[Vulcano's assistant]

Etrian Odyssey ones look right on the money.

[Kientin]

Practical is boring. It's a game so screw practicality and give me interesting.

Different tastes I guess, but I find practical armor more attractive then rest of the skimpy "armor" stuff out there. Thanks for this thread.

[Uthred]

Different tastes I guess, but I find practical armor more attractive then rest of the skimpy "armor" stuff out there. Thanks for this thread.

What if the skimpy armour is practical given the context of the setting? E.g. Climate, material technologies, cultural values.

[Izayoi]

A different angle of the Paladin from EO.

[Laughing Banana]

Am I the only person in GAF that always thought the Judge Armors in FFXII looks terribly ridiculous?

[Meccanical]

Am I the only person in GAF that always thought the Judge Armors in FFXII looks terribly ridiculous?

I did too.

The only artistic direction I liked was the environments and the script.

[Roubjon]

I feel like some of the people in this thread think the only realistic type of armor out there is something like this:



Dat protected thigh!



Anyways, here's Natalie from Radiata Stories. I think it fits the bill for good armor.

[Kientin]

What if the skimpy armour is practical given the context of the setting? E.g. Climate, material technologies, cultural values.

Regardless of cultural values armor is made for protection and should be worn to protect vitals in any serious combat setting. In extremely hot settings it doesn't have to be extreme like full plate all the time but even with light armor, light clothing should be warn as not only having your skin exposed to the sun all the time sounds like a bad idea but armor plates rubbing around on your exposed skin could cause chafing.

[Almighty]

What if the skimpy armour is practical given the context of the setting? E.g. Climate, material technologies, cultural values.

If the armor is skimpy it is not doing the primary thing it was created for providing protection. Then there is no practical purpose to even wear it in that case. Might as well go into battle in just standard clothing and save yourself some money and weight.

I am trying to think of real world examples from any time period or region that I would consider skimpy and practical, but none come to mind. All armor I can think of at least covers and tried to protect the vital organs.

Now with that said I don't mind most of the armor shown in the thread. Since it is just a video game I will give the creators a break if they want to make armor that is a less practical if it is cool looking. The only female armor that really annoys me would be the one that are pretty much chain mail bikinis. No one would wear something like that into battle. On some of them they might as well save the extra weight and fight naked. They would still get the same level of protection.

[Ultratech]

here's one.

Reminds me of this:

[kuroshiki]

Joke post? She fights in an ornate bikini.

I'm serious.

The armor designs in Dungeon Travelers are actually quite good, especially for dark knight, paladin, and valkyrie class.

[ReaperXL07]

If the armor is skimpy it is not doing the primary thing it was created for providing protection. Then there is no practical purpose to even wear it in that case. Might as well go into battle in just standard clothing and save yourself some money and weight. I am trying to think of real world examples from any time period or region that I would consider skimpy and practical, but none come to mind. All armor I can think of at least covers and tried to protect the vital organs. Now with that said I don't mind most of the armor shown in the thread. Since it is just a video game I will give the creators a break if they want to make armor that is a less practical if it is cool looking. The only female armor that really annoys me would be the one that are pretty much chain mail bikinis. No one would wear something like that into battle. On some of them they might as well save the extra weight and fight naked. They would still get the same level of protection.

Many tribal cultures have worn armors that would be considered skimpy by many standards I would believe. Native Americans for instance used alot of light weight materials,

Aztecs:

i'm sure many African tribes also have used similar types of armor. In many cultures light, and ease of movement outweigh bulky heavy equipment. Of course it also comes to the technological level of the culture during the period.

[vareon]

Are we posting female armor that didn't show unnecessary skin or practical in battle? Because some of those armors, while fucking cool, didn't look comfortable for battles.

[LiK]

I liked Chris Lightfellow in Suikoden 3:

Came to post this

[Tomat]

There's a lot of good examples of practical armor in here. Nice job everyone.

[WAR recon zero]

yeah that worked well for natives

[RyougaSaotome]

That hair isn't really battle friendly. Just imagine some of it getting caught in your armor and you turn your head. shrudder*

She wears a helmet 99% of the time so it's not really an issue.

[PK Gaming]

Her only problem is that she's literally TOO BADASS. If you're not careful, she'll solo the entire enemy army early on and your other dudes won't get any XP.

Hmm yeah, but in FE10 you can user her completely without screwing over your entire team because she's on the same level as them. (She can still solo teams there too, except in like 1 chapter hehe)

Some fun FE10 Titania facts:

-She wields an axe and rides on a goddamn horse. Boss.

-She's arguably the "best" non-Haar, non-laguz royal unit in the game.

-Her growths are incredible. To non - Fire emblem fans, growths determine the likelyhood of a stat going up when leveling up. For example, if "PK Gaming" has a strength growth of 45% (the average), "PKGaming's strength will go up 45% of the time every level up"

Here are Titania's stat growths (Fire emblem 10).

HP: 60% STR: 60% MAG:15% SKL: 55% SPD:50% LUK:40% DEF:20% RES:30%

Now BELIEVE ME when I tell you that those stat growths are amazing. In most RPGs, Women usually get predictable stat distribution. They tend to have low hp / strength, but excel in speed or magic (blegh). Titania says FUCK that and has stat growths that basically trump the majority of FE10.

You all know who Ike is right? (what am I saying, everyone here has played Brawl so of course you do.)



His stat growths are:

HP: 65% STR: 55% MAG:10% SKL: 60% SPD:35% LUK:30% DEF:40% RES:15%

Yes, Titania actually has better growths than the main character of FE10 (the leading man basically.) Without getting into base caps, classes and other finer nuances, the end result is that game designers were comfortable with giving Titania sky high growths despite her gender (and lets be honest, RPGs are usually incredible stereotypical in terms of stats)

TL;DR Titania is a fucking badass.

<3

God i'm just Titania fanboy

[Almighty]

Many tribal cultures have worn armors that would be considered skimpy by many standards I would believe. Native Americans for instance used alot of light weight materials, Aztecs: i'm sure many African tribes also have used similar types of armor. In many cultures light, and ease of movement outweigh bulky heavy equipment. Of course it also comes to the technological level of the culture during the period.

Does that count as armor though?

I ask because I also was arguing with myself as I was making that post about the ancient Egyptians who from what I understand went into battle like this:

But like those pictures you posted couldn't decided if that counted as them wearing armor or not. Like with the two pics you posted I am personally leaning towards it being them fighting with no armor on rather then them fighting in skimpy armor.

[Evolved1]

There's a lot of good examples of practical armor in here. Nice job everyone.

This made me laugh.

[AnFox]

;]

[Fimbulvetr]

Ozma, of the same game, looks okay, despite her Liefeldian feet:

Going by what I’ve seen from Tactics Ogre, Tsubasa Masao seems to have a problem with drawing women standing upright half the time. For some reason, a good chunk of them are floating about inexplicably with feet pointed straight downward.

More from Tactics Ogre, if we’re counting generic units as well, I think Female Dragoons(image left) were pretty nice:

Yoshida’s version of the Female Knight(which I, unfortunately, can’t post since you can only see it in scans of the artbook) was good too.

[ReaperXL07]

Does that count as armor though? I ask because I also was arguing with myself as I was making that post about the ancient Egyptians who from what I understand went into battle like this: But like those pictures you posted couldn't decided if that counted as them wearing armor or not. Like with the two pics you posted I am personally leaning towards it being them fighting with no armor on rather then them fighting in skimpy armor.

Well to some extent I would agree with you that many of these men, and women were fighting not armored at all, but you do still have situations where the armor does become more apperant.

you also have to remember that many tribal cultures use whats around them as their crafting materials. Native americans would often use things like leather, bone, tree bark, etc when crafting materials ment for war.

So in the picture I posted above he would be wearing leather/ or animal hide to cover his legs. There are examples of chest guards, and some other types of armors used but in almost all situations it was always minimalist, or very light. I think atleast to some extent it comes down to perspective, Would a medieval Knight consider the types of armors that a Native American would have used "real" armor, I would think probably not.

For instance:



To many in modern society this would not be considered proper armor, but within the Native American culture it was, because it's what they had and could make.

[Femmeworth]

Hmm yeah, but in FE10 you can user her completely without screwing over your entire team because she's on the same level as them. (She can still solo teams there too, except in like 1 chapter hehe) Some fun FE10 Titania facts: -She wields an axe and rides on a goddamn horse. Boss. -She's arguably the "best" non-Haar, non-laguz royal unit in the game. -Her growths are incredible. To non - Fire emblem fans, growths determine the likelyhood of a stat going up when leveling up. For example, if "PK Gaming" has a strength growth of 45% (the average), "PKGaming's strength will go up 45% of the time every level up" Here are Titania's stat growths (Fire emblem 10). HP: 60% STR: 60% MAG:15% SKL: 55% SPD:50% LUK:40% DEF:20% RES:30% Now BELIEVE ME when I tell you that those stat growths are amazing. In most RPGs, Women usually get predictable stat distribution. They tend to have low hp / strength, but excel in speed or magic (blegh). Titania says FUCK that and has stat growths that basically trump the majority of FE10. You all know who Ike is right? (what am I saying, everyone here has played Brawl so of course you do.) His stat growths are: HP: 65% STR: 55% MAG:10% SKL: 60% SPD:35% LUK:30% DEF:40% RES:15% Yes, Titania actually has better growths than the main character of FE10 (the leading man basically.) Without getting into base caps, classes and other finer nuances, the end result is that game designers were comfortable with giving Titania sky high growths despite her gender (and lets be honest, RPGs are usually incredible stereotypical in terms of stats) TL;DR Titania is a fucking badass. <3 God i'm just Titania fanboy

I did not know that, I'm not a very hardcore Fire Emblem fan to be honest. Still, she isn't very useful early on in the game, since she'll siphon up experience. I'll definitely use her more the next time I play Path of Radiance.

[Hiltz]

Ah yeah, Ogre Battle dragoons! I'd recognize that bronze helmet anywhere. Too bad they have low visibility.

[PK Gaming]

I actually don't really use her at all in Path of Radiance earlygame for hard mode because she's a crutch and you need to level up characters Ike & friends.
In a way she reminds me of Seth in that regard... (though even if you don't use her she's still a damn good unit)

I will always use her in Radiant Dawn though, because she's amazing there AND doesn't drain up EXP. Actually the Greil Mercenaries in general are amazing in Radiant Dawn...

[ZealousD]

Okay, so it's not exactly practical. I just thought it would be funny to go towards the other end of the spectrum.

[hteng]

FFXIV's armor designs are awesome and fits very well to the classes it portrays and are pretty practical imo.

The monk and dragoon are lightly armored, in the monk's case they wear cloth armor for flexibility and evasion. in the dragoon's case, since they utilize jumps and great reach with their spears, they aren't as heavily armored as warriors and paladins.

warriors are dressed red and intimidating faceplate to signify aggression, kinda like the red flag use for bull fighting. Paladins use white, they wear golden crowns and exquiste jewelry armor, they signify leadership and serve as the iron will of the group,

the females wear the exact same armor as males.



oh and armor porn thread, can we have it?

[Almighty]

Well to some extent I would agree with you that many of these men, and women were fighting not armored at all, but you do still have situations where the armor does become more apperant. you also have to remember that many tribal cultures use whats around them as their crafting materials. Native americans would often use things like leather, bone, tree bark, etc when crafting materials ment for war. So in the picture I posted above he would be wearing leather/ or animal hide to cover his legs. There are examples of chest guards, and some other types of armors used but in almost all situations it was always minimalist, or very light. I think atleast to some extent it comes down to perspective, Would a medieval Knight consider the types of armors that a Native American would have used "real" armor, I would think probably not. For instance: To many in modern society this would not be considered proper armor, but within the Native American culture it was, because it's what they had and could make.

You make a very good point. I will have to take that stuff into consideration when I evaluate what I consider practical armor now.

[deim0s]

So... where are the Selvaria pics?

While conventional, Selvaria doesn't have any armor.

[Platy]

To many in modern society this would not be considered proper armor, but within the Native American culture it was, because it's what they had and could make.

They (and egiptians and praticaly everyone else) also could have made a ROCK armor ... but then again ... xD

Okay, so it's not exactly practical. I just thought it would be funny to go towards the other end of the spectrum.

I think I would kill myself using that

[RedSwirl]

If you're talking about western hemisphere and african tribes, no that doesn't really count as armor - war paint with some light protection at best.

Even when you talk about available materials, that still doesn't explain metal g strings. The fact that they're made of metal suggests that these women have access to enough metal to make full armor, but choose not to. If the purpose is simply intimidation, camouflage, or even seduction on the battlefield, then they're better off using cloth or leather instead of wasting metal.

When you think about it metal heels are a bit impractical as well.

Lastly, despite these being games and fantasy, you can still be practical and look cool at the same time. There are already lots of examples in this thread. Ther'e's a difference between heroically idealized and sexualized character design.

[chickdigger802]

Okay, so it's not exactly practical. I just thought it would be funny to go towards the other end of the spectrum.

it is quite silly, but having never done battle in a knightmare, I'm no expert on the topic.

[How About No]

Came to post Meliadoul, from FFT



...but unfortunately, I can't find any official full-body art, so here's a neat fan rendition:

Okay, so it's not exactly practical. I just thought it would be funny to go towards the other end of the spectrum.

Took me a while to realize the light blue stick on the bottom of the pic was a leg, lol

[Boney]

[leatherhat]

Yggdra Union has pretty good female armor from what I recall

[Ken]

:3

[QisTopTier]

Yo guys, heavy armor with a bunch of fancy shit all over it is not fucking practical

[EVOL 100%]

This thread is proving that there's barely any practical female in games.

Heavy armor for females in DA:O was pretty decent. The Souls games were also nice, and if we can include fighting games than Hilde has nice armor.

[Kenaras]

Eh, most armor throughout history didn't provide leg protection. The only warriors in history who had heavily armored legs were mounted knights and Samurai to a lesser extent. Your basic footman couldn't afford it, and couldn't really move well with it, they would be more likely to have greaves, a helmet, maybe gauntlets and bracers if they could afford them, and a big ass shield. Maybe they'd have a mail coat or a breastplate, but not much else.

From a historical perspective, most of the armor posted in this thread is impractical. Not because it's skimpy or sexualized, but because the characters don't fight from horseback and it would be too cumbersome to use on foot.

[Vulcano's assistant]

Leaving fantasy RPGs

[wsippel]

Eh, most armor throughout history didn't provide leg protection. The only warriors in history who had heavily armored legs were mounted knights and Samurai to a lesser extent. Your basic footman couldn't afford it, and couldn't really move well with it, they would be more likely to have greaves, a helmet, maybe gauntlets and bracers if they could afford them, and a big ass shield. Maybe they'd have a mail coat or a breastplate, but not much else.

That's exactly the thing most people don't seem to realize: Full body armor, especially heavy plate armor, was rare, expensive, and most of all, highly impractical. And especially warriors specializing in heavy weapons would typically wear extremely light armor or no armor at all.

[Riposte]

But the heavier and bulkier the armor, the more impractical it is.


EDIT: This thread is kind of funny. People too preoccupied with covering skin rather actual functionality.

[suzu]

Metal boobs on armor doesn't seem very practical imo.

[narcosis219]

Lt. Mira from W40K Space Marine

[wsippel]

But the heavier and bulkier the armor, the more impractical it is.

Yeah, most "skimpy" armor would probably offer a much better chance of survival than the heavy ass tin cans posted in this thread. Heavy armor was usually only worn by cavalry units, and the moment you got them off their horses (which was very easy), they were dead.

It's another interesting concept in Xenoblade: The most efficient tanks are evade tanks. Very light or no armor, very high agility. It's better not to get hit at all.

[GuardianE]

This thread is proving that there's barely any practical female in games. Heavy armor for females in DA:O was pretty decent. The Souls games were also nice, and if we can include fighting games than Hilde has nice armor.

It's really not. There are definitely some great examples of practical female armor in here. Then there are a bunch of troll posts that aren't intended to be taken seriously.

Ornate or pretty armor doesn't make it impractical. Nor does giant hulking armor make it practical. A lot of armor was simple treated leather back in the day.

[JoseOle5990]

How about these ladies from Radiant Historia?

Eruca sorta has some practicality I guess

Raynie, well not so much lol

[Neki]

I don't even care about sexual armor, I just hate it when female battle armor has heels. What advantage does heels provide in battle?

[chickdigger802]

The thing with rpgs especially the jrpg variant, they must be designed to work with the crazy over the top acrobatics and flashy nonsense of the combat animation.

I'd love to see some heavy armor knights do john woo dives though.

And the idea of traversing giant vast rpg worlds in heavy armor doesn't sound like the funnest thing.

Probably why you rarely ever see a 'tank class' lead in jrpgs.