I completed the game with a wooden katana as my main weapon
Today, I got the Platinum Trophy on this game, and what a journey it was! For a japanese history nerd such as myself, this game was phenomenal.
I beated the game with a bokken as my primary weapon, rarely switching to dual katanas in very important story moments or against specific enemies (such as Izo during Chapter 3 or the final battle), so I could spare most of the enemies I fought. I really didn't want my character to have that much blood on his hands. I really liked the odachi too, but it was a bit too slow food my likings, and the bayonets were really cool, but made the game way to easy for me (Bonebreaker is such a broken skill!).
During the whole game I was costantly switching from pro-shogunate to anti-shogunate, but while I decided to join the Shinsengumi at the beginning of Chapter 3, I ended up fighting alongside the Choshu-Satsuma alliance in the end.
Here are some screenshot I took, and at the end the various outfits I used for Chapter 1, 2, 3 and post game respectively. My main character is based on my brother, while his Veiled Edge was based on me.