Originally Posted by masamune1600
Actually, it seems to be split. FFI-FFIII all had Masamune with higher attack power. FFIV saw Excalibur with higher attack; however, there is a caveat in this case. Edge's katanas were intended to be dual wielded; thus, a direct correlation between Masamune and Excalibur doesn't apply. After all, Masamune was the most powerful weapon of its type; Excalibur wasn't. In FFV, Excalibur did indeed have (slightly) higher attack power, although I still prefer Masamune because of the first strike capability. In FFVI, Excalibur is unquestionably more powerful; although the Masamune does not appear to be in the game, that's because it was mistranslated as the Aura (and the Aura was not a particularly great weapon). FFVII saw Sephiroth's Masamune, which had enormously high attack power (99) and accuracy (255). Excalibur was not featured in the game. Excalibur was more powerful than Masamune in FFT; however, Knightswords as a group were far superior to katanas in general. In FFVIII, both were Gilgamesh GF attacks; Masamune was more powerful. In FFIX, Excalibur, a sword for Steiner, was better than Masamune, a double-sword for Zidane. Both Masamune (Auron's Celestial Weapon) and Excalibur (Tidus' non-Celestial Break Damage default) were damage limit-breaking weapons in FFX, but I would take Masamune on the basis of its defense-ignoring qualities. Neither Masamune or Excalibur were the most powerful weapons of their name in FFTA; Masamune100 and Excalibur 2 were stronger. Excalibur 2, similar to FFIX, was the strongest weapon based on initial statistics.
Clearly, they are split, although it seems Masamune would be favored, if either.