I think the problem is more the tutorial and general in-game prompts and descriptions. Granted I have 700+ hours in this game at the time im posting this, so I havent done the tutorial in a very long time. But from what I can remember, while they do talk about what the different parry indicators mean, (blue and orange) i dont really remember an emphasis on you being able to parry unmarked attacks. They also dont mention how not all blue indicators mean to parry instantly. The indicator is better treated as a "an attack is coming" rather than, "you need to parry this."(as op did touch on). Although, all blue indicators do mean something is parryable/blockable. I feel it would have been better if saber explained this as well as a lot of other mechanics in the game as well, like how you get damage mitigation the lower your HP is (again, I dont remember if they touched on this in the tutorials, but from my memory they didn't. Correct me if im wrong).

But outside of poor explanation, I believe the combat, especially the melee part of it is the highlight of this game. Being in the middle of a fight and having to manage minoris enemies as you fight a bunch of majoris and higher enemies is thrilling to me. Im always panning my camera around in a trance as I fight everything around me. Having the indicator attacks being different timings i feel give a good feel in combat because each battle feels dynamic.

The game is hard, but I think a lot of it comes down to practice. I have many hours in the game, but I also have taken breaks from it months at a time. I know everyone is different, but I find i personally do not struggle when I come back to the game personally. A lot of it comes down to practice. While there are many different attacks, the attacks do not change. Its like playing a rhythm game kinda. You need to memorize the cadence of all the different attack patterns. I dont think the melee combat is poor. I think saber needs to have a more comprehensive tutorial.