The "Pirate First Mate's Outfit" and all of its variants have a glaring issue...

RobertJFCalais · June 25

I'll start this off by pointing out that absolutely everyone in the Elder Scrolls universe is right-handed. This in itself is both ridiculous and unrealistic.
Now, with that in mind, take a look at the Pirate First Mate's Outfit, Pirate Sash and Bandolier Garb and Pirate Swab Outfit. Do you notice anything off?

The shoulder-slung belt is on the wrong side. This is how a left-handed person would wear it, so that they could hang their sword's or dagger's scabbard from the right side to draw it with their left hand.
A right-handed person would carry their scabbard on the left side. Same goes for two-handed weapons and quivers being carried on the back in any fantasy universe.

Also; the Pirate First Mate's Outfit's third dye channel does absolutely nothing.

TaSheen · June 25

The only thing I have noted with the First Mate costume is the lack of the 3rd dye channel. I don't have an opinion on the "handedness" of the gear. All I care about otherwise is killing stuff.

ghastley · June 25

The bandolier hangs that way for access to the pouches. It is not primarily a sword belt, and the character is much more likely to use a weapon that does not attach there.

Syldras · June 25

RobertJFCalais wrote: »

I'll start this off by pointing out that absolutely everyone in the Elder Scrolls universe is right-handed. This in itself is both ridiculous and unrealistic.

Strictly seen, that statement is incorrect when it comes to TES as a whole. It's the case in ESO, probably because they didn't want to make extra animations. In TES5 you could choose yourself which your primary hand is (I've played a few characters holding a sword in their left and having spell or shield on their right hand). And according to lore, most Dunmer are ambidextrous. Just saying.

Danikat · June 25

Since our characters do not hang their weapons on it I don't think it matters if it's the right way round to do so.

Like how it doesn't matter that the belt clip on my work ID card has broken, because I almost never wear a belt and instead wear the ID on a lanyard, so I don't need the clip to work.

RobertJFCalais · June 25

ghastley wrote: »

The bandolier hangs that way for access to the pouches. It is not primarily a sword belt, and the character is much more likely to use a weapon that does not attach there.

Sooo... a weapon that attaches nowhere, you mean? This is the only belt in the entire outfit, so of course you'd hang your weapon from it.

Syldras wrote: »

RobertJFCalais wrote: »

I'll start this off by pointing out that absolutely everyone in the Elder Scrolls universe is right-handed. This in itself is both ridiculous and unrealistic.

Strictly seen, that statement is incorrect when it comes to TES as a whole. It's the case in ESO, probably because they didn't want to make extra animations. In TES5 you could choose yourself which your primary hand is (I've played a few characters holding a sword in their left and having spell or shield on their right hand). And according to lore, most Dunmer are ambidextrous. Just saying.

The statement is correct in the context it was in. This is the only Elder Scrolls game I have ever played and I was referring specifically to this game. This is a game-related forum, after all.
I'm left-handed and those belts are the first thing I noticed after I got the outfits as a gift. It's always these kinds of nonsensical details I pick out on first. Like the loading screen to some delve that showed an orc from behind with a two-handed sword sheathed on his back in a scabbard that starts 30 centimeters below the sword's guard with nothing that would prevent the blade from just slipping further down, but it didn't.

CMDR_Un1k0rn · June 25

Yeah I don't think that lack of upper clothing is going to do much to protect you from getting thwacked by a mace in the chest.

Witty response aside, ZOS are not exactly world leaders in functional armour design. A lot of is nice to look at for sure but put into practice IRL, it would get you killed quickly. Oversight is just that: An oversight. I doubt this was considered.

But... This is a game. It is not real life. It doesn't really matter now, does it? I had never considered this even once until you made this thread and without it, I dare say I never would have. And I can say with certainity I will cease to care after finishing this post.

I imagine this same train of thought applies to most, regardless of dominant hand.

Anyway, it's not going to be changed and that's quite genuinely by policy as ZOS just doesn't alter how things look now, short of crippling bugs, following the whole furore over the changes to Redguard and Orc armours many, many moons ago. They've played it safe ever since and just not changed how things look.

Alpheu5 · June 25

Syldras wrote: »

RobertJFCalais wrote: »

I'll start this off by pointing out that absolutely everyone in the Elder Scrolls universe is right-handed. This in itself is both ridiculous and unrealistic.

Strictly seen, that statement is incorrect when it comes to TES as a whole. It's the case in ESO, probably because they didn't want to make extra animations. In TES5 you could choose yourself which your primary hand is (I've played a few characters holding a sword in their left and having spell or shield on their right hand). And according to lore, most Dunmer are ambidextrous. Just saying.

You were playing with mods if you could use a shield in your right hand. Vanilla Skyrim's left hand was exclusively the off-hand. Weapons in the right hand had follow-through animations, but weapons in the left had a single swing and disabled your ability to block even if your other hand was empty.

Syldras · June 25

Alpheu5 wrote: »

You were playing with mods if you could use a shield in your right hand. Vanilla Skyrim's left hand was exclusively the off-hand. Weapons in the right hand had follow-through animations, but weapons in the left had a single swing and disabled your ability to block even if your other hand was empty.

Are you sure? I used mods, but none that mentioned that, so I thought it was already in the base game? Or maybe it was added in one of the official dlcs?

RobertJFCalais · June 25

CMDR_Un1k0rn wrote: »

Yeah I don't think that lack of upper clothing is going to do much to protect you from getting thwacked by a mace in the chest.

Which is exactly why my characters usually wear something like this whenever serious combat is involved:

And yes, I know that this is "just" Isobel and not a player character, but it's nevertheless a suit of armor I made her wear. And no, that's not gold on her belt buckle and her sword and shield. It's brass. That would be ridiculous.
Also, if you were fighting someone who isn't wearing metal armor, your first choice of weaponry definitely wouldn't be a mace, since those were designed to deform metal armor in such a way as to disable the knight wearing it. You'd be using a bladed weapon.

Aside from that, the previously mentioned attires are perfectly suitable for a deckhand and not far, if at all, removed from what was historically worn by sailers, freebooters and pirates alike. There's countless historic evidence for that. It's usually the officers and captains that would have been seen wearing fancy coats on deck.

CMDR_Un1k0rn wrote: »

Witty response aside, ZOS are not exactly world leaders in functional armour design.

But after having played or at least tried over 70 MMORPGs, I can absolutely assure you they're top tier. I can think of only one game that does it better when it comes to functional armor and that game is not an MMO. It's not even a fantasy game. It's a medieval first person PvP game.

CMDR_Un1k0rn wrote: »

Anyway, it's not going to be changed and that's quite genuinely by policy as ZOS just doesn't alter how things look now, short of crippling bugs, following the whole furore over the changes to Redguard and Orc armours many, many moons ago. They've played it safe ever since and just not changed how things look.

What was the situation there? I discovered this game in late 2022, so I wouldn't know.