Templars http://www.greyfriars51.fsnet.co.uk/templar%20battle.jpg boring
vs 16th century
Gothic knights http://forum.paticik.com/thumbnails/59b/bf0/e25/3f0/b0f/07e/26d/f96/33d/bd9/30_450xNULL.jpg , http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_29.151.2,32.69.jpg, http://www.theknightshop.co.uk/catalog/images/300100.jpg , http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_33.164.jpg
; italian light cavalry armor http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_14.25.716.jpg
pretty damn cool
My conclusion - some stuff from later centuries is much more interesting and fun to see than your average 13th century "properly" equipped soldier. Even though i am the leader of a clan based on japanese samurai culture, doesn't mean we don't appreciate some of the state of the art european armors and weapons of the more late period of history.
By the way, same goes for the japanese samurai warfare evolution from 12th-13th to 16th centuries, if your average samurai in 13th century was a horse archer and looked something like this :
http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp7/dannyboyo68/sam13.jpg, http://samurai-warriors.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/samurai-armor.jpg;
Whereas a sengoku-jidai period 16th century samurai would look like this : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/WLA_lacma_Japan_Samurai_Armor_of_the_Gusoku_type.jpg, http://cdn1.iofferphoto.com/img/item/165/357/893/japanese-wearable-r-stung-samurai-armor-suit-black-02-bc1d5.jpg, http://wb5.itrademarket.com/pdimage/18/893618_samurai-armour.jpg, http://www.daimyo-lords-of-japan.com/NewFiles/dscn5572.jpg, http://www.corbisimages.com/images/WF002277.jpg?size=67&uid=44574527-18f9-4ef6-95e7-f9712f287b35&uniqID=61b476e8-11b2-47fd-a270-18db9975b6a2
So my point is - dropping stuff from the late centuries might bring some historical accuracy to the game, maybe some authentic feel (doubt it), but why would you degrade the game to such a level, throwing away so many interesting armors and weapons of the late period ? So i'd have to agree with Casimir on this one, variety is good, it's Calradia, not the History Channel.
Yes let's STREAMLINE the design of cRPG.
Sorry more caps in spoiler.. 1st and only time I ever write in so many caps.
Let's make it as GENERIC as possible as the other one Gazillion games out there. Where everything fits in their own INCREDIBLY IMAGINATIVE UNIVERSES.. Let's make a super intriguing BACKSTORY that will help with IMMERSION. Let's ATTRACT MORE HISTORY&REALISM FREAKS..
The spoilered sentences above was mostly ironic. (In case some americans didn't get it)
I mean.. this is of course a valid topic, but the scope of it is beyond what c-RPG can currently be, and contains countless pitfalls. All respect for the makers, but the very name of the mod: c-RPG is simply a terrible name, that tells you nothing.. And I really really like that! It also names no boundaries to what it can be, time period, setting etc. If anything it contains "be what you want"!. Be it Conan, Ninja, Templar, Mongol, or a freckled girl with pink hair throwing rocks at people.
If anything, this freedom, creativity, and FUN is the very soul and Unique feature of c-RPG.
And I have to beg the holy makers, to consider this before they do mad changes and think up a "Concept/setting/story" and start limiting the mod. But yeah.. a healthy discussion about these topics would be good, and we would have something to argue about before patch :-)