Mechanics that turn everything into timing

Something that really drags down action games for me is mechanics that turn everything into timing. I'll discuss two of them here.

Deflect

Deflect is my name for an ability that perfectly counters an incoming attack with no downside other than requiring very strict timing. Usually games that have deflects also have blocks, and a deflect is like a block that's strictly more rewarding but requires stricter timing. Blocking might cost stamina or let chip damage through, but deflecting doesn't. In many games, deflect is called parry (Dark Souls, Blasphemous), but I think deflect is the better name for it, because often the reward includes massive damage to the enemy, or an opportunity to do such damage that blocking wouldn't provide.

I hate deflects, because they trivialize the rest of the game. If you're good at deflecting, you don't need to care about positioning, stamina, or often even attacking, because deflects do much more damage than any other attack. And deflecting itself is not interesting, because it's *just* timing. It essentially turns the game into a rhythm game. In contrast, to dodge attacks you have to think about both timing and positioning, and if there are multiple enemies or projectiles around, you have to consider if dodging out of one hitbox will put you into another.

Jedi: Fallen Order is a game with some interesting combat encounters that, on the highest difficulty, force you to be tactical. There's a part early in the game where four enemies run toward you at once; you have limited block stamina and being hit interrupts your attacks, so you're gonna be screwed if you get ganged up on. When I first played I got through this fight using the force slow ability to string the enemies out and then positioning myself so I didn't have to face too many at once. It was cool. But then I realized none of that matters if you just deflect their attacks, because deflecting makes you invincible while you counterattack. You also cannot choose to "play without deflects" in this game, because deflect is the same input as block, it's just what happens if the timing is very close.

In Dark Souls, deflect is a separate input, so you can choose to play without it, but if you do play with it, it's even more destructive because you end up not using block at all.

Katana Zero I think is an exception. Its deflect doesn't protect you from everything (such as being attacked from 2 directions at the same time, or multi-shot weapons like shotguns) and it's meant to be infeasible to execute as a go-to option; there's a limited time slow ability that you're expected to use to make it feasible, so it's more of a resource than a no-downside perfect counter to everything.

Invulnerable dodge

Invulnerable dodges are a mechanic I usually hate for the same reason, though to a lesser extent. I said up there that dodging requires you to think about positioning and multiple enemies, but if you're invincible during the dodge, that's not necessarily the case. Dark Souls and Jedi: Fallen Order both also have this mechanic, and there are many enemies that can be beaten by standing in their face and rolling into them whenever they swing. You'll be visually well inside the enemy's weapon while not taking damage. It looks bad, and it's lame to play.

Invulnerable dodges can be good. In Sundered, there are so many enemies and projectiles onscreen at once that you *need* an invulnerable dodge, because it would be impossible to maneuver yourself completely out of harm's way. You still have to think about positioning to ensure you aren't dodging into another attack.

In Hollow Knight, there's a late game upgrade that makes your dash invulnerable, but only once every 2 seconds-ish. Dashing always spends the invulnerability if it's available, so it makes you think twice about when you want to dash, lest you find yourself needing the invulnerable version and it's not recharged. And after you get it you start facing enemies with attacks that *require* invincibility frames to avoid.