Armors in this game seem to be lacking in aesthetics

WrathOfRegicide

For some reason the armors in this game look bland and very similar in style. The armors have no depth to them. They seem to be skin tight meshes with bland textures. Such as the Daedric armor (which is the most sought out armor there is in TES games) if you would take a look at the screen shot of Daedric armor, it is very disappointing. To be honest it doesn't even look like it is a heavy armor, it has more leather than armor plating. As for the other armors they look very similar they all have the butt flap thing with the two leg plates, the developers didn't give enough variety when creating the armor. Then the majority of the armors have that awkward neck plate thing as seen in the last 2 of my screen shots. all in all the armors in this game could do with an improvement, I mean they improved the look of NPC's so why can't they improve the looks of armors.

Aedh

Yes, that was my first reaction when I saw the armor concept arts. All armors have the same general design : butt flap, groin flap, thigh flaps, slap a few different details on the rest, done.

The race diversity in this game begs for more variety when it comes to armors. The "knight" armor for the Bretons was a good call, but for the Redguards ? There were a lot of beautiful options available, just by looking at Saracen/Byzantines armors. And yet the Redguard heavy armor looks good compared to the other ones.

Same goes for the other races. The mayan like style for the Argonians was an interesting choice, but they could have pushed it further.

And don't forget the floating shoulder pads.

And the helmets ... God, the helmets ... Just give me a bucket, it will be pretty much the same.

Auralia

Totally agree, armour is so unimaginative, it's too simular with no diversity. It's not well made or creative.

ArRashid

Well... the only heavy armor that looks like heavy armor is Nord one. Although breton and imperial ones are good enough too.

Redguard armor should have been robe covering a scalemail (or in worst case, chainmail)shirt.
Bosmer armor should have been made entirely of animal parts - bones and leather (yet it still looks like steel scalemail).

Ancient Elf, Primal, Barbaric, Orc (male) and argonian are kinda ugly..
and mainly.. Daedric should have been THIS

not that mess we got. It's absolutely horrible and I can't stand even looking at it. I pity sorcerers for having to cope with their Bound Armor.

Elloa

The only thing I do not like with the armor in ESO, and I DO NOT UNDERSTAND why it's even there, is the hip protection on clothes armor. Why? It's ugly, un-needed, and it looks wrong.

ShADoW0s

I agree totally as well! Also there is not much difference between high and low grade armor, it all just looks the same. I have never seen someone and said "wow I want to look like him one day."

pinstripesc

I think they did a good job of what's in there. There's some real nice detail in there. Though I'm not a fan of all the styles - Redguard and Orcish seem a little uninspired - it's a good selection. In the future I'd love to see them approach asymmetric sets, more cloth/plate combinations...that'd be cool.

AlayaM

If they were concerned about performance issues in pvp they could have just used some downscaling to the armor we have now.
But imo most players are probably in the pve areas for the majority of their playtime.
And there is no excuse for a 2014 game to have skintight armor textures, floating kneecaps, elbow caps and shoulderpads.
Don't even get me started on the floating hip plates, those should be connected to the chestpiece if you must use them (they are, again imo, not even needed on heavy armor. Definitely not on light and medium).
Why not give us some options in the game settings for detailed armor and reduced quality?
Then we can decide which one we use based on our gaming rigs.

Gern_Verkheart

I do agree that Deadric Armor should look like it does in the promotional vidoes, that armor looks amazing. However, I do not think most armors look bland. And as an example, I give you my Dark Shaman:



Like or dislike the look, there is certainly nothing bland about it.

Singular

Isn't it a bug or something they're working on?

FrauPerchta

Armor design/variety in ESO is sadly a statement on how lazy and or rushed to publish the Devs were/are. An MMO should have armors so distinct that you can look at someone wearing the armor and know what set they are wearing.

AlexDougherty

FrauPerchta wrote: »

Armor design/variety in ESO is sadly a statement on how lazy and or rushed to publish the Devs were/are. An MMO should have armors so distinct that you can look at someone wearing the armor and know what set they are wearing.

Rushed, the state of the game indicates they were rushed.

Lord_Hev

ArRashid wrote: »

I pity sorcerers for having to cope with their Bound Armor.

I love bound armor look, thank you very much. I cope very well with it. And enjoyed the aesthetics it brought to my conjurer.

ErilAq

The armor has a lot of detail, so it's not that it is lacking in aesthetics, it's just very similar. That being said, I like the medieval tones to it, and would take that rather than over exaggerated armor (like those found in WoW). Helmets I agree with. something needs to be done, they're far too misshapen. I think the armor dyes will help a lot with looks as well.

WrathOfRegicide

ErilAq wrote: »

The armor has a lot of detail, so it's not that it is lacking in aesthetics, it's just very similar. That being said, I like the medieval tones to it, and would take that rather than over exaggerated armor (like those found in WoW). Helmets I agree with. something needs to be done, they're far too misshapen. I think the armor dyes will help a lot with looks as well.

I disagree with you, these armors do not have a lot of detail just look at the Nord, Breton, and Orcish armors (just a few examples), the texturing (armor skin) is pretty badly done. These armors are on-par to how player characters looked before they adjusted or enhanced the player characters; and everyone complained about the player characters in this game are too cartoonish back when this game was first announced; yet they changed that almost immediately. If they can add more detail to the player characters in this game why can't they enhance the aesthetics of the armors?

WrathOfRegicide

Gern_Verkheart wrote: »

I do agree that Deadric Armor should look like it does in the promotional vidoes, that armor looks amazing. However, I do not think most armors look bland. And as an example, I give you my Dark Shaman:



Like or dislike the look, there is certainly nothing bland about it.

That armor is a skin tight mesh it has no depth to it. If you compare it to oblivion armors; which this game was being created around the time oblivion was and computers have since evolved in the past 10 years, so you can tell the developers just slacked when creating the armors in this game.

Brandoid

I kind of like how my character looks, but I agree.

Evergnar

I like the armor so far but it is somewhat conservative. I can see why people would want more. I want to see more types/motifs or unique armor but I hope the devs continue to err on the conservative side rather than outlandish.

Mataata

I disagree a lot, actually. I really like the different styles and think they really fleshed out the diversity of the races in ESO more than they ever have in any other TES game.
I do agree that it looks a little cheesy being all painted-on, but you have to think about how many people can be crowded together and how incredibly laggy it would be if every single style of every single type of armor had its own unique mesh.
The only armor styles I particularly dislike are the Breton and Orcish ones.

WrathOfRegicide

Oh I don't want outlandish armors like anime s***. I want decent looking armors that don't look too similar and poorly designed. All the other TES games have had decent looking armors for the time they were released, excluding this game.

WrathOfRegicide

Mataata wrote: »

I disagree a lot, actually. I really like the different styles and think they really fleshed out the diversity of the races in ESO more than they ever have in any other TES game.
I do agree that it looks a little cheesy being all painted-on, but you have to think about how many people can be crowded together and how incredibly laggy it would be if every single style of every single type of armor had its own unique mesh.
The only armor styles I particularly dislike are the Breton and Orcish ones.

I'm guessing you never played skyrim. Skyrim had the most diversity in races aesthetics than any TES game. This game is also already pretty laggy. Some how other games can make higher quality armors and still run decently. such as guild wars 2 (which this game is close to being a clone to it other than the tes lore).

Gern_Verkheart

WrathOfRegicide wrote: »

Gern_Verkheart wrote: »

I do agree that Deadric Armor should look like it does in the promotional vidoes, that armor looks amazing. However, I do not think most armors look bland. And as an example, I give you my Dark Shaman:



Like or dislike the look, there is certainly nothing bland about it.

That armor is a skin tight mesh it has no depth to it. If you compare it to oblivion armors; which this game was being created around the time oblivion was and computers have since evolved in the past 10 years, so you can tell the developers just slacked when creating the armors in this game.

First off, there is a difference between something being bland, and it having no depth. Something can be not bland and still have no depth, similarly, something can have plenty of depth and still be completely bland.

Second, I agree with you when it comes to armors in ESO needing depth, but only chest-pieces and gloves. Head-peices, shoulders, pants, and boots are clearly fine, they have plenty of depth. Chest-pieces and gloves however: a lot of them look like they have been painted on, even the ones in my picture. The fur, metallic emblems, and leather straps, should stick out a bit.

Lastly, to prove my point, I am going to subject you to a the white legs of a pants-less Nord:

I do this not just to show off Gern's pasty legs, but to show how some pants in the game will bunch up at the knees when worn with high boots such as the ones Gern is wearing. Look a the above picture, then look at my previous picture in your quote, surely You can see what I'm talking about. Now that's depth, and uniqueness, especially since not all pants do this, as is proven by these wonderful Altmer pants that Gern is sporting here:


And here with his boots on:

See, no bunchyness at the knees. Because the Altmer pants are made by a skilled Elvish tailor, and hemmed to fit perfectly to ones legs. Perfect for a Thalmor assassin, who can't be encumbered by loose noisy clothing. Whereas the pants Gern is wearing in my original picture are barbaric style, stitched together in some backwoods camp using raw materials from some unskilled brute's latest kill. They are loose and baggy because they are made to fit anyone, cause it's not like the barbarian could measure anything anyways, nor does he particularly care about being stealthy.

Now if only ZOS put that much thought and care into the depth of their chest-pieces and gloves.

But as far as the detail and texture of their armors: I once again submit my photos as proof that they are quite high quality in those areas.

xaraan

I'm sure the reason the armor has a more skin tight painted on look is due to all the options letting you change character size, but you'd think there would be a better middle ground.

A little more 3D look to the chest plates would help (on medium armor as well). I think it's made even worse by the hip plates and giant ugly shoulders of most armor sets. The shoulders are usually terrible on every style, heavy, medium, or light. But throw those 3D shoulders and hip plates and hovering knee/elbow pads on a non-3D suit of armor and the contrast makes it stand out even worse.

In a game that is one of the best looking MMOs I've seen, the player models/armor choices fall way short of the rest of the game's look.

ArcaneBlue

I'm not a big fan of thick edging on armor (e.g. that second image the op posted... it screams "THICK EDGING") but it could be just me being fussy.

hopefully the armor dyes make the situation better but again, I don't really like it that they are tied to the achievements.

Gern_Verkheart

SnarkyQB wrote: »

I'm not a big fan of thick edging on armor (e.g. that second image the op posted... it screams "THICK EDGING") but it could be just me being fussy.

hopefully the armor dyes make the situation better but again, I don't really like it that they are tied to the achievements.

What do you mean? Real armor is thick, if it's not, then it's not very useful as armor. I think most people want the armor to look thick, that's why so many people complain about the armor looking "painted on."

Tobiz

Aesthetically I really like that the armour is closer (key word) to a useable armour then a skimpy outfit. This is a fantasy game after all but I hope they keep the real(ish) look to armour only make it more real(ish).
GW2 seem to have done a good job at making the armor not look like a skin (then its obviously skin tight anyway in most female versions but it has creases and leaves the skin in logical places)
What bothers me the most in ESO are the helmets. Even though they look ok on a very large heavy brute male, a small female just look terrible in most helmets.
The floating shoulders and hip ornaments should just be moved closer to the body.
Another related thing that bothers me is that I pull out my secondary weapon from nowhere. I can see no real reason not to show the other weapon set at its idle position. If you have 2 sets of the same, the only bothersome is 2 shields, but for all other it should just show both in a 1st and 2nd position.

WrathOfRegicide

Gern_Verkheart wrote: »

WrathOfRegicide wrote: »

Gern_Verkheart wrote: »

I do agree that Deadric Armor should look like it does in the promotional vidoes, that armor looks amazing. However, I do not think most armors look bland. And as an example, I give you my Dark Shaman:



Like or dislike the look, there is certainly nothing bland about it.

That armor is a skin tight mesh it has no depth to it. If you compare it to oblivion armors; which this game was being created around the time oblivion was and computers have since evolved in the past 10 years, so you can tell the developers just slacked when creating the armors in this game.

First off, there is a difference between something being bland, and it having no depth. Something can be not bland and still have no depth, similarly, something can have plenty of depth and still be completely bland.

Second, I agree with you when it comes to armors in ESO needing depth, but only chest-pieces and gloves. Head-peices, shoulders, pants, and boots are clearly fine, they have plenty of depth. Chest-pieces and gloves however: a lot of them look like they have been painted on, even the ones in my picture. The fur, metallic emblems, and leather straps, should stick out a bit.

Lastly, to prove my point, I am going to subject you to a the white legs of a pants-less Nord:

I do this not just to show off Gern's pasty legs, but to show how some pants in the game will bunch up at the knees when worn with high boots such as the ones Gern is wearing. Look a the above picture, then look at my previous picture in your quote, surely You can see what I'm talking about. Now that's depth, and uniqueness, especially since not all pants do this, as is proven by these wonderful Altmer pants that Gern is sporting here:


And here with his boots on:

See, no bunchyness at the knees. Because the Altmer pants are made by a skilled Elvish tailor, and hemmed to fit perfectly to ones legs. Perfect for a Thalmor assassin, who can't be encumbered by loose noisy clothing. Whereas the pants Gern is wearing in my original picture are barbaric style, stitched together in some backwoods camp using raw materials from some unskilled brute's latest kill. They are loose and baggy because they are made to fit anyone, cause it's not like the barbarian could measure anything anyways, nor does he particularly care about being stealthy.

Now if only ZOS put that much thought and care into the depth of their chest-pieces and gloves.

But as far as the detail and texture of their armors: I once again submit my photos as proof that they are quite high quality in those areas.

Hey guy would you put some pants on! :P Maybe "no depth" wasn't a good term to use to generalize the armors. There is some depth to the shoulders, boots and maybe pants; but the most important area that should have depth to it is the chest area, because in reality that's what you most likely would want to protect the most (besides your head of course). We are in agreement though the armor is lacking in aesthetics, am I right? They could have easily improved the graphical looks of the armor; I know this because, there were complaints about player characters in this game looking too cartoonish, and maybe a month or two after that they altered the appearance of player characters. I think they either were too lazy to adjust the appearance of armor or rushed it and just threw out what they could and hoped it looked good.
(link to a discussion about graphics and player characters looking too cartoonish and WoW-like) http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/669684-the-elder-scrolls-online/62752150

(link to a picture of argonians before they altered player characters)https://www.google.com/search?q=argonian+eso&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_JqmU-PhDdijyATq-4H4Cg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=934#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=c10Ic4PHBB_99M%3A;QUYoNtUMjzIyTM;http%3A%2F%2Ftamrielfoundry.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F10%2FArgonianGroup.jpg;http%3A%2F%2Ftamrielfoundry.com%2F2013%2F02%2Fexamining-argonians%2F;1920;1080

(here is a picture of present day argonian appearance) https://www.google.com/search?q=eso+argonian&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=hZumU-7dKIzfsAT774KYCA&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=934#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=E__HODWKF433wM%3A;tc0Wq0zU_iEQkM;http%3A%2F%2Fesomasters.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2FESO-Argonian-Race.jpg;http%3A%2F%2Fesomasters.com%2Felder-scrolls-online-eso-races-overview-of-playable-races%2F;510;384

This shows Zenimax can change the appearance of armors they are just don't want to put the effort in it.

Sharee

Keep in mind the armor had to be designed in such a way that seeing 200 of them on your screen at once does not melt your graphics card (e.g. the number of polygons need to be kept at minimum, which sometimes gives the armor a 'painted-on' look)

With this limitation, i think they did a very good job.

WrathOfRegicide

GW2 discredits your argument, which this game has a lot of similarities to. I also have never seen a ESO AvA video with at least 200+ people pvping.

Sharee

WrathOfRegicide wrote: »

GW2 discredits your argument, which this game has a lot of similarities to. I also have never seen a ESO AvA video with at least 200+ people pvping.

GW2 WvW has a 2000 total player limit, same as Cyrodiil.

However, unlike Cyrodiil, GW2 WvW takes place in 4 separate zones. That means you can have theoretically up to 500 players in one battle (166 per side).

In Cyrodiil, you can have theoretically up to 2000 players in one battle, four times as many as GW2.

ArRashid

BTW, anyone noticed that there is an ACUTE LACK OF THE COLOR RED in ESO?
I haven't found a single red item. And I've tried, because I always liked the breton mage on the Betnikh's loading screen.

Everything just seem to range from light blue to dark midnight blue, light green to dark acid green, light gray to dark gray, occasionally something beige, gold or pink, but there is NO RED ANYWHERE.

/cry