These characters are both Meridian Centurions guarding the main Defiant city in Rift. So the ranks and roles are equivalent. And yet the guy gets a full set of studded armour and the girl gets a skimpy bikini.
The actual player gear is fine, but this NPC armour difference is really pushing it. I think what struck me more was that they’re equivalent ranks in the same army so they should at least be in a uniform that matches.
I’ve seen a lot of really nice NPC clothing in the game, so … it’s just the actual army who fight in bikinis I guess. Hurrah for technomagic.
Welcome to Spinksville! 
Although not particularly out of the ordinary – by gaming standards – here is a side-by-side that I took of the warrior armour sets gained through the quests in the starter area.
The bizarre thing to me is that the male armour even has cloth sleeves added on the otherwise unprotected arms in order to cover them up more…
You’re right, that’s really pretty tame by gaming standards.
I don’t mind the stylised fantasy-femme look so much as long as I can see that it’s armour (OK, I do really hate the thigh boots + teeny skirt, there are more stylish ways to do that sort of thing).
I couldn’t agree more.
There’s no way I’m playing that until they put the male NPCs in bikinis too.
Its hard to make full armor for females without androgyny. When I played Mabinogi, men and women used the exact same armor, and covered it up with robes. I played a tall female character, and everyone thought she was male, due to the anime style.
Without showing skin you’d have to really exaggerate the figure to achieve the same result. Especially if they use helms, or the face is androgynous like Melmoth’s picture. Would you think that is a woman if she was in thick plate? As opposed to a slender man?
There’s still a big difference between full armour and a bikini. Plus you could always leave the woman in full armour and give the guy a bondage harness or something 😛
Here’s why, Spinks:
That’s the cobra subligar set and dancer artifact armor from FFXI. It just doesn’t work on males. Bondage gear makes them look like freaks, serial killers, or ridiculous.
I think those outfits look equally bad on everyone, but yeah.
I find it odd that peeps would find that an issue, IMO. One that can get easily around by having the helm on non-display (presuming Mabinogi has this feature). But either way…I find it cool that one is in an environment where they can tell the sex of the character right away. Makes for interesting rollplay. But then again…that’s maybe why I find anime so fascinating as well. 🙂
You can have the helm on non-display, but anime faces are androgynous. If I had the pictures of her I’d show her, but you couldn’t tell at all because the robe hid the figure. If you watch anime, a good example is Integra Hellsing from Hellsing: at first glance you would be shocked to realize that she is a woman.
Dblade, I don’t think you are correct about it being hard to design armor that is nice for women without resorting to androgyny. The way to do this is to form-fit armor to a beautiful curvy female body, but have the armor, which should cover most of the skin, look ornate.
I’ve been tanking in MMOs for many years, and I know it’s possible to be “pretty in plate” as I am wont to RP. In Rift it’s so sad to look at all these gorgeous armor designs on the NPCs and on the male character models, and to be in such trashy gear on my female model. At first I thought it was just because my toon is so low level, but then when I scrolled through AH at the high level plate, I noticed it was just as bad. Even when some of it fully covers, it’s just downright ugly. It’s actually making me want to quit the game just a week after starting it.
Let me guess. This game won’t be your favorite. I won’t even try it out after that.
Another Guildy of mine dumped it for the same reason:-
They play a female tank…and guess what? Higher up the gear its more ‘tanking in a thong’ if you happen to be female.
Girls in full plate can be sexy too designers!
There is an amusing thread on the rift forums where someone suggests a tickbox on the UI options where you could select whether you’d rather have scantily clad men and skimpy women, or vice versa.
But they do also discuss cosmetic armour.
Although I agree with all the sentiments about the bikini being bad when the guy has full plate. But – I’m kind of lured by the female warrior from this response. Uh oh, Age of Conan creeping in again.
While the Witch Elves, and Sorcs looked alot like prossies, the Warrior Priests, Witch Hunters, and Bright Wizards in Warhammmer Online at least had matching armor sets for male & female.
Thing is, as far as you can really have a lore justification for the gear, witch elves were really supposed to be like that (granted they were designed to entertain 14 year old boys but still).
What I find odd about Rift’s armour (and I otherwise like the game) is that the more if it you wear, the less of it there is. My cloth-wearing mage is dressed modestly by Saudi Arabian standards (or would be, given a veil). Move up to the more-protective leather, and the top shows off some cleavage, but the bottoms are full trousers. Again going up the armour-rating scale to chain, and we’re showing quite a bit of cleavage and the bottoms are now thigh-high metal boots. But plate? Combat Pasties and a War Thong.
Ah, well. At least the shoulderpads don’t look like rejects from a 1950s US automobile.
Well, the ideal would be like in the new robin hood movie. You’d be wearing full ring male. Plate simply is too heavy for anyone to wear not mounted.
Problem though is that even this may not be enough. I’m reminded of the Knight Sabers in Bublegum Crisis. Armored head to toe, and even more hypersexual for it.
haha, freudian slip it looks like. male=mail.
It depends. I’ve seen leather tunics and chain tabards that were as long as any robe, and the T1 and T2 crafted robes are short little tunics with tails like on a tux (though in front as well as in back) that are short enough that it looks like the mage’s butt is hanging out when they’re in combat stance. I’ve seen robes with and without cleavage. I’ve seen plate bikini’s as well as the more “sports bra” type linked above.
So it really seems to be a piece by piece basis. That said, I do agree with you that it seems like the plate and chain are overall skimpier than the leather and cloth.
Dumbing down the wardrobe? Pandering to the masses?
I call it stupid, but hey, they have a pretty tightly defined audience already methinketh. I suspect they know exactly what they are doing.
I’m in the wrong hobby, aren’t I?
Nah, give it time. Women will eventually dominate MMO gaming like they do many other fields. Maybe not FPS gaming, but the future is going to be female.
-Games are played by a majority of Guys.
-Guys like to be badass men and be surrounded by sexy women.
-Game developers give them Men in big manly armors and harf naked women.
I call it a success.
Actually I prefer being an average bloke in industrial, utilitarian armour surrounded by people who look like they could actually fight in a battle and not just be some bizarre cheerleader-esque troupe. Plate bikinis really kill the immersion for me.
I’d rather my character be likeable and capable rather than a hulking mass of muscle spouting clichéd American one-liners.
AYE to that good sir, from a female who wants to look like she could actually fight and be surrounded by capable likable men!
So, like many others, I’ve tried out the rift open beta, and I’ve come to the conclusion this is not the game for me…
The female armor thing, I’m a tank, I am supposed to engage the meanest, most frightening creatures the world has to offe in melee combatr, toss liberal amounts of profanity at them, and stab them in their bits to keep their attention, but my armor looks like I’m off to a beach volleyball session? Whereas any male char gets a beautiful set of armor that actually looks like it might be tough enough for the job? That’s a no-sale thing right off the starting point.
Second, all the focus on the public quests. Sure, it’s fun now, with all the people playing, but levelling an alt in a few months, when there is no longer an abundance of people for all those public quests, quest you more or less have to do to get those souls? Sorry, no sale.
The invasions etc, great idea, however, as a level 12-13 guy finding myself being swarmed by a bunch of level20 elites, elites that will also gank any and all questgivers until they are killed or they despawn. Right now, there’s tons of people levelling, but in a few months, there will not be anywhere near as many people in a zone at a given time, so questing may become anything but enjoyable. Sorry, no sale.
Once the hype is over, I think it will fade into the ranks of games like age of conan and warhammer.
Invasions are scaled to the number of people not only in the zone but also in the immediate area. I’ve defeated many a solo rift and solo invasion with nary an elite mob in sight.
Though tbh with a Chloromancer/Elementalist combo and the tank pet all Synergized up, if I’m careful I can solo elite mobs too. A bit slowly, but doable. . . . .
Did you see the NPC with cowprint chaps out front of Meridian? I wanted to be all feminist-ragey about it, but really, *I want a pair*.
Aion just did this amazing fashion show thingie and I think it’s brainwashed me into thinking less about killing and more about bikinis and teeny top hats.
http://forums.aiononline.com/na/showthread.php?t=48063
Hee, I thought the cowskin chaps were silly but hilarious.
I played a cleric and a mage in beta while my boyfriend played a female warrior and a tanking rogue.
I found it interesting that he was the one taking all the hits but I was the one who was fully covered in armor.
I actually found myself wishing that my robe was a little more flattering or that my chainmail was a bit more feminine. (Honestly though, my WOW bank was a virtual walk-in closet, full of things that I couldn’t bear to sell because my troll looked so “pretty” in them.)
My Rift cleric never got a chain-kini… not even close. I looked more like a Kelari cast member of The Holy Grail in head to toe chain.
I honestly think that Rift is pretty tame with thier female armor in comparison to quite a few other games out there. Admittedly we did not want to level past mid 20 in the beta so as not to ruin the live experience. Maybe the armor takes a turn for the scandalous at level 40, but I thought that the open midriff plate my BFs character was wearing at 25 could have been a lot worse.
I’m all for wanting the armor to look functional instead of a few pieces of strategically placed metal held together with string. It is a problem when the armor is exposing every vital organ to your enemy thus making it pointless to be wearing armor at all… but I play female characters and I want them to look, well, like females.
I remember when the original EQ switched to a new graphics engine in which all plate became shapeless and androgynous. It was a big blow for my poor bard who quickly got replaced with a wizard who actually still looked female. Meanwhile an Erudite in cloth was sometimes not something I wanted my mother to see on my computer screen, and a High Elf in leather was more like black leather bondage gear.
None of the armor that I have seen thus far in Rift have been offensive to me. The Defiant guards are by far the most scant thing I have seen in the game, and still I have seen worse in countless other games.
Keep in mind that the female figures are actually more realistic in this game as well comparitivey speaking. There is no option to increase the chest size and there is no “bounce factor” that I do find quite offensive in some other games.
I think that Trion is walking an ok line with this and it does not bother me if they show a little skin.
As long as my character does not end up looking like she belongs on a stripper pole complete with implants and annorexia, I’m perfectly happy to overlook a few plate-kini’s in order to enjoy the gameplay.
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