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Fighting is the crux of Thymesia. Unless you are wandering around Philosopher’s Hill, you are going to be in constant danger, and engaging in life or death combat on the regular. Everything is out to get you, and safety is merely an illusion. Thankfully, most enemies are fairly simple to overcome.
Most - but not all. Scattered amongst the rabble are more powerful, more elite enemies - heck, there are even mini-bosses lurking in the shadows too. These enemies are no joke, and this is, in part, thanks to their access to devastating Critical Attacks. They are not to be underestimated.
What Are Critical Attacks
Critical Attacks, for the most part, are suped-up attacks that deal massive damage, and, occasionally, trigger fancy cutscenes (of your getting beaten to neat/actual death). These attacks cannot be blocked, they are difficult to dodge, and without special Talents, they can’t even be deflected.
This makes them the second-most-powerful attack type in the game, behind the boss-specific Ultimate Attack. Thankfully, Critical Attacks are telegraphed heavily, so you will always know they are coming. This is conveyed via a green glow and a noticeable audio cue. There is then a windup of varying length, followed by the follow-through.
Using Feathers To Counter Critical Attacks
There are multiple ways to deal with Critical Attacks, but the one you will always have access to is by throwing Feathers. If you throw a Feather just before Critical Attack lands, you will stagger and knockback the assailing enemy, leaving them open to attack.
The timing is very tight, but not tight enough to feel unfair. The catch is that every enemy capable of unleashing a Critical Attack has a different wind-up. So knowing when to throw a Feather is much more important than actually throwing the Feather.
Not only that, but the knockback from using Feathers can be quite substantial, making it difficult to land an effective follow-up. If you aren’t quick off the mark, you might just end up resetting the playfield, and not gaining much of an advantage.
Using Talents To Counter Critical Attacks
Thymesia has a lot of unlockable Talents, and, for the most part, they are pretty darn excellent. Hidden within the Dodge Tree, is the ability to unlock a new type of counter when it comes to dealing with Critical Attacks. This counter requires you to dodge into the enemy just as an attack is about to land.
This causes your character to cancel the attack and launch themselves into the air, allowing for devastating aerial counterattacks. There are some downsides to this move, however. Firstly, like with Feathers, if you mess up the timing, you are going to get hit pretty hard. This is not ideal, so you will need to learn and memorise each enemy's patterns and windups.
Not only that, but the timing on this counter is tighter than Feathers. This makes pulling it off slightly harder, but the payoff is also substantially higher due to the instant damage potential of an aerial attack.
Finally, these aerial attacks can also be upgraded via Talents, making them much more powerful. If you can master this counter then you can deal tremendous amounts of damage to enemies and bosses who dare to try and land a sneaky Critical. Not to mention, a Claw-based aerial attack will also knock many enemies down - not away. This leaves them open to devastating combos.