Is beauty lore-unfriendly?

[EnaiSiaion]

Skimpy armor could exist, but mainly as ceremonial armor worn by individuals of high status. Perhaps not in Skyrim but elsewhere. There are precedents of this in previous TES games. Also, forsworn do wear somewhat skimpy furs and some of the more outlandish daedric cults may not particularly care about the cold either. Most normal people would probably wear as much as possible instead, not just because of the cold but also because the region is poor enough that owning expensive clothing is a sign of wealth.

 

 

@armor: historical armor was designed for the circumstances at hand. Roman armor is top heavy, which is because they fought in battlelines wielding large shields so getting hit in areas behind the shield was unlikely. Gladiator armor was subject to balance patches and therefore intentionally not very protective. Many armor types were designed for use on horseback where arrows and getting knocked off were the biggest threats. Some armor was even meant specifically to protect against weapon type X at the cost of other weapon types.

 

Same goes for weapons. To kill a plate wearer you pretty much needed a mace, crossbow, or a way to topple the guy and attack his weak point for massive damage. Bows actually can't be fired more than a couple times per minute and crossbows had to be wound up manually before one could fire.

 

And while we're at it, why would fantasy mages wear robes anyway? The common explanation is that "armor interferes with accurate hand movements". So there has been combat magic since the dawn of history and no one managed to solve this issue yet?

 

 

Tldr - RPG combat has absolutely nothing to do with realistic combat, which is because realistic combat is largely rock paper scissors and a bunch of awp noobs with crossbows. Watching numbers fly out of the enemy is more fun.

[ilikecheese1337]

Exactly; realism is certainly not everything. In Skyrim you can kill a man in full plate armour with an iron dagger if you reall want to - because you're the freakin' Dovahkiin, that's why. I have a version of Better Females installed because female faces have always just bugged me a little, like they're just a little bit off compared to the male faces which are good. I have ApachiiSkyHair but only use the sensible-looking hair. I wouldn't touch things like CBBE with a ten-foot bargepole, though. There are points at which immersion is defenestrated if you have characters who look like they're deliberately trying to look ridiculous. Hygiene and looks-wise, in my opinion Skyrim should have people in much better condition than the real Middle Ages - you can cure any disease with a potion or (with mods) a spell and an expert healer can brin people from the brink of death. Skyrim, for me, should feel like a cross between real-life Vikings' Valhalla, Narnia and Middle Earth, with a bunch of dark stuff thrown in for interest.

 

Note: my Arch-Mage wears full Dragonplate Armour, because robes are for wimps and no good when Average Joe Draugr decides his axe would look nice in your face.

Edited October 23, 2012 by ilikecheese1337

[Semtex]

yeah, we all are Dovahkiin - supermen / superelf / superorc / super...

But our equipment, armor and weapons are made mostly for those ordinary Nord, humans, elves ... It's their world and we as heroes are rather a nuisance for them.

TES world is disguised as "really truly world" - heroes can live in it, but heroes are not a condition of his existence, world could exist without them.

OK, I admit, people there is a little low, thirty people or so is realy a little low for "the city", and all in the game it's somewhat simplified, but I take this as an tax for low computers performance (for now - thousand or more independent artificial intelligence for NPC in one scene is simple just a dream).

 

"Reality" in the fight in the game is unattainable. Definitely. For one thing, the game is the GAME - activities necessarily simplified against reality. And because they control would be too difficult and too demanding on the player's speed and reaction.

 

Skimpy armor could exist, but mainly as ceremonial armor worn by individuals of high status. ...

Yes, I agree... Or rather for his ceremonial accompaniment. And cute dress the same.

[LUIGITORNADO]

I don't mind having a few "good looking mods," the things I despise are skimpy armor.

 

I want my character too look bad ass, not stupid.

 

Other people can do whatever they want but I refuse to download skimpy mods.

[Robinsage]

There must be beautiful people in Skyrim, but as stated there are no Avon ladies or beauty salons. Natural beauty and no eyeshadow please!

[ilikecheese1337]

No, but your friendly neighbourhood court wizard will be happy to whip you up some skincare and makeup potions.

[BobTheBouncer]

As a relative newcomer to the game I'm not too well versed in the lore. However make-up (in one form or another) has been around for a very long time. The search for the "physical ideal" has likewise been around for a fair while...although that ideal can be markedly different depending on culture and period. It's not unreasonable to suppose that characters in Skyrim may attempt to improve their appearance through "artificial" means, be this make-up or magic. Although if following historical precedence, this would be more likely among the nobility, financially well-off or certain practitioners of "the oldest profession".

 

Having everyone in-game look like they've just stepped off the catwalk would be lore-breaking for me, but a few of the more affluent or important characters....sure, why not.

 

As far as skimpy armour goes...Personally I prefer armour that at least attempts to look functional, so many of the features that are added to (heavy in particular) armours would, in real combat, get you killed. Again, this is just a personal bug-bear and tends to steer me away from the more "fantastic" armour skins.

 

Ultimately each person plays the game in a way that they enjoy the most. Realism has little to do with a fantasy game unless you choose to let it....Likewise Lore is only really important if you want it to be. The game-world is there, the lore is there, but the story is for the player to write imho.

[Vindekarr]

The Ancient Egyptians had eye shadow!

 

 

 

Naw, I find you can explain almost anything if you try hard enough. Just look DarkSiders-one level you're in a classic Medieval area, the next you're on near-future Earth with cars and guns. You're Death, you can go through times and realms because of magic, I don't see why the Dovakiiin, also a stupidly OP magical creature of considerable OP'edness would neccesarily be constrained by "realism"

 

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TAKING THESE OPINIONS SERIOUSLY MAY RESULT IN SLIGHT CRANIAL EXPLOSION OR DESLUSIONS RESULTING IN AGREEMENT WITH VINDEKARR

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For my part, I like my fantasy games to be as wildly and vibrantly fantastical as I can, so other realms with differening levels of technology are absolutely OK. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere out in the daedric plains someone's got a bloody spacelaser deathray of awesomeness, while on another, some bright lad's just invented the stick. Magic offers an explaination for every deus ex machina imaginable, that's why I love it. With regard to beauty mods, I tend to install a few, but mostly to ensure faces match the rest of my Skyrim install's graphics, which tend to have HD mods for their HD mods. Resolution is everything, but for me what really defines a beauty or race mod, or infact any pf that sort of mod, is artistic merit. For me a truly excellent beauty/race mod is one with true personality, one which seems the most alive. That's why I choose not to use some of the body mods out there-they just don't appeal because they don't have that indefinable... spark to them.

 

With regards to skimpy armour/jiggle mods, it really depends a lot on context. Personally I don't find the majority of them remotely sexy, to be brutally honest. The ones which truly ridiculous boobs particularly are more a turn-off than a turn-on for me, they just seem so ridiculous, not to mention painful. BUT in the right context, they can work perfectly. I remember seeing a satyrical mod a while back which featured an enemy boss who's gargantuan knockers worked like hot-air-baloons, providing her with the ability to hover, frickin' hilarious stuff, very funny.

 

With skimpy armour, it really comes down to artistic merit, I've seen some beautiful yet revealing armour mods, and some really ugly ones. Beyond a certain degree of revealingness I think skimp loses it's effectiveness. Skirt lengths and necklines are a thing of deminishing returns, as I see them. You can make a clothes/armour mod incredibly sexy with just a bit of skin, wheras I must admit I find most, but not all chainbikini armours a bit too unsubtle.

It's a strange thing-a chainbikini, compared to a suitably scandolous dress. One's completely overt in it's sexual overtones, the other's a little more subtle, but done right, the dress is waaaaaay sexier, even if it only shows a little of one leg. A really great red ballgown, the right makeup, and attitue, and the result can be smokin' hot. On the flip side a badly drawn anime figure in a microkini can be... less sexy since I guess it's just... trying way to hard.

 

Skimpy armour doesn't bother me, on men or women, what it comes down to is it's aesthetics-I'd gladly have my character wear skimpy armour if it's beautifully done and has genuine aesthetic merit, wheras if it's a bit ugly, or a bit underdesigned, or just a bit too micro a kini to be tasteful, then I'll leave it for someone else to enjoy. I don't have any problem with skimpy armour mods, even the ones I choose not to use, someone must like them, and power to that someone.

 

As for modern clothes/gear, doesn't bother me either if done with context. Hell, an AK in Skyrim would work damn right if you went to the effort of explaing how it got there. If you write a gripping yarn about how you got that Kalashnikov into Skyrim from some swashbuckling magical interdimensional adventure, then I consider that lore friendly.

 

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[CasperTheLich]

there was makeup in the ancient world, usually made using pigment from berries, plant extracts (such as lavender), beetle shells, etc. look at ancient egypt, greece, or rome. Just thought I’d put that out there.

 

As for skimpy armor, has anyone seen greek cavalry, or foot soldiers? Their armor could be called skimpy, and I’m talking actual armor like you might see in a museum, not the stuff you see in movies.

I’ve never actually seen ancient samarian armors for myself, but the illustrations I’ve seen didn’t seem to give samarian soldiers all that much protective coverage either. And they had one of the first well organized & equipped professional military forces in the ancient world. The first if I recall correctly (not sure on that count).

 

Now, I guess in summation…

I have no problem with having some pretty faces in my game (I use bella personally, light makeup no shine) but I think most faces should be fairly nice to look at maybe not exactly drop dead gorgeous, but a few should be I suppose, and there should be roughly the same number of “ugly” faces as there are “beautiful” ones. Like I said earlier there was actually some makeup in the ancient world so I have no issues there. body shape, I do use cbbe with the vanilla body type option & the navetsea texture pack (I’m not a fan of the plastic women either). How does that make me rate on the realism scale, just thinking out loud, so to speak. As for modern\anime type outfits it’s not really my style so I don’t really use them. Though from a personal viewpoint I guess I do see them as non-lorefriendly, not that there’s anything wrong with that, for me i prefer more lore friendly additions to my game, but that’s just personal taste on my part. Skimpy armor, well if it’s heavy armor it does bother me quite a bit, but light armor is fine IMHO. Sometimes I like a character that has a devilish personality, so she\he needs devilish attire, which in translation means somewhat skimpy armor. However, most times I tend to go for non-skimpy armor, I just like it better. Now that bit about having a hard time hitting someone when you’re to distracter by her hotness… well, I use to have a sparring partner I had the hots for, my instructor knew I had the hots for her and thought it would be good for me to figure out how to deal with distractions when in combat… as you’ve most likely guessed when I was sparring with her my performance was never really at its best when I was facing her, so that does at least lend some credence from my personal experience. She wasn’t even wearing anything all that revealing either. So just thinking what would have happened had she been wearing say… a bikini. Don’t even wanna think about that. (2nd degree black-belt in ninpo or ninjitzu as it’s better known, I know you were wondering)

Edited October 25, 2012 by Invisible Man

[StayFrosty05]

Edited.................. Now that bit about having a hard time hitting someone when you’re to distracter by her hotness… well, I use to have a sparring partner I had the hots for, my instructor knew I had the hots for her and thought it would be good for me to figure out how to deal with distractions when in combat… as you’ve most likely guessed when I was sparring with her my performance was never really at its best when I was facing her, so that does at least lend some credence from my personal experience. She wasn’t even wearing anything all that revealing either. So just thinking what would have happened had she been wearing say… a bikini. Don’t even wanna think about that. (2nd degree black-belt in ninpo or ninjitzu as it’s better known, I know you were wondering)

 

LOL....You know I had been thinking to myself if someone is trying to kill you, what their wearing and how they look wouldn't be taken into consideration at that kind of point...but who really knows....Your example here caught my attention though, having faced the exact same situation in very similar Art (Ninjukai Taijitsui) ....though me being a female, mine is from a female perspective and who I was sweet on was an Instructor....yes, was rather distracting when I kept accidentally pulling front of his Gi (shirt) open when throwing him around.....Though I still wonder would I have felt so enamored if he was actually trying to kill me.