Needs a new thread!

I think that there should be several different types of armour; but they should all be "real world" looking. I agree with people that some of the armour's did look a little to comic book like. If they want to include heavy armour, let them. I just won't be putting it on my female assassin. No matter what armour's they put in, I will most likely stick to the very light ones.

Hint: The bigger it is, the stupider it looks. (Regarding armor with really big shoulders etc.)
:bunny: <--Protection from grammar Nazis.

I think we also need a diversity of real world armor. There are so many styles of iron and steel plate/chain that multiple versions would be nice to improve aesthetics.

What do you have against fantastical looking armors? I think it's fine, especially higher quality "rare" items. It's pretty neat.
Although, I do play World of Warcraft so I guess I'm just used too it. :shrug:

Wasn't there somewhere on these forums in one of the foreign magazine cover stories that said Todd was going for more of a "Lord of the RIngs" feel? Meh, I may be going crazy :rolleyes: Anyway, n one of the videos on GI, you can see on the person's desk and shelf that there is a lot of books on vikings and what not. So maybe we are gonna see more of a viking feel of armor (But not like all fur though)

That was probably about Oblivion. That was when he went all LOTR crazy.

Ever played a JRPG?

@Dragonbone- Now hes all Conan and 13th Warrior Crazy. Not that I mind to much.

Ah I think that was it, he may of said Conan the Barbarian, not LotR

Conan is ok even though it's rather celtic not nordic.

He was very influenced by LotR when making Oblivion, least what he said in an interview.

None of Oblivion's helmets were good, really. But I do like the idea of open-faced helms better than closed-faced. Though I'd rather heavy armors go for a more "Greek Corinthian" design, protecting the side, neck, and cheeks while still letting us see our faces after spending who-knows-how-many-hours getting them to look just right. Lighter armors should favor skull caps and hoods/coifs. Iron helms, though, should use the Horned, Fur-trimmed Skullcap, even if real vikings never used them.

Personally, I'd like to see the Steel helm look like the Leuitenant's helm from Warcraft 3: A steel, open-faced barbute, with a golden, decorative visor concealing a bit more of the face, and cool-looking wings sweeping back from the visor's hinge, looking natural and awesome at the same time.

...Actually, I liked all the helmets seen in the Warcraft series.

As far as legion armor goes... I loved the Oblivion version more than Morrowind's, at least for the footmen. It looked functional, imperial, and imposing, with the dark color, smooth curves, distinct angles, large plates, and lack of excessive detail causing it to be quite intimidating. Morrowind was trying too hard to be Roman.

As far as the reason for large pauldrons: They're used in fantasy armor for the same reason they're used in American Football - they do a damn fine job of protecting the neck and shoulders (Most critical places in the body to defend due to difficulty in properly protecting them), and also give greater mass to the suit in the area extra bulk is least hindering. Extra mass=greater momentum=more power behind impacts in melee.

I think there should be several designs for any given material.

Legion armor cooler in OB than morrowind? For me in OB legionaries tried to hard to resemble gondor soldiers, also they are called 'imperial legion' not 'generic guys in plate' but whatever ;P, about pauldrons they might protect in american football but in real combat they are liabilty that would probably get you killed.

I think the Conan influence will work really well.

A nice idea for imperial armor in Skyrim, I think would be a combination of greek-style armor likehttp://www.sanniti.info/images/sanniti03.jpg and fur and leather. I don't mean the overall flashy style and adorned helmets. The arrangements of chestplate and other protection with other things in between. I never liked full plate armors and they don't really go well with skyrim's style either.

Gah :facepalm: ... In Tamriel, Plate Armor is Common. More than just the gameplay, it outright says the primary armor used by front-line infantry in Tamrielic Warfare is Iron Plate and Greaves (http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Manual_of_Armor
This book was commissioned by General Warhaft.


Ah yes... it makes perfect sense for the brutally effective Imperial Legion, for whom cuirass and greaves are Standard Issue for everyone to run around in pantsless, pathetically thin bronze with contours that redirect armor-piercing blades toward the vital organs (due to the glorification of male anatomy on the relief of the briastplate), because it "Looked good" when used by a frequently-conquered Balmy Mediteranean nation from hundreds of years B.C., and thus shall be used in the Grim Northlands, where the temeperatures never rise to a degree Mediteranean temperatures never fall below.

Oblivion's Imperial Guard armor would be very effective in Skyrim, though it could have fur lining under the pads. It has excellent defensive contours. The dark coloration, sharp, defined angles, lack of auxiliary decoration (Beyond an occassional Imperial Emblem on the briastplate), and smooth curves give it a degree of Sinister Geometry to make the Legion Armor imposing. It also looks thick enough that anyone wearing it can take a significant beating without being harmed. The only weakness is the open visor of the barbute, but even that's more protective than a Roman-style helmet.

Manual of Armour only appears in Oblivion, of course it says that, since the Imperials were revamped for Oblivion.
People are asking for Imperials to go back to being Roman inspired, like every game before Oblivion.

I personally liked the overall design of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Shivering:Madness_Armor, once you look past all the "faces and eyes" aspects of the aesthetics you still get a pretty decent basic armor design. I love the helmet.

You're misunderstanding. I wouldn't dress up the imperial legion as classical hoplites in skyrim. The imperial guard armor from Oblivion is a good design, except it's like cavalry armor. Nothing you would dress up your mainstay infantry in. It looks heavy and cumbersome. Effective infantry needs freedom for movement. That's why the mainstay equipment for the imperial legion is a cuirass and greaves, the exact same as for most infantry in history including the one on the picture I posted.
That's a good layout for the main imperial soldier: Greaves and cuirass, add some chainmail in between and fur for warmth. There you have your common imperial infantry soldier. I'm not a fan of the full plate design in Oblivion. That's why I think the "greek style" is a good inspiration. A cuirass stays a cuirass(a chestplate, not full upper body armor), and greaves are lower leg armor.
From there you can add pauldrons, helmets and other things based on the soldier's role. An imperial soldier's standard issue cannot realistically be a full upper body plate armor and "greaves"(as in TES ).
Also I should add that I like the roman inspiration, without copying anything of course.

EDIT: Important note that armor doesn't have to be full plate to be heavy armor. Thick chainmail easily is heavy armor, don't confuse things.

Umm... you mean Redguard and Morrowind. Not every game Before Oblivion, when Ken Rolston implemented his "Everything must be Shoehorned into a Historical Equivalent, no matter how nonsensical. No Originality" rules. Which is also when we got the Stupidly French Bretons (From the original Anglo/Arthurian-inspired peoples) and the Orcs became Samurai (Why? Just because.)

The Imperial Soldiers in Daggerfall and ARENA wore armor more like the Oblivion style, and were an actually intimidating force to even the RedGuards of Sentinel and Breton Knights of High Rock.

So, FYI, the Cyrodiilic Empire was not originally Roman, and one unimaginative lead developer decided he couldn't stand the idea of a truly unique idea, and thus said. "The Tamriellic Empire is no longer our original, quirky, and unique Cyrodiilic Empire. They are Now Romans because I say so. No Arguing."


Why not? In Tamriel, Light, Medium, and Heavy Armors are distinct, and require training. Once sufficiently trained in the use of Heavy armor like the Legion's in Oblivion, it's comfortable and flexible enough to wear for foot combat. The Gauntlets and boots are a cost consideration, and because Feet and Hands aren't struck as often as Arms, Shoulders, Chest, Waist, and Back (As protected by the Cuirass), nor Legs, Thighs, Shins and Hips (Protected by Greaves).

I don't remember any of my characters having problems fighting in heavy full-plate on the ground.

Like it or not, Tamriel's aesthetic, while slightly more realistic than the deliberately-cartoony World of Warcraft (But not the Warcraft RTS Series) or Warhammer settings, is still more Heroic Fantasy than Medieval History. People hate Two Worlds for trying to rip off Oblivion. Do we really want TES to be a Rip-off of Mount&Blade?

It's hard to argue against you when I really agree with all your arguments. I don't have anything to say against that, it's true that things in TES are like things in TES.
My argument is based on personal preference, I don't want TES to rip off mount and blade. There's nothing wrong with the imperial guard armor except that I don't like it. My idea for the imperial armor in Skyrim was to have something useful that fits with the general style of the world. It's possible to argue into eternity for which choice suits the imperial legion best, but no one can be right. The idea is to make something that makes sense from the gameworld, I got an idea for that, nothing more.

As for fighting in heavy armor, I'm not trying to say that it isn't used. What's for sure is that dressing up your mainstay infantry in full plate isn't just a matter of costs.

I think the big pauldrons in fantasy games generally, have at least some connection to practical reasons from a developer's point of view. Stuff like how it's easy to convey a more threatening image with them. (a bit like a dog that lifts its hair when it threatens). Then there's the fact that in many RPG's you'd look your character from above, and a big pauldron is the most easily distinguishable part. Plus I'd imagine they're easier in the clipping aspect and stuff. In TES specifically such things aren't really needed. Infact, if you have stuff like cloaks etc they can be a hindrance. So I doubt we'll be seeing them too oversized. That said, I don't see why we can't have some armors be this way. Some people obviously like them. In the game, some armors can be realistic, some not so much. No problem. They will be making more than one armor set anyway, so this isn't extra effort or anything.

I actually think the Madness armor is a great example of fantasy armor that still looks functional.

As far as the whole "Imperial soldiers as Romans/Non-Romans," however umimaginative that inspiration is, it allows you to be creative in a specific context. When you try to create something wholly original, you end up running out of ideas. Idk, for instance, EVERY shield in Oblivion was round. Just a big circle, or oval..with one or two exceptions. But in Morrowind, the legion shields were modeled on Roman Scutums. Then you had tower shields, which were almost always rectangular, some had pointed edges. Still not a huge variety, but better than the the alternative.