Hmm, actually in Oblivion there quite a lot of outfits that were upper and lower body in one piece. I guess their reasoning is that they simply can create cooler outfits if they put these two together. I know that for all the combination possibilities I had in Oblivion, I mostly stuck to only a few combinations because most would just look horrible, with colors and shapes that didn't go together well.

If they create so many clothing and armor sets that they can make up for the loss of customizability, and I can find a couple that I really like, then I'm fine with this move. It's also easier to balance enchantments and other armor boosts that way, unlike in Oblivion where it was a bad idea for a mage to wear a robe because he had less slots he could enchant that way. And the important customization is the helmet, the pauldrons, the gauntlets and the boots, in my opinion. The greaves/pants, not so much. They just have to go well with the rest.

Eh? http://i.imgur.com/c8Udr.png

"Guys, armor question is in the fan interview. As I said, it's not Fallout 3, one piece. Beyond that, stay tuned."

"@DCDeacon Will Skyrim's armor be one-piece or separated into cuirass, greaves, boots, and gauntlets?
@teambrady Armor is comprised of separate pieces."

In mods we trust

IT was already disproven by a quote from Todd (or was it Pete) himself.

ARMOR WILL NOT BE ONE SET LIKE FALLOUT

Yep, it's that awesome drive to get the most awesome equipment that gives you incentive to keep on looting. I love it.

Dresses and robes was upper and lower body in Oblivion of natural reasons, if not they would be skirt and shirt. Male substitute for dresses was also single item.
Might run into some armor suits as the design make it hard to separate greaves and top but don’t think that would be standard.

Geesh, melodramatic title or what? Pete has actually said, on record, "Armor is comprised of separate pieces"

If I had a dollar for every thread like this, I could afford a new laptop. Sadly, Bethesda stopped giving out free money. =(

Whole lot of jumping to conclusions on this subject, both directions.

Here's what we know. In late May, Pete said that armor would be "separate pieces." In the Playstation magazine article, Todd was reported to have said that armor and clothing would be "one piece." In response to questions about that article, Pete said that it would not be "Fallout 3, one piece" and pointed out that the question was asked in the fan interview, implying that it would be answered in the response to the fan interview and that we needed to "stay tuned."

AND THAT'S IT. That's all the information we have. ANYTHING beyond that is speculation.

Now - there are a few reasonable conclusions we might draw. First, the most significant thing is that the first two pieces of information - Pete's earlier tweet and the magazine article - appear to contradict each other. There are three main possibilities for that - one or the other is false, or the system is going to be such that both statements are at least broadly true. It's possible that at the time of Pete's earlier tweet, separate pieces were the intention, but that they switched to single piece by the time of the magazine interview. I don't count that as particularly likely, but it is possible. It's possible that the magazine simply got it wrong, but if that was the case, why didn't Pete say so? It's also possible that there are two competing camps within Beth right now, and the conflicting information is a result of Pete pushing his preferred system and Todd pushing his. It's also possible that they have more than one contingency plan in place and have yet to decide on the final system they'll use. And I have no doubt that there are more possible explanations for how it could be either one or the other, in light of the conflicting information.

Or - the system could be such that both statements are broadly true. That seems a bit counter-intuitive, but I count it as the most likely explanation - that in some way, the game is going to recognize "separate" armor pieces, but is going to treat them as single suits. The best guess I have on that is that it's going to be a part of crafting - that we'll be able to assemble armor using individual pieces, which finished "suit" of armor will then be a single item in inventory and will be equipped as a single item. But that last is sheer speculation.

It's also possible that all any of this is referring to is simply that, just as in past games, there will be both - some pieces that are separate and others that are full suits.

Again - all we know is that we've been given two pieces of apparently conflicting information, followed by a third piece of information that's notable for its failure to really clarify the issue. And that we have to "stay tuned."

Having multiple armor slots just leads to players deliberately trying to wear different mismatching things together just to maximize their armor or health, etc. It's very spreadsheety. I, for one, am glad they took that stupid complicated system out. Now we can have Beth make a bunch of really cool sets of armor for different levels and play styles, like now there's a level 15 magic set, or a level 10 combat set. So now we know that the set we're wearing is the perfect set for our gameplay. So even though it sounds like Beth is taking stuff out, it actually makes the game better.

I hope with all my heart that this is sarcasm...........

As usual Gpstr, you understand. You have seen the devil in the details, or in the lack thereof. I don't know how clothes and armour will be handled. I am hoping that they will be as mixable, matchable, interchangeable and optional as they ever were, and that the PS article simply words things poorly, HOWEVER, having read Pete's Tweet, I got the feeling that he was being a little quick and evasive in the manner in which he answered, which you noticed as well. He did not, unfortunately, at any point give the clear and definitive rebuttal that I would have liked, and that some are claiming. I don't have the answers, and that is why I ask the questions :confused:

Agreed. I liked being able to wear whatever pieces of armor I wanted in Morrowind. Made a few nice looking characters by being able to mix and match pieces, or not wear armor on certain areas, like no pauldrons and gloves on my left arm to make a gladiatorish character.

But as for the subject at hand, too much mass hysteria.

If this is true, will I miss it? Sure. I liked picking up Gauntlets of Magicka Fortification and Boots of Water Walking and the like, but it didn't make the game. It certainly adds to the immersion, but I won't be turned off by a simplified system.

However, I have to be incredibly skeptical of the notion. It doesn't sound like something they would do unless there was a solid gameplay reason. I have yet to hear a compelling argument as to how this would make the game more playable.

Maybe it's because I've spent so many years following politics, but I recognized the equivocative nature of his latest tweet immediately. There's definitely something afoot - we just have no way of knowing what it is. It could be as simple as trying to keep a tight wrap on information until it's dramatically revealed, it could be that the information is certain to be controversial and therefore they want to avoid having it overshadow E3, it could be that it's simply too complex to go into in a tweet...... I don't know, and neither does anyone else outside of Beth circles. But I think it's quite clear that that latest tweet was carefully parsed to try to set people's concerns to rest without really revealing anything significant. Why it was done that way is a mystery though.

I hadn't thought 'til just now that the mention of armor AND clothes in the magazine article is potentially significant. That puts a bit of a dent in the idea that the pieces are treated separately but then crafted into a single suit, since I'd see no particular reason to do that with clothes. Well.... I don't see much of a reason to do it with armor anyway, but it just seems that much less likely with clothing.

:shrug:


Oh, there are a number of enormous advantages to single suits, at least from a design perspective. Clothing and armor is limited to a single equipment slot, which is that much less for the game to keep track of. Individual items don't have to be designed to work with any possible combinations, so there are no issues with seams and clipping that have to be dealt with. Related to that, it allows the creation of more detailed and complex items, since they can make use of things that overlap seams or such - things that would conflict if they were combined with other individual pieces. It makes it easier to fit the armor to a particular character, since the whole thing can be scaled as a unit, instead of scaling individual pieces and making sure that they still fit right with each other. It limits the number of possible enchantments, which makes enchanting much easier to balance. I'm sure the list could go on....

To me, there's no question at all that single suits would be the preferred way to go from a straightforwardly practical point of view. The only question is whether, and how much, practicality will be set aside in favor of the personal and aesthetic value of the player being able to mix and match as s/he chooses. So far, TES games have come down on the side of player control, but it remains to be seen if, and how much, they'll continue to.

Uhm, clothing or armor? They're two different things. What was the quote exactly?

I'd like to know one thing: WHY is Bethesda dumbing everything down?!

Congrats on making the 4th thread about the same line in the same article. The general presumption at this point is that this is just a big misunderstanding. We've heard from Pete Hines multiple times that Armor comes in separate pieces, and that we'll hear more clarification in the upcoming fan interview, which will likely be out next week.

It isn't the fourth thread. It predates at least one, and possibly two of the other threads on this topic. And Pete's comment is rather hasty and ambiguous. I hope that it means what many here think, and that it is a guaruntee that armour AND clothes will come in multiple, interchangable and omitable articles. But the comment Pete gave was a very brief and detail free one. A political answer, one might say, in keeping with a Public Relations official. Ihope there is nothing to the concern, but I wouldn't be so quick to boldly dismiss it and to scorn those who have concers due to Pete's borderline sidestepping tweet.

"It's worth noting, too, that Howard and his team seem to have thought of everything. As we interview them, we eventually run out of generalized questions and start to get increasingly granular. How much meat do we get for killing a mammoth? How about a giant? What are the inventory weight limitations? How complex is the clothing system? No matter what the question, they've got the definitive answers on hand (just its nose; a gross-looking big toe; players will be able to carry a lot more stuff than in oblivion, and clothing will be simplified, with outfits and armor sets coming as single suit rather than separate parts)."

You have captured the crux of it Gpstr. Pete's answer smelled of the political/PR, and there is usually a reason behind answers such as that.

Oh my god, THAT WAS A JOKE! How could you not get it? That's what Todd always does when reporters ask him things he is not allowed to answer just yet.

Although he didn't mention can we equip such pieces separately in inventory or thats just adding details (and change statistic) to armor mesh on smithing workbench :shifty:
Question how it work for example can we equip just one pauldron on naked torso and will such pauldron have own statistic?
Or equipment customization will be available only for certain base meshes as well such base meshes can have limited number of addons for customization, another thing what not confirmed thats how much separate slots is available for base equipment for example
Upper Body slot for base armor is separate slot
Addings like pauldron at workbench to cuirass is not count as separate equipment slot it count as base armor customization.
I hope at last Oblivion equipment slots will return, at best I hope on more equipment slots, anyways ability to add addons to armor for better customization with new effects is good improvement, and really increase same level equipment variability in game.

I have to agree with gpstr, Pete's tweet smells like Damage control. I'm definitely going to need clarification on this issue when the forum Q&A seesion occurs after E3, probably Jun 14th. I wouldn't have a problem with it being single suit armor, but it would be such a dramatic shift from what they have done in the previous 2 Elder Scrolls games concerning the armor.