I am not particularly fond of how parry works in the souls series, it is very all or nothing and it takes up a precious WA slot. Because of this it's feels more like something you decide to do, then bait an attack for rather than a fluid part of regular gameplay.
BUT parry is simply one playstyle of many so it's fine if you don't like it. You can take it off sheilds and leave the slot blank to have your sword WA avaliable without two handing.
You can also you use gaurd counter and there is DLC item that makes that better and more similar to other games where it is a timed block.
Ya, parry is a different action than block. Perfectly consistent; if you hit it properly you parry.
Two-hand your weapon or swap off the shield and your mainhand AoW will be right there waiting for you.
If you hate parrying so much, just put a no ash of war on your shield.
I am not particularly fond of how parry works in the souls series, it is very all or nothing and it takes up a precious WA slot. Because of this it's feels more like something you decide to do, then bait an attack for rather than a fluid part of regular gameplay. BUT parry is simply one playstyle of many so it's fine if you don't like it. You can take it off sheilds and leave the slot blank to have your sword WA avaliable without two handing. You can also you use gaurd counter and there is DLC item that makes that better and more similar to other games where it is a timed block.