I guess it must be the second one, as Kaitou is still Baron even with the Genesis Driver.

Only the Sengoku Drivers were confirmed to be user-locked. Genesis doesn't appear to have that restriction.

Then why do Duke and Baron look completely different despite using the same Driver and Seed?

There must be some sort of DNA analysis/facial recognition thing that goes on with the Gensis Drivers. Then if the person exists in Yggdrasail's data base the Genesis recreates the suit that person is already use to using.

I think that would explain why the base suits for Takatora and Kaito remained the same even with different belts and Seeds.

What I took from the scene with Zangetsu Shin was that Sengoku modified the Driver so someone else could wear the Zangetsu costume. Just like the Drivers for the Kurokage Troopers are modified to equip the user with the same suit.

I guess it sorta fits what we know of Ryouma? Sure seems elaborate though - even for him - to hack his own system so Micchy could use the Zangetsu suit and it seems as equally elaborate to create all these base suits which are locked to different Riders even when using the same Seeds or Drivers or whatever else.

Honestly - and I know so edgy etc - I think the mythology of this show is a bit of a mess. We know a lot of the 'whats' but the other four ws are largely left unanswered, at least so far. For such a focused, well written show it's frustrating how little we actually know about how anything works in this universe. Most of the answers we have currently, are basically just fan theories made from assumptions and best guesses with what we have.

And if people can hate Wizard for its poorly explored mythology, then I take the right to do the same here. Although I like Gaim.

I just thought it was because Genesis Drivers are made for each person. Baron's was made to generate the Baron suit. Ryouma's was set to create the Duke suit. Have they mentioned that the Genesis Drivers are mass-produced?

Fuck knows. That is the whole problem, at least for me. Why make the Drivers a central part of your story and yet barely explain the basics of how they work?

It's not even that complicated. Each non-MP Driver generates a specific base suit every time it's used. Kaito's Genesis Driver makes the same suit as his Sengoku Driver because Ryouma built it for him and pretty much just copy and pasted the base suit data from the Sengoku into the Genesis. Takatora's Genesis base suit is similar (but with a few signifigant differences) to his Sengoku suit because Ryouma had all the data from Takatora's Sengoku Driver and presumambly made a few tweaks to make the Genesis base better match the Melon Energy armour. Mituzane gets the Shin-Zangetsu suit because he is using Takatora's driver, the only hacking required is removing any biometric locks which are not even confirmed by the show to be on the Genesis Drivers.

… Takatora? :(

I can't bring myself to hate Micchy. I mean, yes, he let his brother die, but the look on his face seemed to be more of a fearful expression to me than anything.

I don't know—maybe I'm just naïve.