This is something I've noticed for a while now, but thought it had to be brought up with the changes being made to the new combat system, I've noticed it a lot while testing the new update. There's something weird going on with the computer fighters, they don't seem to play by the same rules as the player does.

First, is this: occasionally, seemingly at random, the AI will automatically get a hit of damage in when a melee clash begins. If this happens, not only with the player be hurt, but they will also proceed to fall after the clash, even if they won it.

As for why it happens, I have no clue, but I suspect it has something to do with how the AI is able to react instantly in order to hit the player, and dash instantly. With the player, to dash, you have to double-tap the button. So no matter how good of reaction time you have, there will always be some sort of lag in how fast you can dash attack, since the button has to be pressed, let go, and pressed again. The AI is able to do it instantly, however. I hope this isn't just me being bad at the game, but it does seem like they work on fundamentally different rules.

As an example. When the player attacks normally, they move slightly. If they hit the opponent like this, they don't deal any knockback. if the player dashes, effects play: a little circle effect plays, and dash lines cover the player. If they hit the opponent like this, they deal knockback damage.

However, the AI can do something different. When the AI attacks, they act as if they're attacking normally, doing an instant move towards the player, and they do not have the dash lines. However, the circle effect plays, and when they hit the player, they still do knockback. It's something in-between a normal attack and a dash attack, that combines the best of both types of attacks. It's effectively a dash attack, but it happens instantly like a normal attack, and it feels very unfair to fight against.

I've been trying to test the new combo system, but the fact that the AI does knockback every single time it hits, unlike the player, is making the system feel weirdly unbalanced.

That's actually the AI spamming Dash Attacks and missing them, that's why the circle is different, you can see how Vegeta gets stunned for a sec before hitting you again (you can see him sweating), so it's not a bug, it's just the AI being super fast at spamming Dash Attacks.

Thanks for the clear and precise review. I really appreciate the examples and details. I won’t be touching those tweaks for this release, since they’d require a lot of trial and error. But I’ll keep them warm in my bag for the next version 😉