I personally prefer the Indiana Jones approach as used against the swordsman in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

"There's no other legal tool available to the public capable of mass murders with so little effort."

I disagree. Petrol and cars/trucks. Both are legal and easily used to commit mass murder (and have been). I'll add swords (long knives) into this with a caveat - you need to be a highly trained swordsman to commit such an atrocity.

Cars are so dangerous that they have killed more people in the US in the last 50 years by accident than guns have on purpose. It took 50 years of concerted effort by subsequent US administrations to get the yearly death toll by cars lower than that of firearms (the curve for cars only recently dipped below that of firearms).

Knives can cause as much or more vascular damage than a typical firearm wound. The difference is that knives require the smallest interpersonal confrontation distance (it is hand to hand combat - people don't like this), and to consistently achieve high levels of vascular damage requires a higher degree of training.

The right of non-restricted people to own firearms has little affect on murder rates. E.g. Australia has a higher rate of firearm ownership now than before its lauded firearms laws came into effect in 1997. The majority of studies done on this topic conclude that the restrictions had no effect (or no measurable effect) on the continued reduction in firearm fatalities.

I think the greatest issue in the US is that some people see the use of firearms as a solution to some problems where it is not a good solution. I.e. it is a cultural issue.

I love Zatoichi's drunk swordsman technique. *promote *quality cinema.

@Drachen_Jager , my man, I can get why you dislike whiny, insecure Kylo Ren (and I hugely prefer him over whiny, insecure teenage Anakin) but have you ever considered that somebody can be very powerful in one area (the Force) and terribly rubbish in another (swordfighting)? Sure, a lightsaber can't become dull from wrong usage but this guys starts hacking at shit when he's throwing his hissy fits. Would a good swordsman do that?
He's wounded, survived quite the explosion, is rubbish at swords and just killed his dad. And you give him crap for merely getting away alive after taking on two people tag-teaming him?

If you liked Suzuki's visuals and cinematography, I can only recommend Tokyo Drifter, a Yakuza movie that was a kind of pioneer in perverting the codes of the genre.

If you like 60s Japanese period flicks with a Sergio-Leonesque take on the Samurais genre, Suzuki also made a couple, but in that case do also have a look at Kenji Misumi's work, better known as the director of the original Zatoichi The Blind Swordsman, and of course as the main director of Lone Wolf And Cub, a.k.a Baby Kart. The two first movies were kind-of-butchered, re-cut and re-dubbed as "Shogun Assassin" in the USA; but the real thing is six movies long, and all of them are worth it in my opinion.

This is obviously a very great skill and at the same time it has its faults. It's also obvious to anyone with common sense that he IS a "trick" shooter. I mean almost every demonstration in the video IS a "trick" shot of some kind. Would any of these things come in handy in war... Certainly, many of those "tricks" would put him at an extreme advantage--especially if he could do this extremely well on horseback (and you must be a GOOD horseback rider, motorcycles don't count--a horse is a whole different story; especially if you plan to do some of the *feats* I'll mention below, while in combat). He would be even better if he had mastery over the shorter bow(s) he uses in this and also a longbow for long targets and heavily armored enemies.

As for him penetrating chainmail, that is a good question and I do believe he could quite possibly end up penetrating the chainmail in some situations while (possibly still getting through the chainmail) being stopped in others (he shows being able to penetrate mail with an under armor of some type, but we don't get a lot of details about that situation to be honest). It depends on how his bow is made, the string it has, the type of arrow he is using (or the tip, to be honest), and his draw strength (along with this is range). On the chainmail side it depends on what type of chainmail the enemy is using and then whether they have an under armor of some kind--and again, range.

The problem in this video--except for a few shots--is that he does shoot very close in many of the cases; within 30-20 feet. In a close combat experience--which wasn't necessarily unusual for archers in the past (especially as I mentioned mounted ones--of course you'd be nuts to not be mounted at these ranges--or at the least be a swordsman as well...which was even more rare) he would terrorize opponents... Unless they are wearing plate or other heavy types of armors, then he is in a bit of trouble. But if he really does have great accuracy, then even many of these armors types wouldn't necessarily help you--and could eventually lead to your own death.

I say we give this some time and see if Lars gives us more answers (like "records", competition, types of bows and arrows, chainmail used, etc...).

>> ^ChaosEngine:

damnit, ninja'd!
ANT SHOT FIRST!

>> ^AnomalousDatum:

So he apparently didn't get past the first story mission. I don't blame him, 20 hours into the game, I still haven't bothered to get onto the main island which is 3x as large as the first biggish island.
On another note, Magic is a tad overpowered in this game; when you can summon 8 lvl 32 monsters with 160% health and damage at level 20, there's not much point in doing anything else other than summoning a whirling rock barrier so nothing can possibly reach you. Then proceed to instant casting 1000 damage homing fireballs that also stuns everything within 8 meters.


This is the way magic should be. I mean if I got magic powers and somebody fights me I would just use telekinesis to squeeze shut their blood vessels going to and from their heart and brain. Or how about teleporting your enemy into the sun, or your enemies brain, or teleporting a stone inside your enemies head? That'll do the trick...

Magic in most games are way too underpowered in my opinion. Ohh, look you spent 15 years working out and training to be a master swordsman... (One thought later) Now you are 2000 meters under water, hope you can breath water and survive the water pressure... No? Oh, I'm sorry, I know magic so I can...

That is one of my favorite scenes as well and there are many.

My favorite is the street battle scene. The warrior's consciousness is represented so very well.

That scene was worked on for seven months solid. When finally shot, and I picked out the moment, Tom Cruise was out of place. The swordsman's skill, him stopping his blade intuitively allowed Tom Cruise to keep his head. The sword did make contact.

Your video, The 3 Amigos - The Invisible Swordsman, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I really haven't been that interested into avatars before, but now I find it alot of fun to put together an avatar to properly identify you... For me, I like to use avatars that have a tie-in with my current interest... Besides one avatar, most of my avatars have always been with a VG-Swordsman theme... I don't know if anyone has said anything on it, but I know back when I had the Kratos Homer avatar, I got good feedback...

As for this avatar, I just put it on just now... I think that this is a very nicely put together edit from the actual Blazblue game...

>> ^quantumushroom:
This would look badass as a lightsaber move in a fan film.


HmmMMMMmmmm....... *taps chin*

*dream sequence wavy screen wipe*

= If you spent as much time practicing your saber techniques as you did your wit, you'd rival Master Yoda as a swordsman.

+ I thought I already did.

= Only in your mind, my very young apprentice.

+ Oh yeah, well watch this....

= *force nudge*

= OHHHHH!!! Geezee... aaaaah.. ohhh -sorrry- OOOH..!!! tha- that's not gonna heal... OOOH uh... fffff' nuuuuu don't think they're giving me a new padawan... nuuupe....

*Loud Music*

*Star Field*

DIRECTED BY
George Lucas

Umm...those aren't feather dusters...those are, quite possibly, one of the cruelest implements used in a bullfight (provided the toreador is a good swordsman and doesn't botch the killing blow) - the banderillas (barbed sticks that are stabbed into the bull near his first wound to weaken him from blood loss and enrage him into making more fearsome charges).

There was no better lightsaber swordsman than Windo at that time, so he should have wooped on Palpatine far faster then he did.