Talk:Monster Girl Quest: NG+ (Ecstasy)/@comment-26047404-20150127061507/@comment-5844115-20150507162355

You're oversimplifying things. Also, the fact that Dual Wielding never caught on should have tipped you off, because it's not just about mastery - mastering a longbow takes just as much practice, but longbows were feared weapons in war, while Dual Wielding was, at best, restricted rather specific circumstances.

Sure, the difficulty of controlling two blades can be overcome with practice, and ambidexterity can, to some degree, be trained, but balance (swords are heavy, and you're swinging around *two* of them) will always be a factor. There's a limited set of movements you can do with two weapons without throwing your footing out of the window. Also, you're easier to disarm, since you only have one hand per weapon.

That's why Dual Wielding in real combat is restricted to short weapons or one long and one short weapon - you just don't have the grip, arm strength and the balance to wield two large weapons. That's why the only really common European dual wielding styles use a parry dagger, the cloak or a buckler to parry.

Single weapon users can use their counter arm to control their center of gravity, making them both more mobile and giving them better footing. Also, since they only need one arm to attack, they can stand sideways towards the enemy, making them smaller targets, and requiring only one half of their body to be armored, giving them even further mobility.

A person using one two-handed weapon, on the other hand, will have better reach and force, often making parrying useless, taking the only real advantage of dual wielding - parrying and attacking at the same time - away. A dual wielder is also never going to compete with a pole arm's reach. In an open field, nothing can beat a Halberd/War Scythe/Naginata/[whatever "blade on a stick" you want], since said reach means that a dual wielder - and even a more mobile single wielder - has a hard time even getting close enough to attack (unless they're already better than the pole arm user anyway). In Japan, it was generally assumed that a sword master needed to be three dans ("master-levels") above a naginata master just to get an even match. Using halberds was what made the Swiss Guard such a feared mercenary force. That's why polearms have been the weapon of choice in war until firearms became effective. Polearms only really face disadvantages when it comes to cramped spaces, everywhere else, they're the best (non-ranged) weapons available.

Besides, attacking with two pointy ends isn't as effective if only one pointy end needs to hit the enemy. Remember, in real combat, it's not the number of hits that decide who wins, but who gets the deciding hit in first.