Heroes Prefer Swords: Difference between revisions

** Rudy Roughnight of the first game is also a bit of an odd case: presumably because every RPG protagonist did so at the time, he used a sword in the original, and only whipped out his gun for his skills. The remake changed it to using his gun for normal attacks as well, in the same manner as ''[[Wild Arms 3]]'', which makes much more sense for his character.

** And the main in ''[[Wild Arms 4]]'' is only a partial exception in a different manner; he uses a [[Morph Weapon|shapeshifting gun]] that takes whatever form is most appropriate for the task at hand--including that of a sword for melee-range combat.

** ''[[Wild Arms 3]]'' would be the king of subverter as it gives the ENTIRE character roster guns. And the main character is a female.

** Played straight with [[Manipulative Bastard]] Janus Cascade. Starts out by having a gun/sword hybrid as long as he is tall, and is able to draw it as quickly as Virginia can with her tiny revolvers. Later, his [[One-Winged Angel]] mode uses a very large spear instead.

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' has a lot of characters who [[Final Fantasy IV|are]] [[Final Fantasy VII|straight]] [[Final Fantasy X|examples]], but a lot of others who aren't:

** Zidane in ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' uses knives, although he also has the option of using [[Double Weapon|double-bladed lances]] -- including his ultimate weapon.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'', your characters lack preset main weapons and can learn to use a wide variety of melee and ranged weapons. Standard swords are a versatile but otherwise fairly generic set of weapons, much like in the real world. Yet, even here, the main character's starting weapon is a sword. Also, the main antagonist only uses a sword in certain cutscenes. His main offense is his fists.

** The installments that use the [[Class and Level System|job system]] both avert this and play it straight occasionally. While it is possible for [[Final Fantasy V|Bartz]] or [[Final Fantasy Tactics|Ramza]] to use jobs that do not use swords, they have swords as an initial equip.

** It was it the next [[Humongous Mecha]] from the trilogy, ''[[Great Mazinger]]'', who introduced the staple in mecha shows. This trope was followed by shows such like [[Voltes V]], [[Mobile Suit Gundam]] (although it used energy weapons), [[GoLion]] or [[Panzer World Galiant]]. Some [[Humongous Mecha]] avert the trope are: ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' (double-headed scythe), ''[[Getter Robo]]'' (axes, drills or missiles), ''[[Kotetsu Jeeg]]'' (drills, chainsaws, missile launchers...) ''[[Combattler V]]'' (swords is maybe the only weapon it has NOT), ''[[Daimos]]'' (who preffers to use its fists. It also uses daggers and nunchakus), ''[[Daitarn 3]]'' (a trident), [[Gunbuster]] (it uses axes, even though they are not used in the show), [[GaoGaiGar]] (a hammer)...

* [[Ushio and Tora]] averts this with the protagonist being a spear-wielder.

* Guts from ''[[Berserk]]'' was at one point offered a magical battle axe to replace his [[BFS]] the Dragonslayer, but he declined since he's [[Weapon of Choice|more familiar with wielding large swords]] (plus it's been stated that [[Evolving Weapon|its becoming magical itself]] from how many supernatural creatures he's slain with it). However, being the [[Badass]] that he is, Guts also wields a [[Automatic Crossbow|repeating crossbow]] AND [[Arm Cannon|a cannon]] - [[Swiss Army Appendage|all in the convenience]] [[Artificial Limb|of a single iron]] [[Badass Transplant|arm.]]

 

** Bro, being Dave's older brother, uses a sword. {{spoiler|As does his post-scratch self, Dirk.}} Of course, he's not the hero, but an [[The Obi-Wan|Obi Wan]].

* Averted in ''[[Guilded Age]]''. Byron uses two axes {{spoiler|named after his adoptive fathers.}}

** In fact, it's pretty much all he ever talks about.

* Parodied in ''[[College Saga]]''. [[The Hero]], college student Mark Leung, gets his sword from a dorm room.