Scythes are a farming implement, its amazing that any are weapons in games.
I'de like to have a combine harvester in an FPS during a vehicle section, now THAT would be good use of farm equipment.
Interestingly enough, most weapons start as simple tools. Swords pretty much started out as a length of wood with sharpened rocks stuck in it.
I too love scythes, but as a weapon, they are rather impractical. In order to successfully wield one, a person would have to train extensively with it.
I have used a scythe before when i stayed with my grandma; and to those who say it is not a practical weapon have not really used one before. They are incredibly sharp and the momentum from swinging around a six-ish foot pole with a ten pound blade at the end is devestating. If you look at it, it is basically an ax with the blade turned ninety degrees and a pointy end that, trust me, hurts like hell if it stabs you.
To the actual topic however, there is a scythe in WoW and also diablo 2 had a scythe weapon class and those are the only ones I can recall besides the aforementioned Dante's Inferno.
scythes as weapons are flawed in RL only because the slashing motion you have to do with them are almost always going to be
1:horizontal or diagonal
2:slow because of the wind up for the big swing to gain momentum.
3:reliant on the target being already in or moving into your slash zone, and not moving back, forward or interrupting it by blocking/parrying/noming on your taters while your fulfilling numbers 1&2.
otherwise they are just a variant of polearm/staff. maybe a double-edged blade, changing size/angle of the blade or other addition to the scythe can combat some of its flaws, but everyone already admits that its not there to be the best. in games they are not any worse than any other weapon, because you can tune them to be better, same or worse.
as for scythes in games,
.hack//gu 2&3, darkstalkers II should have plenty, ninja gaiden, dante's inferno, devil may cry had scythe enemies aplenty, otherwise its generally an uncommon weapon to find in games.
Alright, Scythes are great in fantasy. People have made their point it's impractical as a weapon, others have brought up the existance of the war-scythe, there's my nod to them
As for my say: I personally likes scythes. But then again, I also really like the Grim Reaper. They kinda go hand in hand thanks to the whole mythos (let's face it, his name is the Grim REAPER, and farmers used to Reap wheat with a scythe, hence the connection)
Now, I notice people say they'd like to see them more in games. I agree, in the sense that they're fun fantasy weapons (especially energy scythes, mmm...), but what I want to see in the Europe-based mideval games is the War-Scythe popping up. Haven't seen one in any games as far as I can tell. But then again, my list of games I've played isn't as extensive as I'd like it to be
Don't forget that it's a Chain-scythe. Warhammer's kinda Chainsaw Crazy (you can see the teeth at the end of the scythe). So, even scarier I suppose, seeing as that blade-angle is even nastier to deal with
While scythes are pretty freakin cool in terms of what you can do for the aesthetic appeal of the very stylized weapon, I will say this: I hate scythes. I'm sick of their ilk in every facet of games and geek media or entertainment. They. are. absolutely. RIDICULOUS.
I can not stand when a character takes a scythe as a weapon in D&D, for example. Are you fucking kidding me? That is the least practical, least effective weapon you could have grabbed! If you had to choose between a sword or a scythe to go fight the ork that is for some reason outside your house, what do you think is the better option?
Scythes are only chosen for the aesthetic appeal. They get more ridiculously shaped and overdone the more powerful they are presumed to be (albeit... this is true for most weapons in almost any fantasy setting. Fucking Final Fantasy).
Why?! Why scythes! Its just such a bad idea! grab a spear! that has reach and you can jab rather then take a huge, laborious swing. It just...
screw it, I could go on forever about how I wish death to the tend of ridiculous looking scythe weapons that people choose... same goes for swords that are about the size of the person swinging it. Except for Gutz.
You debunked your own statement. Although it's called a "scythe" it could be better classified as a different type of polearm. The main driving point everyone in the Against pile is screaming is that the definitive <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe>Scythe is difficult/uncomfortable to wield, unbalanced, and, without modification a relatively poor weapon compared to other unmodified tools (See Machete, Hatchet, Sledgehammer, Pickaxe, etc.)
OK, now to jump back on the other side of the fence.
Raddra said:
I remember back in NWN I used to get really frustrated when I saw people weaponmastering Scythes for the x5 crit and actually being viable since I knew that scythes don't work in combat. At all.
I may not have played NWN (Flame me if you must) but it's a video game. And the world of Video games states that a piece of metal as large or larger than its wielder, and typically crafted in some of the most gaudy forms imaginable, is a better, more viable option than picking up a simple-yet-expertly crafted sword of regular size and shape, and in some cases the game will even allow you to DUAL-WIELD these two-man behemoths and actually do better than dual-wielding, say, a pair of short swords.
Arluza said:
.//Hack G.U (starting with episode 2) has scythes as a weapon choice. I REALLY love them in this game.
I actually thought GU did one of the best renditions of scythes out there. Slow, medium damage rate, not a lot of combo ability, but capable of sweeping through half the battle zone in a single swing. Too often I see scythes being wielded like spears, with fancy spins and movements like they're not some ungodly horror to wield. No, in GU, your scythe could swing twice, once to the left, then once to the right (or vice versa, I can't recall) and then you held the X Button and swung one last time and sent a few discs reeling forward, and all three strikes were slow and arced WIDE. You knew your best option for DPS was to dual-wield your daggers, and that Scythes were better suited to taking down groups or for those rare occurrences when something was actually weak to scythes (Again, game logic, don't try to explain it, you'll only waste our time further).
For the record, I like Scythes, but I'm a polearm fan in general, so I'll typically make a beeline for whatever class uses them, regardless of what form they take.
We've been over this before; Scythes are a poor choice for a weapon, and those who think otherwise have poor opinions.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.70517-Scythes#694172
Uh, yeah, I don't really care what you've "been over" before. If I wasn't there, it might as well never have happened. Science can decide that it's not a practical weapon, but there is no science that can decide whether it is or isn't a "poor choice" as one in a video game. That is pure opinion based on aesthetics and aesthetics alone. Aesthetics, as in beauty. And beauty is rarely scientific. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And "eye of the beholder" is another way of saying "purely subjective." Thus, as it's something purely subjective, there are no "poor opinions" about it, positive or negative.
The scythe is a farming tool, not a weapon.
Sure, you could in theory use it as a weapon, but that would be a bad idea since its... well, NOT DESIGNED TO BE.
I think its not in many games because of the fact that its so damn hard to make animations for...
Dante's Inferno
Anarchy Online (There are 2 laser scythes in it)
Demon's Souls (The War Scythe, not as awesome as regular scythes since it has the modified blade and is essentially a spear used like a halberd)
World of Warcraft (The level 50 Warlock quest gives a staff with a scythe graphic, some random drop polearms in The Burning Crusade have scythe graphics and there is an event boss (I think either winter or halloween) that gave an epic staff with a scythe graphic or at least did for a couple of years)
I think the main reason that scythes are underused is because they need quite unique animations to look right (Both Anarchy Online and WoW use the same animations as other weapons as the same type I.E 2 hand edged/Stave/Polearm which makes them look silly since they often have stabbing animations...)
Games I'd like to have scythes in:
Skyrim
Guild Wars 2
Also all those people saying "Scythes cannot be weapons because they're too impractical" and then also saying how silly it is for people to use them in games in which you can engulf your hand in flames to send a ball of fire at your opponents... (Seriously, if you want to make someone combust, do what Galerians do and excite the molecules around your target so they burst into flames... )
OK, scythes are confirmed for silly IRL weapons, but do you wanna keep all the badassery (even more, really) of a scythe, but still have a wonderfully useful tool for killing? Pick up a kusari-gama.
Not sure if already mentioned but Arumat from Star Ocean: The Last Hope wields a giant laser scythe with multiple blades XD making him my favorite character.
Scythes are a farming implement, its amazing that any are weapons in games.
I'de like to have a combine harvester in an FPS during a vehicle section, now THAT would be good use of farm equipment.
The scythe as a weapon was originally implemented BY those farmers to improvise because they couldn't get swords. No doubt it was effective enough in history AS a weapon, plus the intimidation factor in that everyone wielding one is associated with the Grim Reaper.
We don't talk about the scythe often enough on this forum site. Scythes are just awesome. Scythes are sharp, pointy, and come in all kinds of different designs depending on who's drawing them. Scythes are intimidating, harbingers of death. And whether you're death himself [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2TVMxnrSCKY/TRDNyY212iI/AAAAAAAARMs/awPc2GYwBtQ/s1600/GrimReaper.jpg], or you just work for him, [http://gallery.fanserviceftw.com/_images/72ce1bfb8bb9e0e07d3863c3f3dfa0a5/741%20-%20maka_albarn%20soul_eater%20wallpaper.jpg] there's no denying the pure badassery of the scythe. They're just plain cool.
If you're into anime, there's plenty of scythes to be found. But what about video games? We had Dante [http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/dante_s_inferno.jpg], and we had Ryu Hayabusa [http://gaygamer.net/images/ryustatue.jpg], and we had Zasalamel [http://www.fightersgeneration.com/characters4/zasa-sc3-big.jpg]. And we've had plenty of others. The scythe is to blades, what the desert eagle is to guns. It's an awesome, impractical weapon mostly chosen for aesthetic purposes. And though they sometimes seem childish, you secretly love them. I'm always disappointed when a fantasy game involving swordplay doesn't have scythes. Sure lots of games have had them, but I feel like it's not enough. I need more scythes! More more more!
Maybe I just play too many shooters, and simply don't know about enough games that have scythes. So, what are some good games that have awesome scythe usage? What are some upcoming titles you hope will have scythes?
For one, I'm really hoping Bethesda will think to include them in Skyrim.
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