History Main / BowsVersusCrossbows

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has bows and bowguns. Bows are more mobile and can be charged while on the move (though this drains stamina), and charging is in fact crucial due to the low damage for each individual arrow. But multiple can be fire at once based on the bow's innate quality, you do not have to worry about ammunition, and elemental damage is built in to specific bows (though you will have to use coatings for status effects). Bowguns are less mobile and have limited (though replenishable through purchasing or crafting) ammunition you have to reload, and storage space is at a premium for them due to many bows having room for more ammunition types than your inventory does, but this makes it somewhat more bearable to deal with multiple monsters with different elemental weaknesses. Bowguns themselves are further split between Light and Heavy versions, with the [=LBG=] having a faster movement speed and "Rapid Fire" on certain ammunition types that let multiple shots be fired from a single round of ammunition for a small damage penalty (making it deal for inflicting status ailments), whereas a [=HBG=] will have you move at a crawl while it's drawn, but allow for "Artillery Mode", letting you stay rooted in one place and drastically increasing the magazine size and fire rate for certain ammunition types. On top of ''all of that'', you can also optionally remove the limiters on Bowguns, and trading the Rapid or Artillery shots in exchange for using a special, high-damage type of ammunition and either load all your ammunition at once and eliminate the need for reloading, or increase damage and clip size.

* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'': Crossbows don't replace standard bowmen, they work as a medieval SniperRifle: very slow, long range, and a OneHitKill against infantry. Huge masses of them can fend off attacks, but bowmen have the advantage of shooting over walls.
* In the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series, crossbows have only been widely available in the [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins first game]], whereas later installments only offer drawn bows and magic as ranged combat options, with Varric's token AutomaticCrossbow being the only exception. Interestingly, the advantages of using crossbows, particularly in large scale deployments where common footsoldiers need to be trained within limited time, are {{discussed|Trope}} by Varric and Solas during PartyBanter in ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Inquisition]]'', but the PlayerParty is still restricted to using bows and Varric's weapon. Enemies, particularly Darkspawn, still carry them on occasion.
* Both crossbows and bows exist in ''VideoGame/TotalWarAttila''. Crossbows are generally superior weapons for their greater damage, range and [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor-piercing damage]], but cannot fire in an arc and at a minimum have greater requirements to obtain to use. Bows by contrast are units that are cheaper and available sooner, can fire in an arc, and their greater fire-rate makes them easier to fire off while skirmishing from enemy units... and there are a good amount of {{Horse Archer}}s available in the game while there's literally one horse crossbowmen unit available to one faction. Archers are also the easiest way to counteract the aforementioned {{Horse Archer}}s due to being able to more easily stand behind shielded allied units while they fill the {{Horse Archer}}s with ArrowsOnFire (that demoralize units and have a damage bonus against cavalry units) while crossbows are the premier ranged unit in defensive siege battles since the disadvantage of their lower fire-rate is greatly nullified by being able to stand onto walls for cover which also easily gives them good angles to shoot at engaged enemy units.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' uses this in a few installments:
** In ''Civilization IV'', both Crossbowmen and Longbowmen are available to all civilizations that have researched the relevant technologies (Archery for both, Machinery for Crossbowmen and Feudalism for Longbowmen). They have the same basic stats, but Longbowmen are slightly cheaper and have 25% bonuses to defense in cities and hills, while Crossbowmen have a 50% bonus against melee infantry units.
** In ''Civilization V'', most civilizations upgrade from bowmen to crossbowmen in the Medieval Era. However, the British get the longbowman as a unique unit, replacing the normal crossbowman. It has the same attack strength as the crossbowman, but it's also the only pre-industrial era unit which can fire 3 tiles, making it extremely useful in mid-game sieges.
* ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'': Most nations get crossbowmen for their Medieval Age ranged infantry unit, upgrading from Classical Age archers with additional hit points and attack strength. Native American nations get heavy archers instead (which is just a cosmetic change; they have the same stats as crossbowmen), while English, Nubians, and Koreans get unique longbowmen with improved stats over crossbowmen.

* ''Videogame/TheFermiParadox'' has an early RandomEvent in which a civilization discovers that crossbows can potentially be more efficient than bows. How true this turns out to be is entirely dependent on [[AGodIsYou the player]], and they can either be much less useful than bows, about the same, or so much better that they completely replace them.

* ''VideoGame/SevenDaysToDie'', as of Alpha 15, features both a wooden bow and a crossbow. The bow is easier to craft and faster to fire, but deals less damage and is hard to aim for long-distance shooting, while the crossbow can fire instantly and is more powerful, but reloads slower and has a more complicated crafting that requires a schematic and metal. Bows can load up [[ArrowsOnFire fire arrows]], while crossbows have [[StuffBlowingUp explosive bolts]] as an option.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has bows and bowguns. Bows are more mobile and can be charged while on the move (though this drains stamina), and charging is in fact crucial due to the low damage for each individual arrow. But multiple can be fire at once based on the bow's innate quality, you do not have to worry about ammunition, and elemental damage is built in to specific bows (though you will have to use coatings for status effects). Bowguns are less mobile and have limited (though replenishable through purchasing or crafting) ammunition you have to reload, and storage space is at a premium for them due to many bows having room for more ammunition types than your inventory does, but this makes it somewhat more bearable to deal with multiple monsters with different elemental weaknesses. Bowguns themselves are further split between Light and Heavy versions, with the [=LBG=] having a faster movement speed and "Rapid Fire" on certain ammunition types that let multiple shots be fired from a single round of ammunition for a small damage penalty (making it deal for inflicting status ailments), whereas a [=HBG=] will have you move at a crawl while it's drawn, but allow for "Artillery Mode", letting you stay rooted in one place and drastically increasing the magazine size and fire rate for certain ammunition types. On top of ''all of that'', you can also optionally remove the limiters on Bowguns, and trading the Rapid or Artillery shots in exchange for using a special, high-damage type of ammunition and either load all your ammunition at once and eliminate the need for reloading, or increase damage and clip size.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'', this trope can be seen as another way to underline the slight ElvesVersusDwarves trope, with Elves using mostly "natural" weapons like bows, spears, daggers and, rarely, swords, while the Dwarves are fond of using heavy weapons and crossbows, especially big ones to take down [[FantasticRacism Dragons]]. In-game the standard assumption is followed: bows deal less damage but can be reloaded instantly (except the largest Longbow, which takes two turns) while crossbows and arbalests packs a bigger punch but take from two to four rounds to reload, though you can choose a feat that halves the reloading time of crossbows; as a result, Bows were generally better at long-distance fighting. This was toned down in the sequel, were none of the bows has a reload time and even the biggest crossbow (which is also one of the most damaging weapons stat-wise) take at most two rounds to reload, and the above mentioned feat is still available.
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'', British Longbowmen have the biggest range of all archer units in game, outranging even defensive structures and most siege weapons, despite having a scarce accuracy from afar. Compared to them, even the unique crossbowmen units (like the Chinese Chu Ko Nu and the Italian Genoese Crossbowman) have pretty low range, though the unique ones compensate with better damage and their traits (respectively fire rate and AntiCavalry damage). On the other hand, crossbows are a straight upgrade compared to standard archers.
** ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIV'' introduces separate archers and crossbowmen unit lines. Archers are cheaper, available earlier and fire faster, but struggle against armored units due to their low damage. Crossbowmen are more expensive and fire slower, but they deal much more damage per shot, especially against armored units.

* In ''Videogame/ChivalryMedievalWarfare'', the Archer class can chose between crossbows, bows, [[JavelinThrower javelins]], and a sling. Crossbows are much easier to use thanks to their extreme projectile velocity and high damage, but they can only be reloaded while stationary. Bows have slower projectiles and deal less damage, but they can be fired at a walking pace and reloaded at jogging pace, and they carry more ammo. Each weapon type has 3 speed-vs-damage variants, so one could use a lightweight crossbow, or a heavy-draw longbow.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''
** All physical ranged DPS classes (Archer/Bard, Machinist, and Dancer) use crossbows for their Level 1 and Level 2 LimitBreak attacks. The use of a large crossbow ([[GunsAkimbo or two]]) for an attack that you can only use every 5 minutes or so gives it the impression of a "stronger, more brutal attack that's all-or-nothing" - an apt description of a traditionally-loaded crossbow big enough to pose a threat.
** Archers and Bards using longbows as their primary weapon type. The backstory for the Bard job is that bow-bending soldiers in dire straits would use their bowstrings as impromptu harps and pour their heart out into song, thus [[MagicMusic empowering their allies]]; such archers would then take up music as a profession during times of peace, giving the bow an air of sensitivity (aided by many higher-level bows having harps incorporated into their design).
** Machinists have access to an [[AutomaticCrossbow Auto Crossbow]] as one of their AreaOfEffect attacks, but machinistry is [[TechnologyMarchesOn a whole 'nother trope]] and it doesn't really play into the bow/crossbow relationship.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' has both bows and crossbows. While both weapons have similar attack power, crossbows tend to have slightly longer range than bows, but are treated like guns where shots can only go straight and are stopped by terrain obstacles and height differences if the target is above you. Bows can't be shot quite as far as crossbows, but their shots arc, which makes them not suffer the problem of obstacles and terrain issues most of the time. Bows also get a boost to range when fired from higher elevation while crossbows don't. Later games would drop the crossbow.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' are the only two ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games to feature crossbows in addition to the usual bows. While crossbows in ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' are practically the same like other bows, the crossbows of ''Radiant Dawn'' have different attributes compared to regular bows. Compared to bows, crossbows have an abnormally high might value compared to many of the high-level weapons in the game, but ignore the user's strength when attacking, meaning all of the damage comes from the might of the weapon alone. In practice, this generally makes them weaker than regular bows since the total amount of damage that crossbows are dealing isn't usually high enough to out-damage most regular bows, especially since the units who can wield them (Snipers, Marksmen, Warriors, and Reavers) have high strength. To compensate, crossbows can attack adjacent enemies unlike most bows. Furthermore, they are lethally dangerous against flying units, since bonus damage calculations triple the might of a weapon where applicable[[note]]The weakest crossbow in the game, the Bowgun, has 24 might; if it is dealing bonus damage against enemies, it can deal up to a ''whopping 72 damage''[[/note]].
* ''VideoGame/FellSealArbitersMark'' has Bows and Crossbows as distinct types of ranged weapon. Bows hit harder and have superior range, while crossbows give their wielders a bonus to accuracy. Both weapons [[GunsAreWorthless deal more damage than guns]].
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' wraps this trope up with ElvesVersusDwarves. Dwarves have crossbows as their only native form of ranged weapon, while elves (and kobolds) are limited to bows. Humans and goblins meanwhile make use of both freely. Both weapons are (currently) more or less identical in behavior when used as ranged weapons, especially since the delay between shots is hardcoded and does not yet vary between different ranged weapons. In practice the only differences are that bows rely on the bow user skill while crossbows use the crossbow user (or marksdwarf, as it's referred to when used by dwarves) skill. They differ by a greater degree in melee, with crossbows being used with the hammer skill to represent [[PistolWhipping striking with the stock]] while bows use the swordsman skill and with a fairly underwhelming bash attack.
* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has bows as the only [[MagicWand other]] ranged weapon in the game, and crossbows were only used by some non-player characters. ''Path of Exile 2'' will add crossbow items for player use, with a unique gimmick where they come with a crossbow attack skill implicit to the weapon, and crossbow-exclusive skill gems are bolts that change the attack skill's properties.
* In ''VideoGame/LordsOfTheRealm2'' longbows are generally better than crossbows. They have a better range, rate of fire, arc so you can fire over friendly units and are cheaper to make. The only real advantage of crossbows is that they penetrate heavy armor so they are useful defensively in sieges where they can fire down from the battlements against knights and siege units who are very resilient to longbow fire.
* ''VideoGame/NorthernJourney'' features both bows and a variety of crossbows as weapons, with the bow being a dependable all-round weapon, while the crossbows tend to either [[AutomaticCrossbows have a high fire rate]] or be slow but heavy hitting.
* ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'' adds a slight twist to the usual comparison. Crossbows are both harder-hitting and more accurate than drawn bows at the cost of a slower firing rate. Due to how the game handles weapon speed (higher skill ranks with a weapon reduce the time taken per attack), crossbows require ''more'' training than bows to reach their minimum attack delay.

* Referenced and defied in ''Literature/TheImmortals''. Daine is a NatureHero whose preferred weapon is the longbow, but she is trained in crossbow as well. In the second book, she even uses the negative stereotypes about crossbows to her advantage: a pair of Stormwings taunt her about it being too slow and weak to threaten them, and she snipes them both out of the sky. The rest of the Stormwings sensibly back off.

--> '''Vex''': A trigger? Ew.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'': Vex, an ArcherArchetype deprived of her normal bow during a fight in "Shadows of the Gates", is disgusted when she has to take a crossbow off a guard.

* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'': The protagonists are French and have crossbowmen and their enemies bow-wielding English.