Correction, Asajj and Grievous were trained by DOOKU. You know, one of the few Jedi that specialised in the Form that actually focused on lightsabre duelling. I love how you ignore that really important detail.
Sing spent only a short time with the Jedi. Most of her combat training came from the Anzati, who are known to use bladed weapons. She herself commented that the Anzati taught her the really good stuff (although that was probably just a jibe)
Wrong.
Qui-Gon was trained by Dooku, again a guy who had a duelling focus. Plus he had experience fighting a lightsabre-wielder and a lot of general combat experience. He was able to adapt his style to use in a duel, much like how Finn was able to adapt his weapon training to use a lightsabre passably.
Despite all that he barely got away with his life and was completely exhausted after a quick skirmish. Not exactly a fantastic showing.
Not really. Maul's weapon is a huge target. Given an opening a chimpanzee with a rock could break it.
The point is they use the lightsabre as their main weapon so they can deflect blaster bolts, something lightsabres are really good for. That's their focus, that's what they really excel at, not fighting other guys with sword-type weapons.
That's the problem, however, because we have accolades that state certain characters are incredible duelists. Not just for their time but in general. Not to mention many of the same flaws in the way characters fight in the prequels are present in the SWTOR trailers as well. Personally, while it might not make complete sense, I don't think the writers intended for the prequel era to have "less skilled" fighters or anything of such.
I'm of the opinion most eras are pretty comparable as a whole. In fact there's an angle that isn't considered. While many characters in the prequel era haven't fought a lightsaber wielding opponent, sparring is still a major part of the curriculum as is facing holo recordings of ancient sith that are meant to simulate those scenarios.
Why is this relevant? While I understand practical application, as well as life and death duels, can't fully be simulated in a training scenario there is another factor to look at: During a time of war, with more lightsaber wielding opponents, with deadlier opponents in general the average life expectancy would be much lower. This means the amount of training a Jedi would have would be a lot lower as masters won't last as long.
In the prequel era you have Jedi who make it to their 70's and 80's who are still practicing. Giving them more time to refine their art. I think this is why you can have people like Dooku, Yoda, Obi Wan, etc. It balances out. Plus from a real life perspective? Sparring is actually rather useful. In a sense, even mixed martial artists are sparring. No bout is to the death and I'm sure many of those professional fighters can take soldiers in hand to hand combat who have fought and even killed despite not taking a life themselves.
Likewise, if I existed back in the day and faced someone who, after two years of training was forced to kill someone in battle, just because he was forced to kill someone and has fought people doesn't mean he's going to beat someone in the modern era who has access to the same sword style and has been at it for 10-16 years. There's just other factors that can add into the consideration. Not to mention that techniques, logically, would improve over time. Especially since as Yoda himself admitted he was training the Jedi for the Sith's return. He expected it. He knew it was going to happen.
So finally I want to add one last thing to this big long post:
You brought up how scores of Jedi fall to Ventress, Grievous, etc. Well, not much changes in the old republic era. It's well known, even in the old republic, being trained under a powerful Sith IS an accolade in and of itself. Nameless jedi masters with nameless students are going to be butchered by the likes of Thanaton. Ventress is the student of Dooku. As is Grievous. Dooku only being rivaled by a select few from his era. It's no brainer that his students alone are going to stand head and shoulders above most of the other people in his era. Just as Valkorion's children, by virtue of being his children, are steamrolling the old republic.
Let's not forget that most of the Jedi who died in Geonosis were Niman practitioners. The favored style of diplomats but also the style of Exar Kun, one of the greatest Sith. You can name a style that is "poor" for fighting other "Blade wielders." I can probably find a character who utilizes the style to good effect.
Last edited by Chosen_Sith on Jul 7th, 2016 at 02:41 AM
Jul 7th, 2016 12:45 AM
