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

[Solviulnir the Soulbinder]

It would be nice to see some remakes of classic gladiator helmets in the game. They look rather intimidating.

[Candid]

Sorry, it's horrid. The armour is ridiculously thick in some places and beyond-stylized thin in others. It doesn't cover the wearer well, there are massive gaps and the articulation is all made up. Also, it has bloody spikes on it.

One of the cases where the Japanese (I assume) don't get European armour right at all.

 

I agree with all of your comments on the armour as a functional suit of armour. I wasn't suggesting that the armour would work well in the real world. I was saying that I prefer fantasy armour that looks good whether or not it'd function well in the real world. On my side of the fence, we call armours like those suggested on the first page of this thread "horrid", even though they're historically accurate, functional suits of plate from various regions with various styles. They're just boring as heck to look at, in my opinion!

 

Yay for spikes, thick shoulders, thin vambraces and poofy sleeves!

[ZornWO]

 

I agree with all of your comments on the armour as a functional suit of armour. I wasn't suggesting that the armour would work well in the real world. I was saying that I prefer fantasy armour that looks good whether or not it'd function well in the real world. On my side of the fence, we call armours like those suggested on the first page of this thread "horrid", even though they're historically accurate, functional suits of plate from various regions with various styles. They're just boring as heck to look at, in my opinion!

 

Yay for spikes, thick shoulders, thin vambraces and poofy sleeves!

 

 

I sympathize strongly with the broad sentiment.  I really dislike it when fantasy worlds ape the real world too closely.  Where that line lies is always subjective, but it starts to feel unimaginative, and it reaches a point where I'd rather a story just be in the real world plus some fantasy elements like how they did with Darklands.  (Even this has exceptions - Eisenwald sounds like it might work out, last I heard.)  As a result, I'm usually unsympathetic to arguments that such-and-such couldn't work in the real world.

 

Here though the characters will be really tiny, so having real-world armor will be a low-key way to maintain verisimilitude and perhaps a low-resource way to generate lore and design for the items (by which I mean, the real-world item armor types are kind of "pre-made" and so little-known apart from aficionados that the devs don't need to put much work into thinking why things would be the way they are for those item descriptions).  The design elements you're seeking probably wouldn't show up well given the scale.  Plus, arbitrary armor spikes annoy me.  I guess it could work if it were associated with one culture in particular, but yeah... they really annoy me after DA2.

[Merlkir]

Yay, let's celebrate disfunctional nonsense which we arbitrarily call "pretty" for no objective reason! 

This is just as retarded as (for example) the current way humans breed dogs. Function and utility? **** that, let's make them look all weird and ****! Let's forget we're also inbreeding them into barely alive corpses with many genetic disorders, crooked spines, disappearing noses that make it near-impossible for them to breathe and other fun and great looking mutations. Look at how cute and curled their tails are! Awww...

 

Real armour is not boring. Most weeaboos have never seen a real suit of armour, they've seen countless stylized and poorly realized impressions of what real armour is. Real armour can be bizarre, colourful and astonishingly beautiful, while still obviously remaining practical and functional.

 

Good grief.

[Candid]

@ Merlkir
I think you have an unhealthy fixation on the imaginary "rightness" of your own preferences. I think that because you're criticising people for their aesthetic desires on the basis that they aren't objective.

Aesthetics. Objective. You see the problem, right?

And bandying words like `retarded` around just makes it seem like you're off the deep end... To say nothing of trying to smear people who like unrealistic armour with the tar of people who breed vanity animals. Before you start, no, the mindsets are nothing alike. I don't put my preferences ahead of the wellbeing of anything alive. `Good grief`.

[Karranthain]

Just to say that I hope the references taken from sources like these are light, and leave plenty of room for armour features that are not necessarily practical, but are visually interesting.

 

You'll find that many people will disagree with you whether the example you've posted is visually interesting. Not necessarily because it's impractical, mind you.

 

Some people simply prefer more elegant, understated designs.

 

I was saying that I prefer fantasy armour that looks good whether or not it'd function well in the real world.

 

Then we're in full agreement - I also prefer fantasy armour that looks good It's just that we have different defintions of "good".

 

There's really no quarrel here (and you're not starting a war); 'tis simply a matter of taste.

 

 

[Nonek]

I'd say that there's room for the stylised childish type as shown above, the over the top Warhammer and 40k types of armour and room for the functional and tasteful types shown in this thread. Obviously some people prefer the illogical armours, that is a perfectly valid right but may I suggest Mr Candid that you start a thread arguing for your preference, you've backed at Gold level and during the Kickstarter so your voice carries weight. However this thread mainly focuses on the massive variety of sensible personal protection that is shown throughout history, and drawing inspiration from them, so you're bound to face opposition here.

[Oneiromancer]

 

Sorry, it's horrid. The armour is ridiculously thick in some places and beyond-stylized thin in others. It doesn't cover the wearer well, there are massive gaps and the articulation is all made up. Also, it has bloody spikes on it.

One of the cases where the Japanese (I assume) don't get European armour right at all.

 

I agree with all of your comments on the armour as a functional suit of armour. I wasn't suggesting that the armour would work well in the real world. I was saying that I prefer fantasy armour that looks good whether or not it'd function well in the real world. On my side of the fence, we call armours like those suggested on the first page of this thread "horrid", even though they're historically accurate, functional suits of plate from various regions with various styles. They're just boring as heck to look at, in my opinion!

 

Yay for spikes, thick shoulders, thin vambraces and poofy sleeves!

 

 

Well the problem is that even on a purely aesthetical level some people simply don't like those things. Personally I think that things such as big spikes and thick shoulderpads tend to make the armors look extremely overdesigned, cluncky and ugly. It's a matter of personal taste of course but I think it's also important to be coherent with your setting/game artistic direction; in Dragon age: Origins some armor designs in particular stood out like a sore thumb in a game that had an art direction with a largely grounded and realistic feel to it (they abruptly changed that in the sequel which had a distinctly high fantasy/cartoony art direction).

 

That said you don't need to go completely in one direction or another. Games with a mid to low fantasy setting can benefit from designs that are subdued and yet still colorful and eye-catching.

 

Look at these ones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don't need to look like a goofy He-Man character or have spikes coming out of your giant shoulderpads to look interesting 

[Karranthain]

I'd say that there's room for the stylised childish type as shown above, the over the top Warhammer and 40k types of armour and room for the functional and tasteful types shown in this thread. Obviously some people prefer the illogical armours, that is a perfectly valid right but may I suggest Mr Candid that you start a thread arguing for your preference, you've backed at Gold level and during the Kickstarter so your voice carries weight. However this thread mainly focuses on the massive variety of sensible personal protection that is shown throughout history, and drawing inspiration from them, so you're bound to face opposition here.

 

I'd argue that this thread is as good place as any to post those, even if not everyone will like the more improbable designs (then again, some historical examples fall under that category as well!).

 

So, if you ask me, feel free to post anything you like

 

This topic has evolved quite a bit from its earlier iterations anyway - now it's simply a place to post any designs we find interesting (in the hope that some of them will find their way into PoE!).

[Woldan]

 

 

You don't need to look like a goofy He-Man character or have spikes coming out of your giant shoulderpads to look interesting 

 

These armors are really nice, wow.  

[quest1on]

Those gilded morions and bearded masks look like the bad guys from second Narnia movie, don't remember how they were named. Also, recently I encountered a lot of reconstructions of Antiquity's soldiers, should I post them?

[Nonek]

 

I'd say that there's room for the stylised childish type as shown above, the over the top Warhammer and 40k types of armour and room for the functional and tasteful types shown in this thread. Obviously some people prefer the illogical armours, that is a perfectly valid right but may I suggest Mr Candid that you start a thread arguing for your preference, you've backed at Gold level and during the Kickstarter so your voice carries weight. However this thread mainly focuses on the massive variety of sensible personal protection that is shown throughout history, and drawing inspiration from them, so you're bound to face opposition here.

 

I'd argue that this thread is as good place as any to post those, even if not everyone will like the more improbable designs (then again, some historical examples fall under that category as well!).

 

So, if you ask me, feel free to post anything you like

 

This topic has evolved quite a bit from its earlier iterations anyway - now it's simply a place to post any designs we find interesting (in the hope that some of them will find their way into PoE!).

 

 

That's a fair point Karranthian, I simply thought that Mr Candid might wish to emphasize his argument by creating a thread devoted to a stylised aesthetic.

[Woldan]

Those gilded morions and bearded masks look like the bad guys from second Narnia movie, don't remember how they were named. Also, recently I encountered a lot of reconstructions of Antiquity's soldiers, should I post them?

 

Go for it!

[quest1on]

Ok, I tried to choose less popular nations/formations, but it is still probable that some of those pictures were already in one of those threads. Nonetheless, enjoy.

Carthaginians and Iberians

Auxilliary Greek troops

Etruscans and other Itallics

[quest1on]

Had to cut indented post in half, here's the rest:

Scythians, Parthians, generally people using acinaceses (acinacii?), I've been in love with this sword recently

And one lonely Phrygian with rad axe and helmet.

[Living One]

 

[Monte Carlo]

Screw all this ancient stuff. The BBC is currently running a homage to Dumas-type series called The Musketeers and the costumes are bitchin'

 

I want my party to look like this. Porthos (dude on the left) is especially cool.

 

 

Plus Peter Capaldi, the new Doctor Who, is also in it.

 

 

A cool looking mage IMO

 

 

Love the hats!

[Tauron]

Had to cut indented post in half, here's the rest:

Scythians, Parthians, generally people using acinaceses (acinacii?), I've been in love with this sword recently

And one lonely Phrygian with rad axe and helmet.

 

You should share this on Totalwar center, someone needs to do mod better Scythian generals. Rome 2 needs some luv.

 

As for more realistic armor and equping your character, what do you guys think about this http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/02/03/kingdom-come-deliverance-video-shows-character-customisation-kickstarter-raises-double-original-goal/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=emp 

 

Would something like this work for PoE type game eventually?

[Amentep]

I'm not convinced they're going to find that Diamond Staff with that level of effort put into their searches unless the Diamond Staff had arms and legs and runs or climbs past them.

[quest1on]

 

 

 

You should share this on Totalwar center, someone needs to do mod better Scythian generals. Rome 2 needs some luv.

 

 

Those pics actually come mostly from Polish totalwar forum.

As for the musketeers, Capaldi's costume does look bitching, and so does Porthos's sword (them schiavonnas, mhmm), but generaly, it's the same old "lether all the way" style of movies/tv. Come on, they have to break in rash like once a week.

[Tauron]

 

 

 

 

You should share this on Totalwar center, someone needs to do mod better Scythian generals. Rome 2 needs some luv.

 

 

Those pics actually come mostly from Polish totalwar forum.

As for the musketeers, Capaldi's costume does look bitching, and so does Porthos's sword (them schiavonnas, mhmm), but generaly, it's the same old "lether all the way" style of movies/tv. Come on, they have to break in rash like once a week.

 

 

haha, I was thinking the same. while there has to be certain visual appeal and make characters look individualistic and unik, lately no matter what show, they kind of take it too far. The coolness factor drops evry now and than for practicality.

 

watched through entire Vikings season 1 and it bothered me that series produced by history channel didnt acually stick more to historical referances. Some of those warriors from the show are veteran raiders and supposedly huskarls and their equipment is well...lacking. Even in migration period veterans had better armor. While some would abondon chain for leather and thus mobility. A man even than would rarly say no to such protection. I have yet to see nordic "signature" helmet and chainmail. I am not sure but they maybe want to show dane neighbours norway and swede as more isolated and unsofisticated. Defind by harsh land they live in.

 

Now I think those movies from 50's and 60's are more historical authentic in visual appereance, exept i thought they looked way too "clean". Now we have faaar darker and grittier atmosphere, but cinematography is going from one end spectrum to another. 

[Nyhilla]

If there's not too much of rennaissance or ancient ages armors I think I'll go with what they offer us ... but to be honest I really hate those styles.

 

I prefer generally something like Elerond image posted from DnD styles of armor,  or Nordic visuals, joined by a good old fashioned occidental weapons like claymores.

 

 

 

Oneiromancer posted this that are approximately what I'm looking for I think.  Except the boots.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Nyhilla

[SophosTheWise]

That face mask is ridiculously stupid.

[Lephys]

 

I'm not convinced they're going to find that Diamond Staff with that level of effort put into their searches unless the Diamond Staff had arms and legs and runs or climbs past them.

 

"Oh, pff... guys! Nevermind! I've been holding it this whole time! Silly me!"

 

[obyknven]

Had to cut indented post in half, here's the rest:

Scythians

Oh no! This stereotypical dirty hairy barbarians from Greek's fairy tales again. These pics so incorrect, wrong antropology is obvious.

IRL most of Scythian mummies are shaved and can have only a mustache. Coin's, art's, idols - same thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can't trust to armor pics also , these "reconstructions" so historically incorrect, these artists just can't be considered as trusted source of information about Scythians.

 

Revision about scythians are needed (similar to neanderthal revision)