system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[LOTR] and other fantasy . Why do humans use such ineffective weapons against monstrous creatures?

It seems like they are geared to fight other men instead of orks, goblins, trolls etc. Wouldn't they evolve better methods like pikes, halberds, crossbows etc? There has to be a better way than trying to kill them with a thousand papercuts.
gpt
The Doylist answer is that we're just now getting a clear picture of how people fought in medieval times, which most fantasy settings are based on. Many writers are strongly influenced by Hollywood, which in turn was influenced by older pop culture going all the way back to Victorian times.

Medieval swords being heavy and clumsy? Victorian trope.

Plate armor being unrealistically cumbersome? Victorian trope.

Medieval fighting just a lot of banging and hacking? Victorian trope!

There's various reasons for this. Medieval swords do seem clumsy -- if you try to fence with them the way you would a foil or epee. Plate armor would seem cumbersome, if all the examples you saw were cheap Victorian knockoffs. And Historical European Martial Arts were pretty much lost by that time -- the old masters were long dead and their manuals forgotten in a hundred dusty libraries.

So yes, pikes, halberds, and anything that gives a reach advantage *would* be appreciated by a medieval soldier facing much stronger opponents.