In all fairness to Bioware, they're not pajamas.
As a former member of the Society of Creative Anachronism, I actually have some minimal real life experience with medieval armor. It looks to me like they took a reasonable stab at showcasing something called a "Gambeson", which was the padded underlayer worn under medium (chain) or heavy (plate) armor. Believe itor not, it's actually historically accurate. Soldiers did not, and could not, wear armor 24/7, so they only wore their armor outer layer when out in the field, and at all other times (when combat was unlikely) wore regular attire or (to save time in re-equipping their armor) their gambeson. The chief drawback of the gambeson was that they tended to get quite ripe and riddled with pests like scabies, courtesy of the sort of subpar personal hygene that was commonplace in the middle ages.
My only nit with their portrayal is that most gambesons were a somewhat simpler unadorned one-piece long-shirt type affair, rather than the slightly more fashionable 2-piece affair (shirt+pants) that they have in the game, but that's a minor thing. This is actually the first time I've seen anyone portray one in a game, so my inner historial recreationist was surprised and mildly pleased.
@151Society wrote:In all fairness to Bioware, they're not pajamas.
As a former member of the Society of Creative Anachronism, I actually have some minimal real life experience with medieval armor. It looks to me like they took a reasonable stab at showcasing something called a "Gambeson", which was the padded underlayer worn under medium (chain) or heavy (plate) armor. Believe itor not, it's actually historically accurate. Soldiers did not, and could not, wear armor 24/7, so they only wore their armor outer layer when out in the field, and at all other times (when combat was unlikely) wore regular attire or (to save time in re-equipping their armor) their gambeson. The chief drawback of the gambeson was that they tended to get quite ripe and riddled with pests like scabies, courtesy of the sort of subpar personal hygene that was commonplace in the middle ages.
My only nit with their portrayal is that most gambesons were a somewhat simpler unadorned one-piece long-shirt type affair, rather than the slightly more fashionable 2-piece affair (shirt+pants) that they have in the game, but that's a minor thing. This is actually the first time I've seen anyone portray one in a game, so my inner historial recreationist was surprised and mildly pleased.
I do understand you want it to be a Gambeson. However, it is a form-fitting thin piece of cloth that doesn't even look like it would stop you from catching a cold, let alone pad armor. You also say "it actually looks nothing like a Gambeson but I've decided it is one anyway, no big deal."
Blackwall, by comparison, is wearing his padding in Skyhold. The Inquisitor is wearing what is clearly a very thin cloth shirt and leather pants.
My Inquisitor is kinda dark/olive skinned and my housemates will frequently come up behind me when I'm in Skyhold and ask why I'm running around naked.
But yeah - it would definitely be good to be able to either have the option of different outfits or your normal armour, as worn around Haven (except at the War Table for some reason).
I can see how it is more realistic to not go around in your armour all the time - but then, you are interacting with Cullen and Leliana, who do wander around in their armour all the time. In some cut-scenes - such as the one where you become Inquisitor - it actively detracts from the epicness of the cutscene because you look so odd and out of place next to Cullen and Leliana.
I inserted numbered bullets below, for ease of reply ...
@spacefiddler wrote:
{1) I do understand you want it to be a Gambeson. However, it is a form-fitting thin piece of cloth that doesn't even look like it would stop you from catching a cold, let alone pad armor.{2} You also say "it actually looks nothing like a Gambeson but I've decided it is one anyway, no big deal."{3} Blackwall, by comparison, is wearing his padding in Skyhold. The Inquisitor is wearing what is clearly a very thin cloth shirt and leather pants.
To reply:
{1) I expressed no preference at all ... I was just chiming in speculatively. In any case, just like mountain climbers do today, armored warriors typically dressed and padded in layers, depending on the weather, country, military tradition and the type of armor worn. There was no one design fits all, nor were gambesons limited to a single layer. The observation that it looks too thin to be of padding value is a valid one, but that doesn't preclude it to perhaps being a convenient underlayer to a heavier layer of padding that fits over it, and in any case my post was intended to offer a possible counter explanation to the inaccurate assertion that they were/are pajamas, which I dont believe to be the case. Meanwhile, feel free to do a little side reading on gambesons.
{2} Those are your words, not mine, so please lose the quotation marks. It's not even a very accurate paraphrase, so your reading seems to be rather selective, and skewed towards quibbling rather than objectively adding to the discussion.
🏀 An astute observation about Blackwall that actually adds to the conversation, and I agree with you fully on that count. Blackwall's attire is much more consistent with the heavier sort of padded gambesons typical for heavier mail during the periods I am most familiar with. As for the other half of your comment, perhaps your eyes are better than mine, but I'm unable tell exactly how thin the inquisitor's attire is, and whether or not its made of cloth, leather, pressed felt, spandex, GortexTM, Rayeon, body paint, or the latest in VR pixels by Yves St Laurent.
Again, my original comment was that rather than pajamas, it was probably intended to evoke some sort of under-attire for armor ... no more, no less. A speculative offering, not a statement of fact nor wishful thinking.
