Someone else sent this to me.
I'm half an half on this. Because I think "Animaction" (I'll be calling these Character Action Games) games have a place, but right now I'd argue that most of the modern ones have lost something vital.
They've lost positioning considerations. That's the big thing.
Parries, Dodges and "Suck to Target" styled mechanics have become far too common and free. Liquefied integrity of positioning and therefore the fun factor.
Compare a modern game to DMC3.
DMC 3, you're forced to use Stinger as an original gap closer and it functions that way from the start of the game. Rolls are clunky, Jumps intentionally disposition you, and most attacks can't be hit parried. Most of all, the main "parry" ability and "dodge"(trickster) is locked off to an entire style mode. You lose out on combo damage potential if you have them active all the time.
This is very deliberate. The devs deeply considered countermeasures to stop the player just running with the game by being totally brain dead.
Meanwhile the modern action game will give you a parry with large windows, that you can just spam constantly which rewards you with much higher damage. You're rewarded too easily, not even needing to move unless a dedicated "KILL YOU" attack spawns once in a blue moon. Sekiro's sadly a pretty notable example of this. Having brilliant mobility and positioning tools but making use to almost none of it because parrying is just more effective most of the time.
Dodging becomes like this too. There's no weight to anything anymore if you can just casually roll to the side and become immune to EVERYTHING. Old souls games dealt with this issue by making the roll cumbersome and punishing you for being in a bad spot. Newer souls games are so fast and overly deceptive, becoming entirely about rapid reaction checks and little else. Leading to really stupid player behavior that abuses these mechanics, like being right up infront of a boss because positioning doesn't matter anymore.
Notice how most of these games don't use projectiles anymore.
Furi does though. Where dodging and parrying, firing to dispel orbs AND POSITIONING are needed pieces of a tool kit, and neglecting one WILL get you killed.
Homura Hime has this same mentality, each part of the tool kit is needed which makes the game more multifaceted.
For me, when I finish my hack and slash Mad Marie, I'd like to avoid most of these issues by removing the two biggest culprits. No parrying aside special hit parries (etc DMC3's boss attack hit parries), and dodging has NO iframes.
I want players to jump, side step, duck, feel like their life is always on the line if they let themselves get cornered by a barrage of projectiles.
Action games need positioning again.
Also, final note, I despise the excessive use of VFX. VFX should be very delicately used because enemy visibility is harmed if it's excessive. But it feels like devs use it to mask problems with the gameplay or enemy AI. Even devs I used to enjoy like KH2's devs or Bayonetta's devs have become lost in this idea.