The design goal behind Unarmored Defense was to make "naked barbarians" somewhat viable (which it does) for people who want to go that route, but it was never meant to "Just as good" as wearing the best-in-class medium armors.
Anyway, there are items that made the trade-off more interesting, like the bracers of defense mentioned above and some garbs that give DEX or CON bonuses.
When it comes to characters losing their "distinctive look" fairly quickly, yeah... That's an issue in the genre since graphics got to the point where you can tell the difference...
For all its other shortcomings I think it's one of the very few areas where Dragon Age Inquisition managed very well: basically any upgrade you could get to your companions' armors was specifically tailored to their look.
Last edited by Tuco; 09/08/23 12:38 PM.
