Portrayal of Spears in games

[Migel]

Just finished AC Origins... And noticed something I had seen in a lot of other games. Spears were not used only for stabbing, but also as polarm axes of sorts, despite not having large blades. They were spun around the body, basically "slapping" enemies.

Now I can imagine that the ends of polearms can get to incredible speeds when swung that far away from the body, but wouldn't it act as a massive lever? I can't imagine you could control it very well once it hit something. Jabbing with the tip, sure, but spinning it around until it connects and immediately loses all momentum? That just seems like it would stagger the user. Not to mention the relatively long travel of the speartip, basically offering a generous "telegraph", in gaming terms. Quarterstaffs seem to be a different story, being generally gripped more towards the middle offering more control. Bladed polarms are probably carefully measured to offer enough control over speed... But spears... I just can't imagine they were good for anything else than jabbing and charging, or meeting an enemy charge.

Yet I've seen them used this way in so many games: Just this past week: Vermintide 2 and AC Origins.

Is this purely fantasy made to look badass or were spears actually used in this fashion?

[AdahnGorion]

AC games are not realistic in any way. They are pretty simplistic in nature. I mean they don't even have shields etc.

Plenty of other games however does showcase different spears (polearms) etc as not only "stabbers"

[SMIFFY]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLLv8E2pWdk

[Your_White_Knight]

Everything you wanted to know about spears but was afraid to search YouTube....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVmmz8ypZyo

Edit: skip to 9:32 -ish...

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by SMIFFY:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLLv8E2pWdk

That video is stupid tbh. Since some swords were better and cound counter. Just look at the gladius.. that being said. Polearms/Spears are easy and don't take much material, thus favourable.

[SMIFFY]

You watched that 14min video in 3 mins, well done.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by SMIFFY:

You watched that 14min video in 3 mins, well done.

Its been posted for ages. I don't need to rewatch it to comment on it do I ?
No.. Did not think so

[Xero_Daxter]

Originally posted by Darkie:

Originally posted by SMIFFY:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLLv8E2pWdk

That video is stupid tbh. Since some swords were better and cound counter. Just look at the gladius.. that being said. Polearms/Spears are easy and don't take much material, thus favourable.

Romans are always adapting and the reason why they use swords is because the enemy they were fighting were barbarians with little to no armor and they are decisive when used correctly. And it worked well against the Greek Phalanx because it’s up close and personal and the Pikemen will have to drop their Polearm to defend himself.

Once the Middle Ages came in... Swords are mostly a Status Symbol since they are mostly for the Rich and Noble. The poor has cheap Spears.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by Xero_Daxter:

Originally posted by Darkie:

That video is stupid tbh. Since some swords were better and cound counter. Just look at the gladius.. that being said. Polearms/Spears are easy and don't take much material, thus favourable.

Romans are always adapting and the reason why they use swords is because the enemy they were fighting were barbarians with little to no armor and they are decisive when used correctly. And it worked well against the Greek Phalanx because it’s up close and personal and the Pikemen will have to drop their Polearm to defend himself.

Once the Middle Ages came in... Swords are mostly a Status Symbol since they are mostly for the Rich and Noble. The poor has cheap Spears.

There are a big difference on simplistic spears and various types of polearms and blunt weapons (that were used over simplistic spears) When we talk about the MA.
My point here is that spears themselves (the simple spear) is not really better than a sword overall, because many other things factor in (as you wrote yourself) Adapting is the most important ant that is why we saw new forms of weaponry during that age.

Ofc the poor have spears and other cheap weapons, because they are cheap.. Rich/knights/etc used a variaty of weapons.. lances (when mounted) flail, mace, billhooks, Halberds, Bastard swords even. All have their pro/cons. Depends on the situation and composition of the army.

Footsoldiers also used some of these weapons, but as you say none had swords during that period (status symbol) But I actually think pikes, bows, spears were the bulk of armies.

[Washell]

Spears and pikes work great in a battle line, not so much in 1 on 1 combat. You dodge, get past the tip and stab, club, or slash the guy to death. In a battleline you dodge one spear, block the second, and three others stab you in the chest, gut and leg while the wielders are safely behind a shieldwall. Instead of one man with a sword at the front, the first 3 or 4 rows can fight.

[Alliesaurus]

I like the spears, pikes, halberds in datk souls series some have nice moves sets

[Dwerklesberry]

Yes, only against the peasant folks, so basically spear swingers were the school shooters of ancient times, for shame!

[Zylfrax791]

I thought her portrayal was tasteful: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-KR1dRGNX_w

[Kargor]

Luckily, none of the "real world" stuff really maters in games. Game weapons tend to be roughly based on something real, but operate according to game requirements.

[Migel]

Originally posted by Zylfrax791:

I thought her portrayal was tasteful: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-KR1dRGNX_w

I legit skipped trough the whole video looking for a spear prop before noticing.
Are you a dad?

[Ⓥenom Ⓢnake 🐍]

Shaka and his Zulu warriors actually used two types of Spears. The assagal, which was a long light spear used for throwing, which they would use to soften up opponents before they closed and used the second spear type, the Iklwa, which was named after the sound of it being pulled from the enemies body. It was a around 3 ft long, with two feet of shaft, and one foot of a much wider tip.

As for the twirling around kind of fighting style, any person using it would be using it like a quarter staff. The Chinese actually have a couple of specialized sort of spear that uses that. The Guandao is the one I am picturing in my head.