Actually in eastern cultures dual-wielding of weapons has been vastly utilized and has been used proficiently in 1 vs many situations. In my opinion it would be kinda easy to balance in the game, many ways to make it viable.
I think you may be referring to
Eskrima, of which a few styles involve the use of two identical weapons (such as sticks or knives). This is still practiced today in the Philippines.
You're pretty close. I'm going to be pedantic - Sinawali (identical sticks) is more like a substyle that most if not all schools employ.
Now, to make some definitions. One thing to note is that Eskrima was highly influenced by Spanish fencing at the time when they were in the Philippines - Medium length blades, short offhand daggers or small bucklers - mixed together to create a system easy to maneuver and fight in the jungle. Of course the main sword was quickly switched to a machete-like weapon to clear paths.
The mainhand rattan stick is 26-28" long. It represents a Barong knife, which can be 22" long. In comparison, a one-handed European sword would have a blade 26-30" long.
The off hand is basically a knife-lengthed stick. And it lol represents a knife. So, yeah, this is reminiscent of historical European fencing with a main-gauche.
Just as equally used is the off hand being free. By doing so, you can use your free hand to guide the enemy's blade-hand after you dodge/parry, keeping their blade away as you counter.
Of course, you would use the knife in the same way, of guiding (called passing) the enemy's hand. It's IMO a bit tougher to finely control the enemy, instead trading off for more offensive angles of attack.
Now finally getting to Sinawali - using two equal length rattan sticks of 26-28" long. Well. I'm not sure about other schools' philosophies, but my two teachers tell me Sinawali is stupid, lol. But every school is a different lineage and each have their own quirks. For example, I learn Cabales Serrada Escrima. Angel Cabales being the founder of the school, Serrada Escrima meaning "closing skirmish." We use 19-22" mainhand sticks and we play at "corto" or short range.
I digressed a lot but dual wielding can work (in a way that pleases both over-realistic-whiners and Drizzt-fanboys) if you either use a one-handed-sword with a dagger, or you use two equal length short swords.
Moreover, after writing all that, I realized using a single weapon with no shield has its own advantages - that being able to use the free hand to manipulate the opponents' blade-hand. This slows down their ability to parry you, and then slows down their ability to counter attack. Even without a shield you can be quite defensive.
So for a game
like but isn't DOS, this gives the Dexterity warrior several options instead of having to pump Strength for a Shield. A Dex warrior/fighter/scoundrel could use: (1) defensive skew: short sword or possibly a rapier, off hand free; (2) offense/defense balance: short sword or possibly a rapier, off hand dagger. (3) offensive skew: two short swords (no, nobody dual wields rapier length swords), alternatively two short daggers if you want to be a badassassassin.
Unfortunately I don't see an easy way of implementing this in DOS but it looks possible as an eventuality (mod?) Would need (A) dex-based short swords, which shouldn't be too bad, (B) is a bit harder, recognizing that (Ba) an off-hand free adds a defensive bonus, (Bb) an off-hand dagger adds less defense but also its weapon damage, (Bc) an off-hand short sword adds only its weapon damage.
P.S. I keep wanting to say longsword but I hold myself back, because historically there is only one longsword, and it's the two-handed German Longsword which has a ~36" blade. In a way it's the European Katana but I'm being quite facetious here.
