Yes, the armour in Divinity 2 wasn't realistic for either gender, but it looked fantastic. And in a fantasy game, shouldn't fantastic and cool trump practical and realistic?
Well, what's cool is a matter of opinion. Apparently, there are people who think World of Warcraft's visual style is cool, but I don't like it at all and I've often read complaints that other games look "too warcrafty".
In
, I've had my character walk around in underpants for some while because I didn't like any of the available armour options. Though I admit it partly was because swimming in full armour looked so silly.
You're confusing gameplay mechanics with universe laws, there. It's why you can one-shot a fully-armoured character but they can't one-shot you. In Skyrim, it's perfectly possible to shoot someone in the head with an arrow and not kill them. I have (or had) a screenshot of my character, wearing a helmet, with an arrow sticking out of her neck.
Gameplay mechanics demand some artistic license, but they do not necessarily define the laws of the universe.
There are games in which even experienced player characters can be killed with one hit. Sure, it's just gameplay mechanics, but they define the inner logic of the game world. If an adventurer experiences that wearing armour doesn't have a large effect on the damage he takes and on his chances to survive combat, what should he "think" of it? That he's just lucky all of the time? The conclusion that wearing full armour isn't all that important is more plausible.
It's like taking stuff from containers. If nobody in the game world objects when you smash all barrels and loot all chests that you can find, it might just be gameplay mechanics. But it defines the inner logic of the game world and it wouldn't be fair to still call this "theft".
It might be just as stupid, but it's not the same issue. The boob armour stuff accentuates and exaggerates the breasts. That is the whole purpose of it - to go OI OI LOOK 'ERE THERE'S TEATS. Spiked armour and so on is often exaggerated for game design purposes (i.e. to make it stand out), but often can make a character look more evil (Sauron, anyone?). Yes, it's stupid, but that's all it is. It doesn't have much to do with anything else.
I think there's quite a difference between bikini armour on the one hand and plate armour with boob cups on the other hand. If players (both male and female) want a female character to be recognizably female although she's wearing plate armour and just a few centimetres tall on the screen, boob cups are a way to achieve just that, and it doesn't have much to do with anything else either.
I'm sure some players would like to make Lara Croft strip, but it doesn't mean they should have their wishes granted. But why should this be even a discussion? As I've said before in this topic, male characters are not treated in the same manner (and if they are, it's never on the same level), so it shouldn't happen to female characters. If Larian - or, well, any other studio - was willing to do it for all genders, then maybe there wouldn't be so much of an issue.
As said before, having similarly revealing armour for male characters would just be fair. I don't know why it isn't done. Perhaps there's not enough demand for it?
