Buster Sword



The Buster Sword (バスターソード, Basutāsōdo) is an iconic symbol from Final Fantasy VII that has since appeared in several other games in the series. It serves as Cloud Strife's main weapon, and was wielded before him by Zack Fair and Angeal Hewley. The Buster Sword is classified as an enormous broadsword (though it has more in common with a zweihander). Despite its size, Cloud claims it's not that heavy. From tip to handle, it is approximately 5 to 6 feet long, with a single-edged, enormously wide blade. Its original finish sports a bolted, steel base and blade, and there are two holes on the blade near the hilt, used as Materia "slots". In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- the base is retconned to having a swirling or winged motif at its base, tinted gold, and the blade is now black, with engraved marks at its base, sharpened edge prominent and the "slots" equipped with a latch cover.

The Buster Sword is famous not only for being Cloud Strife's weapon, but its unique appearance, especially its massive size. It is possibly one of the best known swords in the Final Fantasy series, along with the Gunblade, Masamune, Excalibur, Ultima Weapon, Fusion Swords, Brotherhood, Save the Queen, and others.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
The Buster Sword was originally the property of Angeal Hewley, Zack Fair's mentor. Angeal used it as little as possible to prevent it from being damaged, stating that "Use brings about wear, tear and rust.", when questioned by Zack. In the FMV where Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth compete in a hologram training exercise, Angeal would wear the Buster Sword in its holder on his back, while using a standard SOLDIER sword to fight instead. The Buster Sword was created for him by his adoptive father when he first entered SOLDIER. Zack inherits the Buster Sword from Angeal after being forced to defeat him in his Angeal Penance form. Angeal spoke of the sword as a symbol of his honor. Zack seems to view it more as idealistic symbol of the honor of a SOLDIER, and even though he uses it with significantly greater frequency than Angeal, he admits to usually hitting with the blunt side. Zack issues the broadsword to Cloud after Zack willingly fights for his life to save both Cloud and himself. In doing so, he passes on to his friend his dreams of being a hero and his pride as a member of SOLDIER, telling Cloud that he is his living legacy, and proof that Zack lived.

Final Fantasy VII
The Buster Sword is Cloud's default weapon. Though it quickly becomes outclassed by new equipment it is a unique weapon in the fact that it is one-of-a-kind and that it cannot be sold. No matter what sword the player is using, the Buster Sword will appear in Cloud's hand during cutscenes and in the Motorcycle minigame, unless the player has acquired and equipped a Hardedge sword, stolen from SOLDIER forces in Shinra HQ. The Buster Sword has a base power of 18 and a base accuracy of 96. It has 1 linked Materia slot.

In the load menu for Final Fantasy VII, the Buster Sword appears sticking out of the ground surrounded by a black background. This is similar to Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children where the Buster Sword can be seen in the ground on a cliff above Midgar marking the spot where Zack Fair died.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Cloud uses his own multi-part broadsword, with the Buster Sword being used as a grave marker, stuck into the ground to mark the spot where Zack died, similar to its appearance in the load menu of Final Fantasy VII.

Due to the much clearer graphics seen in the film, details such as swirling patterns on the hilt, geometric etchings on the blade near the hilt, and scratches on the blade from three generations of use have become apparent for the first time. Also, the sword appears to be covered in rust from its time as a grave marker in the elements of the wasteland. Ironically, this peaceful use of the sword brought about what Angeal feared would happen had he used the sword for battle in the first place. During the end of Advent Children Complete Cloud moves the sword to the Sector 5 Church, polished from its rusting in the wasteland.

In early footage of Advent Children, before the Fusion Swords were designed, Cloud can be seen fighting with the Buster Sword against Kadaj. The fight is identical to a portion of their battle in the completed film, albeit slowed down considerably.

Final Fantasy IX
A weapon very similar to the Buster Sword can be found in a weapon shop in Lindblum. If Zidane inspects it, he will give a reference to "a guy with spiky hair" who wielded a sword like it, most likely a reference to Cloud.

Final Fantasy X
The Buster Sword is part of Tidus' equipment on the game disc. However, it is never actually seen in the game and can only be found by looking at the game's internal files. Behaving in a similar manner to Angeal and Zack, Tidus attacks with the sword's blunt edge.

Final Fantasy XII
Gilgamesh uses a fake Buster Sword, along with many other iconic swords from other Final Fantasy games. The Kanji character on the sword means "replica," or "fake." It also has four Materia slots instead of the two.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
The Buster Sword is a sword-class weapon that can be wielded by three classes: Soldier, Warrior, and Dragoon. It is a weaker sword and does not compare with the power of Buster Swords in previous games. It teaches the ability Mindbreak.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
The Buster Sword re-appears in the sequel with similar attributes, and can still be wielded by the Soldier, Warrior, and Dragoon jobs, as well as the new Spellblade job. It now teaches the Blood Price ability to the new job as well.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
The Buster Sword appears both as Cloud's weapon in all battles, and as a Level 1 greatsword exclusive to Cloud that increases Attack by 5. Likely because Dissidia is largely based on the original games, the Buster Sword retains its simpler design from Final Fantasy VII and does not feature the swirl patterns or other graphical changes seen in Advent Children and Crisis Core. Like other weapons, Cloud can summon the Buster Sword to battle by making it appear in his hands. Bartz also owns a copy of the Buster Sword he can be seen using during some of his moves.

Non-specific appearances
Since the Buster Sword is Cloud's default sword, the non-specific appearance of this sword is directly related with the appearance of Cloud in other games, like Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring, the Itadaki Street Series, and Chocobo Racing. The exception is in Final Fantasy Tactics, where Cloud is disarmed until he acquires the Materia Blade at Bervenia Volcano, a sword that looks like the Ultima Weapon.

Kingdom Hearts series
Cloud wields a Buster Sword wrapped in bandages when he fights in the Olympus Coliseum.

The Keyblade Metal Chocobo vaguely resembles the Buster Sword, as it is a long, heavy, metal weapon based upon long reach and powerful attacks with two holes in the blade near the hilt. It is won by defeating Cloud in the Olympus Coliseum, and appears in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.

8-Bit Theater
In the Epilogue, when Fighter and Black Mage realize they are lost, the Buster Sword is seen along with the Revolver in "Akbar's Not Useless Tools" shop.

Trivia

 * A full-scale model of the Buster Sword was built to celebrate at the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete press screening party in the Sony Building in Tokyo.
 * Tetsuya Nomura has stated in The Reunion Files for Advent Children that he used to refer to the Buster Sword as "the Giant Kitchen Knife" due to how he originally envisioned it.
 * When Zack has the Buster Sword on his back the sharp end of the blade is facing down possibly for the reason being he mainly uses the blunt side of the sword when facing opponents to maintain Angeal's care for the sword, while Cloud, on the other hand, has the blade of the Buster Sword facing out possibly for a quicker use of the blade itself.
 * The Dabilahro used by Ryu in 2004 Ninja Gaiden resembles the Buster Sword.

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