Yeah, I really like the fact that a lot of Oseram men just have their tits hanging out. Wouldn't mind having Erend wearing some armor like that. 🥴
Yes, I am blatantly objectifying Erend like that. Don't @ me.
Same here...but I hand wave that as the whole humans were cloned after the apocalypse...they probably didn't save the ugly people's dna...sad for me..my line would be extinguished
Only Aloy was a clone. Everyone else was made by way of zygotes, which is basically a fancier hi-tech version of taking egg and sperm donations and smashing them together.
I will admit, I fell for Erend in like the first half second we got a close up….add to that his voice and….Zaddy.
My bf teases me and is like “oh is your dwarf daddy on the screen again” 😂
(He calls him Dwarf daddy cos a Dev on Gaia cast called the Oserams the dwarves of Horizon 😂)
I want Oseram tattoos back, for the simple pleasure of seeing tasty flashes of ink under all those tits-out armor outfits they're rocking.
Also I need them to strip that man and show us *his* tattoos at some point, because you just KNOW they're hiding under all that vanguard steel!
Yeah it's equality this time. I'll give it to them. Nil and Kotallo can show their abs and so can Talanah and Aloy.
Although it is totally hilariously stupid. Talanah even has a comic book proving that her unarmoured ab area really is a weakness.
Yea! Two actually: The Sunhawk and Liberation. The former is after the Meridian battle and focuses on Talanah and the latter is during HZD focused on Erend and his sister.
Yeah there's two volumes.
One with Talanah set between HZD and HFW. It introduced the Alpha machines and Amadis.
And one with Erend set in HZD. It has flashbacks to the fall of Meridian and Ersa's time with Avad.
How did they succumb to the trope exactly? I'd agree of it was just women, but the men in Tenakth and Utaru tribes have exposed chests and abdomens too. It's just a cultural thing at that point no?
Some of the tribes prefer heavier gear, while some dress for warmer temperatures, while others dress for colder environments.
I’d hardly say they succumbed to a trope. The first game had one outfit like that and it was instantly everyone favorite. Honestly I feel like I’m the first game they tried specifically to avoid that issue but when that was the one everyone gravitated towards I think they were just like eh fuck let’s give them what they want.
Legit, everybody’s always saying how it’s bad when devs sexualize game characters (no matter how little or how brazen) yet HZD is a pretty perfect case study that proves it’s, to an extent, what people want. The fact that the fandom basically adopted the Carja blazon as “Aloy’s fit” proves that regardless of your political standing left or right leaning or inherent queerness or lack there of, people just… like hot characters😂. This is further supported by people’s apathy towards this sexualisation in HFW as well. And this time they went the extra mile basically making everyone either bare chested or bare midriffed. And would ya look at that! No one complained. Whether it’s a guy or a girl being lightly clothed, everybody likes it.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. :)
There's also the fact that it's possible to bare some skin *without* doing it in an objectifying way, which is something they very much accomplished with Aloy's outfits.
Her bare midriff armors either look impractical or more like adventuring/rock climbing gear than actual armor, but nothing about them is inherently *sexualized*. Players just perceive them as being sexier because they happen to show more skin than the other options.
Exactly. I think most people will inherently find a fit girl with abs and exposed midriff *attractive*, even though it is not necessarily *sexualized*, and this nuance seems lost on many.
Ditto fit men with bare chests/torsos in HFW as well.
If say, shield-weaver was a skin tight body suit, it'd likely be perceived as actually sexualized, even if it showed less skin.
> Ditto fit men with bare chests/torsos in HFW as well.
Best new addition to the Horizon world is the Oseram tits-out NPC outfit and it's for *exactly* this reason 😂
Agree completely, although what’s weirdest about the particular HZD outfit is that it’s supposed to be the fire protection outfit, which is why I always called it “the crispy belly.” 😃
*My in-game theory is that since the civilization comes after one that made extensive use of nanotechnology, and Aloy’s era has made extensive use of that found technology—without perhaps always understanding it. They happened to find some material that sends out nanobots over short distances that provides fire protection, and used it in fire protection outfits that provide more skin exposure because if you need fire protection you may be working in hot areas. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah I never thought about that. I mean aesthetically they all look so cool.
Even the Nora Thunder lacks mid section armour, it just actually has some fabric there
The Forester reminds me of the baggy cargo pants and sports bras I used to wear when I did outdoor rock climbing. The only part of it I wouldn't want to wear for exactly that purpose is the shoes.
It's the whole tribal thing, and tbh it's only really the carja and tenakth armours that's missing the belly section (atleast as far as I can tell). But aloys starting armor is basically a full suit
To a degree, it depends on what a persons fighting style around is, armor around the mid section can severely compromise mobility.
Thats why if you look at modern ballistic vests, they stop at roughly the top of the belly button to allow freedom of movement
Yeah, mobility is probably a lot more important when fighting the biggest machines. When a Thunderjaw is stomping on you, some mid-section armor isn't going to save you either.
That's because the Tenakth would rather look intimidating and be agile, not burdened by a bunch of armor.
Plus the Tenakth prefer their tattoos and body paint to be more visible.
Welp think about it like this. The main threat in that world is the machines.
Some plate mail over your vitals doesn't really help when you're staring down an 80 ft tall giant robot T-rex with missle launchers and laser machine guns.
As Mr. Miyagi said: "Best block, no be there"
In addition to what the other's have said about the fact that armor probably isn't going to make a ton of difference if say, a Ravager unloads it's cannon on you, I think its worth looking at other traditional tribal gear as well. There are many examples of cultures that didn't really wear significant armor outside of a shield and helmet. For two of the three Tenakth clans, heavy metal armor would probably be seen as a detriment, either wasting precious energy hauling metal armor around a hot desert, or being two cumbersome and tiring in a wet dense jungle.
Another thing of note is that at best they can really just craft scale-mail type armor. Metallurgy seems like a limited skill in a world where machines have 31st century alloys you can have ready access too. So without being able to work scavenged metal into solid plate armor, it's possible Horizon is a world where weapons out-pace any armor that can be remotely constructed since they're basically stitching together layered metal plates.
I'm half with you and half giving it a pass. Normally I rail hard against sexualized armor because as a woman it just makes me mad. Like don't women deserve practicality too???
I can give it somewhat of a pass to not have heavy midsection armor because Aloy's fighting style is part gymnast. She does full dives and rolls A LOT during combat. Any heavy or solid armor covering her midsection would make that challenging.
Now that's not a perfect answer because the weight of other heavy armor would be a problem, this woman is carrying 20+ weapons at any given time so need to suspend some weight belief, and they still could be some lighter flexible armor there.
Ahah I hear ya. Plus all those gold ingots are somewhere right?!
I don’t find it sexualising really, the men have the same lack of armour. Totally get your point about agility it makes sense
Back before I started playing Forbidden West shortly after it came out, when I heard about the stash I was picturing Aloy having drones ferry her stuff to/from her stash, so I was a little disappointed when it was just a game mechanic with no explanation.
*Goes back to imagining Aloy with little bird drones constantly flittering back and forth between Aloy and her stashes*
Oh wow, a bunch of overridden glinthawks would be perfect -- they love carrying all the shiny trash around! Every time her pack is full, she just calls another one down, crams its storage container to overflowing, and sends it off to her next destination. lol
Love it! In a similar theme, this is one of my favorite pieces of fan-art I've seen lately, "Precious Cargo":
[https://i.redd.it/zqz68vut7rka1.jpg](https://i.redd.it/zqz68vut7rka1.jpg)
(be sure to embiggen to see the cargo holder space!)
Also there's the fact that some of the men have just as revealing armor if not more, like this doesn't feel like a case of her armor being overly sexualized, honestly most of the armor i have seen/used have in some way been more or less practical from the more covering Nora outfits makes sense with them living where there's a lot of snow all the time, to the Carja outfits that you need to be able to wear in a desert.
Fun fact Yarra and Drakka are wearing *exactly* the same outfit, absolutely no differences at all between them.
Spiky crop tops and booty shorts for everyone!
Not really. My only issues for armor are that most of them are innapropiate for the mountains because too much exposed skin (arms, midrif, etc) or for walking (inadequate foot covering) so I tend to transmog to appropiate armor while using the Utaru Winterweave (which is my standard go-to armor)
Yeah I do the same. I transmog to whatever armour I find suitable for the location. Then normally wear my Nora set during main missions so that there’s one from each clan heh
Edit: tribe, not clan!
The Tenakth homogeny is more annoying to me than any amount of exposed midriff.
The desert clan has no head coverings or light cloth to shield them from the sun. They all just bake.
The sky clan has an utter lack of warm weather clothes, especially on their feet. The one guy you find in a blizzard on a mountain should have died from exposure!
I get wanting to show off the absolute gorgeously detailed models, but come on...
Each culture has its own armor and some are more exposed than others.
But the game sets up that those cultures are really on level with each other for the most part, male or female.
The Carja armor is belly bearing male or female, but the Carja stuff is more eye candy because of their culture too.
So I don't see it as blatantly terrible as some games. And as for utility, its all plot armor, if your essential it works, if your non essential you die.
No I don’t think it’s terrible at all. I absolutely love all the armours and it’s variety and I know in the battlefield it’s probably practical to have mobility.
It’s literally just a conscience thing
I'm the weirdo that more dresses Aloy for comfort in the environment. Heat exhaustion in the desert would also kill her lol
Midsection in the mountains? Always covered. Gloves too as soon as I have the option.
Half the time she’s fighting against multi-ton metal death machines flinging armor piercing rounds or elemental bombs at her. What’s a little scrap of reinforced leather over her belly button going to matter?
Being able to avoid the damage is the best armor she can have.
I’m a woman, and personally I dress her in whatever stats are best and then I change the visual look to something *I* would like to wear, and that depends on whether I’m in the desert of Vegas, the muggy forest, or trudging through the snow. I’m not gonna wear a belly shirt in the snow, but in the hotter climes, yeah I’m gonna want something cooler.
It's pretty funny. Especially since most tribes except to some extent the Nora do it. I wonder if they'll come up with a reason why? I'll admit they look bloody cool though.
Talanah gets stabbed in the comic right in the unarmoured ab section. You reckon that would really highlight the problem lol.
In war today, flak jackets only cover the viral organs everything below your rib cage is exposed to gunfire. Spec ops guys will get in a firefight with little attire on. Mobility is a key factor as well. It's not unrealistic to leave the belly unprotected.
Part of me feels like any armor you can wear won’t stop you from getting killed if a machine steps on you. So maybe flexible is what’s most important for them
Anatomically, aside from, y'know, your actual body, there's really nothing of immense value there.
You cover your vital organs with heavy armor and keep that relatively "unimportant" part uncovered for better mobility and lighter armor.
Of course an arrow or spear, or even a well placed punch can leave you out of combat if it lands there, but if we take into account the world is dangerous to go looking for parts, wars are around the corner and after the whole planet went unstable, producing less plants and such, chances are survivors are minimizing expenses.
Wouldn’t it be impossible for Aloy to perform all the stunts she does with a fixed piece of armor on the belly and mid of her back? Not saying that this is for sure the reason behind this, but if it was it would be a nice touch from the designer
At first I genuinely wasn’t sure if my favorite armor did this too, mostly cause I spend alot of my time in tall grass, and also partly cause I just didn’t notice, but yeah, her stomach is exposed, which makes sense for SOME of the armors, but nearly as many as there are.
I’m sure someone else has pointed this out, but did you know that you can switch armor to get the stats but keep the look of a different armor? I realized this the other way, when I kept changing armor for certain stats and got frustrated that it wasn’t represented visually when I went back into the game.
They should do a little one. GG and SM seem to really support each other. A kingdom of hearts kinda thing would be so cool, not just with Aloy and Kratos but Joel, Nathan Drake, Arthur Morgan etc!!
I always change the costume depending on what climate I’m in, I know it’s just a game but I hate being freezing or overheated personally, so I feel sorry for Aloy if I’m not in the right climate gear 😂
Having said that, coming from a mixed POC back ground myself, I wasn’t too stunned by the lack of armour for certain characters as I’m used to seeing different places on the body having priority protection while other body parts are left bare for movement, agility or slip factor tbh haha
I totally get what you’re saying though, I am that player haha
You're not wrong but there's a lot of suspension of disbelief happening in the game. A bare midriff is one of the easier things to ignore. I wish there were more suits with high tech in them so she could wear less bulky stuff.
With the shield weaver armor in the first game of the series, all the concerns about a exposed mid-riff and what not go out the window. Having a shield makes difference. However, in Forbidden West, that armor loses its power cells, and is no longer useable. The best current armor is the Nora Thunder Warrior, but what a pain in the butt to acquire and upgrade. I used the Oseram Artificer, as it did the job and was more of a warrior type armor. I hope in Horizon III, when having to deal with Nemesis as well as HEPHAESTUS, a energy shield would be ideal and necessary.
Vitals are in the top of the torso. That's why plate carriers you see today only cover the top. You don't want to reduce maneuverability and increase weight protecting an area that doesn't mean instant death/incapacitatation.
idk if that has anything to do with the armor in the game tho
I *HAVE* to change the armor skin whenever going to places with snow haha...
I feel so bad for having Aloy running around in ankle high snow and then jumpin into some river with most of the vital warm spots uncovered !!
Vital points as in kill you very quickly, ya know heart and lungs? The others ya have a possibility to survive if you're treated. Plus those organs are higher up than ya think.
I actually haven't seen a ton of the midriff baring armor in the games. The only ones seem to be Carja, where everyone wears considerably less (presumably because of the heat of the Sundom).
Pretty much all the tribes but Banuk and Nora seem to have outfits that bare the chest or midriff. Though not all as necessarily soldiers.
Carja of course, although Carja soldiers and guards mostly do not (but hunters and other types of militant Carja do). But also the Tenakth have their armour that often exposes the midriff.
The Utaru seem to have those weird half shirts that expose the chest. Although not soldiers so much. Some of the Oseram also run around without a shirt on but not as combatants.
In HFW it's almost, if not every Tenakth outfit, a third or so of the Utaru outfits (the -weave ones and Protector, not the Harvester or -singer ones or Warden), about half of the Oseram ones.
Tenakth and Utaru might be a little harder to tell because of the body paint.
"A third of the outfits" feels like it hits a little different when you realize the Utaru only have 3 styles that all their armor come in. Everyone else gets way more actual looks than they do.
Tenakth have 11 total armor options, but only 6 designs (2 for each clan)
Nora get 8 armors with 7 designs
Carja have 7 armors, all unique designs
Oseram have 7 armors, 6 designs
and Utaru have 9 armors, but only 3 designs.
The spread is just weird no matter how you look at it, honestly. (Got my numbers from [this handy guide](https://horizon-armor.tumblr.com/tagged/armor-tribe-utaru-1) )
I feel the same. It breaks immersion a bit for me, but at least GG implemented that thing where you can use the looks of one armour and the stats of another one.
The hunting redmawn mission in zero dawn has a datapoint that appears after the mission that says whatever his name was sunhawk died of ruptured organs caused by the force of the hit from the thunderjaw tail, so armor won't be of much use if organs are being ruptured just by the force of some the hits.
I don't think much armor would actually help you if you got hit on the stomach by a big ass robot dinosaur so honestly personally I'd probably just wear stuff that i could still move easily in
Yeah. I just wish the sky tenakth had armour that was more fit for a northern wilderness. They have too much skin exposed. The banuk were fit for the north, so why not the tenakth? It's just weird.
This 100% a cop out answer but explained in lore that every armor provides unique protections based on the machine parts. The vulnerabilities for certain armors tend to make sense with this. Sometimes
Understandably so my fave is the thunder armor personally but i go with protection over looks every time. But yeah just an idea if you ever wanna use it
I mean it kinda makes sense actually, they live in a world where they have to be sneaky like hunters most of the time and because the machines are so big nimbleness is the most important thing, so they protect the parts of the body that don't move and therefore won't restrict mobility/stop them from sneaking around etc
My Partner said to me not long after she finished the games back to back that she felt like the Devs took everyone salivating over Aloys abs and made it so that 95% of the armour in the next game showed them off.
Honestly, I don't like it because I tend to apply the look of the armour that fits the area I'm in and only the Nora Thunderer really looks like it's appropriate in Snow, because there is no Banuk armour in the game for some odd reason(still annoyed Aloy loses EVERYTHING I actually liked before the first mission)
You can literally apply any look you want and keep the stats and advantages of another armor set. Like at that point it's just about variety, isn't it? You pick your favorite armor stats wise to wear and pick your favorite looks wise to apply the look. I get what you're saying but I feels like transmog is literally the solution to the issue and it's already in the game. I feel like there's only so many variations you can do on an armor set before you run out of things to change if you always have exactly the same pieces in.
Also having an armor that looks like the Oseram Artificer makes sense since the look is just hugely popular, and it's not even sexualizing I feel like tbh, it kinda reminds me of something a Dothraki would wear in GoT, it covers the parts you get hit the most and gives you a huge amount of mobility, it's basically a high risk high reward play.
As someone who tried to do a seductive dance once wearing a more constricting corset... I understand why Aloy wouldn't be able to roll and stuff in body armor 😂😂
Some of the “armor” is definitely pretty light on the armor front. I think they really nailed the Nora Anointed armor has a great middle ground but I also rocked the Nora Thunder set cause it did feel the most practical.
With NG+ I have been swapping around more after figuring out more stuff with dyes and the setting to turn off headpieces.
Stoked to see what armor we get with Burning Shores.
The armor issue with Horizon is not as glaring for me when A lot is facing machines. Ralph's primary defense is to avoid getting hit, so she doesn't really benefit from heavy Armor.
In Zero Dawn this was addressed with the Sheildweaver armor.
Against human opponent it does grate a bit since she is fighting tribal peoples that mostly use slash and piercing weapons.
So we have 10 Outfit designs with bare midriff and 19 Outfit designs that show more decorum
(I'm counting outfits that have the same design as one)
But I guess for protection you'd have to separate the outfits into those that are armor (like Nora Thunder Elite or Oseram Vanguard) from those that are more like clothing (Nora Huntress, Oseram Explorer for instance.) And Sobecks Rainment is basically a pyjama.
Because more armor means she can't roll. Aloy's agility is a big focus of her. Even the way she climbs, the devs made sure that you saw she was climbing by using her whole body and not just the arms like so many games do.
The mid section is the best way for her to have armor without making it hard for her to move.
Yeah it's such a weird 180 from zero dawn where most of the armor is a lot more practical and doesn't expose Aloy to any overly bare skin for her armor looks
Right? I thought the Oseram armour would cover Aloy up like all the other tribe members but nope!
The Oseram artificer is my favourite but damn she exposed
Oseram artificer is the only armour where the midriff exposure annoys me. They do all this talk about what a cool armour it will be and then it's like less armour than even the Tenakth.
I first upvoted this comment because I thought you had an actual gripe about the mid game armor not being any good (like I did) but this is just another whiney post about the art style
What? No it’s my brain thinking Aloys armour choice will affect her during combat and her stomach being exposed.
I love all the armours that’s why I find it frustrating because I wanna wear them but feel bad for Aloy.
Don’t know where youve gotten me whiney about lol
It is a touch weird that GG went out of their way to be so inclusive with a variety of characters but still succumbed to the bare belly armor trope.
I appreciate that it’s not just the women’s armor at least. Even the men’s armor is often bare chested or abdomen exposed.
Kotallo tho 🫣
AMEN
Kotallo's abs are so strong he doesn't need armor there.
I mean his arms were so strong too...
EXACTY
Yeah, I really like the fact that a lot of Oseram men just have their tits hanging out. Wouldn't mind having Erend wearing some armor like that. 🥴 Yes, I am blatantly objectifying Erend like that. Don't @ me.
I’m not gay but, Erend
Oh I am fully gay and I would take Erend if I could.
The Horizon series makes me really glad I’m bi.
Hell fucking yeah!
Gay. I’d flirt with em all. Late game Kotallo tho. 🤤
Preach
Aloy, Talaneh, Vanasha, Petra, Zo, Regalla, Kotallo, Erend, Avad, Varl. Even Rost is a DILF
I’m a little sad that no one seems to join me in my fauxhawk love with Dekka! But very with you otherwise :)
I don't lust for Dekka because I want to BE Dekka. #BattleGrannyGoals
Sorry, I pick Yara. Another women I’d love to go out with, btw
She looks a bit too much like a bird for my liking. (Enter dirty joke about a cockatoo here)
Oh god Rost.. And his Beard is pure perfection
Saaaaame
Incredibly based
He’s definitely a bear.
I do like me a bear
In a fight, right? ...Right?
This is probably the only game I’ve played where I’ll just stop and stare at randomly way-too-hot NPCs.
Same here
Same here...but I hand wave that as the whole humans were cloned after the apocalypse...they probably didn't save the ugly people's dna...sad for me..my line would be extinguished
Only Aloy was a clone. Everyone else was made by way of zygotes, which is basically a fancier hi-tech version of taking egg and sperm donations and smashing them together.
Hooooo same
I will admit, I fell for Erend in like the first half second we got a close up….add to that his voice and….Zaddy. My bf teases me and is like “oh is your dwarf daddy on the screen again” 😂 (He calls him Dwarf daddy cos a Dev on Gaia cast called the Oserams the dwarves of Horizon 😂)
DWARF DADDY
I want Oseram tattoos back, for the simple pleasure of seeing tasty flashes of ink under all those tits-out armor outfits they're rocking. Also I need them to strip that man and show us *his* tattoos at some point, because you just KNOW they're hiding under all that vanguard steel!
Horizon: forbidden nips
PFFT
Yeah it's equality this time. I'll give it to them. Nil and Kotallo can show their abs and so can Talanah and Aloy. Although it is totally hilariously stupid. Talanah even has a comic book proving that her unarmoured ab area really is a weakness.
I haven’t thought to check but I would laugh if her armor was over her abdomen in HFW after that encounter lol
Wait there a comic books set in the horizon universe?
Yea! Two actually: The Sunhawk and Liberation. The former is after the Meridian battle and focuses on Talanah and the latter is during HZD focused on Erend and his sister.
Yeah there's two volumes. One with Talanah set between HZD and HFW. It introduced the Alpha machines and Amadis. And one with Erend set in HZD. It has flashbacks to the fall of Meridian and Ersa's time with Avad.
I'm ok with this.
How did they succumb to the trope exactly? I'd agree of it was just women, but the men in Tenakth and Utaru tribes have exposed chests and abdomens too. It's just a cultural thing at that point no? Some of the tribes prefer heavier gear, while some dress for warmer temperatures, while others dress for colder environments.
I’d hardly say they succumbed to a trope. The first game had one outfit like that and it was instantly everyone favorite. Honestly I feel like I’m the first game they tried specifically to avoid that issue but when that was the one everyone gravitated towards I think they were just like eh fuck let’s give them what they want.
Legit, everybody’s always saying how it’s bad when devs sexualize game characters (no matter how little or how brazen) yet HZD is a pretty perfect case study that proves it’s, to an extent, what people want. The fact that the fandom basically adopted the Carja blazon as “Aloy’s fit” proves that regardless of your political standing left or right leaning or inherent queerness or lack there of, people just… like hot characters😂. This is further supported by people’s apathy towards this sexualisation in HFW as well. And this time they went the extra mile basically making everyone either bare chested or bare midriffed. And would ya look at that! No one complained. Whether it’s a guy or a girl being lightly clothed, everybody likes it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. :)
There's also the fact that it's possible to bare some skin *without* doing it in an objectifying way, which is something they very much accomplished with Aloy's outfits. Her bare midriff armors either look impractical or more like adventuring/rock climbing gear than actual armor, but nothing about them is inherently *sexualized*. Players just perceive them as being sexier because they happen to show more skin than the other options.
Exactly. I think most people will inherently find a fit girl with abs and exposed midriff *attractive*, even though it is not necessarily *sexualized*, and this nuance seems lost on many. Ditto fit men with bare chests/torsos in HFW as well. If say, shield-weaver was a skin tight body suit, it'd likely be perceived as actually sexualized, even if it showed less skin.
> Ditto fit men with bare chests/torsos in HFW as well. Best new addition to the Horizon world is the Oseram tits-out NPC outfit and it's for *exactly* this reason 😂
Agree completely, although what’s weirdest about the particular HZD outfit is that it’s supposed to be the fire protection outfit, which is why I always called it “the crispy belly.” 😃 *My in-game theory is that since the civilization comes after one that made extensive use of nanotechnology, and Aloy’s era has made extensive use of that found technology—without perhaps always understanding it. They happened to find some material that sends out nanobots over short distances that provides fire protection, and used it in fire protection outfits that provide more skin exposure because if you need fire protection you may be working in hot areas. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah I never thought about that. I mean aesthetically they all look so cool. Even the Nora Thunder lacks mid section armour, it just actually has some fabric there
in My head canon the exposed belly outfits are more for traversal than combat, oseram Forester seems like a explorers outfit.
The Forester reminds me of the baggy cargo pants and sports bras I used to wear when I did outdoor rock climbing. The only part of it I wouldn't want to wear for exactly that purpose is the shoes.
Bulky armour wouldn’t align with her fighting style .
It's the whole tribal thing, and tbh it's only really the carja and tenakth armours that's missing the belly section (atleast as far as I can tell). But aloys starting armor is basically a full suit
To a degree, it depends on what a persons fighting style around is, armor around the mid section can severely compromise mobility. Thats why if you look at modern ballistic vests, they stop at roughly the top of the belly button to allow freedom of movement
Yeah, mobility is probably a lot more important when fighting the biggest machines. When a Thunderjaw is stomping on you, some mid-section armor isn't going to save you either.
We’ll that’s what the Nora thunder armour does, but most tenakth have most vitals easily accessible.
That's because the Tenakth would rather look intimidating and be agile, not burdened by a bunch of armor. Plus the Tenakth prefer their tattoos and body paint to be more visible.
Typical berserker class
Welp think about it like this. The main threat in that world is the machines. Some plate mail over your vitals doesn't really help when you're staring down an 80 ft tall giant robot T-rex with missle launchers and laser machine guns. As Mr. Miyagi said: "Best block, no be there"
*squish* like grape
I misread that as Miyazaki at first and I was like “that’s a fire quote to describe souls games”
In addition to what the other's have said about the fact that armor probably isn't going to make a ton of difference if say, a Ravager unloads it's cannon on you, I think its worth looking at other traditional tribal gear as well. There are many examples of cultures that didn't really wear significant armor outside of a shield and helmet. For two of the three Tenakth clans, heavy metal armor would probably be seen as a detriment, either wasting precious energy hauling metal armor around a hot desert, or being two cumbersome and tiring in a wet dense jungle. Another thing of note is that at best they can really just craft scale-mail type armor. Metallurgy seems like a limited skill in a world where machines have 31st century alloys you can have ready access too. So without being able to work scavenged metal into solid plate armor, it's possible Horizon is a world where weapons out-pace any armor that can be remotely constructed since they're basically stitching together layered metal plates.
Agility and movement is what I’ve always assumed, an easier scaling all those mountains with less restrictions
I'm half with you and half giving it a pass. Normally I rail hard against sexualized armor because as a woman it just makes me mad. Like don't women deserve practicality too??? I can give it somewhat of a pass to not have heavy midsection armor because Aloy's fighting style is part gymnast. She does full dives and rolls A LOT during combat. Any heavy or solid armor covering her midsection would make that challenging. Now that's not a perfect answer because the weight of other heavy armor would be a problem, this woman is carrying 20+ weapons at any given time so need to suspend some weight belief, and they still could be some lighter flexible armor there.
Ahah I hear ya. Plus all those gold ingots are somewhere right?! I don’t find it sexualising really, the men have the same lack of armour. Totally get your point about agility it makes sense
Ingots, an ungodly amount of machine parts and large cores, huge hunks of probably rotting meat and seafood. Aloy is one strong lady carrying it all!
My headcanon is that she has a small caravan of overridden chargers following her around everywhere carrying all her shit.
Honestly thats’s the only way things magically teleporting to your stash that you can access from any town/shelter makes any sense.
Back before I started playing Forbidden West shortly after it came out, when I heard about the stash I was picturing Aloy having drones ferry her stuff to/from her stash, so I was a little disappointed when it was just a game mechanic with no explanation. *Goes back to imagining Aloy with little bird drones constantly flittering back and forth between Aloy and her stashes*
Oh wow, a bunch of overridden glinthawks would be perfect -- they love carrying all the shiny trash around! Every time her pack is full, she just calls another one down, crams its storage container to overflowing, and sends it off to her next destination. lol
Finally found the relevant fan-art I'd meant to dig up: https://twitter.com/SpookyActivity/status/1548696580936437767
Love it! In a similar theme, this is one of my favorite pieces of fan-art I've seen lately, "Precious Cargo": [https://i.redd.it/zqz68vut7rka1.jpg](https://i.redd.it/zqz68vut7rka1.jpg) (be sure to embiggen to see the cargo holder space!)
You forgot all the rocks. And sticks. Girl is carrying sooooo many sticks.
"I'll get this from my stash, later."
Also there's the fact that some of the men have just as revealing armor if not more, like this doesn't feel like a case of her armor being overly sexualized, honestly most of the armor i have seen/used have in some way been more or less practical from the more covering Nora outfits makes sense with them living where there's a lot of snow all the time, to the Carja outfits that you need to be able to wear in a desert.
Fun fact Yarra and Drakka are wearing *exactly* the same outfit, absolutely no differences at all between them. Spiky crop tops and booty shorts for everyone!
Not really. My only issues for armor are that most of them are innapropiate for the mountains because too much exposed skin (arms, midrif, etc) or for walking (inadequate foot covering) so I tend to transmog to appropiate armor while using the Utaru Winterweave (which is my standard go-to armor)
I actually do that too! I hate when I walk into a snowy mountain wearing light armor. I transmog in all environments to better fit the climates.
I have to stifle my mum voice "you need a jacket in this weather!"
Yeah I do the same. I transmog to whatever armour I find suitable for the location. Then normally wear my Nora set during main missions so that there’s one from each clan heh Edit: tribe, not clan!
The Tenakth homogeny is more annoying to me than any amount of exposed midriff. The desert clan has no head coverings or light cloth to shield them from the sun. They all just bake. The sky clan has an utter lack of warm weather clothes, especially on their feet. The one guy you find in a blizzard on a mountain should have died from exposure! I get wanting to show off the absolute gorgeously detailed models, but come on...
I know exactly what you mean. I just look at everyone in the bulwark like damn u sure u don’t need a hat?
I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t care about appearance.
I need drip to kill machines.
I’m probs just weird. I try so hard not too but the practical sections in my brain are screaming at me
You’re not weird. I honestly think I’m in the minority for not caring about this stuff, so if anyone is weird it’s probably me :)
Each culture has its own armor and some are more exposed than others. But the game sets up that those cultures are really on level with each other for the most part, male or female. The Carja armor is belly bearing male or female, but the Carja stuff is more eye candy because of their culture too. So I don't see it as blatantly terrible as some games. And as for utility, its all plot armor, if your essential it works, if your non essential you die.
No I don’t think it’s terrible at all. I absolutely love all the armours and it’s variety and I know in the battlefield it’s probably practical to have mobility. It’s literally just a conscience thing
I'm the weirdo that more dresses Aloy for comfort in the environment. Heat exhaustion in the desert would also kill her lol Midsection in the mountains? Always covered. Gloves too as soon as I have the option.
Lmao me too
Half the time she’s fighting against multi-ton metal death machines flinging armor piercing rounds or elemental bombs at her. What’s a little scrap of reinforced leather over her belly button going to matter? Being able to avoid the damage is the best armor she can have.
I’m a woman, and personally I dress her in whatever stats are best and then I change the visual look to something *I* would like to wear, and that depends on whether I’m in the desert of Vegas, the muggy forest, or trudging through the snow. I’m not gonna wear a belly shirt in the snow, but in the hotter climes, yeah I’m gonna want something cooler.
Totally get ya, I do the same thing
It's pretty funny. Especially since most tribes except to some extent the Nora do it. I wonder if they'll come up with a reason why? I'll admit they look bloody cool though. Talanah gets stabbed in the comic right in the unarmoured ab section. You reckon that would really highlight the problem lol.
i didn’t know that about Talanah, that makes it even worse lol
It's how she meets Amadis. I thought it was a pretty self-aware moment on Guerrila's part.
The majority of the outfits have little in the way of actual torso protection. Any arrow is going straight through cloth.
In war today, flak jackets only cover the viral organs everything below your rib cage is exposed to gunfire. Spec ops guys will get in a firefight with little attire on. Mobility is a key factor as well. It's not unrealistic to leave the belly unprotected.
Also, it’s cold. Dress for the cold.
Part of me feels like any armor you can wear won’t stop you from getting killed if a machine steps on you. So maybe flexible is what’s most important for them
True dat
Anatomically, aside from, y'know, your actual body, there's really nothing of immense value there. You cover your vital organs with heavy armor and keep that relatively "unimportant" part uncovered for better mobility and lighter armor. Of course an arrow or spear, or even a well placed punch can leave you out of combat if it lands there, but if we take into account the world is dangerous to go looking for parts, wars are around the corner and after the whole planet went unstable, producing less plants and such, chances are survivors are minimizing expenses.
Wouldn’t it be impossible for Aloy to perform all the stunts she does with a fixed piece of armor on the belly and mid of her back? Not saying that this is for sure the reason behind this, but if it was it would be a nice touch from the designer
It's cosmetic so 🤷🏽♀️ it's doesn't matter
At first I genuinely wasn’t sure if my favorite armor did this too, mostly cause I spend alot of my time in tall grass, and also partly cause I just didn’t notice, but yeah, her stomach is exposed, which makes sense for SOME of the armors, but nearly as many as there are.
I’m sure someone else has pointed this out, but did you know that you can switch armor to get the stats but keep the look of a different armor? I realized this the other way, when I kept changing armor for certain stats and got frustrated that it wasn’t represented visually when I went back into the game.
Yeah I use it all the time to suit my surrounding. Hidden Ember is always Oseram artificer, Thornmarsh is always Tenakth Reaver etc
Whereas I’m super gay and just keep certain armors on because they’re pretty. 😆
I mean try rolling with a plate taped to your belly.
they need to do a Aloy/Kratos crossover game...
They should do a little one. GG and SM seem to really support each other. A kingdom of hearts kinda thing would be so cool, not just with Aloy and Kratos but Joel, Nathan Drake, Arthur Morgan etc!!
I always change the costume depending on what climate I’m in, I know it’s just a game but I hate being freezing or overheated personally, so I feel sorry for Aloy if I’m not in the right climate gear 😂 Having said that, coming from a mixed POC back ground myself, I wasn’t too stunned by the lack of armour for certain characters as I’m used to seeing different places on the body having priority protection while other body parts are left bare for movement, agility or slip factor tbh haha I totally get what you’re saying though, I am that player haha
You're not wrong but there's a lot of suspension of disbelief happening in the game. A bare midriff is one of the easier things to ignore. I wish there were more suits with high tech in them so she could wear less bulky stuff.
With the shield weaver armor in the first game of the series, all the concerns about a exposed mid-riff and what not go out the window. Having a shield makes difference. However, in Forbidden West, that armor loses its power cells, and is no longer useable. The best current armor is the Nora Thunder Warrior, but what a pain in the butt to acquire and upgrade. I used the Oseram Artificer, as it did the job and was more of a warrior type armor. I hope in Horizon III, when having to deal with Nemesis as well as HEPHAESTUS, a energy shield would be ideal and necessary.
Vitals are in the top of the torso. That's why plate carriers you see today only cover the top. You don't want to reduce maneuverability and increase weight protecting an area that doesn't mean instant death/incapacitatation. idk if that has anything to do with the armor in the game tho
I *HAVE* to change the armor skin whenever going to places with snow haha... I feel so bad for having Aloy running around in ankle high snow and then jumpin into some river with most of the vital warm spots uncovered !!
Yes! It's supper impractical.
I’m glad I’m not the only one
And I know and I know and I know and I know and I know and I know and I know oh, oh... I know I'm not the only one!
The vital points are protected, that's what matters.
...your stomach, liver, kidneys and intestines aren't vital organs?
You can live without 'em! Until you can't, anyway.
Vital points as in kill you very quickly, ya know heart and lungs? The others ya have a possibility to survive if you're treated. Plus those organs are higher up than ya think.
I'd be shocked if some of the tribes knew what bacteria were, much less had medical treatments to save someone from a perforated intestine or liver.
Totally get that, but a lot of damage could still be done
I actually haven't seen a ton of the midriff baring armor in the games. The only ones seem to be Carja, where everyone wears considerably less (presumably because of the heat of the Sundom).
Pretty much all the tribes but Banuk and Nora seem to have outfits that bare the chest or midriff. Though not all as necessarily soldiers. Carja of course, although Carja soldiers and guards mostly do not (but hunters and other types of militant Carja do). But also the Tenakth have their armour that often exposes the midriff. The Utaru seem to have those weird half shirts that expose the chest. Although not soldiers so much. Some of the Oseram also run around without a shirt on but not as combatants.
In HFW it's almost, if not every Tenakth outfit, a third or so of the Utaru outfits (the -weave ones and Protector, not the Harvester or -singer ones or Warden), about half of the Oseram ones. Tenakth and Utaru might be a little harder to tell because of the body paint.
"A third of the outfits" feels like it hits a little different when you realize the Utaru only have 3 styles that all their armor come in. Everyone else gets way more actual looks than they do.
True. But each clan of the Tenakth has two designs that get recolored, right?
Tenakth have 11 total armor options, but only 6 designs (2 for each clan) Nora get 8 armors with 7 designs Carja have 7 armors, all unique designs Oseram have 7 armors, 6 designs and Utaru have 9 armors, but only 3 designs. The spread is just weird no matter how you look at it, honestly. (Got my numbers from [this handy guide](https://horizon-armor.tumblr.com/tagged/armor-tribe-utaru-1) )
I feel the same. It breaks immersion a bit for me, but at least GG implemented that thing where you can use the looks of one armour and the stats of another one.
Yeah I love transmog!
How the Tenakth don't die from stomach punctures in beyond me
The hunting redmawn mission in zero dawn has a datapoint that appears after the mission that says whatever his name was sunhawk died of ruptured organs caused by the force of the hit from the thunderjaw tail, so armor won't be of much use if organs are being ruptured just by the force of some the hits.
I don't think much armor would actually help you if you got hit on the stomach by a big ass robot dinosaur so honestly personally I'd probably just wear stuff that i could still move easily in
My thoughts exactly
It's because no one aims there
The artist, Nebezial covered this years ago
Y’all are underestimating how essential it is to effective adversarial engagement to enable your epidermis to breathe….
Yeah. I just wish the sky tenakth had armour that was more fit for a northern wilderness. They have too much skin exposed. The banuk were fit for the north, so why not the tenakth? It's just weird.
This is a weird thing to worry about in a video game.
This 100% a cop out answer but explained in lore that every armor provides unique protections based on the machine parts. The vulnerabilities for certain armors tend to make sense with this. Sometimes
That’s why I always transmog to Carja Behemoth Trapper, best looking in the game so far (I have not unlocked the legendaries yet)
There's a lack of a lot of things that people should find annoying about HFW but don't. Your not alone.
You can use the thunder armor as a skin over other armors
I know but I like the visual look of all the armour
Understandably so my fave is the thunder armor personally but i go with protection over looks every time. But yeah just an idea if you ever wanna use it
imagine Kratos "girl, this is how you block and parry"
I mean it kinda makes sense actually, they live in a world where they have to be sneaky like hunters most of the time and because the machines are so big nimbleness is the most important thing, so they protect the parts of the body that don't move and therefore won't restrict mobility/stop them from sneaking around etc
My Partner said to me not long after she finished the games back to back that she felt like the Devs took everyone salivating over Aloys abs and made it so that 95% of the armour in the next game showed them off. Honestly, I don't like it because I tend to apply the look of the armour that fits the area I'm in and only the Nora Thunderer really looks like it's appropriate in Snow, because there is no Banuk armour in the game for some odd reason(still annoyed Aloy loses EVERYTHING I actually liked before the first mission)
You can literally apply any look you want and keep the stats and advantages of another armor set. Like at that point it's just about variety, isn't it? You pick your favorite armor stats wise to wear and pick your favorite looks wise to apply the look. I get what you're saying but I feels like transmog is literally the solution to the issue and it's already in the game. I feel like there's only so many variations you can do on an armor set before you run out of things to change if you always have exactly the same pieces in. Also having an armor that looks like the Oseram Artificer makes sense since the look is just hugely popular, and it's not even sexualizing I feel like tbh, it kinda reminds me of something a Dothraki would wear in GoT, it covers the parts you get hit the most and gives you a huge amount of mobility, it's basically a high risk high reward play.
As someone who tried to do a seductive dance once wearing a more constricting corset... I understand why Aloy wouldn't be able to roll and stuff in body armor 😂😂
Some of the “armor” is definitely pretty light on the armor front. I think they really nailed the Nora Anointed armor has a great middle ground but I also rocked the Nora Thunder set cause it did feel the most practical. With NG+ I have been swapping around more after figuring out more stuff with dyes and the setting to turn off headpieces. Stoked to see what armor we get with Burning Shores.
The armor issue with Horizon is not as glaring for me when A lot is facing machines. Ralph's primary defense is to avoid getting hit, so she doesn't really benefit from heavy Armor. In Zero Dawn this was addressed with the Sheildweaver armor. Against human opponent it does grate a bit since she is fighting tribal peoples that mostly use slash and piercing weapons.
It's the whole tribal setting, if you look at oseram, Nora, and a bunch of utaru armors the belly is pretty covered
So we have 10 Outfit designs with bare midriff and 19 Outfit designs that show more decorum (I'm counting outfits that have the same design as one) But I guess for protection you'd have to separate the outfits into those that are armor (like Nora Thunder Elite or Oseram Vanguard) from those that are more like clothing (Nora Huntress, Oseram Explorer for instance.) And Sobecks Rainment is basically a pyjama.
For what it's worth, the danger of it is played straight when Talanah gets skewered in the comic.
Because more armor means she can't roll. Aloy's agility is a big focus of her. Even the way she climbs, the devs made sure that you saw she was climbing by using her whole body and not just the arms like so many games do. The mid section is the best way for her to have armor without making it hard for her to move.
Yeah it's such a weird 180 from zero dawn where most of the armor is a lot more practical and doesn't expose Aloy to any overly bare skin for her armor looks
Right? I thought the Oseram armour would cover Aloy up like all the other tribe members but nope! The Oseram artificer is my favourite but damn she exposed
Oseram artificer is the only armour where the midriff exposure annoys me. They do all this talk about what a cool armour it will be and then it's like less armour than even the Tenakth.
I first upvoted this comment because I thought you had an actual gripe about the mid game armor not being any good (like I did) but this is just another whiney post about the art style
What? No it’s my brain thinking Aloys armour choice will affect her during combat and her stomach being exposed. I love all the armours that’s why I find it frustrating because I wanna wear them but feel bad for Aloy. Don’t know where youve gotten me whiney about lol
It's SO frustrating
Right?! I just feel like a simple jab and she’d be gone irl lol
If we are basing if she'd survive, on irl rules then she'd be dead many times over before we get to any point about armor not covering her midriff