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Equipment-Hiding Fashion

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Also known as Transmogrification (or Transmog), some games with a Virtual Paper Doll aspect will allow you to change a piece of equipment's appearance to something else you have. Some games present this using slots, with one affecting both the appearance and stats of a character while the other overrides the appearance of the first slot. While this can lead to Fridge Logic of how something like a sleeveless shirt and shorts can give the same protection as full plate armour, it is deemed an Acceptable Break from Reality as it allows players to design their characters to appear how they want and combat the issues of Rainbow Pimp Gear and Concealed Customization.

Usually equipment-hiding fashion is only implemented for armour as the varying shapes and types of weapons can make it tricky to implement for them, though if weapons of each type function identically this trope is more likely to apply. It's also less likely to be implemented in Player Versus Player focused games, if what items your opponent uses has a significant effect on gameplay and thus is important knowledge.

How equipment-hiding fashion can be obtained depends on the game, with some allowing it to be obtained through gameplay while others require players to spend money, either with standard in-game currency or with their real life wallets.

Sub-Trope to Informed Equipment.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Action Games 
  • God of War Ragnarök has an unique application of this trope: a piece of armor can only be customized once it's fulled upgraded to Level 10, which is only possible at the end of the game. Each piece of equipment has to unlock it individually, after which it can be given the appearance of anything else you've acquired. Many armors also have a Palette Swap or two unlocked along the way that are also included among the options.
  • Horizon Forbidden West allows the ability to designate a piece of armor as Aloy's outward appearance, allowing the player to lock in one look while still being able to freely swap between different armors as needed.

    Eastern RPGs 
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X lets you equip armor this way. This allows you to be well protected on the fields of Mira while also wearing the most fashionable clothing you can buy.

    Fighting Games 
  • The skins in Get Amped allow the users to customize your fighter's look (down to the bizarre ones), which then is saved as a "skin" file, which you can then register into the game to be used over your fighter's appearance. One player can have lots of skins at once.
  • Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode has Gear Appearance as a fairly early unlockable ability that provides a second set of cosmetic-only equipment slots for your avatar.

    MMORPGs 
  • DC Universe Online allows you to "lock" styles to their current settings despite the armor piece you are equipped, which usually automatically displays the style associated with the equipped piece. The style menu allows you to select which style to display on your character. Any style attached to the equipped armor piece that is not already added is instantly added to the log.
  • The Elder Scrolls Online allows you to design and dye mix-and-match outfits that completely replace the visual of your weapons and armor. New styles are learned from regular loot, rewards, events, achievements, and premium currency.
  • Elsword
    • The "costumes" are special equipments that will override the look of a certain piece of actual equipment (e.g the weapon costume will turn actual weapon's design) while also giving a few socket slots of their own.
    • The Magic Wardrobe system. With this you can conceal even the costumes themselves, and even accessories, with another. You have to set an equipment or a costume as a "wardrobe fodder" which then you can equip to turn the equipment and accessories' look to the one that you desired. Aside from nice cosmetic changes, players also do this to fool other players into thinking they're wearing weak equipment.
  • EverQuest II features Appearance Slots that lets you wear any armor or weapons that your class can wear for the appearance. The game also features the Wardrobe tab on the character window, which lets you buy slots for a very small amount of the game's premium currency that lets you wear any piece of equipment in the game regardless of what classes can use it.
  • Final Fantasy XIV allows you to "glamour" your weapons and armor, changing their appearance to another item of the same type. There are a few other restrictions: The glamour item you are attempting to wear must be usable by your current job (so no wearing a White Mage robe as a Dark Knight), and the glamour item must be a lower item level than the piece you are wearing it over (so you can't glamour a level 50 chest piece to look like a level 80 one). Most equipment designed to be used as glamour are item level 1 and usable by all jobs. The game also includes a glamour dresser, designed to not only hold glamouring items without cluttering your inventory but even allow the creation of glamour plates, which lets you make a full outfit and glamour several items at once while within the main towns. There's also a simple toggle option to make headgear invisible.
  • Most major cities in World of Warcraft have a "Transmogrifier" shop where you can cosmetically alter your gear to look like most pieces of gear you've encountered over the course of the game (or hide specific pieces from view altogether).
  • In Fallout 76, outfits can be worn over any armor you are wearing, hiding it completely.
  • Outfits in Guild Wars 2 are purely cosmetic and hide your armor. Alternately, you can use transmutation charges to change the appearance of a given equipped item to another "skin" that you've unlocked on your account.
  • The Lord of the Rings Online has cosmetic outfit slots for this purpose.
  • MapleStory has a Cash Shop with a large range of equipment-hiding fashion, with it being the only item purchasable for players before their characters reach level 60. These items are not permanent, disappearing 90 days after purchase.
  • Phantasy Star Online 2 and its follow-up, New Genesis, segregate equipable armor "Units" from your character's dress. As for weapons, there is a feature called "Weapon Camos" that project a new appearance over all weapons of that type. In base PSO2, there is only one slot for Weapon Camos, so players will need to swap out old camos for new ones. Meanwhile, NGS allows players to equip different Weapon Camos for each category of weapon. In both games, there are also some Camos that can be applied to multiple weapon categories.
  • Runescape allows players to set a "cosmetic override" for each equipment slot that serves this function. For content where your reward is clothes, the clothing in question will usually be unlocked as an override, though in most other cases a special item is needed. These overrides are also disabled automatically when entering a PvP area.
  • Spiral Knights has no equipment dedicated to this function but allows one to use an additional piece of in-game armour just for aesthetics.
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic includes the option of hiding headgear and can access the outfit designer which saves a set of armor as a choice of outfit, though only allows one outfit at first with more slots needing either in-game currency or real world money to unlock.

    Third-Person Shooters 
  • In Warframe, there's an option to render one's weapons invisible when they're holstered so they don't clip through accessories like capes and armor pieces.

    Turn-Based Strategy 

    Western RPGs 
  • In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, putting on a robe hides whatever armour you wear underneath: including the extremely bulky and pointy ones like the Daedric plate mail.

    Wide Open Sandbox 
  • Assassin's Creed:
  • Horizon Forbidden West allows it right from the jump, which can be good for roleplay as many armors offer great gameplay benefits, but Aloy is simply unlikely to wear the outfits of another culture.
  • Necesse has cosmetic equipment slots which can replace the appearance of equipped items with any other item. There are also cosmetic items that can only be worn in this slot.
  • Starbound has clothing and cosmetic armor specifically made to fill this slot. Most cosmetic armor serve as hats or capes with the exceptions serving as parts of costumes.
  • Terraria not only allows one to cover their armour but their visible accessories as well. Accessories can also be made invisible through the menu. Vanity armor is designed for this in mind, usually coming in a head, chest and leg set to equip.

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