Has anyone else noticed...

[Rinoas'_evil_twin]

Has anyone else noticed that nearly all of the lead characters in FF have swords? (This is only from VII onwards - I haven't played the others)

[Breine]

Yes I have... It's actually kind of weird. But hey, swords are cool :D

[Shoyku]

In VIII Squall uses a Gunblade, technically, that's not a sword. In IX, Zidane uses more of a double sided dagger than a sword.

[m4tt]

Zidane uses Daggers, actually.

edit: dammit shoyku. :p

[Flying Mullet]

And in FFXII the hero will wield moldy fillets of flounder.

I guess Square goes with the steroypical hero in the sense that they carry a sharp metal object for poking the baddies.

[Garland]

Swords take precedence over guns and other weapons solely for heroism. Ranged characters often have a 'safe' feeling about them. They can attack from far away and are at less risk than the melee characters. This makes them seem less brave. Heroes have to be brave. Heroes also have to be strong. That's why they typically use swords - big swords. Giving a hero a big sword shows before you even play the game that the character is brave and strong. You know he's direct, as the sneaky characters always get daggers. The choice of weapons does almost as much for characterization as the game's introduction.

[Cz]

When a lot of people think 'fantasy' they think 'swords'. The secondary character (usually the love interest) tends to use magic, which is another big fantasy theme.

[Brian The Pink Shark]

Swords rule, it's kinda tradition for a hero to carry a sword, a sword is much more painfull than a gun anyway.

[Pancaek]

Yes, nearly every lead character (in the games that can be considered to have lead characters) uses a sword, or at least has the option to. I really wish they'd have the main character use something else once in a while.

[Garland]

Final Fantasy 9 stands out in that regard, Skye-chan. It has the swordsman Steiner playing second fiddle to the dagger weilding Zidane. A traditional FF would've placed Steiner as the lead. Considering how hard FF9 tried to be a culmination of every FF tradition preceding it, it's odd that they took new ground here.

[DJZen]

Originally posted by Squinn
Swords rule, it's kinda tradition for a hero to carry a sword, a sword is much more painfull than a gun anyway.

You know this from experience?

Seriously though, swords are the "standard" weapon. They're the Ryu of weapons. Look through a catalogue of weapon replicas, you'll find more swords than anything else. Swords were the most common weapons throughout the middle ages, the period romanticized by fantasy movies/books/games. It's not so much that they were popular, they were versatile. Spears and axes are big and heavy, bows and guns have limited use at close range. Knifes are.... well.... Knives are small, and small offends the male ego :p I wouldn't mind seeing a main character weild a different weapon though. Spears are cool, how about spears?

[eestlinc]

for fun, play ff5 and make Butz your magic user.

[sephiroth21]

im sorry, does anyone have a problem with kick ass swords. (like clouds+sephy and squalls just because its shiny. so any one with a problem with swords then leave and never play ff agin!!!

[sephiroth21]

sorry i ment to post this(i found it needed in this this thread):