Yusaris Greatsword progress

Yusaris and Asala have been repeatedly requested for a while. With the Bassrath-Katas finished and some room left in the current Dragon Age weapon pack, I've started work on them (well, one at a time).

I am currently working on Yusaris and, well, the original mesh leaves a lot to be desired. Compared to its normal map and its title screen version, the weapon's mesh is horribly bland. So far, I've been rounding out sharp edges and adding geometry I think belongs based on what the normal map and DA:O title screen show.

At this point, I could start the UV layout and texturing process, but I have this nagging thought to make the lace around the handle actual geometry, like the Bassrath-Kata longsword a few posts back. The sword just doesn't look right without it. I've put a lot of time in with the rest of the sword, why not the handle?

I'm reluctant to do so because the lace for Yusaris will most likely take a while and add 1.5k polys. But I know I have quite a bit of wiggle room when it comes to the polycount. I'm at about 1980 polys versus 810 for the original; Vigilance had well over 6k for both versions. I think I'm just dreading the whole ribbon process (But it looks so good when finished....).