[quote]SLPr0 wrote...
[quote]Gen-An wrote...
The damn thing isn't even logical as a weapon, you can't thrust with it, its slashing ability is questionable due to the irregularities of the blade design and the guard could barely be expected to catch and turn aside a dagger, much less another sword.
[/quote]
Now, im not saying I actually like the design of the blade...I dont. Not really. And the colour's they use are very "wow-ish"...but to say that the blade wouldnt be effective is just plain wrong. IF you have the strength to weild something like that, thrusting would be incredibly painful and due to the irregularities of the blade, you'd be doing some massive internal damage that would not heal right, if at all. (Kris daggers, Sveinhandr's, Gae Bolga's, that sorta thing) and slashing, again, if you've got the strength to do it, then the slash would be like using a serrated edge, or at least I think thats the idea behind the design. In Dragon Age were looking at armour that looks like anything from "banded" to full plate, Gothic, Milanese or "White Armour."
The earlier armours in the game, the splint and mail: the best way to deal with someone in that is a slash at the joints or a crushing weapon like an ax or mace. Mail was made to mainly protect against thrusting, since spears were the weapon of choice (or rather, circumstance) among the rank and file. Spears were relatively cheap to make and easy to use. Also keep in mind that not many warriors wore ANY armour beyond leather. If you saw someone in full mail then they were probably a lord, a knight, a professional warrior. And in the ranks, professional warriors were far and few between.
Standing armies didnt truly exist (aside from a few asides like the Roman Empire AFTER the Marian reforms) until the 14th and 15th centuries. Before that you had farmer/ soldiers making up the mass of an army. You never saw an army of knights in full plate charging down their enemies on massive destriers like you do in the movies. A suit of plate could cost as much as a small castle. A true war horse even more. Not many could afford something like that. The advent of plate also brought around a larger use of mass weapons. A sword will glance of a pauldron or vambrace while a mass weapon might not cut through the armour but anything underneath i.e. bones, will be smashed to pieces. In regards to the crosspiece of the sword in question, well...your main defence doesnt come from the sword. Its coming from the shield, so the guard doesnt really come into play that much. (Who wants to spend all that time grinding dings out of a blade? Its a pain in the arse, take it from someone who knows. And it doesnt matter HOW good your steel is, its GOING to get dinged if your using it to block another blade.) Shields were in use by far more soldiers, be they professional or otherwise. It was another cheap and effective way to outfit your army. The famous shieldwalls of the Saxon is a prime example. The bulk of the Saxon army was made up of farmers, yet they were known all over the world for the shield work.
All that being said, no, i dont think the dev's took all that much into consideration when designing the blade and probably someone just thought it looked cool so we'll use it. Your not going to find a design like that in any history books. Maybe some African or other Eastern weapon (a khopesh had a pretty funky look to it and that was Egyptian) but as far as European goes, they were pretty keen on the strait edge/ mass weapon thing due to the fact that in regards to the armour being used, those weapons are the most effective in dealing with them. Yeah, I kinda got way off topic. Forgive me. I just wanted to point out; functionality wise, that sword isnt as bad as dude up above is making it out to be.
Retour en haut
Anyway, I'd rather have BioWare putting time into the story, characters & dialogue (things that count) rather than the bloody armor models (if they can, yes, it would be nice to have more variety - just not at the cost of things that are more important).
