Helmet is not added in order to show a character's emotion.
Decent armour is not added in order to show a character's naked body.

In other words, please do add full helmets in videogames (some videogames already do that). Unless there's a cutscene coming.

[url=#user_comment_308979]@Stanley[/url]'s note: Yeah, but he had a stylin' visored helmet and kept it on; that provides just as much individual identity as a face and a name. Its not about how much is covered, its about how unique the head looks. (Hence the Roman Centurions' SCHWEET hats)

Another pet peeve is the alternate humanoid races. IE: "Cat" ppl. Why does most of the time the males actually look like a cat (face wise) yet the females look like a regular girl w/whiskers & w/cute fangs? At least Skyrim got that right http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/8281/7wxk.jpg

Actually, real armour doesn't feel all that uncomfortable. It's a common misconception created by jousting armours, that weren't really used in field. A field harness, which is what a knight would have worn, is actually rather comfortable.

Dark Souls has realistic armor, and it looks awesome.

Yeah it's silly to suggest that everything has to be ultra realistic. But there is a line that many game makers have crossed ages ago. The line into bikini chainmail and high heels.

"Plot armor".

You could simply do like Guild Wars 2, and hide headgear during cinematics, but keep the armors realistic.

Makes me think of Sentinel Lyons, who quite literally has plot armor (as she is unable to die until you finish the Broken Steel DLC)

But helmets are cool. What's wrong with this guy?

[url=#user_comment_309345]@Irbis[/url] Concidering how common melta and plasma weaponry are, I'd take my chances with 4+ Invulnerable than 3+ Armor any day. Damn AP 1/2 weaponry, even cover is better than armor. Then again, I play with a missile spamming Space Wolves comp so I just shoot them out before they even get into range.

@Not-a-troll: Void shields? What? These are found only on superheavy tanks and titans, Marines are lucky if they get Iron Halo and it's still worse than having a helmet on.

[url=#user_comment_308736]@Nico[/url]: Nah, the armour you linked is mail, while Engie's is clearly mostly plate.

I think this might be my favorite outfit of Engie's thus far.

Modern/1800+ settings get the advantage of everyone wearing helmets that don't cover faces anyway.

[url=#user_comment_308947]@Boolet[/url] Now that you mention, that is quite ironic.

Someone better cover up Engie's knees or else she won't be an adventurer anymore!

[url=#user_comment_309003]@JackDesert[/url]: And I don't see a bow. I do, however, see a sword in the first panel. I stand by my statement. *crosses arms*

[url=#user_comment_309107]@DISCOVERY[/url]: Check out the rant everyone! Jo Likes Dota!

[url=#user_comment_309100]@Ninj77[/url]: http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/634 Hey, this is the comic that started all the "more dota less dota" crying from both sides

When it comes to different archetypes of attire, for dames:
Cloth - They require robes and a hood. Hoods are mysterious and badass
Light - They require a cloak, like woodland hunters
Heavy - Armor that you can tell it's a woman underneath, nothing over the top though.

[url=#user_comment_309083]@T[/url]: Or Zangief and Dhalsim, and let's not forget Cammy! In fact, this little "armor" dilemma reminds me of this classic: http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/634

Just look at Kratos

9 out of 10 game characters in skimpy outfits are badass.

It didnt end well for Joan of Arc for political reasons and power plays. not for this. plus really, you're comparing a real life warrior woman to a fictional silent hero cliche that is impossible if you want to inspire and lead an army.

Full plate weighs less than a full combat kit these days.

Engie needs to remember that the whole point of a helmet is so that your face is still recognizable *after* the battle, rather than an unidentifiable mess...

But she IS wearing "plot" armor right now...

[url=#user_comment_308736]@Nico[/url]: I KNEW IT. I KNEW I KNEW IT FROM SOMEWHERE. Thank you person Nico.

[url=#user_comment_308778]@Tarik[/url]: Like Joan of Arc? Yeah that one ended so well for her. [url=#user_comment_308846] @Truth[/url]: Bowmen usually wore those sort of arm protectors and so did anyone needing tactile touch to function. But yeah a sword's man would at least have protection on the backs of the hands and up.

[url=#user_comment_308949]@Mac[/url]: SHATTERSTAR?

mass effect had nice armor. plus, energy shields protect the heat even without a helmet and when they go out where they cant breath they wore helmets

[url=#user_comment_308928]@Raxyz[/url]: I't an action RPG with some MMO-like elements. Honestly, I don't like the designation "western RPG". Nowadays, anything that is made in the west and has stats or levels seems to qualify as one.

[url=#user_comment_308947]@Boolet[/url] Good point mate.

I find it highly ironic that no one appears to have noticed that Engie-tan, as in, from TF2, is refusing a hat. I expected more of a dobby reference. "Master has given engie a hat!"

Cute, insightful, AND funny. Just what I needed after a multiple-week forum argument about women in video games... Thanks Jo!

Warhammer 40K is allll over this, in the best way. Being Important without a helmet counts as superior armour to helmet. Heck, maybe you'll get your eye shot out, replaced with a cybernetic (or pestilent tentacle, depending on allegiance) and only become MORE badass.

Oh don't worry, even Monster Hunter has a few skanky armor sets =/ At least its few versus a whole lot and only one set that looks decent but has such lousy stats that its not even worth it.

[url=#user_comment_308917]@Yozora[/url]: My bad, i'm used at Capcom so much that i forgot that it's actually an japanese developer... Anyways, i know that MH is hard to describe, but Western RPG it's the closest i've ever got.

[url=#user_comment_308845]@Raxyz[/url]: MonHun is NOT a western RPG.

HNNNNNNNG~
http://www.atalude.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/hnnnng.jpg

I actually kind of like this armor a lot more.
In fact, I demand more knight engie.
MOAR

[url=#user_comment_308892]@Littlepip[/url]: a game that has this introduced see's my back. for good. either you wear a helmet, or you don't and "face" the consequences. geddit?

Female armor should have higher stats.
It's harder to hit, after all.

Vanilla Wow pretty much made some mistake with armor:
Male = normale armor, female = suddenly skimpy armor (same piece).

There's nothing wrong with skimpy armor in the game but there's something wrong with normal armor suddenly becoming skimpy armor just because it's put on a female char.

Skimp armor from the dark times where there was no internet full of porn, "plot armor" for the style that we (the customers) demand in games: Custom everything so that we can like it (more).

I'm fine with bending realism for the sake of fun / satisfaction.

...continued

A "toggle helmet visibility on/off" option is always welcome.

Makes me curious how the Demon/Dark Souls games handled that matter.

Yeah, I agree with there, guys, about the full helmet thing.

Nothing beats playing the game in a full set armor..oh, yeah!! But when the cutscene comes in or suddenly you're rallying your troops to battle, you can't help but feel you're a stormtrooper guiding another stormtrooper. ;D

Well, because Samus has a helmet, It took very long time for me ro discover she was a woman.

And even GW has decent choices. Yeah, youll find some skanky variations of course, but at least I can wear this: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/694/gw068g.jpg/

Always amused me the whole "no helmet" thing, primarily in Warhammer 40,000. I'm the commander charging into battle on the front lines... and i'm not wearing a helmet...
cuz apparently it really inspires the troops to see their leader take one between the eyes :P

I fully agree. Most often than not women are clad in gear that no true warrior would ever even dream of wearing, let alone fight in. Also I actually like the rough look that Skyrim, D&DO, and other games have given to women, scars, tough skin. You know, SEASONED warrior look.

Really like the improvement in drawing side profile faces compared to earlier comics. It's good work.

Here's the thing, I know that Red Vs. Blue made their characters unique without making them take off their helmets until around either season 9 or 10 I think.

Color variations, unique head shapes, and other such things go a long way to differentiating characters.

Protective... until someone swings at your sword arm's bicep. Seriously, vambraces alone does not arm-protection make.

Get that woman some rerebraces and gauntlets!

And that's something Dead Space got my respect. And most western RPG's are a exception too, Skyrim, Dark/Demon Souls, Monster Hunter, Torchlight II, they all use full armor.

Indeed. I like the Gears series a LOT, but if there's one thing that i hate is exactly that. Not a single story character uses a helmet (except for Carmine, even though he IS intended to be a Red Shirt).

Actually, I kind of like giving a character a helmet.

Impressive, Jo 'ol pal. Engie's art just keeps getting better and better! And you still got your personal touch in the jokes too.

Keep up the good work, buddy!

Engie has the right idea. Just think of Baldur's Gate - your paper doll looks like everyone else, with equal survivability rate.

Real armor over bikini armor with cool helmet.

*cough* Dark Souls *cough*

spend an hour creating your character's face for skyrim.
1st POV for the rest of the game, and a helmet over it.

[url=#user_comment_308749]@Vel[/url]: Those are spaulders, a standard in plate armor during the middle ages. I'm more weirded out by the lack of rerebraces. And padding, because ouch.

[url=#user_comment_308749]@vel[/url] = yes, it is true and it is not quite used.

[url=#user_comment_308591]@Dems[/url]: Space Marine commanders have void shields. It's supposed to be as powerful as the helmet, but rarer. Yes, they have an in-universe excuse.

In the Game of thrones, there is no such thing as plot armor.
Something those who red the books learned long long ago. ;3

The Judges from FF12 did it well, I think.

[url=#user_comment_308778]@Tarik[/url]: Samus is a girl?!

This reminds me of a RPG I played (cant remember the name) where you could wear helmets, but had an option to just make them invisible, essentially, an official plot armor helmet.

Well, she COULD be the mysterious, silent and powerful warrior nobody knows about and suddenly in some take-off-helmety point in the story she takes off that helmet leaving everyone going all "SHE'S A GURL?!" and so on and so forth.

You know, THAT cliché...

[url=#user_comment_308567]@ComicReader[/url]: Exactly what I was thinking of. That game has some awesome portrayals of armor that's half realistic in a good way, insofar as it tends to be heavier than most armor ever was. Havel's Rock Armor especially.

Hey Engie, if Plot Armor works for your head, it works for the rest of the body. Now undress!

Games and movies in general do woefully little research on how armor actually works. Like how the pouldrons in the comic became a standard eventhough they ever never used.
There are other ways of standing out.

You know nobility used to paint their armor, put their heraldry on their shields and put colorful plumage on their helmets.
It made them stand out as nobility rather than men at arms. They did this so they'd get taken ransom rather then being killed by the enemy.
People havent tried that much.

@My two pence - sorry, not even Space Marines have armoured eyes or ears, not wearing helmet is just dumb. Especially when you have guys like Chapter Master Dante, Castellan Crowe, or Captain Sicarius running around in pimptastic, cool helmets.

[url=#user_comment_308554]@SomeRandomNobody[/url] I'm pretty sure it's a Guild Wars 2 armor! http://www.gw2armor.com/norn/female/k3/heavy/display_looks.php

nice tits

That means you can have head protection, avoid the loss of Plot Armour, and get the added benefit of having a Cool Hat as well.

It's probably more efficient anyway - you can identify a blazon from further away then you can recognise a face.

On plot armour in general... all the heraldry in the world won't save you from 'faceless mook' status. The best compromise is probably an open-faced helm...

Personally, I find full armour, and full attire in general, more appealing on women myself.

On the question of helms and identification in general:

Historically, the whole point of heraldic insignia and the like was so that individuals could be identified despite wearing full battle gear.

[url=#user_comment_308631]@Alex[/url]: So true. Greeks were the inventors of plot armour.

And then you have Skyrim, where 200 hours later, you suddenly realize you have no idea what the face you spent 5 hours of creation on looks like anymore.

Actually, I've seen lots of movies with helms like the depicted one. They always put a lot of emphasis on eyes and mouth. Also, 2nd panel engie>>>>1st panel engie [url=#user_comment_308678] @meh[/url]: I love the armory close to my house. Their armors have some very cute and very cool skirts, and a good variety of helms.

Fanservice and critique in one, genious.
But yeah, real armor is way better than that half armor with bare torso for males in some games, or the "minimalistic" armor some females get in games.

Not bad, you only missed the gambeson: It's a piece of padded armor that would usually cover the entire torso, arms and went down just a bit over the knees (although sometimes was longer).

The headpiece is always a must, although most of the time is not that closed.

The lesser a women wear, the higher armor and magic resitance!

Why: she de-concentrate the enemy by their 2 giant melons. All spell will take 20sec longer to cast... all wizard are perv's! XD

Really realistic stuff is very very rare.
Even what looks realistic or markets itself as realistic is often stylized, just meant to "appear" realistic, not be realistic.
People are dumb though, and don't realize that almost everything is unrealistic, because realistic isn't as fun.

Real armour was rarely generic and showed tons of individuality. They'd usually wear brightly coloured pieces of various cloth depending on where and when they were from as well. The "typical faceless knight armour" you see is just devs being dumb.

ah but you can get away with that if you have a cool looking but still protective helmet that highlights your uniqueness. Or go with Snake-eyes version

With 40K the Plot Armor = Real Armor.

Important characters have shield generating halos around their heads in lieu of helmets that defend greater than solid helmet, such halos are just extremely rare.

[url=#user_comment_308632]@Jetman123[/url] I thought the same too, but then I realised they were talking about Warhammer 40K Space Marine where that really applies; if something goes through their skull, it'd probably had gone through the helmet too anyway. :)

Just as a reply to the person who said that "if you can get through their skull you can get through their helmet"... NO. No you can't. It's easy to do severe damage through the skull, but a helmet is a solid metal plate. We see in history that lack of helmet = death in combat.

If you want to make realistic armour, here is a reference picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amphora_phalanx_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_1429.jpg

Someone's been watching Game of Thrones :D

if you want comics with female armor which is not reduced to a simple expression, i'll tell you to look at stjepan sejic work :)

Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

the best solution is to have full plate armor and a helmet that provided medium protection, instead of a great helm... that way you can both be stylish and protect yourself

Only Mounted knights wore heavier armor, what's there to parry in a mounted charge?

On knights case, the helmet was removed to have extra vision at the expense of lowering their protection off course, with in my opinion is a good trade if you are a good swordsman you could parry more blows coming at you with that extra vision

@Ogre-On-A-Stick: Yeah. I always got the impression the reasoning is something like "if it can get through their skull it can get through their helmet and through their skull ANYWAY so the helmet isn't all that big a boon. Probably still useful now and again but meh.

I also find helmet-less full armor to be hotter than bikini armor.

[url=#user_comment_308578]@Dems[/url] Its called Honor Before Reason, although in the case of Space Marines it doesn't really apply to all of them and even then they pretty much have a bulletproofed skin (black carapace) and varying amount of force field generators (Iron Halo, Rosarius, Terminator Armour etc.) for head protection.

well, most armor is protective-looking in dark souls, that or it's tattered as fuck.

Hope Engie doesn't find herself in Attack On Titan, Freezing or ASOIAF; there plot armor is only good for fattening a goose before you kill it.

The game of thrones show actually does a very good job with it's armor on Brienne, that's legitimately armor. She moves in such a way that you can tell that it's not just dressed up. It's actually probably very heavy.

Don't be in Game of Thrones, any media with lots of character deaths, any game with permadeath, or reality. Name or no Names, Helmet or no helmet you will die (unless you are writing auto biography.

Most games default to showing helmets or something nowadays but you can turn the option off.

In some cases they actually have founded reasoning for why helmets aren't worn. For example, Space Marines seek honor and glory in their duty, and so take the additional risk of going in helmetless.

Dark Souls. But you want to hide your face in that game anyway unless you are into corpses.

[url=#user_comment_308548]@TypicalAnimeFag[/url]: Lies

Looks like some armor from Dragon Age Origins.

She could have partial head coverage, if that was what she was looking for.

[url=#user_comment_308549]@Foxy[/url]: I have this loose and remote feeling as though that armor is from a particular game. Can anyone confirm this for me?

And then the sniper took her out. Boom, headshot.

I do like the armor design. Not the battle bikini, but the actual plate armor. It looks great.

I personally think full armour is hotter than bikini armour