Samurai Weapon: Nodachi or basic katana

[Velhart]

Traditionally Samurai has been a heavy armored class, but the options Square gave were funny.

FFV: Samurai used great katanas, but they were 1-handed with a shield as an option unless you use the 2-Hand ability.
FFVI: Cyan used heavier armor and a great katana with a shield as an option.
FFVII: Sephiorth used a 2-handed.
FFX: Auron used a 2-handed.
FFXI: Samurai favored more on the heavy DPS armor side but could use some lighter armor also. Also was two-handed.
FFXII: Great katanas were two-handed.
FFT: Samurai were heavy armored.

If FFXIV sticks to tradition then likely either Samurai will be a heavy armored DPS class like Dragoon, or be a tank perhaps more like WAR. I would bet on DPS, but who knows with SE. Of course there is the Swordmaster from FFTA series that is basically Samurai, but not sure if SE would go off that.

[lulunami]

Hopefully they give Samurai a large sword in the weapon slot and a smaller weapon in the shield slot. Different weapon skills/abilities will use the large or small sword. It would look much better aesthetically if the Samurai constantly swapped between weapons during animations. I expect Samurai to be a DPS job in this game though.

[Niwashi]

If they make Samurai a tank, it's more likely to dual wield, to better differentiate it from Dark Knight. If they make Samurai a damage dealer, it's more likely to have a single two-handed sword to better differentiate it from Ninja.

Hopefully they give Samurai a large sword in the weapon slot and a smaller weapon in the shield slot. Different weapon skills/abilities will use the large or small sword. It would look much better aesthetically if the Samurai constantly swapped between weapons during animations.

^- This is what I'd like, though.

[Jonnycbad]

Did Samurai really parry with their swords? I didn't think katanas were broad or strong enough to withstand blows from other swords without shattering/snapping.

[ADVSS]

Did Samurai really parry with their swords? I didn't think katanas were broad or strong enough to withstand blows from other swords without shattering/snapping.

Sure they did, but they didnt use it like a shield or anything, more like how rapiers are used to redirect and deflect hits, instead of straight up stop the blow with blunt force.

[Niwashi]

Did Samurai really parry with their swords? I didn't think katanas were broad or strong enough to withstand blows from other swords without shattering/snapping.

That sounds like you're confusing parrying with blocking. To block a blow, you're meeting it's force and holding it back. That's where you'd need either a strong and sturdy weapon, or better yet a shield. To parry a blow, on the other hand, you're just turning it aside, re-directing its force so that it doesn't land where your attacker was aiming. That can be done with a much lighter weight weapon, and is the primary means of defense in a Japanese swordfight.

And a well-made katana is actually quite strong. In order to take a really sharp edge, however, that edge is honed thin enough that is becomes quite delicate and easily nicked. Although the weapon wouldn't be likely to shatter or snap if used to block a blow, significant damage to its sharpened edge could still ruin it. Though really small nicks can sometimes be mended, a major gouge out of a sword's edge cannot.

[Alacran]

Did Samurai really parry with their swords? I didn't think katanas were broad or strong enough to withstand blows from other swords without shattering/snapping.

For the most part Katana were made with composite metals allowing the blade to deceptively simple and elegant but incredibly strong and resilient.


Man At Arms video showcasing the creation of a Katana from the movie Kill Bill, using traditional methods and explaining the metal composition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNuEDtnVdeM

History Chanel Presentation of Samurai Sword, including a look in to Samurai culture, theology, creation of Katana, and basic principle techniques of Katana use. (this video, very heavily celebrates Samurai culture and shows an obvious bias towards the subject matter.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE_4zHNcieM

When looking to the DRK we see it is allowed the use of more realistic swords before 50 as well as the swords Balmung and Skofung. Obviously later we are given Chaos Bringer and Nothung . I use these as examples to show that regardless of weather or not we get a Katana or a Nodachi I believe for aesthetic larger more prominent iterations will be used to show greater levels of detail and uniqueness.

Balmung
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...m/0fcc4a37e8d/

Skofung
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...m/f4747361863/

Death Bringer
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...m/dca7f983244/

Nothung
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...m/4e6fbe22264/

[Cynric]

@Shao:
Saying Ninjas use swords is like saying Monk uses Katars. The weapon type is dagger or twin . Not sword. Going by weapon drops is not a way to judge the actual weapon used by the job. Also strength has absolutely zero to do with the tank balance issues. Maybe you should check the tank forum for real information.

[shao32]

Saying mágica use swords is like saying Monk uses Katars. The weapon type is dagger or twin . Not sword. Going by weapon drops is not a way to judge the actual weapon used by the job. Also strength has absolutely zero to do with the tank balance issues. Maybe you should check the tank forum for real informartion.

1° there is no weapon type more that magical weapons and phisical weapons, all jobs have bind they own weapons, un the description dont say a great sword is a great sword, only a few names of the weapons say that, many ninja weapons are close to touch the ground, hell i can even write you name in the ground with those if i want, and i dont see they say dagger in any placer, ninja relic are ninjatos (the original one and the esoterics ) and ninjatos are short swords.

And sorry but im tank, i and str meta buff WAR to break the limit of tank and dps, in 3.0-3.1 paladín was crying for buffs and 7 WAR partys are doing everything with they huge fell cleaves and they huge self heals bcd you know WAR scale everything with ap, so yeah im well imformed about tank status, the changes on str make war self heals to a "normal" status and the PLD dps was solve with some buffs, the str meta fix reduce WAR op estatus to get close to DRK and PLD with the new buffs.

[Niwashi]

Saying Ninjas use swords is like saying Monk uses Katars. The weapon type is dagger or twin . Not sword.

Actually, the weapon type is "Rogue's Arm". All weapon types in this game are either "<class name>'s Arm" or "<One/Two>-handed <class name>'s Arm". And although the Rogue quests make reference to using daggers, I don't recall any such reference being made in-game once reaching Ninja.

Many of the blades Ninja use are sword length (including their katana styled weapons), though it's also true that some of their other later weapons are still daggers. They also use that backwards grip that looks a lot more natural for daggers than it does for swords, so even if SE does decide to have Samurai dual wield, I'm sure they'll at least hold their weapons differently. That alone would provide a significant visual difference between the two jobs.

How weapons are depicted can also change. Up until the release of 2.3, Gladiator had a bunch of knife and dagger weapons that all transformed into swords in that patch.