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WARNING: I'm not here to rant about the Executions not being accurate to physics or some such. We all know that it's hyperbole and exaggeration for the sake of theatrics. The various Heroes are established to be damn-near super-human, anyway, and are genetic freak-shows. A trained weight-lifter can hoist an object up to four times their own weight in the real world, in any case. This is rather about analyzing HOW ridiculously powerful some of these Heroes executions are.
Shugokis' "Shugoki Smash!", for example is one of the more impressive ones. Lifting someone by the leg, with one hand, and slamming them into the ground with enough force to shake the Earth, create cracks in the flooring, and produce an audible "bam" noise has got to be utterly terrifying. His "mountain" execution isn't so far fetched, since there are even female body-builders who crush a water melons (which is allegedly the same consistency as a human skull) between their thighs.
Shugokis' "Pinch Hitter" is nearly on the level with "Shugoki Smash!", though. The torque required decapitate someone takes a (not-at-all insignificantly powerful) swing with a bladed weapon- but to manage it with the upward swing of a Kanabo is something else, entirely.
His "Hip Attack" is... well, it wouldn't kill. Probably give someone a concussion, but I can't see it resulting in death. It's also a bit stupid. Same with "Sit On It".
The Rest of 'Gokis' Executions seem believably feasible.
Kensei's Executions seem rather run-of-the-mill, but there's a lot more going on than we care to think. A real person could probably do them with enough effort. But that's the thing. WITH EFFORT. The Kensei makes it look easy as-can-be, though. Especially with A LOT of his more... stabby-impale-y ones. The strength and dexterity required to successfully impale a person with a Nodachi (a weapon that, historically, never had many stabbing maneuvers to begin with, given its curve) is more than you'd think. Same goes for "Lose Something?".
Raiders' Executions are mostly feasible (given his stature and physique), though there's still one that speaks to a much higher degree of strength and skill than one would expect from someone who looks like him (or her, I'm not "assuming genders", get off my back). Particularly "Axe Uppercut". Sending someone into the air, and back a few feet with a swing of his dane axe is more difficult than one might think. Especially since an upward swing of any object isn't going to be particularly strong, for anyone. Not compared to a lateral or vertical strike.
Warden has, both, the most realistic, and the most ridiculous Executions you could give a bloke with a longsword. His "Hilt Strike", "Backhand Strike", "Spinning Decapitation", and "Taking Out The Trash / A Moment of Silence" could all, almost be considered recommended form for a real medieval duelist. With strength and practice, all of it is feasible.
"Blackstone Bash", "Guts then Chop", and "End them Rightly" are... well, not so much. "Guts then Chop" is somewhat poorly choreographed, given how clunky the animation looks. It's also bloody insane. The sheer strength you'd need to half-way bisect a person, and then decapitate them with such a small amount of wind-up is staggering.
"Blackstone Bash" is somewhat reasonable. You could (with enough upper-body-strength) sweep someone off their feet with the swing of a sword. The part where it suspends them in the air, allowing for the Warden to shoulder-bash them, and send them tumbling at least five feet away is the super-human part.
End Them Rightly is a rather blatant meme. A meme that I love, mind you. It's certainly feasible, though it wouldn't inflict a fatal injury. I guess the bit where the Warden jabs the opponent in the eye with his cross-guard is deadly enough, I suppose.
That's all I'm willing to write about, at the moment, but everyone please feel free to keep this going. If someone could run the numbers on these, we could figure out exactly what feats of strength these Heroes can do.
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I can personally attest to Warden's "Guts Then Chop" execution being too mediocre and didn't bother buying it because the decapitation just looked wrong. He completely halts the momentum of the swing and needs 2 inches to cut someone's head. It looked like a pile of nonsense.
I also don't like Aramusha's execution where he falls on his back and flips the enemy over while cutting the head in a cross-cut. It's like he's drinking the blood / bathing himself in blood. I mean, who would decapitate an enemy while laying down under them, plus flipping them over with all the blood spurts?
Gladiator's impale-then-lift-overhead-into-ground-slam is also exaggerated. Doable against enemies smaller than him, but half the roster is bigger than him. And it's a thin trident, not exactly ideal to lift heavy weights off its end.
Conqueror's decapitation execution, with a flail, baffles me.
These are the ones I can share right off the top of my head right now. Sorry I don't remember their exact names.
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Strangely I love warden's Guts then chop because it is brutal, I mean it is a warrior putting ALL his might in a decapitation, we can feel the Warden cutting bones with both pure strength and the cutting motion.
Conq has some of the most ridiculous and flat executions in the game, they look so bad and most of them does not even looks like the guy is a battle hardened bandit. Make Conq executions better.
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Taking out the trash and that other one similar to it where you watch a dude bleed out are my 2 favorite ones for warden.Originally Posted by Fady117 Go to original post
Centurion wise I wasn't fond of the newest one. My favorite from him is where he decks them in the face and they fall on the ground.
followed by the one where he forces his blade into their throat.
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Those are pretty much my favourites in the game.Originally Posted by Knight_Raime Go to original post
That said, I don't mind some of the exaggerated stuff, but there's a few that don't even try to be convincing, and that's a shame. Conq. has a few of those. I also think it's odd that some executions look more like knockouts or critical injuries, not actual "executions". The Warden and Lawbringer's newest ones are really just a knock to the head: a KO. Raider has a punch too (it looks really cool); even at that size I don't know if you could reliably kill someone in full plate with your bare fist.
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Pitching in because I love this thread.
Firstly, some notes: Shugoki's hip bash and the memetastic "End Them Rightly" executions are less far-fetched than you'd think. Trauma to the head, especially in certain areas, can and does result in death quite frequently. Or, failing that, severe brain damage and/or concussions. Combined with previous injuries (like getting a crossgaurd through the eye) getting struck on the head by a pinpointed attack could, if nothing else, knock somebody out and result in them succumbing to hemmoraging.
The most implausible part of "End Them Rightly" isn't the idea of it being fatal, but rather the fact that the Warden apparently just walks around with a pocket full of sword pommels. Arguably, having an apparently infinite source of pommels would make Warden the most powerful character in the game!
But if we're talking about superhuman feats of strength, Conqueror takes the cake. "Dislocator" in particular is probably the most extreme, followed by "Modified Hangman".
In some of their executions, they decapitate people using the kinetic force of the flail. This is pretty implausible, sure, but not so much as it might seem. Factor in that most of the flails are spiked, studded or flanged in some way, and suddenly the idea of ripping somebody's head off with a strike isn't so absurd.
But in the two I mentioned, we see something completely different. Rather than using external force for the decapitation (such as what happens in his other executions) Conqueror is using direct strength to dismember people.
Even with the extra shearing torque of a steel chain and bracing against the victim's body with their foot, the sheer amount of force required to tear off somebody's head, let alone their arm, is bonkers! Possible? Perhaps. But the conqueror would be in the running for "Strongest person ever." If they can do that.
A few more feats of strength that are inpressive as hell: Lawbringer's "Impaler" and "Hands On Approach" as well as Raider's new back-breaker execution are incredibily noteworthy depending on who it's used on. While characters like Peacekeeper and Shinobi are pretty lightly built and lightly armoured, picking up somebody decked out in full plate steel or with the sheer body mass of a Shugoki, let alone lifting them over your head requires the kind of physical prowess found only in Olympic-level weight lifters!
And then we have the purely absurd (but still massively fun) executions. A personal favorite of mine - mostly because of how ludicrous it is - is Shinobi's "Shadow Of Death" execution. While throwing a smoke bomb, hooking and pulling somebody with a chain, then beheading them with a pair of sickles are all within the realms of possibility, the mere fact that the Shinobi literally teleports makes this stunt straight-up sorcery.
And sure, they could just be using the smoke bomb in such a way that makes it "appear" as though they've vanished. But if you can, watch this execution being done from a distance: The Shinobi literally just goes full-on Nightcrawler in this one.
Also of note: Any execution where somebody swings their opponent around through the air isn't as crazy as it might seem. While it takes a lot of effort to get somebody moving like that, once they're moving? It's just a matter of holding on and letting physics run their course. "Shugoki Smash!" Is a good example; it'd require a great deal of strength to swing somebody around by their foot, yes. But not a superhuman amount. And once that initial burst of effort is done, gravity and momentum takes care of the rest.
Lifting somebody up and then letting the laws of inertia take over for you is actually a lot easier than lifting somebody up and then holding them up.
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agreed that many are over the top, i dont really mind when it comes for example to a raider "back breaking" a shugoki as its just a single case where it looks weird, for all the other victims its fine...
what i really find ugly is the exagerated number of unrealistic decapitations.... mainly with conqueror and shugoki! i mean, they dont even have a blade that can cut!
i tested the option not to see the "dismemberments" (sorry for the wrong spelling) and many of conqueror's executions look better!
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Well... I did once grab someone by the arm and toss them over my shoulder, back in middle school. You got me, there, I suppose.Originally Posted by Veerdin-Wraith Go to original post
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I'm in agreement here, too. While its certainly "possible" to behead somebody using raw kinetic force, it's very, very difficult. Shugoki has a bit of an adantage, here: He's a huge, muscular guy, who is literally bred for battle, and he's using a very heavy, rigid weapon. If anyone could tear somebody's head off with a blunt strike, it's that guy.Originally Posted by swiss_soldier_1 Go to original post
But Conqueror? They're beefy, sure. But they're far from the beefy-est. And while the military flail is a cool weapon, design-wise, in terms of actual viability, it suffers a bit. To the point where certain schools of thought claim the "military flail" might be something that was made up a couple hundred years after it was supposedly used and never really saw a battlefield. Personally, I believe they did exist as early as the 14th century, but were rare and very specialised weapons.
See, while in theory a flail can hit really hard due to getting a hell of a lot of velocity from the addition of a chain, that added speed is less impactful (hah!) When you remember that there's no force carrying through that motion.
It's the difference between throwing a rock at someone vs hitting them with the rock while still holding it: The thrown rock is faster, but can bounce off and doesn't transfer all of its energy into the target, while the held rock has the full force of a person behind it, and can do more damage despite moving slower.
The fact flails had spikes, studs and flanges is probably less to do with making them hurt more, and more to do with giving them "grip" to minimize losing energy from a strike bouncing off the target.
So, while the idea of a flail tearing somebody's head off isn't "impossible", per say, its very unlikely. What would probably happen instead would be the flail smashing somebody's skull into powder or shattering and/or dislocating the spine. Both would happen much sooner than a full decapitation.
Again, not "impossible" a'la Shinobi's "Heh, nothin' personal, kid." Teleport move, but definitely out-there in terms of plausibility. Arguably, if you can swing a flail hard enough to literally tear somebody's head off at the neck, you probably don't need a weapon.
Ripping limbs off with sheer pulling force is still more impressive, though. Or it would be, if people's bodies weren't apparently held together with craft glue and spit. I'd play with dismembermemt turned off, but then the decapitations that do make sense would look weird.
