All Swords Are the Same: Difference between revisions
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{{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.
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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
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Hack and Slash ==
* Blatant in ''[[Devil May Cry
* [[Averted]] hard in the ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' series; most of the large character roster has unique weapons, and move sets to accompany them. Even some very similar weapons can play very differently!
== 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 ''[[
* ''[[
** 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
* 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 [[
* [[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."
* In [[
* A variant is averted in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', while you do get upgraded versions of all of the available weapons, many of them operate rather differently from the basic gun. The Viper sniper rifle is a semi-automatic weapon dealing less damage per shot than the bolt-action Mantis sniper rifle, the Carnifex heavy pistol is slower-firing but more powerful than the Predator, and the Tempest submachine gun is less accurate than the Shuriken machine pistol but has way more bullets to make up for it.
* ''[[Castlevania
== 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
== Turn Based Strategy ==
* Averted in ''[[
** ''Even more'' averted in ''[[
* Taken to absurd lengths in the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series. Non-magical weapons are broken down into four categories: swords, lances, axes, and bows. Not accounting for all of the different styles and variations of weapons that different classes can wield, any character that can use a weapon type can use every weapon of that type. It's absurd enough when a "Wo Dao" used by Eirika (or a shamshir in the same game) becomes a rapier, but even more ridiculous assassin becomes a pair of knives; whereas swordmasters use them like a katana.
** It is inverted in the [[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Jugdral]] and [[Fire Emblem Tellius
== Other ==
* 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
** 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}}
[[Category:Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]
[[Category:Strategy Game Tropes]]
[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]
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