Other than the standard fantasy fair (and the obligatory katana), there's a lot of interesting historical weapons and armor that would be awesome as a bit of flair. Linothorax, scale armor, meteor hammers, chu ko nu, rope darts, atlatls all things that can give you options.
Where appropriate, I think its good. I think they have to include only things that feel right in the game world, and not make it feel too random and eclectic. What do you think about this post, I started a while ago, Exotic weapons and other races
I like those a lot! That one with a wide flat top looks like it would cause some nasty wounds on a good cut. You could have, for instance, a little shop down by the docks in one of the bigger cities for imports and oddities. They'd carry things like foreign nick nacks, antiques and weapons with the very very rare magical item that you won't know was magical unless you have some way to detect it. As you would expect in a fantasy curio shop.
I just want to see more real world swords (ie, oakshott typology ) rather than "wallhanger" fanstasy weapons types. Also, if they do put in Katanas, please also put in a Jian . Han Dynasty Jians are droolworthy.
I liked the fey Emerald weaponry/armor from Skyrim, along with heavy steel armors, but stuff like the Daedric sets were somewhat overkill. Honestly, I expected NPCs to run screaming at the sight of daemonic-clad people walking down the street. One of my favorite crafting systems for black smithing was in Kingdoms of Amalur, where you could customize weapons/armors to a ridiculous level of detail. The only complaint was the "best" material was this incredibly ugly red crystal garb. Looked terrible to me, as I personally like the classic adventurer styles. Edit: Also, that system was fantastic for allowing you to break down extra items into crafting materials (based on your skill levels), which could then be reforged into more powerful items. I'd love it even if we could just make more rare and cool looking sets from gathering various materials from powerful enemies.
Yeah but would you have a problem with other historical "odd" swords like the Falcata or interesting non sword weapons like a rope dart (think a small javelin attached to 8-10 feet of rope). Those are real weapons (mind the rope dart was more of a civilian/criminal weapon). But also where you would pick up those weapons would allow you to pick up the more normal "exotic" swords like Middle Eastern and Asian blades. And yes Jians would be awesome. @Houston Dragon Yeah I agree with daedric armor thing, but TES has this weird "levelled equipment" thing going that I hope SOTA doesn't.
Well, in a strictly earth bound chronography, the falcata suffers the same problem as the Han dynasty jian I mentioned as being too early. But, ceremonial weapons were often used way past their period... and what period does magic fit in? Their own lore means they can really pick and choose back in time and across as much geography as they want, just moving forward becomes jarring. The various weapons might make animation tougher though, ie, differentiating between thrusting/mixed/slashing weapons. A thrusting attack with a talwar or a slashing attack with a jian would break the immersion considerably.
I like the idea of flexible weapons in a game, though I am not sure rope-dart/meteor-hammer would be appropriate for the setting. Aside from a fair amount of time it takes to gain skill in those weapons (as opposed to something simple like club or even chain whip) they presuppose a body movement that is compatible with empty handed martial dynamics as opposed to armored up smash fests. And of course this is Britania, not Shanghiaia. BUT I do love the idea of them anyway. I don't think I would classify them as civilian/criminal either (more than say a dagger). Lasso and whip are 2 of the 18 classical weapons of the well versed military soldier. While the meteor hammer developed from the older stone-rope and bone-fish-fork it saw first battlefield use during the period of warring states (475-221 BC). Many famous generals used the weapon during the Tang and Song dynasties. Famously, Fu Yangyu was known for his skill and enemies he defeated with the weapon. All that said, Rope-Dart and Meteor Hammer are a blast to use, but I might recommend not using an iron dart/hammer when you start training.
I would love to fight with spiked chains, but I think it's very hard and complicated to make. Other than that, I like scimitars, falchions kukris and kamas... not exactly "exotic" as we see them a lot in games today, but still exotic culturally speaking.
Whatever we do, I think it would be a great idea to grab a Golden Pick and head to this area I have circled on the map below... Hope Lord British changes things up a bit, or this will be all too easy
personally i wonder if could be some unusual weapons that benefited from two different combat schools.
Why would cutting attacks with a Jian be weird for you? The blade was designed to be great thrusting weapon true, but it was also designed to not be useless at cutting. Anyways, I kind of have the idea that you would get all of this stuff from one person selling foreign knick knacks in the docks. Maybe even trying to blow smoke up your ass as to what certain weapons for. Like you point to a Sai "Oh sir, that's from country thousands of miles to the east, it's shaped life a fork to channel magic!" and you can push it "I find that hard to believe..." and then he'll reply "Okay it's basically a parrying knife that's only sharp at the tip." and then you can buy it if you want.
Foreign weapons means adding in new animations as well. I would love to see great variety in weapons so that all players aren't carbon copies of each other, but I'm not sure how much we'll get at launch.