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The Buster Sword

Now that I think about it, everyone made the dangerous assumption the Gunblade fires standard bullets. What's the to say the visible gun component is even a real pistol in the first place? I think it's more like a flare gun than a magnum, the purpose of it as an incendiary device and NOT an attempt at medium or long-range. Haven't you ever wondered when Trigger activated that fire accompanied the damage animation?

Yeah, and I don't really know where the trigger is on the Gunblade. I must not be looking hard enough...

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

The Gunblade
Seeing as how ths thread got revived in lieu of a new thread with the same topic, I'm forced to respond to both threads in case either thread dies prematurely. Please see the other thread for the same realization I made in brief.

We all have made the terrible, terrible mistake of assuming the gunblade was a gun with a further integrated bayonet. Everyone says this is stupid, and it is, but everyone insists that this is what the Gunblade is. No, throw everything you think that the Gunblade is out the window.

The Gunblade is first and foremost a sword. The blade alone is an efficient edge. Intelligently ask yourself how to make a cutting injury more effective. You can only tinker with the blade itself so much in the compromise between weight and cutting power. The Gunblade's true purpose, not everyone's ill-conceived notion, is assisting the cutting motion with a second form of injury: FIRE.

Look carefully past the revolver component in the Gunblade. There is no discernable barrel through the length of the blade. You notice the open slit in the blade that could be where the barrel is? That slit is only long enough to accomodate the exit of the chamber's contents. You do not have a bullet in the revolver. You have incendiary capsules whose contents eject out of the chamber at an appropriate speed to spread toward the point of the blade. For the moment of contact on target, the blade is immersed in fire.

Squall never ever ever points the Gunblade at anyone. He never thrusts, he always slashes. He weilds it like any single-edge sword. He always makes melee contact with the enemy. When you press the trigger, the greater damage is accompanied by fire exploding from the Gunblade and over the enemy. The Gunblade is NOT a range weapon, it is a melee weapon that deals both cutting and incendiary damage. And if you think this fire would disagree with the elemental system, please remember that 1) FF's elemental system never was balanced, and 2)there's still concussive force from a flare gun blowing up in your face regardless of the fire.

Big swords
It's been said already that most games are made by the Japanese. This is the very reason big swords in just about any game are inappropriate and inaccurate. The Japanese never had large swords. The biggest swords of the Japanese are nodachi, which were unconventional to begin with. I repeat, the Japanese have no real history with large swords of the sizes seen elsewhere in the world. They don't have the historical understanding of large swords, nor the understanding of combat with large swords. The Zanmato is a myth to the Japanese, it is only their reckoning of a sword seen among the Chinese. There simply wasn't enough iron to produce large swords. The only steel in historical Japanese warfare was the weapon, there wasn't anyone with enough armor to absorb the cut of a 2-foot razor blade. Why make armor-crushing blades when nobody has the armor? Each and every sword had become a masterpiece of art and culture as well as an instrument of death. The Japanese sword is not the greatest style of sword, it is the most expensive style of sword. Their ideology of swords just doesn't agree with european and west asian swords, period. That is why all your game and anime characters with big swords fling them about like cardboard. That is why when you hold a real claymore you end up looking stupid and injure yourself, because you think you weild it like a ninja. I can't stress this enough: the Buster Sword is a Japanese stereotype just like the ninja katana is a Hollywood stereotype.

Other metals
Aluminum? Titanium? What is the matter with you? Anyone on this forum can hold a bar stock of aluminum with their bare hands and snap it in half! Titanium is like half the weight of steel at a third of the tensile strength. You only use it when you want something fly and not fall apart under its own weight. You use titanium because it doesn't change properties under heat like steel does. Steel is the king of weapon material. Only fictional metals can do better.

Quote (Zeromus_X @ 26th June 2006 03:30)

Yeah, and I don't really know where the trigger is on the Gunblade. I must not be looking hard enough...

What is the matter with you?

Moderator Edit

Probably not a real double post since I merged threads, for those who are just aching to be a tattletale. -R51

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 27th June 2006 10:55

The gunblade looks several degrees more bad-ass than the buster sword. Both are completely asinine weapons, however.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

I vote buster like most people have said before it just looks cool.

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Cloud
"let's Mosey"

Like I said, I didn't look hard enough. xD

But now that I read those older posts, I sorta understand how it fires...even if it doesn't really follow physics.

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Quote (SaintWeapon @ 26th June 2006 10:09)

We all have made the terrible, terrible mistake of assuming the gunblade was a gun with a further integrated bayonet. Everyone says this is stupid, and it is, but everyone insists that this is what the Gunblade is. No, throw everything you think that the Gunblade is out the window.

Actually, your idea to me sounds even sillier. I felt the Gunblade was stupid becuase it did not actually combine weaponry. Take the M203 grenade launcher. Bolting that onto an M16 is simpler than having to carry an M79 because you can use your rifle and grenade launcher at once. With a gunblade, a rifle-sized weapon with an integraded sword could be useful for the sort of roles SeeD would logically perform under.

I think the gunblade is a nice initial concept that goes the wrong way at the crucial moment. It's nothing more than a sword with a comedy oversized gun grip. Your variant makes little sense when we consider that it does not add to the versatility of the weapon but instead, it's power: And since it's a sword in the real world it's already done as much damage as it can in the initial strike without the target catching fire.

And standing next to a man on fire is not that clever when you wear a furry collared leather coat. The previous guesses had been that it was some sort of scifi plasmalike energy released and those weren't bullets, they were batteries, or even that the batteries allowed the weapon to briefly act a bit like a Warhammer 40,000 power weapon (A conventional sword bathed in a matter-disrupting energy field that lets it slice through armour like a warm knife through butter). That could be worthwhile, but trying to set it on fire? Not so useful.

I mean, what would you rather have? A Desert Eagle, which is a bugger to use if you don't know how and can be a bugger even if you do, and only has 7 rounds, or a Glock 17 which is simple enough and has 17 rounds.

I still favour the idea that Squall's type of gunblade by weapon component should be a pistol/dagger combination, and anything approaching the size of his by blade should be a rifle or smg. However, that would be logical and functional, something Nomura and many other game and anime designers are incapable of doing.

This post has been edited by Del S on 27th June 2006 15:23

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

oohhhh...a reply that makes sense! Finally, someone can use a knowledge of weapons, besides me, to make the obvious distinction that the gunblade is indeed, a gigantic piece of trash. The Buster Sword, a massive overcompensation on Clouds part, and that neither weapon is to be favored over the other. If I had a choice between any weapon in the series, I would choose Kimarhi's spear. It is a range weapon and it does what it is designed to do. No fancy gimmicks, no comedically oversized counterparts. Just a weapon pure and simple.

As far as the Gunblade theories go, I think that Del has served to debunk them. In all honesty, I agree with everything he says, handling weapons on a daily basis, not to mention relying on them for my survival for two back to back tours in Iraq. I can see the usefulness of a hybrid weapon which combines the best characteristics of both, if not the basic functions of each. What I am expected to believe is that the gunblade combines the aspects of well, a gun and a blade. Besides, no one calls a specific weapon a 'gun' anyway. They each have model names and such. 'Gun' is a broad term used by mostly ignorant individuals as a catch all for a modern ranged weapon. I tend to make a distinction between a Rifle, a Pistol and an Automatic Weapon System.

Anyway, enough ranting and raving, the Gunblade is, at best, a poor attempt at a hybrid type weapon, and while it serves to exist only in fantasy, even things based in fantasy must have some factors based on reality orthey run the risk of becoming completely unbelieveable, which the Gunblade is. As far as the Buster Sword...no amount of applied logic can even generate a viable reason for it's existance, not to mention it's method of use.

By the way Saint weapon, Bayonets are still used today by all members of the Army. They are an integral part of basic training, having an entire week dedicated to their mastery, and they are also used in combat situations as well, because, contrary to popular belief, there are cases when you have to fight in hand to hand situations. Especially when fighting in a Guerilla conflict. I have been involved in several hand to hand fights during the Battles of Najaf(August-September 2004) and Fallujah(October-December 2004) and it is with confidence that I can say this. Please do not tell people that a piece of equipment is obsolete unless you are in a position to use it and would know if it had been taken out of circulation.

Okay...I'm done now.

This post has been edited by Nytecrawla on 27th June 2006 11:52

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the Gunblade is, at best, a poor attempt at a hybrid type weapon, and while it serves to exist only in fantasy, even things based in fantasy must have some factors based on reality orthey run the risk of becoming completely unbelieveable, which the Gunblade is. As far as the Buster Sword...no amount of applied logic can even generate a viable reason for it's existance, not to mention it's method of use.

Except they don't need to conform to reality, regardless, because it is a piece of fiction. It doesn't need to be believable.



This post has been edited by Zeromus_X on 27th June 2006 12:07

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Quote (Zeromus_X @ 27th June 2006 13:05)

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the Gunblade is, at best, a poor attempt at a hybrid type weapon, and while it serves to exist only in fantasy, even things based in fantasy must have some factors based on reality orthey run the risk of becoming completely unbelieveable, which the Gunblade is. As far as the Buster Sword...no amount of applied logic can even generate a viable reason for it's existance, not to mention it's method of use.

Except they don't need to conform to reality, regardless, because it is a piece of fiction. It doesn't need to be believable.

There's a little thing called suspension of disbelief which means if you think your audience has three braincells each then you at least need to pretend it can be realistic. Which means that for it to make any sense and not be a mindless load of rubbish you need to at least have some form of logic present.

It may not need to be belivable to everyone, but to some, at least pretending you don't just have all these flashy bright colours and awesome swords just to empty out wallets is important.

This post has been edited by Del S on 27th June 2006 15:22

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Gunblade, people! That's a gentlemen's weapon, complete with carrying case. This isn't
some oversized knife that any ruffian can lay hands upon, but a sophisticated piece of
hardware that requires focus and training and demands respect automatically!



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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

And it is still a piece of fiction. It still doesn't have to conform to reality, or even rely on the same physics we have. Nor was it meant to be thought about more than necessary.

At any rate, this is going off-topic so I'm not arguing about it any longer.

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Well, I guess in a way, the Buster Sword, but my favorite weapon of Cloud's were the Yoshiyuki or the Heaven's Cloud (both Katanas), and the Ragnarok.

Cross Slash is freaking wicked with a katana.

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"Kiros, the second black guy in all of Final Fantasy...unless ofcourse, you count the Black Mages...heh..."
~Me

i like v11 betta but the gunblade idea was just so cool

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Finished NSG FFX, Playing FFIV again.

Why does it have to be realistic its a game.

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Finished NSG FFX, Playing FFIV again.

Quote (Blazing Blaze @ 14th July 2006 09:41)

Why does it have to be realistic its a game.

Spookily, it's the same reason there's an edit button. It makes things far more sensible, intellegent, coherent, and above all, enjoyable to more mature audiences. An insane defies-logic weapon is the toy of the prepubescent but a rational, at-least-pretends-to-be-realistic weapon is the playground of the mature. What's worse is, the only thing making it stupid is the size. Were it a pistol/dagger rigup able to fire at range, or a full-blown rifle again able to fire at range, rather than a comedy oversized revolver... It would have worked. It would have been a rather good idea.

The buster sword is oddly realistic it it's reality. After all, SOLDIER members have some sort of mako-induced super-strength, and I envision SOLDIER as a joke-peacekeeper organisation, using swords for PR reasons to reduce the chances of civillians getting shot by them. All we need to do is give them a sidearm and bam: peacekeeping squad that carries a CQB weapon able to destroy pretty much anything that gets too close.

Neither weapon is truly better, but the gunblade could have been. A versatile long-ranged weapon for dealing with opponents trying to shoot you, and a sword to save your ammo and magic with monsters and the like.

Anyway, yeah, going off topic, so that's about it. PM's if there are any points you want to raise.

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Both weapons are stupid, if you ask me -- the Buster Sword is extraordinarily big and unwieldy, and is the Cloud's worst weapon (but best-looking, I guess) and the gunblade trumps the sword in terms of sleek design, but does not have long-range capabilities. The trigger serves no purpose except to enhance slashes, and while it's perfectly clear it takes cartridges, that they wouldn't be useful as projectiles makes the weapon inane.

Being a gun man, I'd probably go for the gunblade over a regular ol' sword.

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It's gonna be a glorious day
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