Yes, Bastard Sword still is longer than Straight Swords (or any other smaller weapons) But Straight Sword has superior speed and mad combos to compensate, and you really DON'T WANT to get into A "historical" longsword would actually would more accurately correspond to a D&D bastard sword or even greatsword Likewise, the D&D longsword would actually have been referred to as a short sword after the introduction of longer blades or as just a "sword" prior The benefit of scimitars is Belm which is in BG2 There's also Scarlet Ninja To which is a 3 equivilent to belm, but unusable by fighter / mages, plus there's a couple of named 4 Scimitars, and a 5 one too, whereas katanas are 3 max There aren't many high level Katanas, but the one with bonus spell slots is worth building for, Longswords
Bth Weapon Pack The Neverwinter Vault