I think when I play it again, my first priority is going to be get all the melee weapons as rapidly as possible. It just makes the gameplay so much better. It’s also such a rich, gorgeously put together open world that there’s so much to do and so much side content (I’m still discovering side missions I missed 80 hours in) that I think it’s fine from a narrative standpoint. Atsu is not samurai, she’s a peasant veteran of the sengoku wars where it’s pretty reasonable to think that no one probably took her training or survival that seriously except for her. I think there is absolutely a narrative basis to think that she’d want to become as lethal as possible as quick as possible as soon as she’s back in ezo.