I'd stay away from the more brutal styles. Brutality is easy and the higher principles are way more powerful still. Always look for more secrets in the techniques. Going to aikido training, there will be plenty of people to guide you into the basics. Also there are great books like 'aikido and the dynamic sphere'..not saying it should be pure noncontact ballet either, just that there should be many steps and stuff should make sense, basically, when one starts there is much to learn and one can expect to be corrected(rightfully) quite often.
Although the essence of aiki is contact and even striking, it is possible to avoid striking altogether which is truly a sign of mastery of combat. However, especially in competition, against trained fighters or multiple opponents ,tough positions or dangerous encounters, it is more likely that striking be absolutely necessary to ensure victory or safety. So because aikido is in reality70% striking, with competition fighting such as bjj, the aikidoist if not truly superior or physically stronger and more adept, is at a disadvantage. This is why aikido is best for everyday life moving, moving things around meeting people managing space, even timing -also for real combat situations it is great and quite limitless.
I personally also test the limits of aikido techniques in competition fighting. Because i want to know if i can be defeated and how. So it does not hurt to learn ground moves. It won't make your stand up worse. And if ever you get in a situation on the ground, it's good to know many possibilities and what to look out for. One of the roots of aikido, other than swordsmanship, spearfighting stick fighting, is simple jujutsu. Actually, all martial artists use aiki. It's just that in aikido, the focus is aiki but the martial arts are as i mentioned above quite diverse.
There is this one pic i like in the book 'secrets of the samurai' (big book)- where there is this unarmed guy walking forward with fixed gaze and there are around 3 or 4 people with swords in front of him retreating loosing balance backwards cowering in fear...-
that is aiki! Balance
