Being a Suikoden babby, I'm obsessed with blunt weapons.
Had I choice in terms of priority, these would ideally be in any rpg I play:
1. Blunt martial arts weapons
2. Bare hands
3. Guns
Those are what I default to, and while I like other stuff, I almost always find myself following this rule. If I can't have a san jie gun/sansetsukon, which is often, I'd take the tonfa, and if not that, the nunchaku, and if not that, the staff, and if not that, the rope dart/meteor hammer, etc. Even if I was forced to play a European-style character, which I tend to avoid pointedly, I would probably pick a mace or warhammer over a sword, though the rapier is pretty nice. These are all highly esoteric/impractical weapons and are rare in series outside of the blatantly Chinese inspired, like Suikoden. But I like them because they fit well with a heroic character. They are multi-purpose and the hero must adapt to many different circumstances. Blunt weapons can be less lethal, thus showing a commitment to preserving life rather than taking it. They're hard to use and thus demonstrating mastery. Most importantly, they are visually dynamic and demonstrate the character's athleticism and finesse. I have a general distaste for conventional magic and thus would never play a character who merely used a staff as a focus.
In Dynasty Warriors, for instance, every character I played obsessively featured at least one of these weapons. Just looking at my play history gives it away, with Guan Suo, Ling Tong and Sun Ce completely outpacing everyone else, lol. XD They're just really cool. Sadly it's hard to get them to feature well in a game like this as any class would not fully demonstrate its ideal qualities. The Monk could use a sansetsukon, but even if they did, the ability to block and trap weapons would not be demonstrated and it would be the same as if they had bare fists.
But as I've noticed in the past, I'd take literally nothing over a sword, because I'm just really fond of Eastern martial art aesthetics in fantasy. Though I don't mind the occasional katana or jian, they don't really appeal to me nearly as much. I prefer the spear to those, too, because at least it can be wielded similarly to the staff.
I can't say I was totally pleased with the Machinist. I like gun using classes in fantasy settings a lot too, and I always found it stifling back when I played D&D that it was very hard to create one in most campaigns. Ideally for me the gun-using class would have been a flamboyant Corsair-style class who wields a brace of flintlocks as they did in the old days, where reloading a black powder and ball firearm took too long and it was easier to just bring spares. Tossing guns in an exaggerated, unrealistic way takes the place of ejecting brass in the modern world, which needless to say, many movie directors and artists have recognized a strange beauty in.
Though I don't tend to play magic using characters, I'm very glad they put the book in the game as a focus. Using the staff just to channel magic always feels wasteful to me. To me the scepter is similar; why only use it as a focus when you could reinforce it and make it a mace too? XD To me the book says "I'm not inclined to combat, and I use my mind as a weapon" much more than a staff or wand. I appreciate that a lot. I'd like to see classes that use even more improbable focuses, like an over-sized ring, or a bell.
Had I choice in terms of priority, these would ideally be in any rpg I play:
1. Blunt martial arts weapons
2. Bare hands
3. Guns
Those are what I default to, and while I like other stuff, I almost always find myself following this rule. If I can't have a san jie gun/sansetsukon, which is often, I'd take the tonfa, and if not that, the nunchaku, and if not that, the staff, and if not that, the rope dart/meteor hammer, etc. Even if I was forced to play a European-style character, which I tend to avoid pointedly, I would probably pick a mace or warhammer over a sword, though the rapier is pretty nice. These are all highly esoteric/impractical weapons and are rare in series outside of the blatantly Chinese inspired, like Suikoden. But I like them because they fit well with a heroic character. They are multi-purpose and the hero must adapt to many different circumstances. Blunt weapons can be less lethal, thus showing a commitment to preserving life rather than taking it. They're hard to use and thus demonstrating mastery. Most importantly, they are visually dynamic and demonstrate the character's athleticism and finesse. I have a general distaste for conventional magic and thus would never play a character who merely used a staff as a focus.
In Dynasty Warriors, for instance, every character I played obsessively featured at least one of these weapons. Just looking at my play history gives it away, with Guan Suo, Ling Tong and Sun Ce completely outpacing everyone else, lol. XD They're just really cool. Sadly it's hard to get them to feature well in a game like this as any class would not fully demonstrate its ideal qualities. The Monk could use a sansetsukon, but even if they did, the ability to block and trap weapons would not be demonstrated and it would be the same as if they had bare fists.
But as I've noticed in the past, I'd take literally nothing over a sword, because I'm just really fond of Eastern martial art aesthetics in fantasy. Though I don't mind the occasional katana or jian, they don't really appeal to me nearly as much. I prefer the spear to those, too, because at least it can be wielded similarly to the staff.
I can't say I was totally pleased with the Machinist. I like gun using classes in fantasy settings a lot too, and I always found it stifling back when I played D&D that it was very hard to create one in most campaigns. Ideally for me the gun-using class would have been a flamboyant Corsair-style class who wields a brace of flintlocks as they did in the old days, where reloading a black powder and ball firearm took too long and it was easier to just bring spares. Tossing guns in an exaggerated, unrealistic way takes the place of ejecting brass in the modern world, which needless to say, many movie directors and artists have recognized a strange beauty in.
Though I don't tend to play magic using characters, I'm very glad they put the book in the game as a focus. Using the staff just to channel magic always feels wasteful to me. To me the scepter is similar; why only use it as a focus when you could reinforce it and make it a mace too? XD To me the book says "I'm not inclined to combat, and I use my mind as a weapon" much more than a staff or wand. I appreciate that a lot. I'd like to see classes that use even more improbable focuses, like an over-sized ring, or a bell.
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AV by Kura-Ou
Wiki (Last updated 01/16)
My Balmung profile.
AV by Kura-Ou
Wiki (Last updated 01/16)
My Balmung profile.
