I can't wear the best armor in RPGs because it makes me feel like an idiot – now I've rejected Fashion Souls and embraced the schlub meta
May. 16, 2024Opinion | When it comes to dressing up in RPGs, I like a +5 bonus to my Just A Normal Guy stat
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Is it just me, or is there something very satisfying about dressing your character in an RPG like whatever that world’s equivalent of a normal person is? Speaking personally, unless the penalty for ignoring optimization is completely brutal, I’m going into fights in whatever the setting’s equivalent of jeans and flannel is, stats be damned. And when somebody rolls up in a golden breastplate and fiery helmet, or LED-speckled cyber bodysuits… Well, they can’t help but seem a bit silly now. But why is that?
Style over substance
Many people call this sort of thing “fashion souls”, where a character’s armor is chosen for style rather than stats, but I’m not sure that’s exactly what’s happening here - mainly because my characters never look very stylish. Those aforementioned golden suits and pre-order gear I was harping on -thosefeel more like the fashion souls mindset in action. Sporting some glamorous cape and metal wings is very different to the pragmatic, function-over-form gear I like to see characters stuffed into.
I think I’m just enamored with the idea that a hero is so much cooler - and more human - when they don’t start off looking like a treasure pile. When the Arisen vaporizes a griffin with eldritch fire inDragon’s Dogma 2, it’s more impressive when they’renotwearing an enchanted helmet sprouting diamond-studded platinum antlers. Frankly, vaporizing griffins feels pretty average for somebody dressed up like that, almost hardly worth mentioning. But bringing a monster down while dressed in worker’s overalls?That’sa badass.
It’s not just aesthetic though - it’s a matter of storytelling and relatability. Good narratives tell us to root for the underdog, the everyman, somebody who has so much further to go. They set out with patchwork clothing, muddy boots, and rusty weapons. It’s not their equipment that takes them to the finish line, but talent, skill or hard work. Contrarily, it’s thevillainsthat have all the expensive toys and nothing to overcome.
So next time you’re starting an RPG, especially one where class or power or revolution is a central theme, I recommend you dressdown, not up. Try to look like the people you’re fighting for, whatever that means in that world, even if you’re “transmog-ing” yourself to get there. Any extra strife it adds will only make you love your protagonist all the more, and be all the more motivated to beat down those absurd enemies who made sure to layer on platinum armor and hair gel before leaving the house that morning.
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.
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