I was practicing some levels and tried to see about the Pacifista fight and tried out simple controls for the first time. It skips tutorials and I was able to get a method that if done efficiently enough, could save up to 15 seconds give or take. This was without doing Heavy guard breaks which would save even more time, but as far as I know it is random what simple control attack you get so I couldn't do this method reliably. If anyone wants to try and figure out simple controls, it would save a lot of time not only in this fight, but in others as well.

Yeah I think simple controls are fine. Its likely the attack is determined by the enemy distance and state. If they block it probably attempts to guard break but otherwise it will do the move for the moment.