For Honor Samurai Wooden Armour - Historical or Fantasy?

[@tank19768]

Swords can't cut through trees, their armour is made of trees, their armour is impervious to swords. Axes can cut through trees. Vikings wield axes, Knights wield swords. This is clearly an incredibly complicated lore-based rock paper scissor situation.

[@fatguyfrommy8421]

knights wield swords. sword stabs skins. Vikings are naked...wait wut?

[@nyblis420]

50.cal sniper rifle

[@tank19768]

No no no no. This is highly technical stuff, so I can see how you'd be confused. Axes beat trees so vikings beat Samurai, Swords can't chop down trees, so Samurai beat Knights, axes can't melt steel armours, so Knights beat Vikings. Something something throw the pommel something something.

[@theaussiebogan9680]

Izora Taioth you say a katana is superior why?

[@theaussiebogan9680]

absourate middle line. *Katana was superior*

[@God8-O]

You got it all wrong, samurais would used an AR 15.

[@CrystallizedBlackSkull]

God :-O You're God so theres no Argumemt

[@pluggothesluggo5509]

@@CrystallizedBlackSkull everyday we stray - further away- closer to god

[@pluggothesluggo5509]

HOW DO YOU DO THE DASH THING

[@felnorin4978]

Pluggo the sluggo hahahahaha i want to know too!!

[@Byakko_Byakuya]

Yeah, Arquebus Rifle 15'th Century.

[@gso619]

Wait, wait, wait. So, the knights in For Honor are wearing comically thick steel plate, the samurai are wearing wood and the vikings are wearing bondage gear? THEY HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR 1000 YEARS! HOW HAVE THE KNIGHTS NOT WON YET?! Why aren't there more archers? The viking berserker looks like Fabio and the raider wears two belts and calls it armor, their "armor" has the arrow resistance of wet toilet paper. Screw knights, just put 50 peasants with bows on top of a wall and turn the vikings and samurai into the world's angriest pin cushions.

[@themightycaolf6549]

Not to mention, the games lortrays viki gs as if they are wanting to die. Literally states that, " The vikings believe death is brought by fate, so we don't wear armour, because we have no fear of death, we embrace it." There's a difference between not fearing death, and being suicidal, and judging how they fight they should already be dead. The other two factions aren't the best fighters in terms of moves, but atleast they're not throwing themselves on the opponants blade. The point of fighting is to not die, but to make sure you live.

[@alexandrosgrivas4406]

The knights are wearing brigandines not plate breastplates

[@maxnordlund7928]

Some belive that early versions of hell were not as bad as the later ones wich had been more influenced by other cultures and religions

[@gso619]

As the other guy said, their version of hell is different from ours. It's actually oddly similar to the christian idea of heaven - a white fluffy plane, where you can spend the rest of eternity in peace. Except the viking version is a white plane of fluffy snow, where your soul sits until the end of time, bored out of its' goddamn mind instead of partying in Valhalla. The idea isn't that you get punished for not dying in battle, their idea was that the afterlife was boring as hell, but if you impress the gods in battle, they reward you with a cooler version of the afterlife. Also, women who died during childbirth were considered worthy of Valhalla, since it was considered a noble sacrifice. Also, so Valhalla doesn't turn into a total sausagefest.

[@p0lednik]

Yeah, because placing archers in the game that is focused just and only to close combat, makes fucking sense lol...

[@TheBarser]

I dont know how people ever got the idea that for honor is realistic. Pretty much everything about it is fantasy.

[@Arcanyum]

ncshuriken Kingdom Come: Deliverence

[@baronsoup8603]

That's not his point tho?

[@gakulon]

TheBarser It seems more realistic than other games, but it definitely isn't a medieval combat sim

[@Hudson316]

You're overstating the armour on the knight quite a bit, unless the guy who isn't unlocked yet has a heck of a lot more armour than the others, because the Conqueror and Warden are wearing plate chestpieces, knee protection, arm-guards and helms, probably with chainmail under that, then from the waist down other than the knee protection they're just wearing pants.

[@DoktorWeasel]

He addresses this in the video. He's not criticizing the game for historical inaccuracy, he's using it as jumping off point to talk about real history. The game made people question whether there actually was wooden armor, so he answered.

[@historywithhilbert]

This is fascinating stuff as always Metatron, great food for thought on a grey morning such as this. If I remember correctly some Native American peoples used wood at least in parts for their armour, for example the Nootka of the North West had elk skins riveted with wooden rows for strength, and I think wooden armour in pre-history would have been a real possibility. Thanks for making this interesting video!

[@CuppaLLX]

couldn't agree more

[@HeadsFullOfEyeballs]

We've also got evidence of wood and bone armour from Eurasia (all the way until modern times in the case of Siberia and the Russian Far East), so it was definitely a thing in metal-poor societies.

[@misterrioter3575]

And Tlingit peoples of southern Alaska had armor made of long slats of wood, bit like lamellar or splint armors. This armor even saw success against russian bullets iirc

[@georgemusa7980]

i realize it is kinda randomly asking but do anybody know a good website to stream new tv shows online ?

[@ehmjaye]

in the game story it says that the japanese were driven from their homeland into a land that is hot humid and swampy. There is an abundance of trees and not a ton of mountains so i'd imagine that they use wooden armor in the game out of necessity

[@julbot1]

This. The Samurai in-game live in a big swampy marshland. So their metal supply is low while wood is everywhere. It's why metal in general is fairly sparse in their equipment.

[@charlottewalnut3118]

@@julbot1 Guess thats why steel is currency

[@htoodoh5770]

Franz Schrodinger yep

[@adorablecenturion8436]

What about the Knights? Has Ubi mentioned how we've acquired so much steel?

[@RobertDecker417]

@@adorablecenturion8436 No, but it makes sense that with Valkenheim being sparse in resources that all metal deposits would be in Ashfeld

[@kavka3842]

The game's lore states that the samurai faction holds small territories and are starved of resources. That is probably why they go for wood. Also it gives each faction highly visually distinct designs, so why not.

[@CrystallizedBlackSkull]

Shatadhi Dutta Tbh atleast its better than fucking leather

[@steelinghades9655]

@@CrystallizedBlackSkull You know, I highly blame shadiversity for this but the whole, "Fucking leather" shot has to stop. Leather armour exsisted, It exsisted in all periods, that is that. We have armoury lists that include leather armour, we have surviving examples of leather armour from various periods, the buff coat in the Renaissance was leather armour and fairly popular. So, all in all, this stupidity needs to stop.

[@applepopapplerancher3211]

...so anyways, the knights and wu-lin were making fun of the neckbeards and weebs for the wood armour and bondage gear!

[@erickeism]

People are getting mad at incorrect uses of armor and i'm here, questioning myself where do the arrows come from in this game, i never saw a single archer, but still the trailers feature rains of arrows...

Erick Viana It's an ability to call in arrows as well. I assume you have elite squads of Invisible archers, but they don't like working very often:(

[@erickeism]

and that supports my theory: nobody cares about archers :/

[@alephkasai9384]

Wicker _ Maybe after they shoot the arrows they have to deal with the enemy infantry that got through

[@remryukcreepy]

I too think archers were done dirty but at the same time I'm not sure if they would be balanced in the combat and maps of For Honor

[@lordjub-jub5254]

They used all the arrows up in the trailer

[@jadovaoliaro]

Been up for 2 minutes and someone already hits dislike, haters gon hate!

[@SwitchFeathers]

Boy you sure showed him.

[@SwitchFeathers]

oh snap we got some sick burns here guys better call the fire department

[@orkhepaj]

Benerro Moquorro you craps dont deserve better

[@jadovaoliaro]

In other words, you dont have anything better....Because lets face it buddy, you took the time to reply ;)

[@xinfinity8532]

Zag Zagzag fuckface

[@yes-par2983]

if people is angry of that they should be a hell alot more angry about vikings armour (tho im not im completely fine with it)

[@yes-par2983]

but not quite the warlord he seems to ok Good but im not a Expert not even close

[@themightycaolf6549]

You spelled it wrong, it should be WERLERD!!!

[@xinfinity8532]

Samurai: Hey game developers can we have shields For Honor developer: Why Samurai: We are the only faction who doesnt have shields its unfair For Honor developer: Fine take this flat piece of junk wood and shut up Samurai: F**K

[@Xandros999]

The samurai faction's weapons actually come from Bloodborne, so of course they have katatanas and wooden shields!

[@xinfinity8532]

Xandros999 You get the joke do you :|

[@EggersMcBraiden]

As a gamer I really appriciate such videos because they connect my interests in a compelling way, especially if they battle misconceptions and stuff like that. I was asking this question myself, so I am glad you made a video about it!

[@MariusThePaladin]

People are so pissed about Samurai using wooden armor they wrote the the developpers, but nobody at all talk about naked giant fucking dude with two handed axe ?

[@BB-mp4hn]

MariusThePaladin in the game it says that the vikings believed that their death is already predetermined by fate so they dont need armor nor fear

[@Hoojahs]

Vikings used chain mail.

[@lordjub-jub5254]

MariusThePaladin usually you avoid talking about that guy whenever possible.

[@stupidburp]

Cloth padded armor was even more common than mail or combination of mail and padded. Early on a cloth tunic was even more common than any armor at all.

[@CoffeeSnep]

Stu Bur Yes and that would make since for the minions to wear, but the players play as the heroes, the best of the best, the Champions of their people. So they should have the best armor of their respective civilizations.

[@saromon1989]

3 people liked you so much, that they turned their monitor upside-down and give you another thumb up! :D

[@SaLvaZone1337]

If we can't really find any wooden armour in earlier times and we don't find any wooden armour pieces in later centuries. Why would there be no wooden shoulder plates for example? Isn't wood in particular effective against arrows ? A Professor of mine likes to use a phrase I like to use here: "The absence of evidence isn't the evidence of absence".

[@Sheol02]

SaLvaZone1337 We CAN and we DO wind wooden armor. I's just that findings are rare. Than we base our ideas on treatises, drowning s, hysterical documents etc. Your teacher is right. Samurai obviously road into battles on dragon s on unicorns.

[@xinfinity8532]

Samurai: Hey game developers can we have shields For Honor developer: Why Samurai: We are the only faction who doesnt have shields its unfair For Honor developer: Fine take this flat piece of junk wood and shut up Samurai: F**K

[@vanlao6367]

finding of the woodern armor are rare because of many reasons. Here are some in my personal view: Wooden armor doesn't have good re usability, once it was bent or broken, the armor become useless, or just bonfire. Metal armor can be fixed by heating them up and re shape them with hammer, so economically, they are better choice for wooden armor. Wooden armor are more vulnerable to the environment than metal armor because of the material that made them. The wood degrade quickly through times, especially if it get into contact with rain or long exposure to the sun. Metal can last for way longer, nowaday you can find piece of armor made from metal, but the wooden ones are already become dust. Wooden armor are cumbersome, in term of its size, you need a thick piece of wood to make it a good piece of armor, while a thinner plate of metal can offer the same protection. Using metal armor = fewer place for your enemy to grab on and pin you down.

[@xinfinity8532]

van lao Is it historically accurate to make a samurai armor breastplate from leather

[@vanlao6367]

+X Infinity purely from leather ? highly unlikely, since leather armor are good against stabbing blow, but not against cutting strike, so they'll be less useful in Japan where katana, naginata and spear dominate the battlefield ( yes, japanese spear allow you to cut your opponent, not just stabbing). One way or another, leather armor is good when you need minor protection in not - so - important part of the body, or act as the final layer of protection when the metal armor fail to do its job. But Japanese don't have much use for leather armor due to another reason : they don't have big game to hunt or big farm to raise animal for leather, because of their geography as sea islands. The Japanese has another piece of clothe worn beneath their armor, something like a gamberson to protect them, so you can look at it as " alternative leather armor "

[@Evirthewarrior]

People use steel plates today, I have AR500 Steel plates in my plate carrier, so technically it would be plate armor.

[@Xhaleon]

The concept has remained exactly the same. Ballistic vests are the equivalent of cloth or mail forms of protection with the few attached heavy duty plates covering only the most vital areas and angles, as with transitional forms of European armor designs between pure mail and full plate. Plates that can defend against modern projectiles are both too heavy and bulky for total coverage of the body, which is a bit of a different problem than the one faced by medieval engineers. But as the development of powered exoskeletons continue the solution for our unique issue edges closer and closer, and once it is done we will have come full circle in the race between arms and armor.

[@Sheol02]

Xhaleon Warhammer 40k era is about to come.

[@LeohTheArcher]

Sheol_IK And we already have the God-Emperor sitting on the American throne.

[@RafaAelM]

For the emperor!

[@arx3516]

and the US military is working on the Talos project, wich is basically power armor, so yeah, we come full circle,

[@KingcraftGamerplayer]

The game's lore seems to say something about the Samurai's being driven out of their homeland, the Knights seems to be the original owner of most of the obtainable areas, and the Vikings live in the Icey place that nobody really wants. So it would make sense that the Knights would have more productive mines, while the Vikings hunt to both feed themselves and make their leather armor, the Samurais don't seems to have a good mining system so they can only extract metal enough for their weapons, so they make their armor out of wood because Samurais are vegan (Am i right?)

[@slothenthusiast5422]

Brace yourselfs... the "historians" are coming

[@RandomAllen]

***** "iz truez trust me, I a historianaian and ive gotthe factz jackz to make your slacks pack."

[@RandomAllen]

i nEed to take a poop.

[@RandomAllen]

***** WEEBOOOFACE BLACK GUY!

[@RandomAllen]

Aw, this little delve into insanity has been fun...sad enough, all those comments I've actually seen other places.

[@Ag-dj9cp]

Better than stupid uneducated beggars like you.

[@fularas]

i really love how you clarify historical misunderstandings

[@pauliusruginis5264]

Yo dude, I just watched the game theories vid about for honor, and correct me if I am wrong, but it seems that Mat Pat got a lot of armor stuff wrong. If that's the case, could we get some corrections please?

[@Shindai]

I've always wanted to see how samurai armour is put on and taken off with all the multiple bits and such. Could you do a video about that? I'd be most grateful :)

[@pungivergiverofpuns3611]

Daniel Gould he has one up already :)

[@Shindai]

Ah he does? Sweet, I've only recently subscribed so not gone through all the vids yet, I had a feeling he might. Thanks for being helpful instead of swearing at me ^_^

[@archangelstyx7828]

Am I the only one that looks at For Honor as a fun fantasy dueling game with no historical accuracy considering the 3 factions live within like 500 miles of eachother?

[@Eeter26]

Archangel Styx BUT THE L E A T H E R A R M O R

[@brads4510]

Nah, me too. This video is completely pointless because that’s exactly what For Honor is; a fun fantasy game all about the dueling. It never tries or claims to be historically accurate. No one would buy the game if the armour and weapons were shitty, boring and realistic.

[@shuvanispiritualsoldier8173]

@@brads4510 yeah Ik even if it was a bit more realistic the climate of the world changed in for honour basically making historical crap not matter as much, that’s like complaining about the Norse in Skyrim wearing unique clothing. That’s like saying the M1 Garand was not used because it wasn’t the most effective and people only like it for the ping. Army’s use useless stuff sometimes everyone’s not going to have kite shields and cross bows.

[@recz5528]

You knowledge is amazing. I'm just a scrub looking for some for honor kensei content, and I saw this video, 12 mins in the video I'm still listening with much interest. The way you talk about it makes it even more interesting. Great video!

[@luciansilver4113]

That's a very legitimate reason to say that due to limited resources, the Samurai opted to prioritize building weapons with iron and armor with wood; considering that the lore in For Honor kinda mentioned that all 3 factions fought for those resources for hundreds of years.

[@joehill4094]

i thought it was a design choice to better differentiate from knights more.

[@Hudson316]

Also for the fancy carvings you can get done on the plates

[@103035icle]

James Austin oh you can carve metal armor. you can see such on 4000 year old armor.

[@TheTank1900]

It's interesting, because in my local art museum there is a set of (I'm almost certain reconstructed) ceremonial wooden armor that looks not entirely dissimilar from the game's Kensei. Also, I believe some of this discrepancy might reveal itself within the game, as this game is not set in real life (obviously). From having seen the "campaign map" I notice several interesting geological features: It appears that the starting Samurai domain is made up pejoratively of forested hills, which would mean a lot of wood but perhaps not as much metal, leading to their saving precious metal for weaponry. The Vikings live in what seems to be a frozen wasteland which would imply not many natural resources, perhaps some more metal, but the most abundant resource would probably be game like elk, and perhaps some more metal than the Samurai, but the terrain doesn't seem to suggest it, leading to a more leather (with some metal) focused armor set, while again leaving most of the metal to be used in tools and weapons. The Knights, on the other hand, seem to be in an almost Savanna hills area, which generally tend to be more metal rich, meaning that they can afford to use metal everywhere, while the other factions have had to adapt to their relative resource shortage to survive, thus leading to the relative balance seen today despite what appears to be a huge advantage for the knights. I am by no means an expert, but that's just what it seems like to me.

[@BakaSmurf]

In For Honour the Samurai have to reserve what little iron they have for weapons, as in the lore they are VERY poor in resources. The Knights wear plate because they're comparatively resource-rich and can afford to produce metal armour. Simple as that.

[@arx3516]

the best answer!

[@lenahatz8719]

The most dump thing i've ever seen on youtube comments

[@kurodo9926]

@@lenahatz8719 why you think that?

[@powerist209]

Civil war? I mean the first level involved the lord being sieged for disobedience. And Legion also tends to war amongst themselves along with dealing with Vikings and Samurai land not being wealthy enough to prioritize (being swamps and all).

[@SenatorMorbstrong]

That lore is so stupid. They could have just given us metal. YES i know this comment is 3 years old.

[@Velkan1396]

7:52 If we follow de Lore of the game, they don't have the necessary amounts of materials to make the armor with metal. That's it.

[@Jusidaking12]

Yes I waited for this. Pls talk about the knight too.

[@AVGyerra22]

The warden, and conqueror's chest could probably be gambeson (but the warden's chest is clearly gambeson), though I'm entirely not sure about conqueror. Perhaps chainmail underneath? As for the lawbringer, his legs would most likely be gambeson aswell however I'm not sure (they look more like jeans instead of gambeson) but if you say it's "completely" I'd have to correct you since the poleaxe is long enough to guard the legs by simply blocking/parrying the attack with the handle itself.

[@AVGyerra22]

The peacekeeper, Idk tbh, she seems like she wears leather? perhaps gambeson? or she could be wearing chainmail underneath (similar to the conqueror)

[@lightningandodinify]

Logically speaking, I would expect every human culture to have employed wooden armour if at least ad hoc during various situations. The sheer accessibility of wood and the speed of processing it makes it generally useful for tools in general. The main problem I can see with wood (besides being organic) is that it would never be repaired and instead replaced (and possibly often). This means that people likely did not value any particular wooden tool because they treated it as a sort of consumable. In this sense, it is similar to stone tools. But of course, wood is much lighter than stone and can provide tools with unique advantages. For example, a wooden hammer can have much greater surface area than a metal or stone hammer of equivalent mass. And depending on whivh shape you take from wood, its compression strength can be enormous. Certainly enough to withstand any sword cut and perhaps even thrusts. And if the logic of European shields apply, then wooden armour can be used to disarm opponents if their sword gets stuck on it. Wood and bronze are very underrated materials in fantasy fiction in my opinion.

[@ericmotta1]

Female Kensei and male Warden are the most aesthetic characters in the game imo, even with starter gear. That Nodachi is just beautiful and it's way larger then a real sword but these characters are also tall af.

[@remingtonsloan8331]

You've gotten so much better at your presentation. This video was fantastic. Keep doing what you're doing!

[@joehill4094]

have you ever thought of doing a video on oda nobunaga?

[@juandominguezmurray7327]

just watch Drifters ;)

[@19Koty96]

Hmm, he might do a video concerning both... I'd be all hands for it.

[@MrRayWolf]

okay, this is a highly informative video. This is what we came for. This is why we stay! minor tipp: You should work on creating more 'formats' for your videos, you are already working in this direction, just call it 'format' and detail it al bit more with separate looks, content and feels. best regards and keep it up, your progress in video editing and experimenting with this media is astonishing! Aou even eveolving as an actor kind of.^^

[@sigspearthumb3904]

This was very informative, I never knew there was wooden armor in 日本. Thanks Metatron!

[@kenji02481]

I like the fact that The Samurai faction wears wooden armor in the style of Samurai armor because it fits their backstory. They are the remnants of a great empire after a civil war and now mostly live in really inhospitable swampy forests in absolutely tiny numbers. Every Samurai map is as much an Elf Village as it is a castle or temple, with some of their buildings literally being tree houses.

[@Fishhunter2014]

Speaking of Samurai, are you pumped for the new season of Samurai Jack?

[@romulusnuma116]

Aren't we all?

[@Rakschas666]

Hey Metatron, perhaps there is a much simpler much more mundane reason for the appearance of wooden armor in "For Honor". The reason I'm thinking of is an upgrade and leveling system centered around unlockable prestige items. Perhaps there is a visible improvement of materials the more upgrades you unlock and the higher quality of gear you unlock. What supports this thesis is that upgrades to the Knights (especially the Warden) gear show different shapes and coloring in the metal, as well as different types of brigandines and so on. Nice video, keep up the good work!

[@darcksage1]

Hi Metatron! Hope you have a great day!

[@ghost_jakbo9414]

My theory on the "wooden" armor in the game is *maybe* later when you are leveling up, gain notoriety (the leveling system is called "renown" in the multiplayer...which sounds like how highly your faction thinks of you) and start earning "high end" gear, you'll start seeing more metal. Maybe from a lore perspective as you said, they don't want to use precious resources on some low level or unknown warrior, but once you prove yourself as a valuable asset, the better gear would be given to you. Personally I haven't seen any high end samurai faction gear in the game yet, and this is all just my theory on the subject. I'm pretty sure the opening cinematic for the game shows a massive earthquake, ruining the land and making resources scarce, prompting the war. The basis for that is when the viking is drinking from the watering hole and the samurai attacks him. Again, just my theory. Good video!

[@Arkantos117]

'Fantasy' is no excuse for a lack of logic in design.

[@elperronimo]

yes it is, what are you on about lad

[@kjellizar]

I have been curious about this for a while: why do samurai helmets have moustaches?

[@themightycaolf6549]

Decoration. Simplest answer. Some European helmets actually had metal mustaches.

[@orkhepaj]

To make it stylish

[@lucanic4328]

Mikael Kjellgren To have a fierce, imposing and "veteran" look. That's the most common mask you see, however there are many tipes, like ressei mempo, kitsune mempo etc. Facial hair were common in mask for that reason

[@alessandronavone6731]

Because everyone loves moustaches.

[@LeohTheArcher]

Mikael Kjellgren Bitches love a big old moustacho

[@aboodhemedi236]

can someone give me the link to the samurai video because I didn't find it in the description

[@metatronyt]

I added it now, 4 links at the end of the video, and one link in the description

[@aboodhemedi236]

Metatron thanks

[@briancline7349]

Wood can be harder than you might think depending on the type... I had a Persimmon Tree in my backyard I had to cut down with a chainsaw and that thing was hard, it wasn’t even one of those super thick huge hardwoods but it still made the chainsaw struggle and took longer than you would think to cut all the way through it.

[@RexusprimeIX]

Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets, but I don't see people going apeshit about that. It looks cool when Vikings have horns, and it looks cool when samurai use katanas and have wooden armour. It's not supposed to be historically accurate, get over it!

[@disasterman52]

I have a friend who claims Norwegian ancestry who is absolutely livid over the horns, yet he believes in shirtless berserkers cutting down dozens of men while ignoring repeated mortal wounds as a historical fact.

[@RexusprimeIX]

disasterman52 Well, large amount of adrenaline can make you be able to tolerate pain.

[@fullyverified7491]

RexusprimeIX You're not wrong. Edit: spelling.

[@RexusprimeIX]

Fullyverified You know, since you're being nice to me. I'll ignore your grammar.

[@fullyverified7491]

i fixed it.

[@UnknownUser-ty5yj]

I absolutely love your videos. To me, they are very informational.

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

Maybe they're wearing armoire? (wooden cabinets)

[@KillerandUndertaker]

Samurai is my favorite faction specifically the Orochi with I think is the worst of the faction due to its lack of mixups. Great video, I like you channel so I posted this on the For Honore Reddit. I hope you don't mind.

[@TheSchuetzeP]

Please, Metatron, Leader of the Exodus, never stop making videos. Never, you hear me?

[@lucanic4328]

Metatron, nice video! I do agree that they should have used rawhide at least; nerigawa is actually as hard as tetsu: I was skeptical about this but I've changed my mind after talking with Dave Tatcher. And sorry to be that guy, but actually itamono and kiritsuke zane were used 60-70 years before the arrival of the portuguese. And rawhide was still used by lower ranking soldiers/old soldiers; however, is kinda silly but again from Mr. Tatcher, his heaviest gusoku is made of nerigawa ;) Glad you have mentioned Mr. Bryant. He was a nice man, his website is still a must check for samurai armor content.

[@Psycorde]

There's such a thing as stylistic choice. That's what it is.

[@maxgm1424]

Really cool video. I have a theory about the wooden armor : -The knights lives in mountains, where, i think there is a lot of mines and iron, so producing plates armor is "easy" . -The viking are the stereotype of the viking so, there is leather, and mail armor. -Finally, i share your opinion about the lack of material. The samurai lives in a big swamp. The only material available in large quantities is wood. They keep the metal for sword (unless you're in minecraft, fighting a plate armorwith a wooden sword is complicated ^^'). And to finish, i think that is a game design choice so the factions are easily recognisable. The game play with our "sterotypes" and don't want to be historicly accurate. When i think of knights, i think of plates armor and big sword, when i think of vikings i think of leather armor, axe and half naked man running in the snow... and when i think of samurai, i think of an agile warrior cutting bamboo. Sorry for the long post and my english (not my native language) and I remind you that this is only my opinion :) really cool chanel tho

[@FocusedCat]

If you check the details of the armor on the character customization screen of thr Samurai, it is described that they are wearing layered steel plating.

[@DigGil3]

I find it curious the Japanese metal armour to be made to defeat arquebus. I'd think that any firearm could defeat metal plate. At what point is that true?

[@metatronyt]

Tameshi gusoku (literally tested armours) were tested by shooting at them with tanegashima and they were made to resist the fire from those weapons, 100%. We can still see examples of these tameshi gusoku were you can see the little dent made by the arquebus balls in them, which at the time was a proof of the armour quality. So 100%, it's a fact.

[@Zooasaurus]

The Europeans also have armours that are purposefully made to resist bullet, and again, they're also tested by shooting a musket in some distance at them

[@MRKapcer13]

Steel armour was very effective against firearms probably until the introduction of bullets. +Metatron said that in Japan armour was proofed against firearms, but that was also very much the case across the entirety of Europe. In Poland, for instance, if a Hussar's cuirass couldn't withstand a shot from a pistol from the distance of 5 steps it was deemed inadequate. It is inaccurate to say that plate armour faded away with the introduction of firearms, especially when you consider that even through Napoleonic era cuirassiers were used and were very effective. Changes in doctrine are mostly the reason for the fading away of the heavy cavalry and, as a direct result, full plate harness. The west adopted pike and shot, which was very effective against heavy cavalry formations (aside from the Polish heavy winged hussars, who were basically formed to be shock cavalry). A rifle can easily kill your horse and can, on rare occasions, hurt you despite your plate armour. Ultimately though the fading of full plate harness is likely due to simple economics. As the power moved from aristocracy into guilds and cities, fielding heavy units became very expensive. If you can field fifty pikemen and fifty musketeers for the price of 10 cavalrymen I think the choice is rather obvious. In Poland the Winged Hussars and Armoured Cavalry (Kawaleria Pancerna) remained popular because the nobility remained the most important economic power in the country, and that means that noblemen can afford their own armours and so heavy cavalry remained popular.

[@Lintary]

This here is simply a case of energy and distribution of energy. Early firearms firing the musket balls for example have a rather large projectile moving at a rather slow speed and upon impact it had a large surface area making contact so the energy of such a shot really was not that high and some plate armour could easily stop it. Same can be seen in modern firearms, where an .45 ACP or 9mm parabellum might not pierce a piece of armour, the much smaller, but much faster 5.7x28 will go clean through no issue because the speed and smaller impact era and following diameter of the projectile makes it ideal for piercing things. In fact steel plate armour was used even in WW1 by some soldiers, so yeah firearms really did not render plate obsolete for a long time. It was really the advances with more powerful propellants and better rifle and projectile designs that plate armour just was no longer useful because of the weight needed to stop a projectile.

[@Riceball01]

In both Europe and Japan armorsmiths would shoot at their armor with a gun leaving a small dent in it as proof that it can indeed stop gunfire. In fact, this is where we get the term bulletproof from, the dent being the armorsmith's proof mark that his armor will indeed stop a bullet.

[@henrybecerra1353]

Is the samurai faction, not the Japanese faction, other wards the knights would be the European faction and it would have gladiators and hoplites, the viking faction would be the Scandinavian faction and it would have Swedish knights

[@arx3516]

swedish knights had armor and weapons similar to the knights from the rest of Europe. And indeed, actual vikings weren't that different in weapons and armor from knights of continental europe, what we call "viking sword" was just the most common sword design in Europe at that time, there are findings of these "viking swords" all over europe, germany, france, spain, italy... and they wore mail, just like any other warrior back then. I mean look at a picture of a late roman empire legionaire and that of an historically accurate viking, you'll notice that their equipment is basically the same, the sword, the spear, the armor!

[@tysej4]

"Viking swords" tended to just be standard arming swords with a thicker blade... Really nothing that special about it.

[@stip3m4m1c8]

Henry Becerra no they were frankish type of sword that is direct successor to the roman spatha it is basically frankish sword with norse hilt and handguard

[@tysej4]

True but that changes during the period of time the game is set in... If we want to have knights as well that is.

[@astroaquanaut5497]

Like your vids.. I know you are more geared towards historical armor etc, however it would be cool if one day you did an assessment of modern armor and the different technologies.. Steel, Ceramic, Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, Kevlar(Soft armor) and now these "nano" graphene/Nanocellulose(Soft Armor). Then the different plate carriers PIG, LBT, ShellBack, PhalanxSystems(Various Armors and Modern Shields, check it out good stuff, I really like their Ballistic Shields) and different rigs that different militarizes use and maybe how that compares culturally to historical armor from those nations.. Thought it would be a cool idea... Just wanted to mention it... I run a PIG+Steel Plates+Camel Back for my rig plus all the molle etc etc... It would be neat in my opinion to get a historical perspective and cultural contrast of various kinds of modern armor and historical armor kinda like an evolution of armor... We still wear armor today, and use shields :) Keep up the good work, and I love it when you do architecture, language and cultural stuff like the cathedral etc...

[@orkhepaj]

He just shot me at the end :O

[@runawaygt5651]

I've been watching your videos for a while now and I got to say that you have a verry intresting and unique channel. I really like it. Keep up the good work

[@intuitivewords472]

Roman soliders and ottomans would be a really cool addition in For Honor

[@themightycaolf6549]

Be better than the goddamned shirtless vikings. Also oh my god middle eastern warriors would be amazballs.

[@intuitivewords472]

😂 Agreed

[@Altarahhn]

Peyton Spain OK, Romans might be a bit of a stretch even for this game, but the Ottomans would be really cool, honestly! Although, knowing Ubisoft, they'll instead (probably) go with an archetypal "Saracen"/"Arabian"/"Islamic" faction that is an amalgamation of multiple Middle Eastern ethic and cultural groups meant to resemble the common perception of the medieval Middle East as a whole... or an ACTUAL Ottoman faction, who knows! P.S. the former seems more likely in this case, honestly. Not necessarily a bad thing if done right (plus based on the game's lore it COULD make sense) but still, just saying.

[@crozraven]

I prefer the Chinese warriors, they'd so much wars and warfare technology. then again the devs might ignorantly make them look like samurai.

[@katrinegadegaard1241]

I'm just saying if they add a "Saracen"/"Arabian"/"Islamic" faction then it won't be long before the game is flooded by obnoxious ISIS wannabe kids who just can't wait to decap some virtual infidels. No plz!

[@martinmucha4858]

Fine Video. Could you take a look at the armours and wepons used in NIOH, forthcoming game with a sedoku period setting and give us a similiar video?

[@BennysGamingAttic]

Did anyone see GameTheory's terrible For Honor video? I'm interested in what you guys think

[@vvheatz]

Game Theories are cancer.

[@kamikaze00007]

Hi, Metatron. I just wanted to say I like your videos and am really enlightened by your reasoning and explanations based on common sense (on historical period-specific points of view) backed up by actual documentations. Also, I wanted to ask if you could please do a video about Kunoichi or the more popularized term used female shinobi. There aren't that many actual in-depth videos that give them factual form (like how the term Kunoichi came to be. I heard it referred to a "number" pertaining the female body.). I would be really interested to learn what you know about them.

[@juliahenriques210]

Ok! Ok! Thumbs up! See? Thumbs up! Easy. Easy. Thumbs up. :) Now, next time you do a video on Japanese history, please do it in Japanese with subtitles. ;)

[@matthewmuir8884]

Great video! It's interesting to learn that wooden armour did exist in Japan. In the case of For Honor, lack of resources is probably the explanation they were going for in the game's setting. In the story mode, when one gets to see the land the samurai live in, a huge amount of it is swamp and marsh, and they even say in the story mode that the samurai basically had to settle in land that was considered undesirable by the other two factions.

[@elperronimo]

Metatron can you do a video about the Bogdanoffs that rule Europe?

[@Ty-v6v-c4r]

omg , the channel I've been looking for after years of searching

[@forestelfranger]

Find out next week, same bat time same bat channel.

[@kand198]

This isn't the WAN show Linus, you're drunk.

[@JKurayami]

Your armor looks awesome. Quite imposing all together like that.

[@Jadee95]

sorta not related to the video BUT, Vikings won beta , the gods shall rain eternal glory upon us.

[@biohazard724]

Really? When I was watching steams it seemed like the Vikings were always struggling to regain lost ground.

[@Meltdownlv100]

biohazard724 check it on Ubisoft for honor beta page. Vikings steamrolled everyone

[@gakulon]

biohazard724 I'm sorry, don't you mean the Knights? We got fucked in the ass in regards to territory.

[@Jadee95]

yeah vikings won the territory war thing. and i think knights were second?

[@tyraz3802]

Ubisoft said Knights won with 25 territories lol. can imagine alot going for the in live due to lawbringer

[@sloppyjoe566]

Just some editing advice: Lighting's a tad too much, maybe turn it down a notch Additionally the closeup shots seem odd and out of place Other than this stuff your pretty great! 👍

[@AdamIsailovic]

Very nice videos. As a concept artist, it is very valuable information. Thanks for sharing knowledge! :)

[@TheMarxistLorax]

Wow the like:dislike ratio is insanely good! Nice job Metatron!

[@Stefan0larsson]

Ok you get a subscribe now, i have been looking at your videos long enough with out subscribing. Good content !

[@curleyjoe666]

Hi there Metattron, I was wondering if it was possible if you could make a video on the role of spirituality in the age of the Samurai, both to the Samurai themselves as well as others like the Ikko Ikki.

[@Dodovacer]

such beautiful armor. great video. Just realized its even with Takeda insignia :D

[@maximilianschmidt4142]

You said that Wikipedia lists iron as the material for Tanko and Keiko armour. My question to you is where you draw the line between iron and steel (regarding the carbon content, I also have a video in mind where you talk about european armour and both iron and steel as the marterial used)

[@robertfaucher3750]

Hey Metatron! I came into this video thinking you would have brought up Ainu wooden and bark armour, considering they are the indigenous people of Hokkaido (and are associated with the Japanese) The Ainu aren't often talked about, and I think it'd be awesome if you did.

[@spaghettimkay5795]

Hey metatron, have you thought about making a video or few about the sengoku jidai from the point of view of either specific clan leader/general or a common soldier during a sengoku battle or siege?

[@stupidburp]

I saw numerous examples of armor museum pieces in Japan that included wooden pieces. When I talked to Japanese armorers making reproductions of period armor they confirmed that wood was often used. They showed me some examples of reproductions that they believed to be accurate and let me hold and wear some of them. The wood was shaped and lacquered to be quite hard. Obviously not as hard as steel but comparable to boiled hide and sufficient to provide considerable protection. With many small overlapping pieces tied together a broken piece would leave only a small gap and could be replaced without much expense. Wooden lacquer work was common and there were many craftsmen available. Iron, steel, leather, and hide were used but there were reasons to seek alternative materials. Part of this has to do with scarcity and we have to consider both localized scarcity within Japan as well as restrictions on trade and movement. Another factor was religious as the use of (and much more so the creation of) leather goods was seen as contributing to spiritual impurity. For pragmatic reasons a warrior would still use leather when necessary but there were some who took the taboo seriously enough to shun leather whenever practical to do so. Those craftsman who worked with leather were thought to be spiritually unclean and had one of the lowest social positions.

[@bigfootsfavorite5628]

Hey man, loved the video I just gotta make sure you know dryfiring is bad for the rifle, though I did like what you did there.

[@NatsuKashi00]

In a future video, can you please talk about the Orochi class in the game and Samurai who had ninja training in history?

[@crunkers_]

Metatron, Are you ever going to do another choose-your-own video series on a hypothetical matchup between historical warriors done right, like in your Samurai vs. Ninja video? They may not be the most popular but I really enjoyed the martial arts in those videos and the history. Being that there are various types of knights, pirates and various other historical warriors out there: would you consider doing something similar again? I don't know, don't do something you don't want to do. With respect, -Crunk

[@sharkfinbite]

I got a question. Was there ever an unique shield samurai used where they had a equipment they attached around their for arm and wrist, on one arm, where they could use it to sometimes deflect attacks if they really had to? While at the same time this attire allowed both their hands still be on the blade? I ask this because I think I recall seeing this in an old anime and I just wanted to fact check it.

[@evanulven8249]

The idea that the Dawn Empire was short on ore does make an amount of sense. Also, it's primarily a swampy jungle hellscape riddled with sinkholes and threaded by muddy rivers. Wood, in addition to being much cheaper than metal, is at least somewhat buoyant, so if an expensively trained Samurai were to fall off a boat (or get thrown off a bridge by a viking raider) he might have enough time to dump his armor and swim to safety. Knights in the same situation would pretty much be screwed. After all, the swords are important, and the Samurai is even more important. Armor is, by it's very nature, expendable. Also, while wood is in no way in iron or steel's league for protective value, it's still plenty hard. And there's even species of trees that yield *extremely* tough wood products. With proper treatment and tempering, one could certainly make a decent set of hardwood armor with passable protective quality.

[@AkaiRounin333]

I would love to see a video discussing the different types and materials used in samurai armor!

[@Distracted]

Thank you for saying "suffice to say." A lot of people say "suffice it to say," which is incorrect.

[@SantiAsen]

Metatron I don't know if you have done it before, but maybe you can do a "must do" video if you visits Italy. I'm from Spain and I only went to Italy one, but I would like to go another time and maybe you can give some recommendations on what to visit, eat, do...

[@pr0phecye]

I like listening to your explanations metatron. They display your refreshing analytic and intelligent mind. i like xD

[@sami300war]

I am new to your channel and i already love what your bringing out and i do agree what you say in the video. Now the open beta is out and what i could see is that the Samurai faction just dont have the materials to make metal armour since their territory is purely forests.

[@Observer29830]

What's that moustache on your helmet?

[@gg2fan]

How do you decide when to zoom and unzoom on yourself talking? It seems really random but for some reason the rhythm of it works really well. Also this armor is gorgeous. It'd look awesome with a nice gold and black jinbaori.

[@nathanielmaxner8884]

Hey Raph quick question: Is there such thing as a horse gambeson? I know that in the medieval times horses wore things made of cloth and later they wore plate, but is there any evidence for a horse to wear padded armour? I think that this would have been a good idea, and I reckon you could get much more padding on a horse that would make it even more effective.

[@Osmann45]

Did you make that armor holder yourself or did you buy it? its a really cool and simple design

[@andreashauschild7757]

I can imagine that leather armor braced in certain sections with smaller wooden plates would give some more resistance to impact and slash. Woold planks could disperse some of the impact over a larger area and reduce the overall damage, where wood would reduce the slashing effect. It would not be very durable I Imagine, but leather, in combination with wood/bone/stone could be somewhat effective for shorter engagements.

[@christopheresquire947]

what are those loops for above the crest on your armour? were they for something, or just decorations?

[@kenninast]

Aaaaah, Anthony J. Bryant! Now *THAT* was an expert! VERY good and valid reference! Too bad he passed away on Christmas day 2013... I already cringed a bit when I heard Anthony, fearing you'd continue again with "Cummins". :D

[@Azeez89]

Metatron!! I want videos about the Hashashin!!!!! did they have any reach/influence in Europe?

[@glennglock5592]

If you look just above the feet of the kensei, you can see that chainmail (supposedly kusari gusoku, not sure if i spelled that right) is sticking out. Perhaps leaving the idea that they had chainmail armor beneath the wooden armor to add some extra resistance against sword blows.

[@drachenlied85yt53]

just think of it: Wooden Armor makes sense in every way! First it's an easy to harvest and process material, so if you go for a large army in a short amount of time, this would be the armor material to use. Second: it's lightweight compared to iron or steel. it even helps you crossing lakes or rivers with it's floating properties. Third: Depending on the wood used and the threatment and crafting technics applied to it, it can even shield you from weapons meant for piercing like spears or arrowheads to some extend. But even without much processing on it, it can protect you from cuts (not the chopping of an axe) quite well and will dull the blades trying to cut you.

[@artsamurai1188]

Can you make a video on samurai chain-mail? great video keep it up!

[@TheCollector42]

Hello Metatron on the topic of For Honor I'm curious if Kensei really means Sword Saint in Japanese ? Great video as always :)