Agreed. A picture of a sword from Final Fantasy VII adds absolutely nothing to the trope. Maybe if the caption mentioned the name of the sword, then at least people could go look up it's stats in an FAQ or something and see for themselves why.
^^ What about an RPG battle? One that does the classic "falling numbers" thing to show you damage? One screenshot with the ∞+1 sword being used, show it dealing the damage cap. Another screenshot with the ∞-1 sword being used, show it dealing high damage, but not as much as the ∞+1 sword.
Wouldn't need a wall of text, and you could even crop the pictures to just show the wielder, the monster, and the damage report.
edited 18th Oct '10 10:41:20 PM by Enlong
I have a message from another time...This one is going to be very difficult to depict. Infinity -1 Sword isn't even necessarily the "second best" weapon in terms of damage. The definition is unclear, in part due to a contradiction in whether or not this is better than the Sword of Plot Advancement, but basically it's the sword that sees the most use in the game because it's practical (and often relatively easy to acquire.)
I thought it was pretty clear: it's not quite the Infinity +1 Sword, but it's powerful enough to be the most widely used weapon, because it's so hard to get the Infinity +1 Sword, or because you have it for more of the game, or because you can make copies, etc.
I have a message from another time...This work?
That is definitely what I'm going for. I would almost suggest using Excalibur, but since that was the Infinity Plus One sword in the first game...
Though, I'm wondering a bit about the respective pictures.
Any chance we could have the two pictures be of an attack on the same monster? The hydra has higher defenses than the goblin, which makes the Sun Blade look worse than it is compared to the Ragnarok.
I have a message from another time...I meant use Excalibur in place of Sun Blade, actually.
and thinking about the picture again, I'd give my vote to it. Sure the Ragnarok is dealing seven times the damage and that's why I was afraid the comparison was too great, but that is why it's the best sword in the game. Meanwhile, you see the Sun Blade dealing respectable damage.
I'd want to use the Ragnarok more, but not if I have to jump through the ridiculous hoop described.
edited 18th Oct '10 11:43:56 PM by Enlong
I have a message from another time...^The respective ornateness of the swords is of some importance too, though.
^^ In that case, could you go for identical conditions in the two pictures? You know, try for the same enemy to make the differences more obvious?
Becuase, as it is now, someone may think that the Hydra is simply tougher than the Black Goblin, and that's why the damage is so much greater.
I have a message from another time...This is a really hard trope to demonstrate in an image.
The absolute best-case image I can think of is that there's a room with two swords in it, one incredibly fancy-looking but behind a huge Death Course, and another much less fancy sword which is right out in the open.
I don't know where you would find such an image.
Each night, he abandons the trappings of civilization. Each morning, he repairs the front door.Warning : Messy image.
edited 19th Oct '10 1:40:17 AM by Edmania
If people learned from their mistakes, there wouldn't be this thing called bad habits.The top sword is harder to get (it's supposed to be the Infinity +1 Sword) and the unreadable-ness is somewhat helped by how the actual image is larger on the actual page, though I did say this was messy for a reason.
If people learned from their mistakes, there wouldn't be this thing called bad habits.How about the second image from this page
, showing the Kingdom Key, Oathkeeper, Oblivion (these last two being penultimate weapons) and Ultima Weapon from Kingdom Hearts?
If the quality is an issue, I can probably make a nice one from the bigger images below.

This is a trope defined by the weapon being just slightly second-best. As such, a picture of a single weapon doesn't demonstrate the trope.
Perhaps we could do a side-by-side image? one of the ∞-1 Sword next to the ∞+1 Sword, or perhaps two screenshots of a battle, to show the damage output of the respective weapons?
I have a message from another time...