Support NeoGAF

[Teremap]

Quite honestly, I don't expect most devs to operate like From Soft as they're a rarity in the industry. They generally have no fucks to give about fanservice in any measure in almost all of their projects (which I like a lot about them) and 9 times out of 10 armor everyone exactly the same, (with very few exceptions). As for that first image...you probably don't want to use that as an example. That's from Final Fantasy XIV and the cuirass (the armor shown) is very much the odd man out as there's boatloads of fanservicey armor in that game. Not Tera level in most cases, but it's there.

Errr, no, that's patently false. All the high-level plate armor is fully covering (on BOTH sexes). The only 'fanservicey' gear is a set of gladiator armor, the bikinis, and Scylla's set from Syrcus Tower.

Not even sure how you went from here to there. How much did/do you play the game?

Whereas CDP doesn't shy away from sexuality in the least and never has, so it doesn't surprise me that they wouldn't care about things like cleavage (which doesn't automatically make an outfit sexual). The Witcher games are almost James Bond-like in their approach to Geralt wooing random ladies, so while you are certainly free not to like it (I prefer her TW2 outfit as previously stated), it's totally in line with the series.

That's a terrible excuse. And besides that, I have absolutely no problem with sexuality. I have a problem with it being shoved into places it doesn't belong, and armor that is designed to protect is definitely one of those places.

See, the thing is, when the armor is explicitly designed to protect... except it has boob-shaped plates or a cleavage window, that's more insidious than just rendering the character in a straight-up bikini, because you're pretending to be fair when really you've created a vulnerability that's so striking that the character should, by all rights, be dead in the very first combat encounter she runs into. It's just begging for someone to toss a dagger or fire an arrow into that slot.

I think the very middle of the spectrum is the absolute worst place to be. If you want to be fanservicey you go ALL THE WAY, and for both sexes even (Conan-style ubiquitous nudity), and if you want practicality your armors should damn well look the part. Sitting in the inequitable middle just gives the impression that you care when really you don't give a damn.

 

[Sentenza]

Good thing you wrote "probably" because that'd be so untrue it'd hurt... Souls games win this, easily.

Uh, no, they don't.
But chances are you don't know of what you are talking about and you already made it abundantly clear that you have (for some reason) a chip on the shoulder with this franchise.

Otherwise you wouldn't praise Dark Souls as a game that made realistic armor design better, as that's *clearly* untrue.
And I say this as a massive Dark Souls fan: the whole game is a parade of exotic, unpractical and unlikely armors, with sparse notable exceptions.

 

[PFD]

New Triss looks cool. Why are we discussing Saskia boob plate again?

 

[Sentenza]

New Triss looks cool. Why are we discussing Saskia boob plate again?

Technically she doesn't even have a "boob plate", by the way.
She's wearing a waist/belly armor up to the sternum and the rest of her torso is covered with a small padded jacket.

 

[vio]

They should check how FF XV does hair. Other than that looks great. Looks like

Spoiler

6gb vram

sharp!!!

 

[tskeeve]

I don't know if it's just an excuse to make it fanservice-y, but from what I understand, seduction + misdirection is a part of Triss' character, right? Doesn't she use her magic to make herself beautiful or something? If that's the case, then her flaunting her assets seems fairly consistent with her personality.

 

[antonz]

I don't know if it's just an excuse to make it fanservice-y, but from what I understand, seduction + misdirection is a part of Triss' character, right? Doesn't she use her magic to make herself beautiful or something? If that's the case, then her flaunting her assets seems fairly consistent with her personality.

Its part of the entire lore of sorcerers in the Witcher Universe. Sorcerer's tend to get themselves into very important positions with royal courts etc. due to their abilities and improving their appearance is of great help as well so they make themselves Goddesses basically even if under the magic they are crippled old ladies.

 

[Sentenza]

I don't know if it's just an excuse to make it fanservice-y, but from what I understand, seduction + misdirection is a part of Triss' character, right? Doesn't she use her magic to make herself beautiful or something?

That's generally true for every single sorceress in the setting, but it's never made clear to what degree each of them rely on "enhancements".
When it comes to triss, the only thing I've been told for sure is that she should show a more advanced age (she should be roughly in her late fourties/early fifties, if I remember correctly) and several severe burns on her skin

Oh, on a side note, she's apparently considered a scrub for a sorceress. Many of them are far older than she is.

 

[Hypron]

Good thing you wrote "probably" because that'd be so untrue it'd hurt... Souls games win this, easily.

Huh... The Souls game have quite a few completely unpractical armours (pretty much any heavy armour, or Ciaran's armour -lol high heels on an armour-). Most of The Witcher's armours look like a stylised version of the kind of stuff you'd find in history books.

 

[Darkstorne]

They should check how FF XV does hair. Other than that looks great. Looks like

Spoiler

6gb vram

sharp!!!

Square have always been the kings of hair. XIII was a recent example, but you can go back as far as the PSOne. When I see moving hair in Vagrant Story, I can't see how any games from the 360 gen have an excuse for not including it. Especially games with copious amounts of long hair (Skyrim, Dragon Age Origins, Kingdoms of Amalur).

That said, Geralt's hair in W3 is looking fantastic from what I've seen. Hopefully the rest of the cast benefit from similar tech.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I know I said I'd stop... but... -_-

Uh, no, they don't.
But chances are you don't know of what you are talking about and you already made it abundantly clear that you have (for some reason) a chip on the shoulder with this franchise.

What, because I didn't shower praise for the game? e_e

Otherwise you wouldn't praise Dark Souls as a game that made realistic armor design better, as that's *clearly* untrue.
And I say this as a massive Dark Souls fan: the whole game is a parade of exotic, unpractical and unlikely armors, with sparse notable exceptions.

You said "cool and grounded". I thought that meant stylish while still being fairly grounded instead of the uber-outlandish stuff like in Monster Hunter games. Souls games have many fantasy not-so-grounded armours, but I'll note that their worst "offense" (in terms of being impractical) is usually having a bit too many spikes and the likes, not featuring wanton cleavage on the ladies versions. At least it's egalitarian in that. And it also has tons of very grounded and practical armours. Especially Demon's Souls, which outside of Yurt's and Doran's armour, generally has fairly realistic sets.

 

[antonz]

Well that was an interesting moment. Went to check out the witcher wiki for some info on the whole sorcerer masking thing. It had a link for a Triss Merigold info site so figured that might be a good start.

Turns out its the Model who they used for promotion who registered the site and now sells lets just say adult content. oops witcher wiki

 

[Dragon1893]

Of course this thread is about cleavage, not sure what I was expecting.

Anyway, even though I like Triss' TW2 outfit a bit more, this one looks great to me as well.
She'll probably be spending less time on the road so it's more like something she'd wear during her daily routine.

What we've seen is definitely enough to assure us that the high standard from TW2 will be maintained.

I've been wanting to make a Witcher community thread but threads like these really discourage me.

 

[KainXVIII]

Not impressed, japanese developers make better models.

 

[InfiniDragon]

Errr, no, that's patently false. All the high-level plate armor is fully covering (on BOTH sexes). The only 'fanservicey' gear is a set of gladiator armor, the bikinis, and Scylla's set from Syrcus Tower.

Not even sure how you went from here to there. How much did/do you play the game?

Uh, that scribble in my av is a Dragoon. I play FFXIV a lot. Don't know if you're in Ultros but I'm Remiel in the GAF FC there.

And you are only counting plate armor, which doesn't make up all of the "armor" in XIV. There's the Dragoon AF which has the stomach cut out on women, the Paladin AF which were made into short shorts on women whereas the men's fully cover the legs (unless you intentionally mismatch the outfit), the White Mage AF pants which are literally just panties (shorts for men so kinda silly both ways here), the Black Mage female Soldiery set with the tutu and fishnet while the guys just have pants, the Mi'qote and Hyur female default that are both mini skirts, and those are on top of the Darkhold set (the gladiator stuff), the bikinis, the Ul'dah GC Hunt gear and the Scylla stuff.

And if we're only counting plate in that argument Triss would be fine since she's not and never wore any. But since I believe your argument is against that sort of stuff in general, I figured I'd address this. The other part is your opinion which you're totally entitled to (and I don't like fanservicey stuff either so I mostly agree).

 

[Keasar]

My new GTX 970 has a challenger.

Spoiler

Its gonna die.

 

[Seanspeed]

Good thing you wrote "probably" because that'd be so untrue it'd hurt... Souls games win this, easily.

 

[JaseC]

My new GTX 970 has a challenger.

Spoiler

Its gonna die.

Give it a partner.

 

[hurricanes]

Uh, ok?
We weren't even talking about armors there, as I was arguing about the Dragon Age's character outfit and how he described it as impractical.
Oh, and if we are going to talk about cool and "grounded" armor design, anyway, the Witcher 2 is probably absolutely unmatched.

Anyway, I can't help but notice the bitter irony of a lotof "videogame feminism" somehow turning in a bunch of judgmental prudes, ready to be offended by anything that is sexy and revealing and "slut-shaming" characters showing some skin, when sexual liberation used to be a big point of feminism in the past decade.
There were people outraged for a *exposed belly* in a cover artwork for Divinity Original Sin. That's practically medieval zealotry there.

Sexual liberation has nothing to do with differential treatment in game that make every single female (and no male) character serve the "eye candy" purposes which has been consider "objectification" of women which is sexist.

 

[Denton]

Oh for fuck sake

anyway, Emhyr var Emreis looks pretty much precisely how I imagined him reading the books, so does Triss, good job CDP!

 

[Leb]

See, the thing is, when the armor is explicitly designed to protect... except it has boob-shaped plates or a cleavage window, that's more insidious than just rendering the character in a straight-up bikini, because you're pretending to be fair when really you've created a vulnerability that's so striking that the character should, by all rights, be dead in the very first combat encounter she runs into. It's just begging for someone to toss a dagger or fire an arrow into that slot.

At face value, her armor is a bit silly, but maybe not in the way you seem to think -- rather, it's more to do with the fact that she didn't bother to fully button-up her gambeson and that she's wearing a plackart without a breastplate.

Of course, as it turns out, there's a pretty good reason as to why Saskia

Spoiler

doesn't give a shit about properly armoring herself.

 

[-Deimos]

Oh for fuck sake

anyway, Emhyr var Emreis looks pretty much precisely how I imagined him reading the books, so does Triss, good job CDP!

He looks a lot older and fatter than I imagined him plus his hair is a lot lighter/gray, though that might be a lighting issue. He looks a lot closer to what I imaged him in the trailer.

 

[matrix-cat]

I still can't believe they got Charles Dance for Emhyr. I hope they get a lot of use out of him, and it's not just stunt casting for a bit part, Bethesda-style.

 

[Majukun]

I prefer witcher2's Triss...both face and outfit

 

[HK-47]

Lets not talk about how Dark Souls has a few sets that "enhance" a female characters figure. Or the fume sorcerer set with its plunging neckline for the female version. No its better to talk about how realistic walking around in full giants armor or havels is. I hear the buttface is actually a very pratical helmet in real life.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Great face detail

Next-gen only character models are lookin good.

Uncharted 4

Final Fantasy XV



Real-time graphics have come a long way.

FFXV wins.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

FFXV wins.

 

[sublimit]

I like how more down to earth the Witcher characters in general always looked when compared to other WRPGs.Even the ones who were supposed to be beautiful they never looked like some modern supermodels like the ones you see in the Dragon Age universe for example.
Unlike DA characters you really feel like the characters from the Witcher games could have trully lived in a European medieval setting.Maybe that's because of the developer's background.

 

[Majukun]

Errr, no, that's patently false. All the high-level plate armor is fully covering (on BOTH sexes). The only 'fanservicey' gear is a set of gladiator armor, the bikinis, and Scylla's set from Syrcus Tower.

Not even sure how you went from here to there. How much did/do you play the game?

That's a terrible excuse. And besides that, I have absolutely no problem with sexuality. I have a problem with it being shoved into places it doesn't belong, and armor that is designed to protect is definitely one of those places.

See, the thing is, when the armor is explicitly designed to protect... except it has boob-shaped plates or a cleavage window, that's more insidious than just rendering the character in a straight-up bikini, because you're pretending to be fair when really you've created a vulnerability that's so striking that the character should, by all rights, be dead in the very first combat encounter she runs into. It's just begging for someone to toss a dagger or fire an arrow into that slot.

I think the very middle of the spectrum is the absolute worst place to be. If you want to be fanservicey you go ALL THE WAY, and for both sexes even (Conan-style ubiquitous nudity), and if you want practicality your armors should damn well look the part. Sitting in the inequitable middle just gives the impression that you care when really you don't give a damn.

While i agree that leaving your chest exposed is stupid,it's not like it's either full armor or nothing.weight iswas a pretty big problem in swordfights,a full armor hinders your movements immensely,and especially if you are a less than muscular woman,a too heavy armor can make you useless in combat,especially depending on what kind of fighting style you excel with.that being said,in the real world knights usually sacrificed gladly mobility for protection (mostly because real medieval swordfight were less fencing and more bumping each other awkardly trying to unbalance the opponent and getting positional advantage,the martial art from what modern judo came out was created for that,because falling on the ground in full armor hurts like hell and was usually enough to K0 somebody),but if we are talking about practicality,missing a few pieces of armor to increase mobility it's not that outlandish

 

[Hypron]

While i agree that leaving your chest exposed is stupid,it's not like it's either full armor or nothing.weight iswas a pretty big problem in swordfights,a full armor hinders your movements immensely,and especially if you are a less than muscular woman,a too heavy armor can make you useless in combat,especially depending on what kind of fighting style you excel with.that being said,in the real world knights usually sacrificed gladly mobility for protection,but if we are talking about practicality,missing a few pieces of armor to increase mobility it's not that outlandish

Saskia's also a

Spoiler

dragon

so I don't think armour matters to her that much anyway haha.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Good thing you wrote "probably" because that'd be so untrue it'd hurt... Souls games win this, easily.

Souls game have the perfect balance of armours set being grounded in reality but also being imaginative.

I just looked at the Witcher 2 armour sets and wow....not much variety.

Lets not talk about how Dark Souls has a few sets that "enhance" a female characters figure. Or the fume sorcerer set with its plunging neckline for the female version. No its better to talk about how realistic walking around in full giants armor or havels is. I hear the buttface is actually a very pratical helmet in real life.

I think she meant Dark Souls. Not DKS2. DKS2 had numerous questionable armour sets.

 

[patapuf]

Souls game have the perfect balance of armours set being grounded in reality but also being imaginative.

I just looked at the Witcher 2 armour sets and wow....not much variety.

Witcher's art in general, including towns and stuff mostly looks actually medieval. Which is refreshing and pretty unique on it's own.

 

[Berto]

Guys... I don't want to go to spoilers, but Saskia doesn't really need to have a fully protective armor. She... can defend herself.

 

[HK-47]

Souls game have the perfect balance of armours set being grounded in reality but also being imaginative.

I just looked at the Witcher 2 armour sets and wow....not much variety.



I think she meant Dark Souls. Not DKS2. DKS2 had numerous questionable armour sets.

The heavy armor is still ridiculous and not realistic at all. Lets not even get into weapons. Realism and restraint in equipment is not an attribute the Souls games have (it never will be when Berserk is one of your inspirations). The Witcher on the other hand is much more grounded and realistic.

 

[Sentenza]

Souls game have the perfect balance of armours set being grounded in reality but also being imaginative.

I just looked at the Witcher 2 armour sets and wow....not much variety.

Well, you looked at it poorly then, because there are like 30 aesthetically different sets just for Geralt, and *his* armors aren't even the most interesting in the game (they are all Witcher's outfits, which essentially are light-to-medium leather armors made for hinder movement as little as possible), there's a wide variety of NPCs wearing the coolest ones, ranging from cloth to plate.

 

[antonz]

Witcher at least as far as Geralt tends to be more grounded armor wise. It makes no sense whatsoever to be in clunky armor as a Monster Hunter.

Limited movement would get you killed every time. That is one area games have failed miserably while trying to use the time period as an excuse.

 

[sublimit]

Souls game have the perfect balance of armours set being grounded in reality but also being imaginative.

I just looked at the Witcher 2 armour sets and wow....not much variety.



I think she meant Dark Souls. Not DKS2. DKS2 had numerous questionable armour sets.

I LOVE the armor designs in the Souls games (not so much the new ones in DS2),and i think their designs are some of the most stylish ones in the industry (at least not the ones based on real designs.)However from what i've seen from videos the Witcher series armors are more grounded on a real medieval setting (although they still have some fantasy elements) than the nightmarish dark medieval fantasy that is the Souls games.Personally i like them both.

 

[Hoo-doo]

I'm actually not that impressed. These are obviously extremely high quality models, but they look like video game characters through and through. Perfect doll-like faces, way too-perfect clothes.

 

[Durante]

I LOVE the armor designs in the Souls games (not so much the new ones in DS2),and i think their designs are some of the most stylish ones in the industry (at least not the ones based on real designs.)However from what i've seen from videos the Witcher series armors are more grounded on a real medieval setting (although they still have some fantasy elements) than the nightmarish dark medieval fantasy that is the Souls games.Personally i like them both.

This is absolutely true. Souls armor design is great aesthetically, but realistically grounded? Nah, not for at least half of them.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Well, you looked at it poorly then, because there are like 30 aesthetically different sets just for Geralt, and *his* armors aren't even the most interesting in the game (they are all Witcher's outfits, which essentially are light-to-medium leather armors made for hinder movement as little as possible), there's a wide variety of NPCs wearing the coolest ones, ranging from cloth to plate.

No I didn't because as you said all of the armours are just light leather armours. Being Geralt can you actually wear NPC armours?

The heavy armor is still ridiculous and not realistic at all. Lets not even get into weapons. Realism and restraint in equipment is not an attribute the Souls games have (it never will be when Berserk is one of your inspirations). The Witcher on the other hand is much more grounded and realistic.

Okay its not that realistic but at the very least it takes into account weight and covers the entire body.

I do agree that the Witcher is far more grounded in its medieval setting but a bit more variety would be nice. Chainmail seems to be in for Witcher 3 which is a nice start.

 

[Sentenza]

No I didn't because as you said all of the armours are just light leather armours. Being Geralt can you actually wear NPC armours?

No?
I already explained it.
He has a wide variety of Witcher outfits for himself, but he can't wear any armor in the game.

Chainmail seems to be in for Witcher 3 which is a nice start.

Oh well, he's supposed to have almost 100 armors to choose from, in the third one.
P.S. Chainmails were in TW2 as well.

 

[HK-47]

No I didn't because as you said all of the armours are just light leather armours. Being Geralt can you actually wear NPC armours?



Okay its not that realistic but at the very least it takes into account weight and covers the entire body.

I do agree that the Witcher is far more grounded in its medieval setting but a bit more variety would be nice. Chainmail seems to be in for Witcher 3 which is a nice start.

Weight is one of the main problems. Some of that armor is shit more akin to an iron maiden than an functional armor set. Then again you can also swing around tree trunks and shit that look closer to airplane wings than swords.

I'm also not sure what covering the entire body has to do with being realistic. All the revealing outfits in dark souls are perfectly realistic.

It should also be made clear that The Witcher is a game about a specific character in a realistic setting (especially when it comes to humans) that tries to stay true to that character isnt going to let you play fashion souls and run around with a jester hat or a giant towel tower on your head or one solid ton of magical iron.

 

[fedexpeon]

Yea they seem to have moved that trait to the guys.

Chest hair is not armor guys.

They still have boob armor tho

And Morrigan is sporting a plunging neckline, tho she is more covered up than before.

I think I need to cancel my DA preorder...this looks like garbage.
Ugh...There is still plenty of time left I guess for improvement.

 

[Hypron]

The heavy armor is still ridiculous and not realistic at all. Lets not even get into weapons. Realism and restraint in equipment is not an attribute the Souls games have (it never will be when Berserk is one of your inspirations). The Witcher on the other hand is much more grounded and realistic.

Yeah. I mean a game where you can wear stuff like this:

Isn't grounded in reality haha.

 

[Lupin3]

Damn

Hair is still a weak spot but damn.

It always is! :/

 

[Sentenza]

I think I need to cancel my DA preorder...this looks like garbage.
Ugh...There is still plenty of time left I guess for improvement.

Hum, no, there isn't. The game is coming out in little more than a month.
And I'm not sure why you did a preorder in the first place if you weren't confident in the game.
Anyway "garbage" sounds a bit hyperbolic.

 

[HK-47]

Hum, no, there isn't. The game is coming out in little more than a month.
And I'm not sure why you did a preorder in the first place if you weren't confident in the game.
Anyway "garbage" sounds a bit hyperbolic.

Open chest shirts are a serious no go for fedexpeon

 

[RedAssedApe]

gotta love a world where the ladies use magic to make themselves all look fineeee lol

trissssss

 

[Chris_C]

I believe everything except the faces. There's no way they're going to look like that in game.

They probably won't, the polycounts and textures may be the same as we'll see in-game, but I'm fairly certain these are renders, we've seen the game in motion already and while it looks fantastic, it doesn't look like like that.

 

[Kinyou]

If boob plates are bad because they direct blows to your sternum then this is a thousand times worse