For Honor VI

…While AoS continues on ahead, as do other old shows, of course, joined by such new ones, as ‘Riverdale’ and ‘Powerless’, ‘For Honor’ goes on as well, as do other games, of course, but—

However, ‘For Honor’ seems to be diversifying, so to speak. Last week, the ‘DYI Cosplay Shop’ has released a video that shows the process, or the instructions, of how to make your very own Peacekeeper costume. If anyone is still confused, the Peacekeeper here is one of the Knights’ characters, an assassin wielding two swords, and looking kind of Umberto Eco here. Now, ‘Man at Arms’ have brought forth the Kensai’s sword – the nodachi.

Now, as I have probably written some time earlier, the nodachi was Japan’s version of the greatsword, unlike the better-known katana, which was Japan’s answer to the longsword. The main difference between the two weapons was the size: you needed two hands to wield the greatsword (or the nodachi), while for the longsword (or the katana) one hand would do. If you look at the intros of the Kensai and the Orochi in the game, you will see that difference.

Beyond that, it should be noted that when creating the nodachi, the Japanese remained true to themselves: while the Western swords are designed not so much for slicing as for stabbing, for the Japanese the reverse is true. In the Western terminology, the design of the nodachi would probably cause them to call it a sabre, rather than a sword… does anyone care about this in this day and age, facing with a game? (Instead of a real life blade coming at them in the real world?)

This probably brings us to the game mechanics. The Peacekeeper is a fast character, using speed and precision to defeat its’ opponents. (I am using ‘it’ because by now most of the PC characters in ‘For Honor’ can be customized into being either male or female. Hah). The Kensai also uses precision, (actually, I think that most of the characters of ‘For Honor’ do, BTW), but his nodachi/greatsword also uses momentum, as it was shown in a clip of the Kensai going five rounds with the Nobushi, who uses the naginata instead. Both of them tried to end each round quickly, but whereas the Nobushi was versatile, the Kensai was less so; this character is generally slower than the Nobushi or the Peacekeeper in question are. (That was the intent, BTW).

Back to the real world? ‘DIY’, as well as ‘Man at Arms’ and a few other similar groups are a part of the ‘Awe Me’ YouTube channel, which promotes all sort of cool things. ‘Man at Arms’, in particular, have done something similar to the ‘For Honor’ nodachi with the ‘Battlefield 1’ jambiya dagger and trench club. (The latter is self-explanatory, the former was a specialized dagger, also curved and designed for slicing, rather than just for stabbing; it appeared in DW S3 as one of Lawrence of Arabia’s weapons)… Put otherwise, more power to them.

So: ‘For Honor’s’ next big breakthrough is in a matter of days, on February 14. They are already putting an extra mile in contacting – and contracting – ‘Awe Me’ group. Good luck to them, and – I can hardly wait for the next development.