Edit the Lorica feminine costume

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Originally Posted by Zyrusticae

Personally, I am of the mind that plate angled to deflect blows is actually aesthetically AND practically superior to boob plate any day of the week.

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Quoting my own post here to mention that, despite being quite enamored with practical plate armor designs, my current bard glamour is this. This is just a way of me saying that I can also appreciate the impractical or skimpy attire and enjoy both ends of the spectrum.

The thing is, in my view, when it comes to armor, it's all or nothing - either you go fully protective and practical (along with some aesthetic touches here and there), or you just go half-naked, because having a 'stab-me-here' window is about the worst and most distractingly stupid thing you can do.

Armor CAN be designed to be more flattering to the female figure, but here's the rub - such armor is going to look good on males or females. There's nothing intrinsic about aesthetically pleasing armor designs that are also practical that makes them gender-specific. They don't necessarily need to be designed to be more feminine - they just need to be designed well.

Again, Dark Souls demonstrates this quite well. Take the Elite Knight set, for example. Simple, practical, not overtly masculine or feminine. Just a lovely set of armor that does what it's supposed to do while looking the part. Or the Black Knight set, which is sleek and stylish and just incredibly lovely all-around, without any absurd boob windows or other overt weak points. I mean... gods, if other games took cues from the Souls series' armor design, I'd really have nothing to complain about. Honestly, it's just so good.

Unfortunately, it seems Yoshida is pushing the fantasy element really hard, and it doesn't seem like we're going to get many more (if any) of these kinds of armors in the future. A damn shame, really, because this style of armor is my absolute favorite, and it's really the only thing that keeps me from running around in battle in bikinis. Heh.

I'm not sure if this ultimately makes much of a difference, but some trivia to note is that a female artist was responsible for both the Elite Knight and Black Knight armor designs in Dark Souls. More pertinently, both are great examples of extremely practical-looking armor made distinctive and stylish, in the Elite Knight case, and very fantasy-styled armor looking like it fits in place next to more realistic designs, in the Black Knight case.

Oh! Something also to mention, though I'm not sure it's come up yet in this thread (I'm skimming): I'm one of probably very few that liked the Warrior AF as it appeared in FFXI.

http://i.imgur.com/DEvjWBp.jpg

It's horribly impractical, but brings a sort of overconfident gladiator vibe to the table, and it would be cool if the look showed up in FFXIV at some point.

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Originally Posted by Mahri

It's horribly impractical, but brings a sort of overconfident gladiator vibe to the table, and it would be cool if the look showed up in FFXIV at some point.

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What is impractical about it? The torso armor has the same coverage as the armor we used in the Army. Leaving the bottom part of the torso unobstructed gives someone more mobility. A user has to decide on mobility vs protection depending on what they want to accomplish. This is why many of the armors in this game don't bother me very much. And to me, the armor that Warrior in that pic is wearing is being very practical.

As I've said I've worn actual armor before, but I was fortunate enough to be using fiber, kevlar, and ceramic plates. Not chain links, metal plates, and cured leather.

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Originally Posted by Ashkendor

Yeahhhhh. The Coatees make me roll my eyes, but the DRG armor made me pull a flat out "wtf?"

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To be fair, most (all?) coatees are crafting gear. They're meant to resemble attire that would be worn by a merchant or servant, someone who is trying to sell goods or services. Attire that flatters the figure can do a lot to help with a sale, depending on the customer. For the same reason, I'm not bothered too much by Colliseum equipment - Colliseum combatants are entertainers as much as they are fighters. They wear clothing to show off their buff bods, and to make sure that wounds are bright and visible for the entertainment of the audience.

The Lorica mentioned by the OP, though... I can sympathize. The way the armor is cut does more than just look gender-neutral. It makes the wearer flat-chested. If worn by someone who is NOT flat-chested, that means there's a lot of painful squishing involved. >_< It doesn't need to look breast-shaped, but it at least needs to be a bit roomier.

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Originally Posted by silentwindfr

i use the war attire from the 2.3 dungeon... you know we don't talk about have sexy armor... but normal armor that look adapted to women. here it's simply idiot, i'm sorry but that true, you can put almost 2 miqote into the breastplate. a point that seems to be missed a lot, the fact that this armor contract the breasts of the character, litteraly it's squeeze it to nothing. it's cool to look like a fortress... but i prefer my character to be able to breath.

about the fact that we need to be able to differentiate a male from a female it's mostly because, the two are different in the gesture and and movement, what will look nice on male will look idiot on female, another point too, the two sexe have different morphology... then the armor must be adapted to that morphology. here the lorica (like the guardian armor from ST) are simply male model put on the female character. i'm sorry, but it can't work, any armorer will say to you that the armor must be adapted to the body of the person that will wear it. we don't ask for see tits or any sexy part... but to have armor adapted to the female on the female... not get a lazy male model for the female.

ps: what i gonna say here it's extremely important:
it's not because we can glamour that they must be lazy and don't offer us the armor we deserve. it's not a valid escuse, i'm sorry, but the lorica and the guardian armor from ST are simply bad and ugly on women!

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So your example is because a few pieces in the game are completely gender neutral (Do not change visually for male or female) that there is an issue? Good looking and bad looking are subjective to each individual, that is why we got glamour in the first place. You cannot demand they change every armor in the game to morph to male and female body types because you are taking away that option from other people.

It's pretty simple, if you don't like it. Glamour it. I'm willing to bet the number of armor that morphs is larger than the number of armors that do not, it may not morph in quite the way you want and that should be changed. Read my post, I never said that they should stop making a variety armors that appeal to peoples different tastes. I said that there is no need to change a single piece of armor to have breast dimples on it because it takes away from that variety even more.

No matter how you want your armor to look, skimpy, sexy, practical, over bearing, effeminate, or masculine there should be more of those options not less. But this isn't a a game like TERA where every female character is brandishing a giant sword in stilletos and a metal string bikini either, that simply isn't for everyone. Again expand on the variety of armors.

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Originally Posted by Kaethra

What is impractical about it? The torso armor has the same coverage as the armor we used in the Army. Leaving the bottom part of the torso unobstructed gives someone more mobility. A user has to decide on mobility vs protection depending on what they want to accomplish. This is why many of the armors in this game don't bother me very much. And to me, the armor that Warrior in that pic is wearing is being very practical.

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That's a good point, really. I meant more the exposed abs, which is precisely the same for both male and female characters. One would think that's a glaring vulnerable spot, and it is, but leaving bare the parts of the body that flex and move would still certainly help with mobility. I can't imagine someone wearing that would feel particularly constrained.