Quote Originally Posted by Terin View Post
Even though he's a Final Fantasy character, I wasn't really suggesting to "copy Cloud". Rather, I just think the stance looks a lot more natural for SUCH massive swords.
To be fair, you couldn't leave any but the most realistically sized of DRK's weapons in that stance, either. The low hanging guard puts more strain on your right arm, true, but it's every bit as able to keep the sword steady and better able to easily draw a heavier weapon into a cut (especially a diagonal blow) than a simple middle guard.

The only stance you could realistically maintain for larger of DRK's weapons from is the same stance one would use for carrying it in general -- resting against the pauldron, similar to a rifle-hold. And once using a mere standard greatsword/spadone/montante/zweihander, the difference is irrelevant, except in that the hanging guard better flows into the strikes for which long blades tend to be optimal. The point of DRK's stance isn't to hold an enemy at range through intimidation of a unfettered thrust; it's to take off an appendage or two as soon as the enemy dares to attack.

tl;dr: No, it's the proper and more physically optimal stance for what large weapons do. And once you get into the fantasy realm of 10+ kg blades, it's irrelevant, because neither stance would be useful.