First and foremost, I LOVE FO4 and Skyrim, I was introduced to both this spring and autumn respectively and instantly hooked. I have an issue with Skyrim's weapons though, maybe small to some, but it really bugs me.

They basically look like something out of Warhammer Figures and weighs correspondingly. But... real weapons do not. Why then would Skyrim ones do?

I have 24 years of experience with Viking fighting reenactment, my swords are on the heavy side and weigh 1350 and 1850 gr respectively, usually Viking swords would weigh 850- 2000 gr (from memory).

Other swords usually weigh:

Longsword: 1100- 1800 gr (can be used one or two-handed)

Katana: 1100- 1300 gr (having a single edge and strong back allows for light weight)

Zweih?nder (which are VERY large): 2000- 3200 gr.

Rapier: 800- 1200 gr.

A Daneaxe weighs 1000- 2000 gr only (and is a killer) with the largest battle axes of the late middle ages weighing up to 3000 gr. Meanwhile a one-handed would weigh between 500 and 1100 gr.

Hence the Skyrim weapons are too heavy and look extremely unwieldy with their 6 cm thick, 20 cm broad blades. It would befit a quality developer like Bethesda to make weapons more realistic- they can still look cool, awesome and "fantasy", but at least get the dimensions and weights right.

its a game, its not real life or true history...fantasy springs to mind.

why have they even got dragons, giants and giant spiders as they aint true to life....wait for it ...its fantasy and NOT real

As I said; at least get the dimensions right. They have Humans, Humans and humanoids of like proportions are the prime users of these weapons, so I argue, get the ddimensions right. To dismiss that argument with the "it is fantasy" counterargument does not deal with the fact that the basis of the game is humans and comparable Humanoids, and that the weapons are designed for them. Hence they should actually be designed for them (us). The ones in Skyrim cannot even cut with those blades. Tolkien's world is so popular because it is realistic, everything fits and we can thus relate to it. The more "realistic" fantasy is, the better and thus more popular and durable it is. You could pull out A Song of Ice and Fire too, same goes.

It doesn't bother me. I play fantasy roleplaying games to get away from real life. I prefer fantasy weapons to have fantasy stats when I play a fantasy game. If I want realistic weapons with realistic stats I'll play a medieval combat sim.

Yeah, I kind of like having it be non-realistic

Likewise. If I wanted realism I will get off my computer and go outside. The entire setting is made out of magic, the sky is an illusion because the mortal minds can't comprehend what they are seeing, the sun and stars are simply holes into Aethurius which is constantly radiating magic. A tree controls the lizard people. Khajiit's looks are determined by the moon phases ,the moons themselves are the corpse of a god....

Yeah this setting isn't based on realism, it's a high fantasy setting not a Medieval Europe simulator.

Also a good point

They have a mod that gives the weapons a more realistic weight.