For Honor II - Sep 13

Today the next three characters of ‘For Honor’ were released for the viewers to, well, view – the Orochi of the Samurais, the Berserker of the Vikings, and the Conqueror of the Knights.  

Now, this is somewhat odd – in some of the promo pictures, the Conqueror does not ‘mesh’ with the Orochi and the Berserker – more with the Warlord and the Shugoki; it is the Peacekeeper who does ‘mesh’ – but that is beside the point.

Leaving aside the matter of ‘meshing’, what else is there? The Orochi (Orochimaru from Naruto™ says hi, BTW), is as a ninja, just one that is more like a Samurai, armed with a katana instead. It is the longsword, as the one used by the Warden of the Knights, while the nodachi of the Kensei, as I wrote earlier, is more like a Claymore or a greatsword (it is bigger). Judging by the photos, in real life the Samurais could stab with it as well as slice – it is not as clear how it figures in ‘For Honor’. Yet regardless of whether or not he can stab as well as slice or not, the Orochi is clearly sneaky and is using subtlety rather than the direct force to win his battles.

This, of course, is in direct opposition to the Conqueror. Leaving aside the issue just what does the Conqueror conquer here (so far the Knights’ backstory is that they are protectors of the weak, something that in real life conquerors were not), he is designed to a be human battering ram, complete with his weapon – the flail.

Yes, another sticky point here – just what is a flail, how is it different from a Morningstar or a mace? As the Conqueror’s video promo shows, the flail here is a smaller, one-hand version of the weapon, with a round, metal striking head. (There is also a bigger version that required two hands to use, and the striking head was bigger and cylindrical, rather than round – it looks slightly like the nunchakus, actually, but is bigger). In both versions, that striking head is connected to the rest of the weapon by a chain. Neither mace nor Morningstar have chains – their striking heads are directly connected to the handle. The Conqueror’s weapon has a chain, hence it is a flail.

He also has a shield, something that he shares with the Warlord and the Valkyrie of the Vikings (we have not seen them yet). Their shields, however, are more like bucklers, and as ‘Deadliest Warrior’ had shown in the past, the Vikings’ shields weren’t very good – a Samurai’s kanabo broke one of them – unlike the Spartan’s shield. However, there are no Spartans in ‘For Honor’, while the kanabo is the weapon of the Shugoki, who had not appeared yet either. What we do know is that it is speed vs. strength, when the Conqueror faces against the Orochi, or – the Berserker.

The Berserker is self-explanatory, obviously. Anyone who has read about the Vikings has heard about berserkers. They were the crazy warriors who (supposedly) shunned armor and won battles with their insanity alone. In ‘For Honor’ game, the Berserker’s weapons of choice are twin battle-axes – they are the same Danish axe of the Raider, just smaller in size, proportionally lighter in weight and with shorter hafts. The Berserker’s fighting style is that of the Orochi – speed, rather than strength, but with energy rather than precision.

That’s it for ‘For Honor’ for now – until later!