Why do I keep seeing...

[AridElf]

If those full suits had the /visor command compatible with them I'm sure many others would wear it. I only wore the level 25 set to see if it worked, and when it didn't I rushed up to 32 to get rid of the damn thing.

[Sephirah]

As many have pointed out, the "full plate" armor is not as visually appealing as "scale".

I'm not sure however that just becuase it's "full plate" means that it's the best stat wise either. Just to give an example, I just received a quest that awards:

Heavy Steel Armor
Lv. 35
Defence 120 Magic Defense 120
Str 11 Vit 10 Crt 13
4 Materia slots

Not bad, at first glance it looks better than what I have on. But comparing it to what I already have equipped:

Cavalry Mask
Lv 32
Defense 61 Magic Defense 61
Str 4 Vit 4 Pry 4 Acc 6

and

Steel Scale Male
Lv. 32
Defense 63 Magic Defense 63
Str 6 Vit 6 Acc 7
2 Materia slots

Together, that's:
124 Defense/Magic Defense
Str 10 Vit 10 Acc 13 Pry 4
2 Materia slots

So...

I'd lose 4 Defense, 13 Accuracy, and 4 Parry to gain 1 Strength, 13 Crit and 2 materia slots. I'll stick with my "scale" armor for now. Then again I have no idea if this changes at end-game.

[Shyle]

Yesterday I did chain runs of Cutters cry, I was in a group of me (Warrior) and 3 casters, the Scale BP dropped and it was an upgrade from my lv. 31 GC chestpiece I had (F'n Braylox and Qarn never dropped anything for me). Plus I really don't like the armor sets that don't allow helms, they seem to be less in stats/defense than a combination of helm/bp.