Forward Curved Blades

If you're solely speaking from a fantasy type of viewpoint, a la the reverse blade Ruroni Kenshin swords, then I'd say you're not looking at a practical blade that can cut well. HOWEVER, there are many types of blades that do cut incredibly well with a forward placed blade. The aforementioned Yatagan is one of the more famous, but also consider the Kopesh, the Kuhkri, the Falcata, the Kopis.... Point being, yes, forward curved swords actually can and Do cut very very well, but they have to be designed for this purpose, instead of just looking cool. Form follows function. As for a more fantasy style, check out brenno's blade here
www.fableblades.com/Nyere.html
The video of him cutting with this sword is up somewhere, and it looks to be quite effective

Now, if you mean "how does affect cutting" instead of "does it work" then really depends blade to blade. With sickle swords more like the above linked fable blade, the tip will engage the target first, giving you the potential for some very very nasty tip cuts. With more Falcata shaped blades, the extra mass near the tip and the continuous curve will give you a very good, albiet forward balanced, chopper and cutter. Actually, some people consider forward curved blades, such as the falcata, to be superior cutters for heavy targets, but that's just opinion.

Not specifically fantasy swords, just swords in general really.
My thought was that a sword with a forward curved blade could cut better than a straight blade because it put the edge in a situation where it would sort of draw the edge along the thing your cutting instead of just kinda hitting it. Im not sure thats a great explanation but thats the best I can do

If you are talking about reverse blade katanas, don't even bother they are not functional and they feel extremely strange in the hand because of the way a katana is designed. If you are talking about something like my Nyere (yep that one is mine) then I can tell you that to start with it will feel strange in the hand and unless you are very skilled or very strong it is hard to make a blade like that dance. As to cutting, I find that more so than any other sword a forward curved swords requires a very good knowledge of distance because the sweet spot of the blade is lower than the point so if you don't know how to determine distance both before the cut and during the cut and know how to make minor adjustments then it can be a very frustrating sword to use. To start with I was disappointed with nyere because I didn't understand her and I was trying to make her do things the way I would with a straight sword, when I stopped trying to dictate to her and allowed her to go where she wanted and be used how she wanted it makes her a rather amazing sword indeed. If you are going to get one, I would suggest archerout because he works with thinner steels as well and to make a really good forward edged blade you need good thin steel, even though nyere is like a sharp kabutowari I wouldn't have her any other way. Hope this helps.

As to cool factor, it has that in spades it is also wickedly scary because it is unusual and not often seen.

Yea, I don't think he's talking about those, BW.

lgarretto, you can do draw cuts with any sword; some will tell you that the curved blade adds in that aspect and I'd be inclined to agree- to me, tho, that doesn't make the sword 'better'.

What makes the best sword for you is the one that suits your style the best. For me, that's a double edged broadsword but for the next man, it'll be the katana (which is curves back, not forward) and maybe the next, the yatagan-like sword.

ok,
No, I wasnt talking about reverse-blade katanas or anything specific. And I know that there are other things that affect performance.
I just meant would a reverse curved blade with the same general proportions as a straight blade cut a bit better. Katanas have a curved blade curved the regular way and seem to generally cut better than a broadsword, (although they both have completely different blade geometries).
All these assumptions are generalizations so...

Haha, Jonathan is the current king of inquisitors, but I love him for it. Heck, that "My First Sword" thread is a veritable who's who chronology of major developments in the European production sword market over the summer. I found out about tons of exciting options and resources (like where to buy Atrim blades, for example) reading through his waffling because he really REALLY wanted to know all he could before the plunge, and I thank him for that. I did however, want him to nut up and buy something already by the 20th page or so, but only because he couldn't make a wrong choice at that point and was stressing himself out more than he needed to

But some sort of similar context would really be appreciated in Igaretto's questions. They're extremely general right now and hard to answer, and when people have responded with specifics for clarification, he's responded with, "no, I mean, just in general." We wanna help you to the best of our abilities, mate, but that's hard to do when we don't know what you want or what you're getting at. There's only so many times you can say, "does such and such factor affect a sword?" and someone responds, "well yea, of course it does."

Ok, I'm going to need some clarification here because your terms keep changing and I am confused. Are you talking about a standard curved edge sword like a katana or a sabre or are you talking about something like a falx? You ask about forward curved blades to me that says something like a falx, the you ask about a reverse curved blade and I've got nothing? What exactly are you asking? What kind of sword are you talking about and what do you seek to learn?

That just leaves it open to all kinds of speculation; I approached it from a historical/realistic PoV but maybe that's not what he's looking for.

I thought he was a bladesmith already; wasn't he part of the Manufacturers and Vendors? Thought I saw that over his name before. Maybe it was someone else who asked similar questions.

ahhh I'm hearing you now mate ;D From what you've described you'd probably best go with some kind of khukri. I would've sugested a Kopis (which seems to suit your criteria quite well) however it wouldn't be best to go round cutting things as you would a machete with that. As for forward curving blades and cutting they do remarkably well. I believe the Romans had to reinforce their helmets when dealing with the Dacian Falx because they were getting split open.