Practical? What does practical got to do in an anime kind of game, when you got characters such as tharja, cherche, vaike etc. Oh and please don't give reasonings like because tharja is a mage thus she can dress scandalously, vaike got a free pass because he is a fighter, cherche front armor protect her etc.
Like come on, this happens most often for Japanese or Korean games, less so for western. I am not even sure why everyone is arguing over such a minor problem. I have to admit carmilia design is a bit contradictory, but to make such a big fuss over it? Tharja design is also quite contradictory but she is fan service so she get a free pass?
Breast-plates are by nature, such as Cordelia's etc are actually very bad armor design and not practical at all. It is just artistic liberty and I am OK with it as this is just a game and we should expect that fantasy design does take things a bit far, like tharja? *scoff*