Class aesthetic and weapon selection

[badpuppeh]

greatsword DK, but this is more like a lack of choice.

I bought the scythes from the mog shop when they were on sale and use those on my dark, its a good look (imo) and gives me that old FFXI feeling of playing DRK.

[Vrankyl]

ItMe was kind enough to link my thread (I really ought to update its OP at some point)...



but to provide a brief TLDR, katanas and longswords are not that different in use and, at the end of the day, this is a (sci-)fantasy game where most everything goes. The odds of them adding a dedicated "longsword" Job is close to none, since it would be superfluous, so I don't think this is too much to ask. They're certainly not shy when it comes to giving others Katana-looking weapons.
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So a couple of misconceptions here. One the RDM weapons you are showing are Sabers which are very different from Katanas. Sabers were cavalry swords and you can note the difference between them and Katanas in the make of their blade. As for the DRK weapon that is not a Katana but rather a Nodachi, which is a Japanese Greatsword, aka just a Japanese version of what DKRs already use. Now, as I stated, there are indeed straight blade options, and some similarities to sabers in some of the Katana styles. Which is a good thing. Options are great. That said, for aesthetic and for practicality purposes giving Samurais longswords would make no sense. Yes, both types of blade had relatively the same purpose but their build and actual use in practice were very different. The use of differential hardening resulted in Katanas have a sharper blade than longswords and a more flexible blade as well. In addition their center of mass is completely different. The center of mass for katanas allowed for more maneuverability in closer quarters without losing the slashing force they have. Where as the center of weight of a longsword is all in the hilt allowing them to be more useful in hacking. In addition Katanas are usually shorter than longswords, which is why they are more useful in tight quarters than their western counterpart and allows them the quicker slash movement. Longswords style makes them more effective at hacking and stabbing with pure raw stopping power. Also I would argue that Paladin is fairly close to a dedicated longsword. While they do have sabers, scimitars, and cutlasses, their AF weapon more often than not is styled in the image of a traditional longsword. If there is one thing SE is picky about, it's the AF gear and maintaining that unique image.

[Shougun]

The use of differential hardening resulted in Katanas have a sharper blade than longswords and a more flexible blade as well.

Katanas are not, stereotypically speaking, more flexible than longswords. Longswords were made of a spring steel (or generally 'spring steel-like'), they were massively flexible to a point that surprises people (like you can bend them in your hand into an arch, release, and they bounce back, able to take a lot of abuse). Meanwhile Katanas if hit wrong would bend and stay bent (even when cutting tatami mats), range of hand bending significantly reduced comparatively to longswords and again reduced ability to and sometimes complete inability to return to original form without help (meaning they had to be straightened, breaking easier in general as well).

Katanas did have very sharp edges due to their hardness, and that was in part due to the fact that the quality of materials available to the Japanese (to make swords) was really poor, so they had to be very creative and come up with this method. Though if we're just talking weapon power, we should be talking spears since that was the ubiquitous, melee first choice (if you were in a situation to have a choice), go to for pretty much everyone everywhere (swords being a nice side arm, like having a rifle as your main hand weapon but also having a handgun because you may need it).

[Tsiron]

...

While the shape of the RDM weapons does indeed diverge from the typical curvature of a katana, there's still no mistaking that hilt wrapping (and therefore their intent). All in all though I think you're overhyping katanas a bit... but Shougun already wrote up a great reply.

While Paladin does indeed have weapons named "longswords", some of which do look the part... but what I had in mind was specifically the historical, two-handed weapon. Too big to be effectively used single handed (except maybe on horseback), but not greatsword length either

[TheMightyMollusk]

That looks more like a zweihander or bastard sword, which falls more into DRK territory.

[Tsiron]

That looks more like a zweihander or bastard sword, which falls more into DRK territory.

I actually checked lol, they're longswords. Rule of thumb they reach around armpit height (factoring in that the people drawn here aren't standing up straight).

A lot of the terms we use for swords are modern inventions, but "bastard swords" has been used to refer to greatswords, longswords or generally swords that could be used either one or two-handed (meaning they were smaller/lighter than proper longswords) so it's all kind of a mess lol

[Shurrikhan]

(Alternately, you can glamour The Emperor's New Shield to hide it entirely.)

Though that, in turn, leaves you sticking your unprotected arm out for rapid depruning.

I actually checked lol, they're longswords. Rule of thumb they reach around armpit height (factoring in that the people drawn here aren't standing up straight)

That's still going to fall into DRK territory, as you're not about to wield a longsword with a single hand. A bastard sword? Maybe. But longsword is pretty strictly a two-handed weapon.

They're certainly not shy when it comes to giving others Katana-looking weapons.

Those are, respectively, a nodachi and two kriegsmessers (or, grosse messers).

The odds of them adding a dedicated "longsword" Job is close to none, since it would be superfluous, so I don't think this is too much to ask.

That will depend on their fighting style. A DRK fights nothing like a longsword user, who would tend towards nimble, rapidly-winding movements and very quick, hybridizing strikes. Heck, they don't even fight like anyone who has ever, historically, used a greatsword. They fight like they're wielding overweight, barely-sharpened clubs. (Oddly enough, one of the few accuracies is their resting pose guard, apart from it likely sitting a bit too low for most contexts.)

[TheMightyMollusk]

Though that, in turn, leaves you sticking your unprotected arm out for rapid depruning.

A shield wouldn't do much good against interstellar robots or house-sized dragons or ancient immortal sorcerers either, so it's all about the looks here.

[Tsiron]

That's still going to fall into DRK territory, as you're not about to wield a longsword with a single hand. A bastard sword? Maybe. But longsword is pretty strictly a two-handed weapon.

I was going to respond to this, but you basically covered it yourself*

Those are, respectively, a nodachi and two kriegsmessers (or, grosse messers).

Can't say I've ever heard of kriegsmessers having a wrapped hilt. I'll concede they made the blades straight...er, but one of them drops off Tsukuyomi, I think we can safely guess what it's supposed to be...

That will depend on their fighting style. A DRK fights nothing like a longsword user, who would tend towards nimble, rapidly-winding movements and very quick, hybridizing strikes. Heck, they don't even fight like anyone who has ever, historically, used a greatsword. They fight like they're wielding overweight, barely-sharpened clubs.

*yeah, pretty much this. Longswords were nimble cut and thrust weapons, hell, even greatswords were nowhere near as heavy or clunky as 99% of media makes them out to be. DRK's animations were actually my first disappointment with the Job, long before I'd get to experience the entirety of its underwhelming skillset, they swing it around worse than amateurs...

[Shurrikhan]

I was going to respond to this, but you basically covered it yourself*



Can't say I've ever heard of kriegsmessers having a wrapped hilt. I'll concede they made the blades straight...er, but one of them drops off Tsukuyomi, I think we can safely guess what it's supposed to be...

I've never heard of a sword being classified solely by its hilt wrappings, as opposed to say, its cutting or reach characteristics. Heck, give a kriegsmesser in need of a new hilt to a Japanese swordsmith who's preparing it for a noble. Voila. Wrapped hilt.

If you meant this in the broader sense of having a over-hilt guard, even that I don't think has ever uniquely classified a blade. The iconic scottish "broadsword", for instance, tended towards the bucket-guarded handle, but you could still find other examples, so long as they still allowed for the same fighting forms (merely, for instance, replacing the added protection on the sword itself with a gauntlet, at which point one merely replaces certain accessible hilt-strikes with grabs).

Here, I called it a kriegsmesser due more to the styles of cutting a sword of that size, weight, length, thickness, and likely balance would allow. Of course, the RDM will go and swing it like spaghetti anyways, so --as usual-- the actual weapon type ends up irrelevant. /shrug