Why is armor so freaking ornate in fantasy?

[Zakarath]

For those saying Dwemer armor looks wierd, I think it's supposed to. I recall reading a book in oblivion that mentions how it is more just random pieces of machinery fitted together into gear than it was actually smithed to serve the purpose of armor. 'Course, I don't know how well they're sticking with that now that you actually can smith it.

 

[Bad Jim]

I think ornate armour is okay as long as:

1) It's restricted to important people. Fancy armour is a status symbol. If common soldiers could afford it, it would no longer be a status symbol and in fact no-one would wear it. Colourful uniforms are okay, as they serve a function, allowing units to be identified from a distance. If all soldiers are nobles, they can all wear ornate armour, but there can't be 50,000 of them.

2) It's not compulsory. Ornate armour was custom made, and those who got it could choose their own design. The player should therefore not be required to wear ridiculous looking armour just because they need the plusses late game. There should be some plain, high level armour. Ideally, it should be customisable, but since that adds a lot of work for the dev team, they don't have to.

3) Features that would clearly be detrimental to performance should not be included, unless the armour is strictly ceremonial. Big spikes would be a liability, some peasant would jam his pitchfork into them and the wearer would be unbalanced. And if a woman wants to be nigh indestructable while wearing very little, she must use magic or advanced technology. Pretending that a metal bikini could offer her real protection is just silly.

 

[TheFloBros]

Pretty sure that's why it's called FANTASY. If there's dragons flying around, and giant spiders, why can't there be armor that doesn't look 'realistic'?

 

[JediMB]

Personally I'd like to see a good balance between functionality and aesthetics. Much too often, armor is exaggerated to the point where it fails in both categories.

Coolness, Radicalness, and Awesomeness are more important than realism.

My Pinkie Sense is tingling...

 

[Sylveria]

I never get bothered by elaborate designs, usually, I mean something that looks stupid to me may look the sex to someone else, a lot of armor in WoW comes to mind.

What usually gets to me is when the colors clash really hard or are just flat out unpleasant.. Like my shaman tier...9? I think, that stuff from the cop-out Colosseum in WOTLK. It had a color scheme resembling the bathroom floor of a frat house after a home-coming weekend.

I think it's a sad day that people are actually calling out for more drab, boring, and realistic armor in our fantasy. But, it does show a need for basically every game where your armor is visible on the character to have some sort of "appearance" tab so you can wear what you want and hide what you don't.

 

[Keava]

Tschk. I present thee Engra Deathsword. Champion of the Dark Gods, Destroyer of Praag.

Spoiler

Now that is ornate armour.

I see Your Engra and rise it with my favourite WH40K mock up, the one, the only...

Spoiler: In the Grim Dark Future there are only Grimdarkians

The armour to rule them all. It's pauldorns even have their own pauldrons!

 

[maninahat]

Agree with OP very much. Just the sight of those god awful, over-elaborate designs is enough to put me off of a fantasy game. In fact, I'm not a big fan of armour at all, as they often cover up the character's uniquely crafted appearance or silhouette (unless the character was originally dressed in armour to begin with).

 

[ShotgunZombie]

Simply stated, it's an aesthetic design choice. In pretty much every fantasy RPG you as the player are supposed to be a badass invincible warrior, mage or whatever and the apparel you wear should reflect that. After all, would trust the faith of the world onto the guy with the T-shirt and jeans or the dude who looks like he merged with a tank? Though to be fair I've talked to half the Jarls in Skyrim while in my underwear but that's another matter entirely...

 

[Hobonicus]

You entirely missed his point and overreacted, which just makes it worse.

So far we have been talking about ugly armour that can't even be used in battle. I swear I never heard of a case like this in real life, eh.


But blaming WoW? That kind of fantasy armour existed before I was even born.

I say you missed the point because you suggested that the genre being fantasy automatically excuses ugly design, you latched onto the "realism" aspect when that wasn't his point at all. Art design does not necessarily correlate with realism and even the concept of "realism" has multiple different connotations that people tend to pick and choose. Despite being "fantasy", almost all of these games are grounded in a basic reality that includes familiar scientific and cultural norms based on our own sense of realism. So the "realism" retort doesn't work and is unrelated to his point.

I say you overreacted because he specifically said "WOW atleast helped to make it mainstream" and you ignored the word "helped" in favor of spite. WoW is the most mainstream fantasy video game ever made, it most certainly helps establish what is popular in other fantasy games. That's how pop culture works. He wasn't insulting WoW at all.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

On this subject, all that needs to be said is that I don't play games so they can bore me with realistic grey, brown, and silver "practical" armors the entire time. If I want those, I'll read a history book. Give me something cool and interesting, because it's a video game and it's supposed to be fun.

 

[Johann610]

Two thoughts; one practical, the other aesthetic.
First of all, when things are far away and in constant motion, it's important for a player to grasp--at a glance--what they are and what they're about, to prioritize the targets or suchlike. Lighting being what it is, we have to rely on silhouette, instead of color (or glow), and the elaboration is *a* way to make the elite stand out. In WoW, one of the reasons to hunt end-game things is the pretty colors. In other games, the Armor Class is reflected in armor's visual bulk, not its weight.
That said, exercise some restraint, for the love of god. Of war. Too many geegaws make a mess, not a display, and it really does look like someone sat down to design the armor and never f___in' stopped. If there are no spare blacksmiths, magic-forgers with nothing better to do, or animals with horns that look like that, then I, as the reader, can't just shrug it off. Maybe make it seem spare, to reflect an ascetic culture, or rusty, if things have decayed, or go overboard with "found" items if it's Mad-Max-ish, but have it fit the story.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Well there is more to it.

Stuff like magic gives an extra element beyond function that cannot be broken down. Ritual suits has always been ornamental so its acceptable in that sence.

Then there is the ideas of uniforms. Funktion as well as being extravagant. Being being awe inspiring does have its advantages.

Ofc they can go to far, but its a hard line to walk.

The Winged Hussars had absolutely gorgeous armor. Those suits are awesome.

 

[Gralian]

If we're trying to come at this logically, it's because armour is often a sign of social status. Several hundred years ago, it would be perfectly normal to see generals strutting their stuff in magnificent looking, even if somewhat impractical armour, in order to denote their rank and power. In fact, you see it even today - a general will be dressed in many medals, with a cap, a fine suit etc as opposed to your average foot soldier.

However back then social status was a lot more important than it is today. It wasn't surprising to find affluent generals having as much power as a political figurehead. The armour is meant to display one's status and places you among the social elite as well as being a visual indicator to your men of your status to remind them of your position.

I say all this because fantasy tends to be heavily entrenched in 'old values' and typically set during some sort of medieval-esque era, and as such, these values such as one's armour representing social affluence would carry over into that world as much as other values like a high focus on religion or racial supremacy.

I can't for the life of me explain why your average bandit is seen wearing such armour as soon as you get to level 50, though. There's no logic for that. Just stick it down to game contrivances and move on.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

because it's visually pleasing. Nothing else to say, people want fantasy, not realism

 

[The Funslinger]

Perfect:

Spoiler

I like how that breastplate basically says "shoot me in my heart!"

And seriously, what's with the shoulderpads. Not just in those three you posted, but in general. Why are they never symmetric?

I think A-symmetric shoulder pads can be quite good if they aren't on every damn suit of armour.

 

[Vault101]

personally in some cases I dont like it being too "ornate" because I like to feel like a regular underdog...not some god (or godess) among men

 

[RedDeadFred]

If I was looking for realism, I wouldn't play games, especially fantasy games.

 

[Extragorey]

I can't help but notice how you put "fantasy" in the title of this thread and then went on a "is so unrealistic" rant...

I got an amazing remedy for the problem, it's called "try a non fantasy game".

This. Totally this. Why are sets of armour so extravagant? Because they CAN BE. It's as simple as that. The developers aren't striving for realism - and since the function is often completely different from the appearance, they can effectively make whatever looks the most awesome.