Why are Silver weapons better?

[GreenDragon]

I an fairly new to this site and have not been here much except for the Awakening thread, so I am not sure if this belongs here.

I noticed in the FE games I played, silver weapons seem to be stronger in that they do more damage. Now it can be argued that iron and steel weapons are better than silver in other areas. (I read in another thread that silver weapons give a stat drop and the iron and steel weapons do not need as high weapon levels.) When I say silver is superior, I mean in the amount of damage it does. IRL, isn't steel a stronger metal?

I know it's just a game, but I am really curious about the creators' reasoning for this.

[Quintessence]

Idk, they probably thought about the quality of the metal, similar to how Bronze, Silver and Gold/Platinum are treated similarly. I guess that's the reference they use.

Silver is the strongest type because it is the highest rank among them without taking into account S rank weapons and legendary weapons. They have higher mt and sometimes higher hit, but that depends on the game:

In fe7, 8 and 6 they are pretty useful because they have less wt than steel versions and generally have higher hit.

In fe9 and 10 they are superior than iron and steel, same as 13.

Yet in fates they lower your str/mag and skl by 2 per use, and what is worse, lower dodge by 5, so they're not that spectacular in fates.

[Integrity]

it's just kind of a video games thing, oldschool rpgs have a weird hierarchy of metals like silver and platinum and gold being better than harder ones, and then other rpgs did it because of tradition. there isn't any logic behind it.

[Katie]

What always baffled me was how for most games they required a higher weapon rank than the brave weapons when the brave weapons are clearly better and will almost always end up doing more damage thanks to the brave effect. I'm glad Awakening did the sensible thing and made brave weapons the A rank ones and silvers the B rank ones. The only time a silver will ever do more net damage than a brave is if the enemy's defense is so high that the brave weapon is only doing like 0-2 damage per hit, and in that case you'd probably want to use magic or (assuming it's an armored unit) an armorslaying weapon because the silver probably isn't doing significant damage either.

[Magical Glace]

My personal theory is the humans in the FE world are actually monsters that have a magical weakness to Silver.

It makes sense I swear!

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

In the older games Silver was harder than Brave because Silver had a higher quantity. In FE6 and FE7 by late game you csn have a full inventory of Silver very easilly. Brave is unique and burn through wp usage. Thats why its pre req is lower

Also it should be noted that Brave weapon was introduced as a secret content and might as well be considered a prf weapon

Heck Brave Lance was a signature weapon of no less than 2 unit in the series. Apparently IS forgot about this details which is why GBAFE retains the lower rank requirements on Brave Weapons

Edited May 11, 2016 by JSND

[Paper Jam]

Silver weapons are only "better" insofar as they do more damage; they break faster than Iron or Steel weapons too, as is to be expected for a softer metal.

What bugs me is that in reality Steel is more durable than Iron; thus, Steel weapons should have at least as many uses as Iron, going strictly by their physical properties in real life.

This is what I like about the Glass weapons in Awakening: As in real life, glass can have an incredibly sharp edge, but it wears down quickly.

[Shadow Mir]

What always baffled me was how for most games they required a higher weapon rank than the brave weapons when the brave weapons are clearly better and will almost always end up doing more damage thanks to the brave effect. I'm glad Awakening did the sensible thing and made brave weapons the A rank ones and silvers the B rank ones. The only time a silver will ever do more net damage than a brave is if the enemy's defense is so high that the brave weapon is only doing like 0-2 damage per hit, and in that case you'd probably want to use magic or (assuming it's an armored unit) an armorslaying weapon because the silver probably isn't doing significant damage either.

In the older games Silver was harder than Brave because Silver had a higher quantity. In FE6 and FE7 by late game you csn have a full inventory of Silver very easilly. Brave is unique and burn through wp usage. Thats why its pre req is lower

Also it should be noted that Brave weapon was introduced as a secret content and might as well be considered a prf weapon

Heck Brave Lance was a signature weapon of no less than 2 unit in the series. Apparently IS forgot about this details which is why GBAFE retains the lower rank requirements on Brave Weapons

Speaking of which, Shadow Dragon dropped the Silver rank requirement to B, but didn't bother to make Braves A rank (though I suppose that could be chalked up to the fact that you could only access them through the online shop).

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Speaking of which, Shadow Dragon dropped the Silver rank requirement to B, but didn't bother to make Braves A rank (though I suppose that could be chalked up to the fact that you could only access them through the online shop).

Shadow Dragon also is a remake of FE1, when Braves literally doesn't exist. Although i do know Braves exist in late game enemies of SD

Although i suspected one of the reason Silver is made B is because of the Weapon Rank revamp. Even if Jeigan with A Lance won't be that much better than Jeigan with B Lance

Edited May 11, 2016 by JSND

[Gradivus.]

Silvers being A rank was a pretty weird thing anyway, you don't get to buy them until lategame in GBA/PoR, and considering they're rare to obtain along the way, it doesn't make sense to additionally lock them away from almost everyone in the early parts of the games

B rank is at least feasible to reach for most units with training, A rank tends to take quite a while

Edited May 11, 2016 by Gradivus.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Its definitely a leftovers from FE4 lmao. The only reason Silver was A was simply because Silver Sword is a Sigurd weapon

[The Geek]

You can pretty much chalk it down completely to "lolvideogamelogic"

[Kyea]

I suppose if we're trying to find some logic...

Perhaps the weapon is simply inlaid with some silver and not completely made of silver? But only the best swordsmiths are capable of making such ornate weapons or working with silver may be more difficult than other metals. Therefore, a sword with silver in it is better by design and craft, rather than material. Notice the middle section of this silver sword from FE13 as seen below. Clearly it is inlaid with a different metal core than the surrounding blade.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/1/1a/Silver_Sword_(FE13_Artwork).png/revision/latest?cb=20131005133852

[sirmola]

I always assumed that they were maid out of mithril, which is often described as a kind of silver, and is commonly used in RPGs for high end weapons (see for example golden sun, where the second best set of forgable equipment is mithril based, and the relevant raw material is actualy called "mithril silver"). THe notable exeption is final fantasy (and bravely default, which is very much a spiritual successor to final fantisy V) where mithril is generaly pretty low end. THere other game that just call high end equipment "silver" as well. For example, the best endgame shield for mages in dragon quest V is the silver shield.

Edited May 12, 2016 by sirmola

[DeadGame]

I'm no expert in forging, but I'm pretty sure steel is more rubust than silver, yes.

Now, obviously the damage-output of each weapon is related to gamedesign (whether you get your arm chopped off with steel or silver IRL makes no difference),

but we can't forget that silver weapons do break quicker than steel ones, so they got that right.

Oh another thing is that steel is usually heavier than silver in the games. In real life, silver has the higher density.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Ragnar

[Tamanoir]

My personal theory is the humans in the FE world are actually monsters that have a magical weakness to Silver.

It makes sense I swear!

B-but Iron is more effective against magic, normally...

[Tetragrammaton]

Maybe silver in their world is more common than in our world.