Ryoma's Club

[punny13]

Each character appears to get a weapon named after them. Quite often, it seems to be a weapon that is quite useful for the named character to use. e.g. Subaki's Pike. It's the primary weapon type of his starting class and benefits characters with high skill, and he has high skill.

That's all well and good, but then what gives with Ryoma's Club? He can't even use clubs in his starting class...

[Shadow Mir]

I'd assume that it reflects the fact that high-ranked Japanese families tended to be trained in many martial arts.

[Funky Tim]

I always thought that maybe Ryoma was supposed to be an Oni Chieftain in the earlier stages of development, and when they made him a Samurai instead, they forgot to change the club.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Funky Tim

[Topaz Light]

I mean, he can use it as a Master of Arms, albeit with a bit of weapon level boosting first. I was under the impression that it was like a weighted training "sword", based on the shape.

Maybe worth noting, Takumi's Shinai is similarly inaccessible to its namesake character without reclassing, so I'm not really sure what the deal is there. To show that the characters do practice with weapons that aren't their preferred type, maybe?

Edited September 7, 2016 by Topaz Light

[The Draco Knight]

I mean, he can use it as a Master of Arms, albeit with a bit of weapon level boosting first. I was under the impression that it was like a weighted training "sword", based on the shape.

Maybe worth noting, Takumi's Shinai is similarly inaccessible to its namesake character without reclassing, so I'm not really sure what the deal is there. To show that the characters do practice with weapons that aren't their preferred type, maybe?

But in Takumi's case, It IS said that he practised the use of the Katana and, if I remember correctly, he was even used to be a Samurai, before becoming an Archer.

This is something reinforced by his Swordmaster outfit, which is the same used by Sumeragi, instead of a generic one.

[punny13]

But in Takumi's case, It IS said that he practised the use of the Katana and, if I remember correctly, he was even used to be a Samurai, before becoming an Archer.

This is something reinforced by his Swordmaster outfit, which is the same used by Sumeragi, instead of a generic one.

I vaguely remember it being mentioned in Takumi's support with Hinata that he could beat Hinata in a sword fight too.

[Nanima]

Ryoma's "club" is called a 鍛錬棒 (Tanren bou) in japanese. It's used in aikido and other martial arts for strength training, not for fighting.

A shinai is a bamboo sword. It's noted that Takumi is good with swords and he regularly practises with Ryoma. I assume that's when he uses it.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

I always thought Ryoma's Club was a reference to that type of weapon being a standard part of a samurai's arsenal in real life.

Also, it's worth noting that items named for their characters aren't always very good on them. For instance, Hana's Katana is a venge weapon that's better suited to someone with more concrete defenses than her, such as... say, Hinata. Conversely, Hinata's Katana is better used by Hana because she prefers to get in good PP hits and she has just enough Avoid that Duelist's Blow makes dodging on PP actually viable with her, making the defensive debuffs irrelevant whenever she attacks.

[DKlein89]

Ryoma's "club" is called a 鍛錬棒 (Tanren bou) in japanese. It's used in aikido and other martial arts for strength training, not for fighting.

A shinai is a bamboo sword. It's noted that Takumi is good with swords and he regularly practises with Ryoma. I assume that's when he uses it.

Interesting. I did realize that about the Shinai, but I didn't know about Ryoma's Club.

EDIT: On a side note, you learn in Takumi's supports he originally was training with a sword, but when he realized he would never be able to surpass Ryoma as a swordsman he decided to train with the bow instead. His skill as an archer, particularly with the Fujin Yumi, is elaborated on in his support conversations with his son.

Edited September 7, 2016 by DKlein89

[twistedxgrace]

Not to mention, in Nohr in particular, some weapons named for characters use models of weapons from previous games (Effie's Lance is Gradivus, Laslow's Blade is Balmung, etc.).

[NekoKnight]

If he were to be training in alternative weapons, I think a spear or bow would be more appropriate for a samurai. But Nanima's explanation makes sense.