Armour & weapon designs - a plea (part III).

[Merlkir]

Neither of them are good, the last one is the least bad. Spikes, man, spikes and exposed skin everywhere.

[Sarex]

That first one (purple armor)'s a little iffy.

 

It's not the lack of coverage that bugs me, really, so much as it is the fact that the armor appears to be some form of plate/platelike armor. I can see someone being more lightly armored (coverage-wise) AND wearing actual lighter armor, itself, for the sake of mobility, etc. But it's hard to think you'd go through the trouble of wearing heavy plate armor on only 40% of your body like that (not even the most vital parts).

 

Kind of agree, but for some reason it always stuck with me. Maybe because the art is awesome.

 

Neither of them are good, the last one is the least bad. Spikes, man, spikes and exposed skin everywhere.

 

That third armor, is anti-back stab armor. XD

 

As for the exposed skin, I don't know man, now that they can animate proper character models, I wouldn't be against showing some skin on the lightly armored classes, it can be done to great effect (imagine glowing tattoos and stuff like that(and it would help differentiate the different races)). I mean if they can make the different types of armor look unique, then sure go for the realistic approach, but considering that this is a fantasy game I wouldn't be against an unrealistic look.

 

What I'm trying to say is that they now have a chance to make the character models look as great as the 2d backgrounds, and I just don't know how that would look with the plain armor I have seen in this thread. (which is not to say that it's not good looking, but to me it doesn't translate that fantasy feel)

Edited June 15, 2013 by Sarex

[Lephys]

Kind of agree, but for some reason it always stuck with me. Maybe because the art is awesome.

No fault in that, . Artistically, it is quite lovely.

 

 

That third armor, is anti-back stab armor. XD

 

Methinks all it's actually preventing is sneak-attack bear hugging.

 

Really though, the problem comes from a game like P:E declaring a strong basis in historical reality. When you say "this is going to mainly be like real, historical melee combat," then you say "but people are going to have these huge spikes on their armor that are easily hookable by many a weapon -- which you wouldn't want in actual melee combat for various reasons -- just because they convey aesthetic coolness," you run into a bit of a snag. It's not so much that "ALL ARMOR MUST BE REALISTIC AND CANNOT BE FANTASTICAL!", as it is that you're specifically mixing unrealistic defenses with allegedly-realistic combat thrown in. I suppose if they managed to come up with purely fantasy melee combat, in which such spikes weren't infeasible, it wouldn't be so bad.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Lephys

[Karranthain]

 

What I'm trying to say is that they now have a chance to make the character models look as great as the 2d backgrounds, and I just don't know how that would look with the plain armor I have seen in this thread. (which is not to say that it's not good looking, but to me it doesn't translate that fantasy feel)

 

 

Plain?! I challenge that notion.

 

 

 

Discussion has spiked as of late, so time to plume it up a bit...

Edited June 15, 2013 by Karranthain

[FlintlockJazz]

 

 

That first one (purple armor)'s a little iffy.

 

It's not the lack of coverage that bugs me, really, so much as it is the fact that the armor appears to be some form of plate/platelike armor. I can see someone being more lightly armored (coverage-wise) AND wearing actual lighter armor, itself, for the sake of mobility, etc. But it's hard to think you'd go through the trouble of wearing heavy plate armor on only 40% of your body like that (not even the most vital parts).

Kind of agree, but for some reason it always stuck with me. Maybe because the art is awesome.

Neither of them are good, the last one is the least bad. Spikes, man, spikes and exposed skin everywhere.

That third armor, is anti-back stab armor. XD

 

As for the exposed skin, I don't know man, now that they can animate proper character models, I wouldn't be against showing some skin on the lightly armored classes, it can be done to great effect (imagine glowing tattoos and stuff like that(and it would help differentiate the different races)). I mean if they can make the different types of armor look unique, then sure go for the realistic approach, but considering that this is a fantasy game I wouldn't be against an unrealistic look.

 

What I'm trying to say is that they now have a chance to make the character models look as great as the 2d backgrounds, and I just don't know how that would look with the plain armor I have seen in this thread. (which is not to say that it's not good looking, but to me it doesn't translate that fantasy feel)

Its subjective: to me the pics you put up are bland and plain, the typical fantasy stuff you see put out everywhere and kinda becomes background noise to me, which is why I find realistic looking armour better because its not done so much and carries more cultural designs, you get a sense they come from a wider culture that has fashions and trends of their own. Plus they just look so much more badass when they actually look like capable warriors rather than looking like they are nothing more than fap-material to me.

[Sarex]

Really though, the problem comes from a game like P:E declaring a strong basis in historical reality. When you say "this is going to mainly be like real, historical melee combat," then you say "but people are going to have these huge spikes on their armor that are easily hookable by many a weapon -- which you wouldn't want in actual melee combat for various reasons -- just because they convey aesthetic coolness," you run into a bit of a snag. It's not so much that "ALL ARMOR MUST BE REALISTIC AND CANNOT BE FANTASTICAL!", as it is that you're specifically mixing unrealistic defenses with allegedly-realistic combat thrown in. I suppose if they managed to come up with purely fantasy melee combat, in which such spikes weren't infeasible, it wouldn't be so bad.

 

 

Ah yes but then we come in to a problem of dual wielding two long swords, or morning stars, or flails etc. What I'm trying to say is, I wouldn't want it to be over the top, but I also wouldn't like it being vanilla too. With the IE games you didn't really have to worry about the look of the armor, because you couldn't notice the difference (except for the colors). Now though with proper animation and a s..t ton of armors that you are going to find through out the game, they are going to have a need for making them visually unique (or at least I hope they will).

 

@Flintlockjazz and Karranthain

 

Yeah I guess it all comes down to taste, which you can't really discuss. In the end I think I would be satisfied if they made the special (enchanted(non generic +n)) armors look visually unique, and not just go "chain-mail will look like this, full plate will look like this and leather will look like this" and then just change the color if the armor is unique.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Sarex

[Karranthain]

Yeah I guess it all comes down to taste, which you can't really discuss. In the end I think I would be satisfied if they made the special (enchanted(non generic +n)) armors look visually unique, and not just go "chain-mail will look like this, full plate will look like this and leather will look like this" and then just change the color if the armor is unique.

 

 

Peruse these topics and you'll find that there's more than enough unique designs, even within the plate armour category. In fact, you could probably make distinctive armour sets for a few MMOs from all the pictures we've all been posting here...

 

[Sarex]

Peruse these topics and you'll find that there's more than enough unique designs, even within the plate armour category. In fact, you could probably make distinctive armour sets for a few MMOs from all the pictures we've all been posting here...

 

 

 

I'm just worried how well that will transfer to a small character model, and if it will be enough to make it visualy unique on that scale.

 

edit: I just clicked on your sig and saw the first post. Now those are the kind of armors that I'm talking about.

 

Different enough to make them visually unique on a small character model.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Sarex

[Karranthain]

See for yourself :

 

http://youtu.be/AUleDEFkUtE?t=2m17s

 

I'd say that you can see a fair amount of detail.

 

In any case, PE, from what we've seen so far, does seem to employ a more down-to-earth style, case in point : 

 

 

As for the armour from Sweet's portraits - I do like it, boob plate and questionable shoulderpads notwithstanding At least it actually protects.

 

[centurionofprix]

At least it's tasteful boob plate.

[lolaldanee]

considering shoulderpads:

Edited June 18, 2013 by lolaldanee

[Tsuga C]

Move over 1980s power suits--now those are shoulder pads! 

[AutonomousOblast]

What're the types of armies and tactics in P:E and what types of armour do they elicit?

[Karranthain]

What're the types of armies and tactics in P:E and what types of armour do they elicit?

 

This is what we've seen so far :

 

 

It is my hope that the cultural designs will be in stark contrast to each other. What've seen so far seems to confirm that it'll be the case :

 

 

In addition, here's some more inspirational artwork :

 

 

Lovely detail on the armour.

[Leferd]

Really like that Saracen armor and helm. Any of the cultures in PE that would be contiguous with that style though? I've probably stated this before, but I'm a sucker for Outremer and Reconquista imagery.

[Lephys]

-awesome image-

 

Lovely detail on the armour.

Forearm guards? Those are like FIVE-arm guards! And I LOVE them!

 

(And yes, all the other details, too.)

[Rosbjerg]

Closed due to length, continued here.