Talk to me about gunblades

Everything from design to use, it's quite a versatile weapon and my personal favorite weapon of the Final Fantasy series.

What do you like or dislike about gunblades? Do you have a favorite design? How about a favorite NPC gunblade?

As far as I can tell they're won't be any new gunblades in Lightning Returns :colbert:

I'll be writing an article about gunblades soon as part of my desire to bring more features to the front site, so I'm hoping that I can get a wide variety of thoughts and opinions. I think this is a great way to generate diversity in an effort to write a page that's unbiased and has variety. I want your opinion to be represented. Let me know your thoughts!

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You are striking down enemies with a sword that can shoot. It's awesome.

I don't care how ridiculous the concept may be or how improbable a proper execution may seem, for all I know it works in the world of FFVIII and that's good enough for me.

It does not shoot, it just creates an explosion... which is even more awesome. :cool:

I think I'd like it better if the design from FFVIII wasn't so lame. I mean, the concept is kind of cool! It'st just uuuuugly.

Also, the culture surrounding it is just ugh.

They are sleek, smooth and badass. The explosions they deliver are awesome.

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Originally Posted by Jinx

I think I'd like it better if the design from FFVIII wasn't so lame. It'st just uuuuugly.

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Lies and slander :colbert:

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Also, the culture surrounding it is just ugh.

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Tell me about this gunblade culture so that I may join my people :monster:

Gunblades have perfect accuracy in FFVIII, rendering blinds on Squall pointless.

I never knew that. I wonder why there's such accuracy?

I liked the fact that by using the R1 button he could land a critical hit every time. It wasn't until much later that I realized it was because of the gunblade trigger. When I initially played the game I thought it just meant "hit the R1 trigger button for a critical", not R1 to pull the guns trigger. I wondered why I only ever had good timing with Squall :p

The R1 effect was a nice touch, and incredibly satisfying each time it was landed correctly.

Gunblades to me are like putting the power supply inside the case of a console, a secondary fuel tank right beside the engine, or a front wheel drive hot hatch given over 300 HP: they don't make sense. I mean, they look cool, and explosions are cool, but swords with guns, ammo, and explosions bother me because I will never be able to use something like that to slay my enemies in real life.

And for the love of god, do not get me started on how ridiculous Seifer's pistol gripped gunblade is.

It's an awesome concept but much like anything else in the FF world, it's realistic practicality (buster sword) isn't probable.

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

And for the love of god, do not get me started on how ridiculous Seifer's pistol gripped gunblade is.

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I want to get you started, Vivi.

Is it just the design or the fact that he holds it sideways like a thug? Now that I think about it that's one more way he contrasts with Squall. Squall holds his gunblade upright and in front of him and Seifers over confidence probably makes him believe he can be more reckless about it.

I thought Lightning's switchblade or whatever it was called in FF13 was cool, however both gunblades from FF8 just looked incredibly lame to me. The hilts just look so out of place.

Blake from RWBY uses a sword that's revealed to be a sheathe for a smaller sword that transforms into a gun.
Ren from JNPR uses a pair of SMGs with long blades resembling mantis forelegs.

By the by, in-game info on FFVIII gunblades says that they are not reliable weapons and very few people have the skill to use them formidably.

Frankly, I think its silly. I'm not gonna pull the whole realism card for a fantasy game, but trout should still make sense in the context of a fictional universe. Basically, you should create a fictional universe that is consistent with its own rules and limitations. Lightnings gunblade works. It switches between a sword and a gun as you need it. It serves a practical purpose as a weapon and makes sense in a futuristic technology centric setting.

Squalls Gunblade doesn't actually shoot projectiles, it just seems to send out some sort of shockwave as he swings to deal extra damage. But wouldn't that hurt himself? Im no swordsmith, but wouldn't all the extra "gun" parts make the weapon unnecessarily heavy and mess up the physics of actually hurting stuff with a sword? How do you load the gun? Does it have a safety to stop it from going off when its sheathed? I don't know man. I like FFVIII, but I think the gunblade is a dumb weapon no solider has any business wielding.

I'm pretty sure it was not a shockwave, but an actual projectile, but since there is no barrel, the projectile has a restricted range that's only just past the end of the swordblade, so it can't be used as a regular firearm. I think the gunblade was retconned to fire actual distance projectiles though. At least that's the impression I get from Dissidia. Didn't Weiss from DoC wield dual gunblades?

I've always thought of gunblades as essentially being the reverse of a rifle and bayonet. Whereas a bayonet serves no real melee function on a rifle other than a quick stab, the gun part of serves no greater purpose than to enhance the damage potential in the slash of a sword.

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Originally Posted by Mercen-X

I'm pretty sure it was not a shockwave, but an actual projectile, but since there is no barrel, the projectile has a restricted range that's only just past the end of the swordblade, so it can't be used as a regular firearm..

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All Final Fantasy Gun-Blades can shoot (Genesis clone, Rosso, Weiss, Yazoo, Loz, Lightning, et cetera except the Gun-Blades from Final Fantasy VIII. The Ultimania of Final Fantasy VII compared the Velvet Nightmare of Loz and Yazoo with the Final Fantasy VIII, there it was mentioned. So the trigger and all might work which is the reason criticals of Squall make a shot sound but that's it.

I never understood the VIII design. I actually prefer the XIII design since it folds up into a gun and then unfolds back into a blade so you can switch during battle. It's one of the few nice things I can say about XIII...