Her limit was the most powerfull but The End was extremely hard to get to use.
Jacque (Jean Reno) in Onimusha 3 uses a whip, and he looks badass doing it.
My whole thing is that in FF8, women and men were equal. There jsut as many mael heroes as female, the females weren’t skanks, the females got the job done (like you said with Selphie’s limit), and there were plenty of strong females in the world.
Frankly, the Final Fantasy series makes it’s money by overusing everything. Sure they change a thing or two each time, but the premise (Kill monsters to SAVE THE WORLD) and plots (EVIL GUY! Oh wait… ONE MORE EVIL GUY! GASP!) never change.
You forgot the mention the part where they all look like members of the Japanese band, Glay.
Yeah swords (and the knight class) are overused a lot for the main characters. But it has never really bothered me. Since I usually just view each one as a seperate entity/game.
However it would be cool to see some variety, like a katana or spear, just to shake things up a bit, every once and a while.
But then, that’s is the basic plot and flow of most RPGs and many games.
There is a reason why knights are used so much: it’s the traditional fantasy hero. Sure you could have a thief or a dragoon or any other class as a main hero, but players want their main character to be the most kick ass. That limits it down to dragoons, powerful spellcasters, barbarians, and knights, since all other classes just get some ability, like steal, to ever make anyone want to use that class. That’s the one thing I hated about FFIX, Steiner was more powerful than Zidane. Next, a dragoon is a lancer, aka, a knight with a lance, with the ability to jump. So we really only have knights, powerful spellcasters, and barbarians. Personally, I think a barabrian would be cool, but personality wise, it wouldn’t win many people over. People don’t like to be idiots, unless it’s comical. So really we have knights and spellcasters. Actually, it would be interesting to have a spellcaster (not a gay spellcaster, like blue mage) be the hero/heroine. But, spellcasters are best when used as support for the truly kick ass characters, and people don’t really like support characters, they want someone who could last by themself. Besides, spellcasters are generally a)female b)old or c)evil, while the main character is generally a good, young male. Sorry girls, villains, and the elderly, but that’s the typical, cliched hero. So we really only have knights as the best class for the main character. Also, there are many different kinds of knights, as shown by FFTactics, another plus because it prevents the hero from constantly being a paladin. Finally, it’s true, the sword is the typical knight weapon (unless they’re a dragoon), hence it’s popularity.
Also, most weapons are, how should I put this, gay, stupid, pussy weapons. The bow, while useful, is used by pussies who are afraid to be in the front of the battle. The staff and rod is primarily used by spellcasters, who like archers, are pussies who hide in the back. Next, the whip, the gayest of all weapons, is not really a weapon, but more of a torture device or sex toy. The lance, a nice weapon, used by lancers aka dragoons, front row warriors, so a possible weapon. The axe, a very manly weapon, but mainly used by barbarians, so the wielder is stereotypically strong yet stupid. Guns, more gay than even the bow and used similarly. Daggers, used by primarily thieves, who look out pretty much for themselves, so are by nature cowardly. Gloves and claws, very useful but let’s face it, does it really make a difference between which ones you use? Therefore, it provides less weapon options and upgrades, which means plain and simply bad.
Katanas, let’s face it, there’s little difference between a katana and a sword, and as it has already been pointed out by Ahkeeyuu, it is generally a villains weapon, why- I have no idea. Personally, I’m not a big fan of Oriental weapons, though I won’t compare them to the, gasp, whip. Who the hell uses a damn whip?! So if they used some original, lethal, melee (meaning non-ranged for all you non D&D players aka not bows and guns), I would have no problem with it.
By the way, in regards to my declaration of what’s wussy and what’s not, wussy weapons are those used by stereotypical cowardly (or cowardly by my standards) characters ie non-melee characters, spellcasters and rogues. The whip is special, because plain and simply, it’s gay.
Believe it or not, guns actually require quite a bit of skill…in real life. ALso, if you call guns gay saying that you’re afraid to get in the fight, you have no idea what combat is really like. Many battles are fought pretty close, probably 100 to 200 meters apart and in urban fighting it is even closer. The only reason I say this is ebcause you say with a gun you are afraid to get into the fight and that is quite wrong.
Your thoughts on FF9 with Zidane are my thoughts exactly. I think my reason for wanting the hero to be the most powerful stems from FF7 (I had played FF1 through FF6, excluding Japanese only releases at the time) with you always having to use Cloud. Since he was always in my party, I wanted to make sure he could ahndle most of the stuff on his own (I actually found a materia combination that did this, all I had to do was cast a powerful spell repeatedly and I’d never lose, death didn’t even matter). FF8 and replaying through FF1 and FF4 and discovering FF5 just cemented this idea. FF8 didn’t do anything to kcik away from the trend and FF9 ahd the same sort of setup, but a system that made making the hero the most powerful character really hard (basiaclly ignore leveling Steiner and get to soem mad levels). This is partly why FF10 is my favorite. Tidus is still more agiel and not as strong as Auron, but the system makes is possible to get him that strong if you put in the time (I LOVE the sphere system, every character has their own job and specialties, but you can power them all up in every area if you want).
Jauqce (Jean Reno) from Onimusha 3 comes to mind, but that’s not an RPG.
Indiana Jones
And Indiana Jones is more bad ass then any FF hero can ever hope to be.
Clearly you have no idea of the sort of damage such weapons can do, and their associated qualities.
A sword is a staple weapon, sure enough, but THEORETICALLY, one can be used by someone who is unskilled. They’d probably end up lopping their own arm off 
but the weapon can be wielded with luck rather than skill. Of course, in this case, the warrior will naturally be a skilled swordsman, excluding Tidus, who, barring limit techniques, basically just slams the thing down over the head of his enemy. Considering he’s only just picked up a sword, this seems fairly realistic. It’s what I’d do if I suddenly had a sword in my hands and had to fight off a load of bad guys
And that sort of proves my point - a sword can be wielded by someone without training, and simply because it’s sharp and weighted it can cause major damage.
The ‘wussy’ weapons you mentioned all require MUCH more finesse. Bows and arrows, halberds, spears, whips, oriental weapons like shinobou, magic, and guns to a lesser extent, require MUCH more training, possibly years of experience before they can be used to an acceptable degree. And they’re capable of plenty of damage.
I think you’ll find that spears and halberds are used gruesomely in close combat. They may be a longer ranged weapons than your stereotypical sword, but their weilders will inevitably be up close to the enemy at some point. Just think of dragoons - hardly a coward’s weapon, then.
The bow and arrow requires excellent muscular strength in the torso and arms in particular, as well as strong aim and eyesight.
Whips require a damn good amount of skill to use without beating yourself black and blue - do think of Indiana Jones, and when he first gets his whip First thing he does is slash himself with it. And a good wielder will be able to use the weapon for wrapping around things, AND tearing bloody great chunks out of the opponent (no exaggeration). Hardly a ‘gay’ weapon, if in the right hands.
Therefore the supporting cast are theoretically highly skilled in comparison to the sword-wielding main character - they don’t use these weapons because they’re ‘wusses’ and are too afraid to wield a sword. They wield them because that’s what they’re proficient with.
Which is why I don’t agree with your statement about Final Fantasy IX either - Zidane was the character, first and foremost. A knight role wouldn’t have suited him at all. And though he wasn’t as physically strong as Steiner, his trance techniques and other abilities more than made up for that. The class of a main character just isn’t the first thing that concerns me. As long as it suits their personalities, I don’t honestly give a monkeys if they weild a broadsword or a mage staff.
Despite the fact that most gun fights are at close range, those are more of a duel rather than a battle. When guns are used in warfare, and not covert operations, swat team mission, anything you’d find in a first person video game, you get the picture, it’s gay because it gives people an unfair advantage over the truly brave melee fighters, who know that they will most likely die. My point is, with a gun, you have a better chance of survival. Sure they’re still risking their neck and could be considered brave, but I prefer to play as the bravest most daring character. Besides, guns lack that romantic quality about them that a sword has, unless it’s a duel. If the whole game was a guy with a gun going against an evil nemesis, like Parasite Eve (though it was a chick), then the gun is okay. Otherwise, I’d prefer the sword.
Oh, and in regards to the amount of training needed, it doesn’t matter if it took a million years to learn to use a weapon, it’s still stupid. Oh, and how powerful it is doesn’t make it any less wussier. I mean the flute takes a long time to learn how to play, but it’s still gay.
Oh and I didn’t like Indiana Jones for his fighting abilities, I liked his personal qualities. I wouldn’t want to play him in a game however.
Hear hear !
Edit: That was for Lunar Cry
This is for Tuba: I would rather be the character that is still standing at the end of the battle. “You would have fought very bravely, and died very quickly” is the quote that comes to mind. Besides, guns can be every bit as romantic as swords, havnt you read The Gunslinger by Stephen King or any Louis L’amour novel ?
You are so gay harharhar
Uh, I’m in the military, I know just a little bit mroe about combat than you do. I’ve actually trained for battle and leanred techinques. Combat is nothing like a duel. Fuck, depending on how fierce of a battle it is, you might not even knwo where the shot is coming from. Bravery isn’t just going in with a high chance of dying. Have you even scene Savign Private Ryan or Glory? Now tell me D-Day was a battle with a high chance of survival. Fuck, have you even been paying attention the the news. In Iraq, in one day 280 Iraqis were killed in a battle. I would go on but the dishonor to the guys fighting in Iraq has jsut pissed me off that a lot of what I type will be profanity. I’ll finish my thoughts when I cool down. But fuck! You need to get a way from games and see what is going on in the world. Shit, watch Black Hawk Down. That is what war is becoming. Tell me the guys there weren’t brave. Fuck, a lto of them had to jsut run out of the city fighting the whole way. Fucker.
EDIT1: Also, with a sword you can actually put a lot mroe on you to stop a sword blow than a bullet. A sword you can also stop wit your sword or a shield. Not all bullets can be stopped with soem recent inventions such as plates in the new vests. Also, a sword requires less skill. I bet that you could swing and hit something a lot faster and with less training than you could pointing a rifle at something from let’s be nice and say 200 yards. It seems that you’re only knowledge of combat are video games. Well, believe me games and real life are quite different. Also, SWAT isnt exactly the most advance. If you want to use an example, try the SEALs, now those guys are fucking hardcore. Everyoen has respect for them. Marines are pretty tough and well repsected world wide (such as in some countries it is almost like winning the Super Bowl to kill one and take his dog tag), but even Marines have the greatest respect for SEALs. SWAT, their standards are lower. I’ve got a bunch more to say. Shit, better chance of survival doesn’t mean you’re not brave.
Infonick, hell yeah ! Preach it man ! Why the hell havn’t they “tested” MOAB over there yet ? I sure as hell would be. Tuba, you are thinking of modern war as a personal battle, when many soldiers say that when it comes down tot he fighting, it’s all indifference. They arent fighting because they are brave. They are fighting because they want to survive. They just want to go home, but not in a body bag.