All Swords Are the Same: Difference between revisions
m
Fixed grammar.
TheEric132 (talk | contribs) m (Fixed grammar.) |
|||
| (7 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
There are lots of different types of swords. There's [[Katanas Are Just Better|katanas]], [[Kukris Are Kool|kukris]], [[Sinister Scimitar|scimitars]], [[BFS|swords that should be logistically impossible for any human to wield]], and many more. Yes, the sword is certainly [[Cool Sword| a unique and varied specimen]], and no two kinds have exact the same method of wielding.
Except in video games.
Line 12:
This tends to be much more common in older or sprite-based games, before developers really could finely detail weapons to look differently. However, even in modern games, just because a weapon has a slightly different hilt or a chip on its edge doesn't mean it'll swing any different from your last one. It's also common in [[Tabletop Games]].
See also [[Every Japanese Sword Is a Katana]] and [[Slice-and-Dice Swordsmanship]]. Check out our [[Useful Notes]]: [[
{{examples}}
== Hack and Slash ==
* Blatant in ''[[Devil May Cry|Devil May Cry 2]]'': you get a normal sword, a [[BFS]] and a fencing sword, but only the look and damage differs, the combos are exactly the same. That's one of the reasons this episode is considered the black sheep of the series.
Line 22 ⟶ 21:
== Role-Playing Games ==
* Zig
* ''[[Morrowind]]'':
** [[Averted]], since each weapon (and thus different types of sword) had different values when they're used for hacking, slashing or thrusting. Played straight in its sequel ''[[Oblivion]]'' where every sort of sword (apart from a few token katanas) was basically a variation on a basic crucifix sword made from different materials.
** Practical non-sword example: staffs, halberds, and spears all use [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|the same wielding/attacking animation]]. However, halberds and spears have better damage values when thrust and staffs do better damage when swung.
* In ''[[Radiant Historia]]'', both Stocke and Marco can wield swords, and despite the fact they are clearly two completely different types of swords (a katana and a short one-handed blade), they both can equip any and all types of swords. This also applies to armor, since Stocke, Raynie, Marco, and Rosch can all equip the same types of armor. The first three are somewhat understandable, but [[Mighty Glacier|Rosch]] fitting into the same pieces of armor is a tad ridiculous.
* ''[[
** In ''RuneScape Classic'', whose graphics were on the less-advanced side, all melee weapons had the exact same fighting animation: you just bash your opponent with it and that's that.
** The modern game has a wider variety of stances for different types of weapon, but there are still a limited number of animations for slashing, stabbing, or bludgeoning—the stabbing animations for a bronze dagger are the same as the ones for a mithril shortsword or [[Joke Weapon|a pair of gardening secateurs]].
* In ''[[Shining Force]]'', giving a character a different weapon swaps the weapon you see in their battle sprite, but otherwise, the animations are exactly the same. The only exception is the [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Chaos Breaker]], which has fancy fire effects.
* The majority of [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s use the same animation for all weapons of the same class even if their designs are wildly different. A one-hander and a two-hander may have different animations but all one-handers will have the same animation with the same being true of all two-handers. Weapons that aren't swords may have even more drastic generalization, such as having a single animation for both polearms and javelins.
* [[Vandal Hearts]] is this trope and then some. Whatever weapon or armour you give a character, their sprite will still use exactly the same artwork - the artwork only changes when the characters change class. This leads to the potential of giving a character a crappy shortbow, then the character having a huge pavise with a mechanical, belt driven arrow launcher strapped to the side in-game.
* ''[[Nethack]]'' has no attack animations to concern itself about and, instead, is super-conscious about weapon type and skill of weapon use. That does not mean that simplifications and over-specificity are not maintained as [[Acceptable Break From Reality]] moments - standard long swords and katana sharing the same skill, while broadswords, scimitar, and sabers each have their own skills - but this produces a decent simulation of "all swords are not the same."
Line 40 ⟶ 39:
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
* Averted in ''[[
* ''[[GURPS]]'' groups various similar kinds swords all together in the ''Basic Set'' to play this straight. In the ''Martial Arts'' and ''Low-Tech'' books however weapons are only grouped together if they are completely identical, like a Japanese yari and a generic spear.
* Almost averted in [[Warhammer
Line 55 ⟶ 54:
* Despite its obsessively realistic combat rules, ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' plays this one straight with actual swords, at least [[Perpetual Beta|for now]]. There's only three and a half actual types of sword: Shortsword and the scimitar (identical in all but name), the longsword (actually a bastardsword) and the [[BFS|two-handed sword]]. All of them use the same generic "sword" skill. Of course, dwarves can't actually forge longswords or scimitars without minor modding and can't even ''wield'' two-handed swords, but going from a shortsword and shield to a bastardsword that from a dwarf's perspective is as long as a ''zweihander'' has no skill penalty.
** Averted for polearms and ranged weapons, however; spears and pikes use a separate skill, as do bows, crossbows and [[Lethal Joke Weapon|blowguns]]. There's also a generic "Fighter" and "Archer" stat which gives a bonus to an attack roll made with ''any'' melee and ranged attack respectively.
* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' franchise, Jedi wield "light sabres". What's wrong with that? A sabre is curved. And of course light doesn't curve. Well it kind of does, but it does not do so passing through no more than three feet of the same medium in any way that can be perceived. And there is no reason for Jedi to have a curved sword as they are not fighting from horseback. In any event, insofar as it resembles [[Flynning|faintly]] real martial arts, it resembles more rapier, or perhaps Italian cut-and-thrust sword fighting than it does fighting with a sabre. So maybe they were talking about sporting sabres? Yes but fights with those last for a few seconds and have little [[Flynning]] (just watch one on YouTube). Or [[Bellisario's Maxim|maybe]] we can just settle for the fact that it was "A long time ago in a galaxy far away" and they are representing a different language. Then why did they not just use "sword" instead of such a specialized term as "sabre"? Or maybe [[Did Not Do Research|they just did not know]] "sabre" is a specific kind of sword and one that does not look a bit like "light sabres" do. Or maybe they just thought it was a [[Rule of Cool|cool word.]] But somewhere a museum curator is crying.
{{reflist}}
Line 61:
[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]
[[Category:Sword Tropes]]
[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
| |||