovery frames) and completely defeat the purpose of the move being distinct from the standard Perfect Guard to begin with. For these reasons, I won't be adjusting these properties in this mod. 



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
  
  

To uninstall, simply delete the .pak file from 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 (should you be too early), the Perfect Guard "lock" forced buffer period between attempts punishing mistakes (though it's worth noting this lock isn't applied if your Perfect Guard succeeds), and the inability to easily cancel other actions into guarding, there are certainly reasons to favor holding your guards past the perfection window - just none specific to that window's duration. On the other hand, it could be argued that tapping encourages a more deliberate, precise approach (which I personally prefer, as I find it pushes me to improve). Regardless, whichever method 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.