Why does female armour in Skyrim have a big bust? Probably because the females in Skyrim have big busts...and because players would complain. It seems to be a design/development policy to have female characters in games with overly emphasised female traits...which really does nothing for legitimising video gaming as a serious art or entertainment medium, despite it's popularity.

Look up the box art for TES: Arena

See my post above - Before implants, large mammary structures (the glands themselves are largely irrelevant) were the easiest, most reliable way to gauge the strength of a woman, even moreso than limb muscle definition, due to the way female fascia obscures the arm and leg muscles.

And there is a (very small, thankfully) minority who would actually prefer that, because it would be "more realistic"


Personally, having grown up with fantasy gaming since the 80's and D&D, I'm perfectly fine with "impractical" armor that looks good. Like I said earlier, it's a staple of the genre.

Female "boob" armor is silly fantasy stuff (even beyond the obvious). Just use this excellent mod, I do:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3296

Well, if you instead give females the same plate armor as males and closed helmets, it quickly reaches a point where picking male or female has little consequences left cause all you see is someone in a tin plate

That's Joan of Arc, a known transvestite. Your point doesn't stand up very well against that.

By this logic, you might as well not choose your character's hair color or facial features if they're going to look like every other man or woman in the game.

That's where the problem with having such defined briasts comes in. Any blow landing on the insides of the briasts will be directed into the center of the chest and strike with nearly full force.

The problem is not really something piercing the briastplate, it's crushing injury from your own armor. Having metal curved in at your sternum + getting hit with heavy blows= not a good combination.

Any specific armors you have in mind?

I certainly agree regarding the Wolf armor, Steel Plate and Ebony Plate. They're a little too well defined for my taste and I have a hard time imagining they'd be that effective. That crevice between the briasts would be really good for directing blows into the middle of the chest.

Indeed; the armor itself could break the sternum due to a fall; or the 'cup' could be inverted by blunt impact.

* Ah... look here, this guy actually made one on commission: http://madartlab.com/2011/12/14/fantasy-armor-and-lady-bits/#attachment_7625

That's a great article, and also touches on what I said up above. To me, the boob armor doesn't look sixy. It looks silly. Women can be sixy badass the same way men are- by being strong and competent, not by emphasizing sixual characteristics. If male armor had huge codpieces, I'd be mocking that, too.

That's a great article, and also touches on what I said up above. To me, the boob armor doesn't look sixy. It looks silly. Women can be sixy badass the same way men are- by being strong and competent, not by emphasizing sixual characteristics. If male armor had huge codpieces, I'd be mocking that, too.

You mean like http://farm1.staticflickr.com/225/449161530_a68e8e8549_o.jpg?

That was a very good article Gizmo posted and pretty much stated the same things I did, too.

Am I mistaken or is that photo (ironically) in 3d?

You mean like http://farm1.staticflickr.com/225/449161530_a68e8e8549_o.jpg?

That was a very good article Gizmo posted and pretty much stated the same things I did, too.

I will say, though, that I do like my characters to retain some semblence of feminity while wearing armor. Just not so defined or exagerated. It's one of the reasons I like scaled armor as much as I do.

I do believe it's an anaglyph image. Of course, it should be noted that armor design often reflect the clothing fashions of their times.

Why does female armour in Skyrim have a big bust? Probably because the females in Skyrim have big busts...and because players would complain. It seems to be a design/development policy to have female characters in games with overly emphasised female traits...which really does nothing for legitimising video gaming as a serious art or entertainment medium, despite it's popularity.

That cod looks like it would catch an axe.

I was thinking more like http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lia5slIe4b1qz59q6o1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1328422497&Signature=2azBm0grCtjexsbZHn4yuDBHCJg%3D (don't click if you've eaten recently). And you never see that in a fantasy game, now do you? And again, dress armor. It's meant to be showy and ridiculous.

The steel and orcish isn't completely practical, either, but it's just less brain-breaking. Like you said, at least an attempt to look reasonable. Let's not even get into the light bikini armors.

And that's fine for you. If you want boob plate, wear it. I posted for the OP a couple of options in the game which are reasonable. To me, the boob plate doesn't look good. Something that breaks my brain for its stupidity and looks painful to wear isn't appealing.

As was pointed out, ancient Greeks deliberately emphasised false muscles on their briastplates to intimidate their foes. Keep in mind that certain mythologies such as Greek and Norse had very powerful goddesses as well as gods. Emphasising the female briast is not at all against the culture or the military intent of such societies. It would be for intimidation purposes, not anything regarding some sort of need to hide the female briast or consider practical physics.

Also, I found it odd that some people claimed that ancient people did not have sophisticated math, physics, etc. Actually, they did, as many archeologists and anthropologists would tell you. That's why they were able to make not only the armor and weapons they used, but also buildings, artifacts, and other elements of their cultures.

People who hate "boob plate" must also hate the "peck plate" I suppose. That's ignoring history, though. However, as I said, Earth history doesn't matter for a fantasy game setting. The same rules do not apply. The problem is the player's perceptions and assumptions, not the game.

I hate the boob plate. I think it's stupid. Peck plate, however, is nowhere near as impractical as boop plate. Pectoral muscles, even idealised pectoral muscles, are smaller than the overly generous busoms ingame and envisioned by game developers, the armor is also usually molded leather, or thin steel. Not a heavy briastplate.

Also, the two cultures who most prominently used idealized pectoral muscle armor: did not use the body armor as the primary form of defense in their warfare. Greek, Roman, and Macedonian warfare were fought primarily with the shield as their first defensive tool. Most of the idealized armors were also only worn by the Generals in order to show off how superior looking they were to inspire their men.