Dannyalcatraz made the points I was going to, so I'll just talk about why I choose certain weapons.
It depends on the PC and the mechanic behind them. For some reason many RPGs give swords great abilities. If there is no strong reason for me to have my character use an inferior weapon, I won't. For example, I want to make a character who uses a greatclub, because in real life a big chunk of wood works well as a bludgeoning device. But mechanically these weapons get gimped in most systems.
It also comes down to abilities. I'm playing a ranger in a game where I use a falchion and a few crit feats to have some debuff abilities for my character. I'd love to see reach weapons be more useful and for bludgeoning weapons be better in games. Hammers, maces, and clubs saw use with many more people than swords.