I was talking more specifically about group encounters featuring enemies like the Heavy Drauger, who aren’t stunned very easily. The game often pits me against one or two level 2 Heavy Draugers plus two or three other enemies and in that situation all those special moves and stunlocking and whatnot just don’t seem as useful anymore when the Heavy Drauger will just be resistant to it. It’s better for me to run away and charge the R2 button to hit an enemy in time before their attack makes contact with me, because that does the most single hit damage and also gives you brief invincibility during the animation. And even if Boy jumps on the back of a Heavy Drauger, you still have the four other enemies standing right next to it.
Any move that takes long to animate or keeps you in place feels like a deathwish when you die in 2-3 hits. Juggles are a no-no for the same reason. If you commit to more than 1 or 2 swings at one particular enemy you’ll just get hit by someone else.