Spears

"Along with the axe, knife and club it is one of the earliest and most important tools developed by early humans. As a weapon, it may be wielded with either one hand or two. It was used in virtually every conflict up until the modern era and is probably the most commonly used weapon in history." - Weir, William. 50 Weapons That Changed Warfare.

So, a pet peeve of mine is the lack of spears in modern games. Only a few games have implemented them with success, most notably in MMORPG's is the Dragoon class of Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn. Other than that, the Dark Souls franchise has done a good job with a variety of weapons including more than one type of spears.

It's the weapon I've wanted to use.

Techniques with the weapon vary greatly (Nordic, Japanese, Chinese, etc.), as does the length of the weapon. Often, when bringing up the subject of spears - I have noted that majority of people think it is solely a stabbing weapon. While spears are made for thrusting and piercing, especially the nordic spears have a wider blade for cutting purposes. Also, much like the quarterstaff - the long shaft of the spear can be used to trip the opponent, rendering them vulnerable.

I often receive complaints of how the animations for such a weapon would be boring, then I point them towards the two aforementioned games as well as an animated movie called Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit. Now, there's also been a great scene in the TV-series Game of Thrones where one of the characters (Oberyn Martell) uses a spear in duel. Despite the overly agile choreography, this scene fights well the argument of spears being solely a formation weapon (with boring moves).

To quote a person named Jihan, who commented on my post regarding spears on another unnamed forum:

"Odin's spear Gungnir is probably the first one most would come up with, but there's also Arthur's spear Rhongomiant, plus several from Irish mythology: Diarmuid's spears Gae Buide and Gae Derg, Cuchulainn's spear Gae Bulg, Lugh's spears Gae Assail and Areadbhar, Cormac's spear Crimall, and the Luin of Celtchar. Plus there's the Holy Lance / Spear of Longinus, if you want to stretch the definition of "fantasy" just a tiny bit."

As you can see there are various spears in mythology and literature, it is my guess that swords are just "sexier" to the public. Everyone wants to be the hero with a great sword, well I don't - and I don't want the spear to be forgotten again.

This is the third game to which I write about the joy of spears, and hopefully the community agrees with me this time too.

Thank you for reading!

I would also love to know everyones (especially developers) opinion and views on the subject, so please comment.

TL;DR fokken spears m8

LINKS:

VIDEO: Historical fencing (HEMA) Swords vs. Spears - thoughts and experiences

VIDEO: Spear vs Sword and Buckler Sparring

VIDEO: Samurai Combat - Kanpo spear technique

VIDEO: Spear Usage

VIDEO: 1. Centingas Training - Spear and Shield

DOC: Hurstwic: Viking Spear

DOC: Irish Two-Handed Spear

DOC: The Spear, the king of weapons