@ERode I'm probably one of the worse offenders in all this so I'll try to clarify my thoughts on where I went wrong. When writing narrative descriptions or going into Saito's thoughts, I would use words or concepts that flowed naturally in the writing. Think of a cliche, something like the phrase "fit as a fiddle." But Goblins probably wouldn't have any idea what a fiddle was, or what being "as fit" as a fiddle would mean. When I proofread, any time I would find these "natural" phrases or thoughts, things that would immediately come to one's mind, but didn't match up with goblin instincts, I would add a bit about Saito questioning his own memories.
For instance, he likens the goblins running around to his toddlers, and then thinks "...What?" I did that because I thought a very strong memory, a parent's bond, would be something that would unconsciously rise up but that Goblin Saito would not recognize or understand it. This was probably too specific for RC3's purposes, so I shouldn't have done it anyway, but it was meant to be a fleeting thing that, if Saito were to actually try and recall, he would only see static or feel an abstract sense of something not quite right.
As for his martial arts prowess, I intended that to come through more strongly because of the fundamental concept of martial arts training, the muscle memory a practitioner builds up. This is Bruce Lee's "don't think, feel," or like any military training where a specific stimulus is simulated and the reaction to it is repeated, over and over, until the person's nervous system is wired to do it as a reflex. Like Dragon Ball's "Ultra Instinct," this is the cause of the supposed "sixth sense" martial artists are embellished to have. But I probably went too far even with that, as while Saito might instinctively settle into a "stance" that feels the most comfortable, or attack in the way that feels "best" when the "moment feels right," it probably shouldn't have come across as him actually retaining all of his technical knowledge.
I did intend from the beginning that he would have to "rebuild" a lot of his previous life's ability, because the "muscle memory" thing probably doesn't work out so well when you no longer actually
have the same muscles and nerves that you spent so long training before.
But yeah I feel like I'm probably the one who bungled all this up the most, so take my examples above as a "don't do this" kind of thing. My apologies.