Good luck with that. Too many experts.

Edit:
I think it would be too contrived especially since from what I know about rapiers only like 6-8 inches of the business end are sharpened, right? ...so you couldn't really do katana-style slashing with them.

I think you mean "experts"

I was trying to polite-ish.

yes i know too many experts so they say you could say you're obama there's no way to verify that unless you're willing to post some sort of proof so take things with a grain of salt and let the post bashing continue

It's not that any of them are wrong - it's the same problem with any scientific debate: each side has their position and each side can back up their position with facts. It's all about which facts you chose to cite.

I'm not a super terrific oriental equipment fan, but depending upon fighting style I like katanas in certain games. They are less effective against heavy, thick armor with large plates or solid cuirasses that need to be pierced. The only evidence I'll cite that supports the notion that european straight swords are better at stabbing/piercing is physics-based: nails are straight for at least one reason.

Rapiers would require a new animation.

For instance. Look at dark souls... Different weapons = different animations.

Case in point, the rapier. It has true rapier (graceful yet deadly) animations.

You think most people playing Skyrim would care. New animations would be very nice, but I just want pretty swords. Ta ^.^

IIRC Warhammer had some good animations for the Witch Hunter.

Ironically, The Princess Bride is on right now in the scene between Westley and Inigo Montoya.

Edited for spelling.

Lol. Awsome! Great friggin movie.

Well can't say I wasn't expecting something along those lines.

Katana's look pretty. But honestly, in a world where most people wear plate armor? They'd pretty much svck.

I like how longswords look better, and I'd prefer them in a fight.

*shrug* The NICE thing is that you can have what you want - a 1-hand sword is a sword is a sword. They all do about the same amount of damage. It's a game, it's not thank goddess RL.

Looks more Mongolian to me.http://tinypic.com/k03t6f.jpg

Personally I want one of these. http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJuSOrCo-V3ql3ZDc2aUPJcZSoNR8WssGLsfvQPael7dk4buOqr6k69jy38w Looks way more usefull than a Katana.

Trying too hard to look cool, man.

And Serethil's right, thank the Gods it's just a game and these different types of swords do generally the same damage. I actually prefer an Imperial sword smithed up to Legendary and enchanted with absorb health

Clearly, elven armor must be made out of some sort of laminate material that's vulnerable to cutting/slicing attacks.

This also explains its light weight.

I was just looking at the Weapons and Armor of Lord of the Rings and noticing the "japanese-ness" of the elven weaponry including the one handed and two handed swords. The sword (Elrond's) that Arwen uses is one of the prettiest swords I've seen, and it reminds me very much of a katana (and the Ebony sword too). It has an elegence that is missing from most Skyrim weapons.

I think that these Elven weapons (as well as many japanese weapons, especially Katanas) were made with an eye to the aesthetic that was considered unnecessary to most working blades. Style over substance to some extent (or at least style AND substance). In fact in medieval times, any sword was kind of an extravagance and many of those were very pretty as well. I'd love to see some of those LOTR weapons in Skyrim, but as I play on a console I never will.

I use a Daedric two-hander, but I admit that for looks and elegance, the ebony two-hander is much nicer looking. No idea how reasonably they would be in real life as weapons, but I wish I could make my Daedric weapons in an appearance mode like the ebony. In fact why can't you just say what shape you want and what type you want. Why not be able to make a ebony two-hander (looking) weapon made out of Dwarven metal, with dwarven stats?

The Elven weapons in the Lord of the Rings triliogy are not inspired, in any way, by Japanese weaponry. Their style is drawn from a mix of Western cavalry sabres and Assyrian sickle-swords. I would love to see more Assyrian weaponry in TES, although I can see Morrowind and/or Hammerfell taking to such things far better than the people of Skyrim. Curved. Swords xDD

I think they're a sort of fusion of the two. The elegance and grace of the Japanese Katana or Nodachi with some of the look of the cavalry sabre. Yes, but still you can almost see some Japanese swordsmith and an elven smith examining the wares of the others and nodding and smiling. I definitely would like Arwen's sword in Skyrim. I don't care what the stats are.

My guesses are these:
1) You can't make a Daedric-stat weapon look like Ebony because in order to house the essence of the Daedric Heart the Daedric weapons can't be as slim.
2) You can't make an Ebony 2-H out of Dwarven metal because ebony is probably stronger than Dwarven metal so the Dwarven weapons have to be larger to give them the same strength.

They were in morrowind. Just sayin'.

ya no, Japan had [censored] iron quality, the stuff was crap -.- If anything a lotr elf would laugh at 'em
Lotr dwarves on the other hand....now those are true craftsmen.
Plus the elven swords like stated above are nothing like katana.

Suddenly katanas are like the crappiest swords in the world.

Who would have thunk it? I learn something new every day. Golly gee, you guys are something else. Where would I be without this quality education on display here.

Yup. Pretty amazed myself at the sort of things people want me to absorb for a FCRPG I play alone, on my own machine at home....

A little bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing.

Thank you for this. I don't think I've quite literally laughed out loud at a forum post for quite some time. Today, that changed.

I'm with you Serethil: who the cares?