I have to admit upfront that I didn’t grow up with Final Fantasy and FFXIV was actually the first Final Fantasy game I had played to completion. I was under the impression for a very long time that all Final Fantasy games were turn-based and while I have played a good chunk of games like Pokémon, turn-based RPGs don’t typically grab my attention as I need quite a bit of stimulation to stay focussed on a game.
Truthfully, I think that’s why I got so invested in FFXIV since it has a great variety of up-paced combat and more passive Gathering and Crafting.
I recognize that if you’ve only found the blog lately and have been keeping up with the posts you’d think all I do is Gather and Craft, and while you wouldn’t be completely wrong as that’s been my primary focus since my most recent return, the reality is that Combat is my biggest love in the game and FFXIV simply scratches the itch I have.
At the risk of upsetting tons of Final Fantasy fans, I spent 6 years cut scene skipping in FFXIV before my Twitch Community convinced me to go back and NG+ it. In my defence, as someone who is dyslexic, I tend to be picky and choosy about what I read since the experience is stressful and disorienting and let’s be honest… the beginning of A Realm Reborn really didn’t set up how dramatic and well written the rest of the game was going to be.
Though I am not at the point where I can call myself a Final Fantasy expert or fanatic, I have been making a point to get more enveloped in the world, not just in XIV but also in the surrounding games. A good chunk of my time over the past couple of years has been watching streamers play the Final Fantasy games that I know will not interest me gameplay-wise, though I have been recommended a few of the Final Fantasy games that are more action based which I hope to pick up in the near future.
While I try to keep myself relatively free of spoilers for content I know I’m going to play, it can sometimes feel hard to avoid spoilers with worlds like Final Fantasy as there is often overlap between the games with certain tropes, characters or weapons. A Weapon that I constantly hear about is the Buster Sword.
Note: If you have any questions about FFXIV that you want me to cover feel free to leave them in a comment below, you can also ask me while I am streaming on Twitch, YouTube or in our community discord.
WHAT IS THE BUSTER SWORD?
The Buster Sword is a highly popular Weapon used by the leading character Cloud Strife from FFVII and the remake, also appearing in Final Fantasy V, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Pictlogica Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, Final Fantasy Artniks, Final Fantasy All the Bravest, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, Final Fantasy Explorers, Final Fantasy World Wide Words, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Mobius Final Fantasy, World of Final Fantasy, Chocobo Racing and of course the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.
Are you as tired reading that list as my fingers are typing out every game Cloud appears in? Chances are unlikely as it’s very clear that Cloud has made a way into player’s hearts if he appears in so many games.
Cloud can be seen as a staple of Final Fantasy, being that he is the character who appears in crossovers regularly in games like Kingdom Hearts, Super Smash Bros and shockingly the first time I heard of him in Puzzles & Dragons.
While Cloud doesn’t appear as a character in FFXIV technically, he actually appears as a Triple Triad Card and a few elements of Final VII appear in the game from cross-over events. But, does this mean that his iconic Weapon the Buster Sword made it too?
CAN YOU GET THE BUSTER SWORD IN FFXIV?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. There are no Weapons in FFXIV that are identical to the Buster Sword. We do have Cloud’s Bike in the game an outfit that looks like his, but not his Weapon.
There is a little nod to the Buster Sword though as when a player limit breaks with one or two bars as a Melee DPS the animation appears as though the player is using a Buster Sword.
Understandably many players don’t feel like this is enough and are hoping for the day when the Buster Sword truly makes an appearance.
Could we be seeing an appearance in a future cross-over event? Perhaps we could buy it in an MGP Event similar to the Fall Guys crossover that is happening soon or maybe we’ll just have to sit back and be happy with what we already have from Cloud.
ARE THERE ANY SWORDS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO THE BUSTER SWORD IN FFXIV?
I’m going to say… no, but the answer may be yes depending on how similar you want the cosmetic to look. While I will keep updating this post based on the Gear that releases or if we get an in-game Buster Sword, the following are the current ones which look most similar:
Kidomaru is a Dark Knight weapon dropped from the Curiosity Killed the Catfish FATE in Monzen (Yanxia). The FATE is a level 67 one so it will take a bit of time before a newer player can access this weapon. In my opinion, this is one of the closest glams to the Buster Sword.
Alternatively, I am very happy with the catch of finding the Ravel Keeper’s Guillotine from The Qitana Ravel which is a level 75 Dungeon. I can’t lie and say that I enjoy running Dungeons for glam since you are at the mercy of the RNG chance that it will drop, but if you are doing the Dungeon as a Tank, you’re essentially guaranteed the Weapon since there are no other Tanks to roll against you.
Some players have stated that they use the Adamantite Greatsword as their Buster Sword, however, to me they look nothing alike. At most, they are both Girthy Weapons and it is extremely easy to obtain as you can purchase it from the Repository Node in Azys Lla (X:9.9 Y:11.5). Players can also purchase this weapon from the Market Board or craft it using a Blacksmith. This will require a Mastercraft recipe, so get your Crafters’ Scrips ready to unlock it.
Although not a match for me, I must say that I really like the look of the Flame Officer’s Claymore which can be purchased if players are a high enough rank with the Immortal Flames.
In a somewhat similar vein, players can pick up the Guillotine of the Fury by using Wolf Marks, the PVP currency. Though I recognize it has a different vibe than the Buster Sword, you can dye elements of it and it’s quite a hardy Weapon to carry.
I won’t sit here and pretend that any of these are strikingly close in resemblance and one must stretch their imagination to believe that they are pulling a good Cloud roleplay, but at this time I think that’s the best we can do. I would like to hear some of your thoughts though, do you have a better Weapon that looks more similar?
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