Why is the combat not clicking for me?

So I finished remake and I'm halfway through intermission but I still don't "understand" the combat. I've read some guides and watched some videos, but it doesn't seem to make sense. It is supposed to be turn based combat in the shell of a hack and slash system?

It seems like damage is unavoidable. Unless it is a projectile from far away, dodge doesn't seem to really do anything. I'm still constantly taking damage. Blocking mitigated some damage, sure, but you can't dodge anything? Cloud's parry also takes damage?

Enemies also seem to not have any recoil or damage frames. So if I'm comboing away with Tifa, I just get knocked out of it because the Enemies rarely get interrupted (outside of staggered).

I want to understand how to play these games, so any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.