Vainamoinen (fighting game)

Vainamoinen is a fighting game made by Chinese company miHoYo (famous for Genshin Impact) for the PS4 and its Finnish clone Dianyouxi. 
It deals with a mystical martial arts style known as Vainamoinen Taijiquan, which has the power to alter reality itself.
== Playable roster ==
Character-Country-Fighting style/weapon
==== Team LI ====
Tapio Li (China) (Vainamoinen Taijiquan of Time/fists and time-altering powers): Son of the master Ilmari Li and heir to the Vainamoinen dojo after Wei's departure. He has inherited the Vainamoinen style of time, while his brother Wei inherited that of space. He's hunted by Kobayakawa Corporation, but refuses to serve it. 
Mingxiao Yan (China) (Northern Shaolin Kung Fu/fists): Tapio's girlfriend. She practices Northern Shaolin kung fu, but has no supernatural powers. Due to her lack of powers, Tapio wanted to keep her from fighting, but she cares for him so much that she decided to follow him. 
Heikki Ruusuvuori (China) (Dual Blades of Ruusuvuori/Jian Swordbreaker and Dagger-Axe): The 27-year-old last scion of the Ruusuvuori clan, specializing in the Dual Blades style. He and Tapio are friends since childhood and he acts as his "older brother": Tapio sees Heikki as all that Wei had never been. Heikki does not have superpowers, but tends to rival Legolas or Takumi in terms of martial arts skills. 
==== Team Kobayakawa ====
Hideaki Kobayakawa (Japan) (Mussolini style/dual guns and blood magic): CEO of Kobayakawa Corporation, a megacorporation dealing in aerospace. Looks 27 but is technically immortal and over 70, being the son of the ancient Asura king Benito Mussolini and his human Japanese lover Mariko Kobayakawa, and as such a half-Asura. He had the Targaryens exterminated by Yakuza and took control of Japan through bloodsheds and dirty tactics. He's interested in the Vainamoinen Taijiquan style due to it being able to permanently kill an Asura, due to said style having been used by the hero Yang Li (Tapio's grandfather) to kill Mussolini, and because he wants to harness the Deva's powers to defy the laws of normal time and space and develop faster-than-light travel to help mankind colonize extrasolar planets. He's a lesbian for Takumi. He can be considered the game's main antagonist, at least from Tapio's perspective.
Wei Li (China) (Vainamoinen Taijiquan of Space/fists and space-altering powers): Tapio's older brother, the other son of Ilmari, taught in the style of space. After Ilmari disappeared, becoming Vainamoinen, Wei had left the Vainamoinen Dojo to side with Avicii, and now works for Kobayakawa Corporation under a mercenary contract. Wei refers to the Li clan as "cursed" and wants to prevent the Hiranyagarbha's recreation (which would destroy the universe as we know it), using Hideaki and the whole Kobayakawa corporation as his stepping stone. The one he's really serving is Avicii, who has reincarnated into a Swedish man called Rajit Krishnamurti. 
Takumi Shimabara (Italy) (Iaido/Katana): Descendant of the Shimabara clan of samurai, mortal warriors who had made a blood pact with the Asura king Benito Mussolini. He used to live in hiding in Hirado, a small town in Calabria, teaching Iaido and hiding his fascist past. He's now a hitman for Kobayakawa Corporation after finding Hideaki Kobayakawa is a half-Asura and Mussolini's son, and is deeply loyal to Hideaki due to his Bushido code. He follows a code of honor and refuses everything that is dishonorable. He's a lesbian man, and Hideaki's lover. He has utterly trashed Kazunari Miura in swordsmanship and usurped his place as Kobayakawa's bodyguard, despite Kazunari being a cyborg and he being a non-augmented human, a thing which caused Kazunari to revolt against Kobayakawa. Despite being branded, he does not receive any power from Hideaki, relying exclusively on his skill as a swordsman. 
==== Team Lothlorien ====
Legolas van Gilraen (USA) (Guerrilla Style/Bow and Daggers): A hunter of supernatural things working for the Lothlorien organization, which protects the world from supernatural threats. Coming from Mirkwood, USA, Legolas traveled to China in an attempt to kill both the heirs to the Vainamoinen dojo and the Japanese Hideaki Kobayakawa in order to extinguish both the Deva and Asura blood.
Elise Targaryen (Japan) (Targaryen-style aikido/Staff charged with flames): A Japanese idol singer who is also a master of Targaryen-style aikido, and secretly part of the Japanese Lothlorien branch, using her skills with a staff to hunt Asura. The Targaryen were the Asura dynasty who held Japan's greatest magitech corporation before Hideaki Kobayakawa took possession of their corporation and had them exterminated, causing Elise to be born in poverty and only finding out later in life that she's the heir of the Targaryen corporate empire, after being targeted by Hideaki's hitmen. 
Huitzilin Mixtli-Cocolotl (Mexico) (Macuahuitl-jutsu/Macuahuitl mace): Warrior of the Ixa'taka tribe living in Xaltocan, Mexico, and the strongest soldier of the Mexican Lothlorien branch. 
=== Unlockable (have no team): ===
Rajit Krishnamurti/Avicii (Sweden) (Demonic Arts of Avicii/monster form): The next incarnation of the Asura supreme lord Avicii after Tim Bergling's death. Rajit came to China to fight against the Li clan descended from Vainamoinen because Vainamoinen is the Deva who had defeated Avicii during the Deva-Asura War. He seems to guide Tapio, but is planning to force Vainamoinen's awakening in order to fight him and kill him. What Rajit is trying to achieve is the Great Kali Yuga, as he thinks the universe should be able to naturally decay and everything must have an end. 
Kazunari Miura (Italy) (Berserk-jutsu/cyber arm-cannon and zanbato greatsword): A cyborg created by Kobayakawa, and abandoned as he was considered trash. He wants revenge against Hideaki for having trashed him, and especially wants to prove his superiority over Takumi, whom he despises due to him being a normal human and yet having surpassed him as a swordsman. 
Ilmari Li (China) (Vainamoinen Taijiquan Mastered/ combination style between Tapio and Wei): Tapio and Wei's long-lost father, who has disconnected himself from time and is now the host body of Vainamoinen. He's one of the hardest characters to unlock as you have to have finished all three campaigns to get him. 
Taeyeon Adler (North Korea) (Taekwondo): A soldier of the North Korean Army, part of the female unit known as Undomiel Unit. She's a taekwondo expert. She's out for Hideaki's blood because the North Korean Army knows about the plan to reawaken Vainamoinen . 
Ishaan Kapoor (India) (Bloodshredding/Urumi Blade) 
Siegfried von Meissen (Germany) (Zweihander-jutsu/Zweihander sword): A German boy, a normal college student, who has an Asura brand caused by an ancestor of his, a rich nobleman named Eckehart von Meissen, making a pact with the Asura Berith in the Middle Ages in exchange for invincibility in battle. When Berith called Siegfried to fight for the Asura, he had no choice, and had to don his ancestor's armor and use his cursed zweihander to go into war again, dragged against his will. 
Lothar van Helden (South Africa) (Maduvu-jutsu/ Maduvu blade): A descendant of Tomoya van Helden, a Bantu hero who had fought against the Apartheid regime. As Kobayakawa is exploiting poor people in South Africa, Lothar went to China to fight against Hideaki. It's then that he meets Tapio and they become allies. 
Xiaoyan Wong (Finland) (Guangdao-jutsu/ guangdao spear): A Triad hitman from Kuopio, who is a Buddhist and persecutes Muslims. He was sent by the leader of the triad Zhurong to look for the Sampo thinks the Li clan are Bodhisattva. Despite being Tapio's ally (due to him thinking Tapio is a Bodhisattva) 
Naranbaataryn Otgontsetseg (Mongolia) (Mongolian traditional weapons/bow and scimitar): A skilled fighter, whose village was destroyed by Kobayakawa to build a highway. She's out for revenge and ultimately joins Legolas' team. 
== Non-playable ==
Vainamoinen (China) (True Vainamoinen Taijiquan of Space, True Vainamoinen Taijiquan of Time, True Deva Power): The game's final boss. He's a Deva who manifests in the world possessing Ilmari Li. After finishing all of the stories, Vainamoinen fully incarnates, ultimately consuming what's left of Ilmari Li. You play three bouts against him where he changes forms: you fight one as Wei, one as Tapio and the final encounter as Rajit/Avicii. Vainamoinen and his natural opposite Avicii were born from the Cosmic Egg Hiranyagarbha, the same that spawned the universe, and were locked in an eternal war which caused both of them to be corrupted, and the universe to gradually degenerate. Vainamoinen has been manipulating his descendants, the Li clan, to reset the universe and return to the Hiranyagarbha: if the Hiranyagarbha fails to be recreated, and Avicii successfully kills Vainamoinen, the universe spawned by the Hiranyagarbha will be sent to the Great Kali Yuga, an age of slow decay which will end in complete eradication. 
== Gameplay ==
The game is a 2D fighting game, with attacks depending on button combinations. 
There are two attack buttons, a light attack and a heavy attack. The light attack can be comboed with more light attacks, while the heavy attack acts as a finisher which breaks the combo but fills the meter much more. A combo which ends with a heavy attack not only fills the meter for what the heavy attack counts, but also doubles the filling of the gauge from each light attack that came before it.
By doing enough combos, each character gets to fill a Special Meter which, when full, allows them to use their Giga Attack. 
The main modes are Story Mode (multiple campaigns, one per character), Normal Battle (play normal battles), Multi-Man mode (the player chooses a character and has to fight all of the others), and Special Mode (matches with specific rules).
== Plot ==
There are three campaigns, one for Team Li, one for Team Kobayakawa and one for Team Lothlorien. 
== Trivia ==
* Deva and Asura have to incarnate into human host bodies in order to stay on Earth. Once a host dies, another host is created, for instance, Avicii reincarnated into Rajit after Tim Bergling's suicide. 
* The Li clan are half Deva, descending from an incarnation of Vainamoinen and the Chinese woman Soile Li. Since Soile Li had lived during the Three Kingdoms era, Vainamoinen's blood got more and more diluted until the Li clan started to age normally like humans (but still use the Vainamoinen Taijiquan) .
* Elise is based on Daenerys Targaryen and as such does not look Japanese. This is because Japan is meant to look like Valyria from Game of Thrones, being a kingdom founded by the Asura which runs on magic and dragons.
** Valyria is explicitly said to be a city in Japan, also known in standard Japanese as Kyoto.
** Valyrian is said to be actual Japanese, while what we know as "standard Japanese" is in fact the Aryan Language, spoken by the Asura and their servants. 
* Pacts with Asura have lesbian undertones. Usually an Asura appears as a beautiful boy/girl (same sex as the one who made the pact with it) and those who are branded instinctively fall in love with it. Being branded causes your children by other humans to inherit the brand, but be completely human (except from the Asura being able to communicate with you and you being able to use the Asura's power), while Asuras themselves having sex with an opposite sex human creates a half-Asura who is not immortal but has Asura blood magic, ages slower and can brand people to be their servant. Takumi and Siegfried are branded, while Hideaki is a half-Asura.
* The character names have been chosen to sound "weird", and most characters are named after celebrities or fictional characters: 
** Heikki Ruusuvuori is named after Heikki Kovalainen and Emil Ruusuvuori, both Finnish celebrities, though he's Chinese. 
** Hideaki Kobayakawa's name references a samurai, and his name is a reference to Japanese actor Hideaki Takizawa.
** Takumi Shimabara is named after Takumi Naramura, an Italian video game programmer known for La-Mulana.
** Elise Targaryen is named after fictional character Daenerys Targaryen. Her first name Elise comes from Japanese singer Elisa.
** Legolas van Gilraen is named after Tolkien hero Legolas Greenleaf. 
** Lothar van Helden is a black bantu named after a Dutch DJ, Armand van Helden.
** Rajit Krishnamurti is Swedish but has an Indian name. His true name, Avicii, is a Sanskrit word that means "hell" and references a Swedish DJ.
** Taeyeon Adler is named after Steven Adler (of Guns N' Roses fame) and K-pop artist Kim Taeyeon.
** Otgontsetseg Naranbaataryn is named after Temuulen Naranbaatar of The Hu.
** Kazunari Miura is named after late mangaka Kentaro Miura, known for Berserk, since he's a cyberpunk Guts expy.
** Vainamoinen and Avicii are not Chinese deities. Avicii is named after a Swedish DJ (said in the game itself to have been his previous host). 
Category:Games
Category:Fighting Games
Category:PlayStation 4 Games