This week is Elden Ring DLC week. I’m having a wonderful time with the DLC. I should finish it (hopefully, I am a slow coach) by the end of the week but before writing about it I want to complete it thoroughly. Or as thoroughly as I can on a blind play through. Also, the character I’m doing the DLC with has not switched weapons, so I can’t write about the DLC weapons in any detail. Just can’t quit that Night Rider Glaive.
Because I am so in deep with the Elden Ring DLC, I want to spend this week keeping in contact with Baiken. I am neglecting Strive – there will be consequences for that – I’ll have to clean up a whole bunch of inputs when I get back. So, I figured I’d talk about a few things I dig about her. This is going to be talking about stuff related to her character – like animations and favourite moves, nothing too technical. She’s such a cool character, and once Elden Ring’s cleared up, I should be back to playing with her. I do miss her.
Baiken is one of the two dedicated Iaido practitioners in Gear. The other being Johnny. Johnny get’s all the attention in this regard because, well, he’s Mr Iaido. Iaido defines Johnny’s entire fighting style while Baiken has a bevy of hidden weapons up her sleeve. It’s fair that Johnny gets the recognition for being Guilty Gear’s resident Iaido expert.
But whenever Baiken uses her Katana, she is practicing Iaido. It’s fun to contrast her Iaido style to Johnny’s. Because by the Iaido alone, it’s very possible to discern the personalities of both combatants. Baiken’s Iaido is characterized by wild swings, slashes and slam downs. It’s in her face too – wild expressions and a mixture of grunts, screams and guttural utterances accompany every swing. Part of that is Baiken having to scrap and scrape for almost everything – her entire life up until Strive being a brutal slog towards vengeance and part of it is her missing an arm – everything requires extra effort. A neat little thing is Baiken’s 5P see’s her use the butt of her sword to hit an enemy – every part of a weapon is useful in some regard.
Johnny on the other hand is much more cool and collected in his sword swings. His facial expressions convey this all being effortless for him. No grimacing and furrowed brows – just smiles and sounding cool. It all tracks – lore wise Johnny is loaded with natural talent. He no longer practices Iaido (he did at one point), he gets by with the skill he’s imbued with. It’s a lot of skill. He’s fighting against Gears, Vampires and Magic Men as a man, and holding his own. Imagined if he put the extra effort in.
I just love the level of personality characters in fighting games have, and how that personality is expressed.
The sword comes down in a great, glorious arc
Baiken’s 6H is one of my favourite attacks in the game. On multiple levels. From the animation to the sound it makes on contact to how it feels to land it. Baiken unsheathes her sword and slams in down from on high. I’m always a sucker attacks that have a sword raised up and brought down with heavy intent.
Baiken’s sword has such a clean and beautiful arc when it comes down, while being imbued with a lot of force and intent. And she really leans into it. Every fibre of her being is put into this swing. Hitting this move, damn it feels good. The opponent bounces off the floor, and afterwards it can if the situation allows be cancelled into either super or wild assault. I do love 6H into Tsurane Sanzu-Watashi, particularly on a wall break. Just a brutal ender. And prior to wild assault, 6H was Baiken’s best non-super wall break. And it’s still good at that if wild assault isn’t available.
And the sound of it – Baiken in full voice, the sound of the sword hitting the person before clattering into the ground – it’s meaty. Some real oomph behind it.
One of my favourite moves in the whole game.
There’s more than one one-eyed Samurai lady in this town
A while back I wrote a couple of blog posts about a game called One Strike. This led to some reading about Chanbara films. This led to the discovery of a series of films and TV shows about a character named Tange Sazen. Sazen was a samurai and became a ronin after being attacked and mutilated. As a result of this, he is missing his right arm, and his right eye. Eventually, a series of films were made about a Lady Sazen, with the same physical attributes.
Baiken is missing her left eye as opposed to the right, but the appearance is right there. It’s really cool to see. You can see it in Baiken’s moves as well, particularly her Wild Assault. When Baiken launches forward, she takes her scabbard into her mouth and draws the sword from it, and Lady Sazen does the same thing. I dig it a lot, it looks really cool and it’s super helpful at extending combos. Plus, it’s given me some films to watch. Thank you Baiken.
Sassy Strolling
To finish up, a small word on Baiken’s walk. It’s quite possibly the sassiest walk featured in a video game.
She’s confident, she’s over a whole bunch of shit and she knows she’s going to beat someone down.
And sassy walk into throw is perhaps the best way (and on the receiving side, most annoying) way to end a fight.
Video Games And Things I Write About Them 