Not 100% sure what the roll thing you're talking about is. That when if you accidentally hit circle during an attack or jump or whatever sometimes the game would make you roll several seconds later? That was pretty annoying (if infrequent). Haven't seen it happen here.
I wouldn't call the control here bad, but there are some nervous tics that annoy me (blocking keeping you tied down just a smidge longer than feels comfortable, lock-on lingering on dying enemies just a tad longer than it should, the game occasionally ignoring lock-on and sending me in totally different directions when I happen to hit R1 while moving laterally). I'm getting used to it all by this point but there are times it still feels less natural than Game Cid Has Played Way More Than Is Healthy.
I'm also inclined to disagree with you about the enemies since the game's had plenty of scrub bosses so far. The environments are great, though.
I get summoned 15 seconds after putting a message on average. This is mind blowing after Dark and Demon's Souls.
Sometimes I don't even have time to close the menu before this happens! It's crazy. PVP and co-op seem much cleaner from what I've played so far. I've only seen backstabbery happen once (though it was the dreaded lagstab from across the room). It is good to be messing with this stuff when the game is new and nobody knows anything rather than later when everyone uses the same goddamn equipment (though I'm already getting sick of seeing the Sinner's mask).
Speaking of--(transitioning to progress report stuff that Fenrir wants to avoid, though the first paragraph at least is possibly within your experience by now. Up to you man, some of that part constitutes direct response to your post):
-Earthen Peak finished. Turns out the thing I needed to burn was right by the bonfire. Y'know, by the constant "Try Torch" signs. I hadn't reached the actionable spot because narrow ledge over fall to certain doom. Despite having stuck around here long enough to farm out the whole desert sorceress outfit (because I am nothing if not predictable, that is now my standard armor), there's some loot here I haven't figured out how to reach. The corpse on the broken central platform right past the first bonfire, and the one across the gap with the lone sorceress at the top of the zone...how the heck are either of these accessed? I ran all over mashing X for secret doors, nothing.
And Fenrir: all Pate wants you to do is run right past his room, hang a right, smash the railing to your right, and drop down to loot a chest. This is much less offensive than his first request!
-Anyway once the boss is dealt with and I've farmed the gear I want from this place we take an elevator from the top of the tower up to...a castle floating in a sea of lava. Wait what. How does this geography work you guys I don't understand--anyway this place isn't too bad because everything's weak to strike damage and I can smash the silver knight wannabes in two hits. I make one unsuccessful attempt at the first boss here (I summoned Lucatiel but she failed to follow me through the fog gate, meaning I boosted the boss's durability for no benefit. Thanks for that, Girl Fawkes) and then warp out with my loot because holy hell it's about time: now I can buy infinite large titanite shards! (And yet I still struggle to find regular shards, this is a mad world in which we find ourselves.)
Also, Zweihander found! (I have no intention of using it, though.)
-Shaded Woods explored! Oh my god that foggy area. That was real special. I basically ran around in a blind panic picking up what items I could and murdering anyone who cornered me before fleeing in terror. There's probably stuff in there that I missed but I so don't care, I got a Chloranthy Ring +1 out of the trip and it seems doubtful there's anything I could want more. Cursey area was, well, I'm just glad I left to buy that ring first. It's terrifying how swiftly that bar fills up even with the ring. And I dunno if I have any cures for that. Took the boss in one shot, Quelaag's cousin not too much trouble as long as she isn't using magic.
-Poked around in Doors of Pharros just enough to be very confused. I'm walking around fighting belligerent Ganeshas when suddenly "You are being summoned to another world as a gray phantom"
what in the world. What kind of crazy covenant drags people to the host's own world to fight his own monsters which are apparently on his side for some reason? That is just crazy. I kill the host because he's a squishy sorcerer counting on bad footing to keep melee goons at bay and I can jump like ten feet with large club R2 leap. I get a Pharros' lockstone out of the victory but flee the zone out of sheer confusion about WTF just happened you guys for real.
-Okay I can stop complaining about ore now. Farm regular shards from Harvest Valley fatties, use gained souls to buy large shards from McDuff, keep bell covenant ring on to murder people for chunks (Would guess I manage a 50% success rate at this, which is decent for me and PVP!) Reasonably efficient process but armor set demands mass quantities. Yo dawg we heard you liked farming titanite so we put titanite in your invasions so you could farm titanite while you farm titanite. And now I have a +10 large club! Sitting on a cool 491 attack power and that's just at the minimum stat requirement. So then I just need to round out my rapier, my bow, my scandalous attire...
...except suddenly the normal enemies in Harvest Valley stop respawning when I hit the bonfire. Whaaaat.
Other random notes from today:
-There's a fast-ladder-climb input! The animation is 100% yakkety sax.
-I know you might want to attack the horrible harpy demon, but you must never attack the horrible harpy demon. I can't find her house like she told me to, though. I also have no idea what the scorpion dude is for in Shaded Woods. It was an act of will not to shoot him from the second floor, just happened to see other PC phantoms interacting with him and decided to give it a shot. Sum total dialogue = "...?" So he's Quelaag's cousin's sibling, clearly?
-Birdbrains gave me a whip! It actually looks pretty excellent, and trying it out I love the moveset. Want to add this to the standard lineup but it needs twinkling titanite and I have no notion where to reliably find that stuff yet (and I used all I've found on my shield). I guess this does make Indy mode theoretically feasible, I think explorers start with tradable stones so I could delete/restart until I get the whip (would probably require many levels to use the damn thing though).
-It turns out if you do the Warcry gesture on a sloping surface you go surfing. This is excellent.
