History Main / OnlySixHelmets

* PowerArmor helmets and some additional headgear (ski masks, welding masks, raider wastehound helmets) in ''{{Fallout 3}}'' cover the entire face. Some outfits like hazmat suits or the stealth armor cover the entire body including the head.
* Not even an hour into ''DragonAge'' will pass before you procure your first helmet, wasting your hard-spent moments creating the perfect nose for your human noble.

** ''DragonAgeII'' included a feature that allowed the player to hide his/her helmet while keeping it's stats.
* In the little-known ''SiegeOfAvalon Anthology'', you don't get much to customize--just hair color, hairstyle, and whether you have a beard, but every one of the three dozen or so hats, hoods, and helmets covers at least the hair, and usually the face (and beard) as well. However, the non-magical ones are practically useless anyway (giving only 1-2% damage reduction), so going without is perfectly plausible.

* In ''MassEffect2'', you can procure several different types of headgear for [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] to wear, all of which provide some sort of stat bonus, and almost all of which cover most (if not all) of the face you spent ages getting ''just right''. [[hottip:*:(This is in contrast to MassEffect1, where Shepard gets ''one'' helmet which provides no stat bonuses and, except in certain hazardous conditions, can be toggled on and off at any time.)]] Luckily, the stat bonuses, while useful, aren't ''that'' big, and going helmet-less isn't a huge risk. However, during certain missions (unless Shepard is already wearing a full armor set), the game will force Shepard to wear the N7 Breather Helmet, which covers everything except his/her eyes.

* In ''MassEffect2'', you can procure several different types of headgear for [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] to wear, all of which provide some sort of stat bonus, and almost all of which cover most (if not all) of the face you spent ages getting ''just right''. [[hottip:*:(This is in contrast to [[MassEffect1 the first game]], where Shepard gets ''one'' helmet which provides no stat bonuses and, except in certain hazardous conditions, can be toggled on and off at any time.)]] Luckily, the stat bonuses, while useful, aren't ''that'' big, and going helmet-less isn't a huge risk. However, during certain missions (unless Shepard is already wearing a full armor set), the game will force Shepard to wear the N7 Breather Helmet, which covers everything except his/her eyes.

* ''[[TheElderScrollsFourOblivion Oblivion]]'': Pretty much the same, although there are more helmets that leave at least parts of the head visible.

* ''[[TheElderScrollsThreeMorrowind Morrowind]]'': All helmets erase the hair and most helmets cover the face as well.

* ''DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'' has a fairly wide selection of helmets, and most of them don't even cover your face. Sadly, all of them cover your hair, which comes in a variety of styles and colors, [[MoneySink some of which are only available at the in-game store]]. Fortunately, there is a SlashCommand that turns a character's helmet invisible.

[[AC: FirstPersonShooter]]
* {{Halo}} does this for color schema from Halo 2 on - no matter how much effort you put into your armor color, you wear your team color. Averted for the actual helmets and armor, though. Master Chief is uncustomizable and you can only set Noble 6's gender.
* VideoGame/TeamFortress2 does this in an interesting way; the class's uniform is, though either red or blue, constant (with a few exceptions; badges and so forth) but there are a million hats. Even goggles. [[GogglesDoNothing For what that's worth.]]
** This was an intentional design choice: each of the [[BeyondTheImpossible nine]] classes is instantly recognizable from a distance, but they're still quite customized.

* Averted so hard it's worth a mention in ''RagnarokOnline'', the world's most popular Massively Multiplayer Online Hat Collecting Game. On the other hand, having OnlySixFaces would be a substantial step up.
** To elaborate, headgear is main form of customization available.

* GlobalAgenda, though there's something like 20 helmets per class per gender, and then colors you can layer on, but you undoubtedly spent a long time making your first character's face, and there are vastly more face-customizing options than helmets. Once you get your first helmet, you often never see your face again.

*** If you don't like it, go unarmored. While you can't get nearly as much protection from going unarmored, it's just an awesome feeling to kill living gods without any armor. Plus, it's not like there were that many faces anyways.

* ''NeverwinterNights''
** ''NeverwinterNights2'' adds some variety. Headbands and hats typically leave hair and face visible. Hoods and some helmets leave the face visible, and all helmets leave the eyes visible. Most face choices are considered ugly, though, and there is a lack of reasonable hair styles, so this may be a good thing.
*** Most hats and helmets, outside a few magic items, convey no real benefits for using and wearing them anyways. Some give no benefit at all, but many give a bonus of +1 Concentration. Concentration isn't relevant to most classes. If it is important to a character, then they almost definitely have it maxed at all times, and a bonus of 1 isn't a major help.
* ''DungeonSiege''

* Not even an hour into ''DragonAge'' will pass before you procure your first helmet, wasting your hard-spent moments creating the perfect nose for your human noble...well, up until dialogs and cutscenes, anyway.

** DragonAgeII included a feature that allowed the player to hide his/her helmet while keeping it's stats.

*** Wearing a helmet with a face mask also causes Shepard's voice to sound like it's coming from a speaker which can get annoying at times.
** Some headgear subverts this however by providing stat bonuses whilst only covering a small portion of the wearer's face (such as a targetting enhancer over one eye). You still can't wear these in a vacuum though.

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] in ''MountAndBlade.'' There is a fairly in depth character creation process as well as a number of face-concealing helmets, but in many non-combat interactions, your character will be bareheaded if their headgear obscures their face. Occasionally justified such as in the case of entering a castle; you have to surrender your arms, which presumably also means that the guards wish to be able to see your face to keep an eye on you.

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<<|CostumeTropes|>>

* ''BaldursGate''

* GlobalAgenda, though there's something like 20 helmets per class per gender, and then colors you can layer on, but you undoubtedly spent a long time making your first character's face, and once you get your first helmet, you often never see it again.

* TeamFortress2 does this in an interesting way; the class's uniform is, though either red or blue, constant (with a few exceptions; badges and so forth) but there are a million hats. Even goggles. [[GogglesDoNothing For what that's worth.]]

* ''WorldOfWarcraft'', although the player can choose not to display it.

!!Non-video game examples:

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:MMORPGs]]

* ''MonsterHunter'' has a wide variety of customization options for faces, but helmets cover up all of that. You can slightly change the color of the helmets, but it is typically a small change.

* ''[[TheElderScrollsThreeMorrowind Morrowind]]'': All helmets erase the hair and most helmets cover the face as well.
** Especially glaring because your armor bonus depends on wearing armor over all parts of your body, so skipping the helmet because you want to show show your character's face means you're going to take a hit on your entire defense.
* ''[[TheElderScrollsFourOblivion Oblivion]]'': Pretty much the same, although there are more helmets that leave at least parts of the head visible.

* ''NeverwinterNights''
** ''NeverwinterNights2'' adds some variety. Headbands and hats typically leave hair and face visible. Hoods and some helmets leave the face visible, and all helmets leave the eyes visible. Most face choices are considered ugly, though, and there is a lack of reasonable hair styles, so this may be a good thing.
* ''BaldursGate''
* ''TempleOfElementalEvil''; luckily, helms have no in-game effect, except for the magic ones (and most of them are headbands).

* ''DungeonSiege''

* PowerArmor helmets and some additional headgear (ski masks, welding masks, raider wastehound helmets) in ''{{Fallout 3}}'' cover the entire face. Some outfits like hazmat suits or the stealth armor cover the entire body including the head.
* Not even an hour into ''DragonAge'' will pass before you procure your first helmet, wasting your hard-spent moments creating the perfect nose for your human noble...well, up until dialogs and cutscenes, anyway.
** A popular mod for the PC version allows helmets to appear unequipped only to be automatically equipped for combat and when you open the menu. It's not without its bugs, however.
* In the little-known ''SiegeOfAvalon Anthology'', you don't get much to customize--just hair color, hairstyle, and whether you have a beard, but every one of the three dozen or so hats, hoods, and helmets covers at least the hair, and usually the face (and beard) as well. However, the non-magical ones are practically useless anyway (giving only 1-2% damage reduction), so going without is perfectly plausible.
* ''HellgateLondon'' has OnlySixFaces, but out of the nine different helmets (18 if counting gender-specific models for each) all of the Templar and Hunter helms conceal some nicely modeled facial features. Going bareheaded isn't recommended, and the stat bonuses are too good to pass up.
* In ''MassEffect2'', you can procure several different types of headgear for [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] to wear, all of which provide some sort of stat bonus, and almost all of which cover most (if not all) of the face you spent ages getting ''just right''. [[hottip:*:(This is in contrast to [[MassEffect1 the first game]], where Shepard gets ''one'' helmet which provides no stat bonuses and, except in certain hazardous conditions, can be toggled on and off at any time.)]] Luckily, the stat bonuses, while useful, aren't ''that'' big, and going helmet-less isn't a huge risk. However, during certain missions (unless Shepard is already wearing a full armor set), the game will force Shepard to wear the N7 Breather Helmet, which covers everything except his/her eyes.
** Speaking of the full armor sets: the number one complaint about them is that they all have non-removable helmets which cover Shepard's face entirely. Since most of the game's {{cutscene}}s occur while (s)he's in his/her armor, this can cause some...strange situations, such as Shepard being able to drink liquor through his/her faceplate, or people recognizing Shepard by sight despite the fact that (s)he's dressed head-to-toe as a Collector.
* ''MonsterHunter'' has a wide variety of customization options for faces, but helmets cover up all of that. You can slightly change the color of the helmets, but it is typically a small change.

<<|CostumeTropes|>>

* Many of the helmets (especially the PowerArmor helmets) in ''{{Fallout 3}}'' cover the entire face.

Games that try to avoid OnlySixFaces often offer a wide range of customization for the player. This can be achieved by letting the player choose from a palette of pre-made faces, or, like many newer games, letting them change single elements of the face with sliders, thereby making it theoretically possible to create thousands of different faces.

Usually you can take it off again if you don't like this, but depending on the difficulty of the game and the usefulness of the helmet this may be a bad idea.

Averting this is one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality (because not wearing a helm in real combat is pretty dumb), see HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic.
Note that this does not apply if there is no character customization anyway. This is solely about wasted customization because we won't see it. Also applies to hairstyle or anything else that's immediately covered by armor.

** ''NeverwinterNights2'' adds some variety. Headbands and hats typically leave hair and face visible. Hoods and some helmets leave the face visible, and all helmets leave the eyes visible. Most face choices are considered ugly, and there is a lack of reasonable hair styles though, so this may be a good thing.

* ''TempleOfElementalEvil'', luckily helms have no in-game effect except for the magic ones (and most of them are headbands).

* ''MapleStory'' has several face-obscuring helmets, but graciously, they're limited to the lower levels. And there are still more helmets than there are faces.
* Many of the Helmets in ''Fallout 3'' cover the entire face.
** Limited almost entirely to the Power Armor helmets in fact.
* Not even an hour into DragonAge will pass before you procure your first helmet, wasting your hard-spent moments creating the perfect nose for your human noble...well, up until dialogs and cutscenes, anyway.

* In the little-known SiegeOfAvalon Anthology ([[strike:I may create a page for it eventually]] Done.), you don't get much to customize--just hair color, hairstyle, and whether you have a beard, but every one of the three dozen or so hats, hoods, and helmets covers at least the hair, and usually the face (and beard) as well. However, the non-magical ones are practically useless anyway (giving only 1-2% damage reduction), so going without is perfectly plausible.