I think armor and weapons need to look functional over looking 'realistic'. If I wanted things that all exist in the real world I'd be playing a medeival rpg, not a fantasy one. However, It should still look 'functional', i.e. ideally armor should actually cover what it is protecting, bladed weapons should actually look sharp at some point, etc. But we need variety otherwise we might as well be exchanging damage stats on a spreadsheet. I think there's a healthy balance to be found here.