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[CronoShot]

EDIT: Whoops, not an RPG, but still...

 

[GhostWriter24]

Great RPG that Metroid.

 

[faulty_fork]

I'll admit it took me 24+ hours, but I FINALLY came up with a good example!:

And it's even from one of my favorite games!

Spoiler

That no one has ever played!

How is that practical? Almost unprotected thighs and crotch, and some ridiculously bulky stuff on her hands that would make it impossible to swing anything.

 

[PK Gaming]

Oh dear, not this again. There's nothing wrong with her character. She has a childish personality, so what?

Hmm.

She's got the body of a 10 year old, wears skimpy clothing and a character (his name is Vake) finds her playing house to be cute and decides to marry her. (and they can have children too.)

Believe me, i'm the last person to make a mountain out of a molehill and I despise people who make a big deal out of nothing, but Nono as a character just raises a bunch of flags.

 

[Meccanical]

Hmm.

She's got the body of a 10 year old, wears skimpy clothing and a character (his name is Vake) finds her playing house to be cute and decides to marry her. (and they can have children too.)

Believe me, i'm the last person to make a mountain out of a molehill and I despise people who make a big deal out of nothing, but Nono as a character just raises a bunch of flags.

Guys....she's a character from a Japanese game.

This is nothing new, I assure you.

 

[Xilium]

How is that practical? Almost unprotected thighs and crotch, and some ridiculously bulky stuff on her hands that would make it impossible to swing anything.

What's with so many people in this thread assuming that European style full plate mail is the only form of practical armor? Being a slow moving tank (aka. archer bait) wasn't always the most practical combat solution.

 

[faulty_fork]

What's with so many people in this thread assuming that European style full plate mail is the only form of practical armor? Being a slow moving tank (aka. archer bait) wasn't always the most practical combat solution.

With those big armored boots, huge arm things and helmet she wouldn't move fast either way, just annoys me when they have a ton of armor covering some parts and leave other vital parts totally unprotected.

 

[wsippel]

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aams/hd_aams.htm#weight_b

50 pounds of steel is 50 pounds of steel, but like I said, the weight is distributed all throughout your body rather than principally on the shoulders and waist, and the armor is designed to allow virtually full range of motion.

It's not easy to move around in compared to little or no armor obviously, but knights were nowhere near as hopelessly encumbered as many games like Fire Emblem seem to think they were.

I actually had a chance to wear real 17th century combat plate armor once. Granted, I was twelve years old, but believe me: the whole concept is shit. No, you don't have "virtually full range of movement". Not even close. It's heavy, it's hot, it's hard to move in. It also goes against anything we know about armor today.

Thing is that warfare itself was different back then. It kinda made sense in context - that context, however, simply doesn't exist in RPGs.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

What's with so many people in this thread assuming that European style full plate mail is the only form of practical armor? Being a slow moving tank (aka. archer bait) wasn't always the most practical combat solution.

Full plate definitely isn't the only practical armor, but we're talking about most practical armor in RPGs, a majority of which feature pseudo-European worlds. Wearing full plate except on your sexy bits is not practical.

 

[Xilium]

With those big armored boots, huge arm things and helmet she wouldn't move fast either way, just annoys me when they have a ton of armor covering some parts and leave other vital parts totally unprotected.

Leaving the thighs and crotch "un-plated" was fairly common. Leaving the thighs unarmored allowed for greater mobility and I assume the crotch was left open to allow for bathroom breaks without having to remove the armor.

Not trying to pick on you specifically. I'm just seeing a lot of post in this thread nitpicking about the armor not covering every inch of the person body.

Full plate definitely isn't the only practical armor, but we're talking about most practical armor in RPGs. Wearing full plate except on your sexy bits is not practical.

See above.

 

[wsippel]

Full plate definitely isn't the only practical armor, but we're talking about most practical armor in RPGs, a majority of which feature pseudo-European worlds. Wearing full plate except on your sexy bits is not practical.

Which brings us to Queen's Blade as the ultimate "armor rating" trope example. As weird as it may seem, Reina's ultra skimpy Y shaped breast plate makes more sense than a lot of the "practical" armor posted in this thread. And no, that's not saying much.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

What's with so many people in this thread assuming that European style full plate mail is the only form of practical armor? Being a slow moving tank (aka. archer bait) wasn't always the most practical combat solution.

Japanese battle armour was not that much lighter than European armour. The people who wore the most expensive sets were probably people who could afford a horse as well. And as I have said before, these armours do protect from random arrows. And arrows were not sniper rifle rounds, on a battlefield people just fired off a crap ton of arrows in your general direction.

 

[PK Gaming]

Guys....she's a character from a Japanese game.

This is nothing new, I assure you.

Well i'm just speaking about FE in general.

Previous FE lolis of the past were not not sexually precocious >_>

(though FE is filled with other weird quirks; implied rape, incest, etc)

 

[Femmeworth]

Guys....she's a character from a Japanese game.

This is nothing new, I assure you.

Just because it isn't new doesn't make it any less deplorable. :\

Well i'm just speaking about FE in general.

Previous FE lolis of the past were not not sexually precocious >_>

(though FE is filled with other weird quirks; implied rape, incest, etc)

Well, incest comes with the territory when dealing with royalty.

 

[Xilium]

Japanese battle armour was not that much lighter than European armour. The people who wore the most expensive sets were probably people who could afford a horse as well. And as I have said before, these armours do protect from random arrows. And arrows were not sniper rifle rounds, on a battlefield people just fired off a crap ton of arrows in your general direction.

My comment was specifically referring to people complaining about armors that have less than 100% body coverage. I simply used plate mail as an example since that is the most common armor type being presented in this thread.

Heavy armor in general is not always the most practical though.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

My comment was specifically referring to people complaining about armors that have less than 100% body coverage. I simply used plate mail as an example since that is the most common armor type being presented in this thread.

Heavy armor in general is not always the most practical though.

Having more body coverage is something you want if arrows are flying around and using arrows as a reason to have less coverage is mistaken. If you are talking about a duel with swords then maybe heavy armour could be a disadvantage since you would get tired more quickly.

 

[Xilium]

Having more body coverage is something you want if arrows are flying around and using arrows as a reason to have less coverage is mistaken. If you are talking about a duel with swords then maybe heavy armour could be a disadvantage since you would get tired more quickly.

Well I stand corrected on my off-hand arrow jib.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

The thing is, if you are going as far as using plates, maybe you should be wearing leg paddings, a gambeson or a chain mail underneath to protect your joints and crotch.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I'm sure all the women in JRPGs have exposed thighs, legs, shoulders and chests for contextual mobility reasons and not because it's sexier for the target demo to look at or anything. She's a peasant girl, of course she can't afford leg armor! Specifically leg armor. Or mail. Or tough leather. Her peasant budget ran out before she got to her lady parts.

 

[Xilium]

I'm sure all the women in JRPGs have exposed thighs, legs, shoulders and chests for contextual mobility reasons and not because it's sexier for the target demo to look at or anything. She's a peasant girl, of course she can't afford leg armor! Specifically leg armor. Or mail. Or tough leather. Her peasant budget ran out before she got to her lady parts.

You're acting as though most of the examples in this thread are showing off skin...they're not. If they weren't wearing thigh plating (cuisse) for the purposes of titillating the player, they wouldn't have pants or a skirt on either. It's not like there's a shortage of JRPG armor designs that do exactly what your are claiming but you're really grasping at straws complaining about most of the armors in this thread.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

You're acting as though most of the examples in this thread are showing off skin...they're not. If they weren't wearing thigh plating (cuisse) for the purposes of titillating the player, they wouldn't have pants or a skirt on either. It's not like there's a shortage of JRPG armor designs that do exactly what your are claiming but you're really grasping at straws complaining about most of the armors in this thread.

I'm not complaining about most of the armors in this thread. I was just making a jokey response to the people trying to make contextual excuses about some of the armor in this thread that's clearly designed with style over practicality.

Heck, I'm not even broadly passing judgment on style over substance - I said on the first page of the thread that I love Lenneth's design, and that's about as practical as bringing a garden hose to a sword fight. I just think it's funny how some people refuse to accept that a lot of female characters are designed with ogling in mind first, actual practicality second.

Secondly, the character I was referring to specifically isn't wearing pants or a skirt, but medieval fantasy hotpants, so yeah.

 

[wabo]

Nadia from Golden Sun.

Wears just chest light armor, as almost everyone in the game. I think it's OK. I may be mistaken.

Just in case you don't remember, this is how the other main characters looked.

 

[Seda]

I'll admit it took me 24+ hours, but I FINALLY came up with a good example!:

And it's even from one of my favorite games!

Spoiler

That no one has ever played!

Too bad her hat is ridiculous.

 

[tiny raptor]

Came in here expecting the exact opposite of what the TC was asking for, and I was not disappointed.

Here's my contribution to the thread:

 

[nmanma]

Well, she does control her giant robot like a puppet by dancing, so it makes sense that the most practical "armor" would be the one that offers the greatest mobility and heat dissipation

I'd really like to see a thread for most practical platformer clothes, mario's shoes don't look like they'd be very good for running and jumping, unlike sonic who has appropriate footwear. On the other hand being mostly naked can't be good for exploring jungles and ruins, he'd end up covered in bruises by branches and stuff

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I'd really like to see a thread for most practical platformer clothes, mario's shoes don't look like they'd be very good for running and jumping, unlike sonic who has appropriate footwear.

To be fair, Mario isn't missing key parts of his outfit for the sole purpose of appeasing female gamers who like short Italian men.

 

[Santiako]

To be fair, Mario isn't missing key parts of his outfit for the sole purpose of appeasing female gamers who like short Italian men.

Well, he is showing his moustache.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Well, he is showing his moustache.

Flaunting it, even. The objectification of Mario's mustache must end!

 

[nmanma]

To be fair, Mario isn't missing key parts of his outfit for the sole purpose of appeasing female gamers who like short Italian men.

But where does that leave Sonic?

Spoiler

 

[StayDead]

I think Sumia's armor in Fire Emblem Kakusei is pretty damn practical. She's a Pegasus Knight so has armor for her upper body but little on the legs to allow for her to ride her pegasus.

 

[Tomat]

*edit*
Nevermind, that's probably the bottom of her spear.

 

[Neiteio]

Dungeon travelers have some of the finest female armors.

What's a seven-year-old doing on the field of battle?

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Came in here expecting the exact opposite of what the TC was asking for, and I was not disappointed.

Here's my contribution to the thread:

Who designed this monstrosity?

 

[big_erk]

Best character in that game too.

Yes she is.

 

[tiff]

Let's not talk about fucking Nono.

Ever.

I swear if ANYone in this thread knew about nono and her personality they would fucking throw a fit I swear. Her character is just so insanely messed up, and i'm 90% she's getting censored in the english version...

she seems fine to me.

I'm sure all the women in JRPGs have exposed thighs, legs, shoulders and chests for contextual mobility reasons and not because it's sexier for the target demo to look at or anything. She's a peasant girl, of course she can't afford leg armor! Specifically leg armor. Or mail. Or tough leather. Her peasant budget ran out before she got to her lady parts.

so who denied that aesthetics come to play in designing any character?

 

[Roubjon]

What's a seven-year-old doing on the field of battle?

Really? What seven year old has breasts like that?

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

What the hell

Kaneko happened.

 

[Tomat]

Kaneko happened.

You can't hate on the SMT designs. Nobody can.

If they do, they're just flat out wrong. (Sorry)

Wut?

I'm saying that in general, just wanted to quote your example. Didn't mean to imply you hate the designs.

I think the character and monster designs are one of the best parts about the SMT universe.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

You can't hate on the SMT designs. Nobody can.

If they do, they're just flat out wrong. (Sorry)

Wut?

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Really? What seven year old has breasts like that?

You HONESTLY want someone answering that?

 

[Tomat]

You HONESTLY want someone answering that?

I almost did with a joke but thought it still sounded a little weird.

 

[Roubjon]

You HONESTLY want someone answering that?

Rofl, I'm expecting not to get an answer.

 

[Neiteio]

Really? What seven year old has breasts like that?

A seven-year-old that had breasts drawn on her.

 

[Jigsaw]

ravness loxaerion,tactics ogre remake

probably not really practical though

 

[Mars]

After seeing this, every other female armor seems pretty practical.

What is this from?

 

[chickdigger802]

What is this from?

code of princess. The game 3ds gaf is all over.

 

[HK-47]

If you see my other post, I didn't know she was that useful. I always assumed that she was like Marcus in FE7.

Actually I believe Marcus is not as maligned as he once was.

 

[Data Elemental]

I think the armor in Dark Age of Camelot was quite reasonable. It was basically texture swaps and used the same for both genders, just adapted to the different body geometry.

 

[Sylvrfonic]

You can argue that the series became less RPG like as it went on. But, this armor was in ME1. It always appeared very practical to me.

 

[UrbanRats]

non sexy = Practical? Lol.
I mean i hate g-string armors as much as the next guy, but for an armor to be also practical it takes more than that, for example how in the fuck is the Onion Knight armor (from Dark Souls) practical? Stuff like that in history i'd bet was mostly for rich people and just for show, not stuff you'd wear in the middle of a battle.
Still it's a cool design don't get me wrong, but that also applies to many other stuff, even ones that can be considered sexy (and unpractical).

Same goes for those full armors with a thousand capes on them, wtf? Try swinging around a 30kg steel weapon in the mud, with that shit on and a limited view due to your helmet.