I always saw Ilberd and Raubahn as more Spellblade than anything else. Especially Ilberd with that Shockwave created by friction.
Printable View
I feel that Raubahn should pick up his severed arm (where ever it is) and beat Ilberd to death with it.
If you're referring to that 'fire' attack he used during the banquet in 2.55, that was actually Red Lotus, an old GLA weaponskill from version 1.0 that ended up... being cut out of ARR sadly. But then NPCs always have done things that players are completely incapable of actually doing during actual gameplay. *sighs sadly and wishes she had Red Lotus still*
Not necessarily. Raubahn was hit with a clean (damn near surgical) cut. It would have taken some serious physical therapy, but with adequate dedication it wouldn't be surprising to see a man like that bounce back. Fighting was his life, after all. For all we know, he could very well have trained in several different disciplines of swordplay before settling on a two handed style. So, the foundation for his current style may have very well been present from the start, making the adjustment a little easier on him.
The real problem is time. Habits are deeply rooted in our brains. No matter how dedicated or talented a fighter/athlete, it takes time to rehabilitate and break certain habits (such as using your left arm, or stump in his case, to guard or strike). The thing is, we don't know exactly how much time has passed since his arm was severed. We have no real way to measure how long he was imprisoned (nor what he did while he was in prison, for that matter). We don't know how long he was on the run after we busted him out (especially curious, because he seemed to go through a remarkable recovery by the time we revive the sultana). We also don't know how much time has passed between the Sultana's revival to the melee. This could have all happened over the course of a couple of weeks, and Raubahn just shrugged off his injury (requiring us to suspend a huge amount of disbelief), or it could have happened over several long and painful months of physiotherapy (which was likely aided by lord knows what kinds of magic and mystical whatnots).
Personally, given his performance at the melee, I would be more inclined to think it's the later, simply because it's at least slightly more believable. He did admit, as well, that he was not in his top form, which leads us to believe that he might not have fully grown accustomed to one handed swordplay just yet (still in recovery, as it were). I'm still suspending some disbelief, mind you, but not nearly as much as I would be if he had, say, lost a leg or his dominant arm. In which case, there is no way that I'd believe he'd be able to recover and handle a sword that quickly.
I'm not positive of the wording, but if you go to the Immortal Flames HQ, there used to be two soldiers who talked about Raubahn's exploits in past battles. They mentioned something about him striking down a dragon lord, or something, all on his own. Now, stories like that tend to be exaggerated, but if there's any truth to that kind of thing then it's entirely possible that Raubahn was more than capable of solo'ing primals in his prime (if he had the echo, that is) ... which I don't think would surprise me all that much.
Consider this: All story related Primals are default at Normal difficulty. Meaning that any Primals Raubahn could match against would also, by default, be at Normal difficulty. The firs time we fought Ifrit, we roughly level 30, so solo'ing would have been difficult or impossible ... But now? At level 60 most of us could flat out face roll a normal level primal (unless mechanics prevent soloing), and even extreme Primals have been felled by solo players. Anything up to HW content (excluding Elder Primals, of course) would be meat for the grinder. Now, assuming that Raubahn is similar to us in strength (roughly, based on the melee), I wouldn't be at all surprised if he also had the power to strike down primals all on his own, if he had the echo. Taking on Odin or Bahamut? Maybe not, but Garuda/Titan/Ifrit? I can see that.
If he can hurl into the air a full-grown armoured male elezen and hold his ground against the WoL with just one biological arm, and supposing a mechanical arm manufactured by Cid would be even more powerful... Raubahn could drive the WoL out of business.