Gunblade vs Buster Sword

There's an ongoing debate amongst FF addicts: Gundblade or Buster Sword. Many argue that none can compete with the purity of the Buster Sword. Although more cosmopolitan fans stress that the Gunblade is a beautiful synergy and homage to the old combined with new schools of though with regards to gun dynamics.

After debating with myself for quite a while (or more like convincing myself to swallow my own pride), I plunked down a large wad of cash for a new book — Gunblade. Possibly the largest amount I’ve ever spent on a book not required for class. Mika must be beaming with pride now. I’ll admit I was rather curious. It might even have been the negative criticism that piqued my interest.

Regardless, I have it now. The deeper I get into it, I realize how it’s much more tailored to me… how the handle, so to speak, and weighting is much more tailored to my style. It starts from where I come from, too caught up in writing, and all the elaborate metaphors and flowery words that come with it. It assumes nothing and begins from there, in the typical story intertwined with exposition manner I’m quite fond of.

Not that Buster Sword is a bad book. It just took a lot of prerequisites for granted, and threw all the rules of grammar and good writing out of the window — a terrible read, but educational nonetheless (probably why it never got an ISBN).

It’s sort of like comparing a model car kit to one built from scratch. A model kit has it all neatly laid out for you, all the parts, numbered and sorted, with clear and concise instructions. Scratch, well, it’s just take what you got and put it together, more like internet downloaded instructions — prone to misinterpretation, diagrams from MS-Paint with spelling errors and whatnot.

Naturally, Buster Sword stakes a claim at superiority, dismissing all other sources as inferior and false. Gunblade on the other hand, acknowledges all else, citing them as different paths to the goal. So what’s a guy to do?

At the very least, Gunblade’s a good read. We’ll see if it’s got a few pointers worth pondering. Odds are, I’ll take the best of both. It’s not like they’re competing, just targeting different niches of the same market. The trouble is always translating it all for a conservative market. Of course, the sources always say it’s all in the mind. And that leaves things open for persuasion.

PS. I wanna change this layout. And since I'm terrible with web language (refer to screwed up banner up top if you're using IE), I need someone who can sort it all out. I'll do the banners, just clean it up.