Are character aesthetics important to you?

I was just playing The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and I'm in Chapter 3. At this point in the game you start getting some pretty powerful weapons and gear with great stats. I had just picked up this armor with really good stats that blew my current one out of the water (and I was literally standing in water at that moment!) then when I put it on and exited the menu it was shocking how awful it looked. Now Witcher 2 already has a pretty weird style in armor - Geralt is more about wearing these weird tunics with belts and such rather than armor in the traditional sense of platemail or even chain really. This new gear not only looked like a dinner party shirt with strange colors but also had these seashells sticking out at the shoulder which just made it awful. I literally switched back to my previous set despite this new ones armor rating exceeding my previous one by a count of 10, which is a lot in this game.

So I'm curious, do you guys downgrade to worse gear if the better alternative is visually unappealing? In Mass Effect 1 I thought it was hilarious to have Wrex decked out in pink armor, yet in Mass Effect 3 I spent a lot of time finding the best combination of shoulder pads, chest pieces etc for my Shepard - and just like Witcher 2 would often choose worse properties if the armor looked better. (although in ME3 the bearing of those stats arguably was not very important)

If you had ever seen my Morrowind character you would know the answer. I put on whatever is most powerful, aesthetics be damned.

In Witcher, kinda, yeah. But not for like, huge things, and usually not in combat heavy sequences. I totally used Elven gauntlets in Skyrim on my caster even though they were not the light armor type, because it looks fucking awesome to cast shit with Elven/Ebony Gauntlets.

Depends usually, I have neglected to equip some stuff when I played WoW due to the way it looks.

I'll wear marginally weaker armor/weapons if they look cooler. But only up to a point.

It depends on how atrocious the armor looks. It has to look really, really bad for me to want to downgrade. Enemies won't have much to laugh about when you're killing them.

When I play Shogun 2 in multiplayer, even though they are useless, I use "onna bushi" because they are the only female unit and have a cool design.

When it comes to games with less substance to the gameplay e.g... Skyrim it becomes an overpowered exploit fest anyway. You could play the game naked on hardest mode and it wouldn't matter since the game is so heavily unbalanced due to terrible implentation of leveling and the gazillion exploits. Games like World Of Warcraft and Lord Of The Rings Online allow you to wear what you want with the same stats. This is because 1000 million people look the same as you.

I embrace shitty looking armor and I always wear the stupidest looking stuff cause ima rebel and stuff.

Depends on the game, something like The Witcher 2, where its all about immersion, then yes, I will often equip weaker gear as opposed to better gear. Something like WOW, where i can walk through people, and pop-ups clutter my screen. No, I don't care about immersion in that case.

yeah I'll do this too in a third person game. Most of the time the stat penalty doesn't even matter all that much. If it's really dumb looking though and it's a multiplayer game - then hell yes I wear it. The more obnoxious the better.

Depends on the game, don't do it in games with a lot of stats on the gear so that I'm crippling myself but when I get a chance in games, yes I always wear what looks better on my character.
That's also why I love Lord of the Rings Online, having a armor set on top of your character's original gear (while retaining stats!) is just perfect for immersion.

For all RPGs that use armor in character models - set for around town, set for stabbing dudes/monsters/monsterdudes.

I used to, absolutely. I've learned my lesson, however. When I was younger, I never swapped out Tidus' Brotherhood sword in FFX because it was so cool looking. This wasn't the best decision when fighting water type enemies. I'll only downgrade for visual appeal if the stronger gear is really ugly. Of course, if it's near the endgame, I'll just deal with it.

Meh, not really. I like looking cool but I can stand to look a bit ugly if I'm more powerful. The one thing that really irks me aesthetically are female armor sets with a bunch of bare skin showing just to look sexy. Very aggravating.

Yep.

I also use the most powerful combination of armour available. I try going for sets, but if I can't I'll just use the strongest.

Yes and no. It depends on the game and if they fit in with the surrounding universe, to which my character resides.

Nope I don't care what my character looks like.

If it gives me better stats i'll wear a dishtowel on my characters head if its better. Might keep a extra set around for looks if I want to run around looking awesome but when I need the best i'll throw a ugly hat on no matter what.

Not at all. It's all about the numbers for me.

This is actually funny. Yeah, in Mass Effect I specifically chose inferior armor in exchange for a badass look. Shallow I know, but my femshep looks sweet. No biggie, I can make up the difference in battle.

Yes I care about my character's appearance. So much so that it's usually to my detriment. I'll equip armor with worse stats just because they match or look better rather than equipping my best gear at all times. With most modern games, it's usually not a problem because you're able to customize armor to always match or come close to.

I do remember specifically remember with the Witcher 2 that there were few armor sets that were pretty.. out there appearance-wise. There was also that one set of armor you can craft near the end of the game that looked great,

I do the same. It's hardly critical in single player games but I even do it when it is critical - I'll waste a few very expensive stat points and sacrifice some HP in Dark Souls just so I don't have to sport chicken legs or a skirt.

I think it was Tekken 6 that allowed you to equip the gear with the best stats and then change the appearance afterward in a separate menu so it was the best of both worlds, I really liked that. In Soul Calibur IV I definitely sacrificed strength for visual appeal.

No, I'll go for the strongest gear I have in a game like The Witcher. But if the character isn't customizable like a God of War or something I do care if I have to look at this character for 8-ish hours.

Most modern games are easy enough to always go pretty over powerful. And if it creates more of a challenge, hey, all the better.

Also, I like the idea of playing characters who don't rely on fancy equipment. Way cooler.

I will always downgrade if I don't find the armor to look as cool.

@Humanity said:

So I'm curious, do you guys downgrade to worse gear if the better alternative is visually unappealing?

yup, unless I'm really stuck.

If I'm going to grind with the item I gotta like what I'm looking at.