Just food for thought, the most common accents used in fantasy worlds and games are variations of "standardised" English and American accents. So, I was just wondering, how would people feel if the main accents seen throughout Tamriel was, rather than an American one, Australian, Russian, or some other less commonly used accent?

In Skyrim many nords did have accents you'd commonly hear in slavic lands of europe. Hard 'R' and pointy pronounciacion and whatnot.

I mean like every game, the main accent (which in TES is always American, despite having some races and characters have different accents). Assuming you weren't used to it, as a new player, how would you feel about that? It was a little like this in Skyrim, more atypical accented characters than the other games.

That is the one thing, I seriously think is bad about Skyrim is some of the accents. The human races are good. Its just some of the mer races. Dunmer has got to be the worse. Oriental sounding voices would have suited the Mer races so much better.

I absolutely love the Nordic accents in the game. But the elves have that same British sissy and the cockney Dunmer and Connecticut Redguards make me want to scream.

They are Nordic accents. I hear alot of Faroese/Icelandic and German/Danish accents in the game, which Mark Lambert, Audio Director for Skyrim, also stated that that was what they were going for:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLnPwnJJcFQ

I don't know if they also sound Slavic, I have no idea, but they definitely went for a nordic accent.

And as for the Elves, I'm quite content with their british accents, but I'd like to hear more diversity - it's weird
how the only ones within Skyrim that rocks an accent is from Skyrim. Everyone else (except the Khajiit) speaks perfect english...

Never heard nordic people speaking english personally, but many slavic people sound very similar. After all, most if not all germanic and slavic languages include similar "harsh" letters so similarity is not odd.



Agree. If nothing else then dunmers should have different accents considering they are the the elves that cut their relationship with their original elven ancestry more than any other mer races. And as a bonus they even used different alphabet (cause in Morrowind they practically adopted daedric as their own language).

I'd be fine with it.
Coming from Britain I don't find it particularly immersive when a NPC sounds like my nextdoor neighbour.

Russian would be nice I've always liked Russian accents.

It depends on what you put in the word ''main''. In Oblivion, the three major names, Patrick Stewart, Terence Stamp and Sean Bean were all British. However, I think the dialect that is most commonly met is probably General American because they simply don't have a well of dialects to choose from where they are. And they probably don't want to spend resources on finding voice actors from all across the globe.

Personally I wouldn't mind. i love languages and dialects. I even find the cockney dunmer quite humorous.

The main accent will always be American. It's an American game after all.

As long as it isn't Australian or South African When we go to Black Marsh and Elsweyr, I definitely hope the accent isn't American. Other places, I don't really mind.

Agreed, where are the 70 voice actors? Seriously.

Well, for Skyrim they used some great non-American actors like Max Von Sydow for important roles, but I guess alot of the most common voices in the game are American voice actors. If they are not good at doing Swedish/Danish/Icelandic accents, I suppose it's better for them to just use a plain accent than to do a bad Nordic one.

I personally would have loved it if they had used a 'second unit' of sorts and gotten more authentic Scandinavian voices for the regular folks in the game. Speaking of Icelandic accents, if they had gotten singer Bjork to do some voices for the game, I would have... well, been really excited. She has such a cool speaking voice, though I suppose she wouldn't sound as "butch" as many of the Nord females do. Not that this would be a bad thing...

Nah, most of the language spoken in Tamriel is a mer language though. Basically derived from old Aldmeri.

Imo the Dunmer NEED their old accents from morrowind back. That raspy beautifully horrendous accent. Why they abandoned that accent i cannot fathom. Probably one of their dumbest ideas, at least in regards to accents, imo.

I don't have an opinion about the other races but I do agree with this. Dunmer voices have just never sounded right to me after Morrowind.

When I heard the Dunmer voice in Skyrim I almost vomited. Beth completely beyond recognition destroyed the personality of the Dunmer. Yet, for the Khajiit, they did a top notch job; the best so far.

I never played Daggerfall. Did Dunmer have the raspy Morrowind voice in that game too?

I believe it started with Dram from Redguard though i never played anything before Morrowind. This is just what I was told. That voice is not even that hard to do you know. I can do it pretty well and it does not hurt your throat or strain your vocals or anything. I just really cannot think of why they got rid of such a unique and awesome voice. Well quasi unique anyways. Certainly more so than bloody cockney accents...

The Morrowind Dunmer was a perfect fit. Best Dunmer voice so far, without a doubt.

One of the races that I wish had more of a distinctive accent are Redguards. I feel that they, as a race, are a bit overlooked and depreciated, alongside Bretons for that matter.

I like the Dunmer voice in Morrowind, too, but...

I have a different view of this, apparently. I don't see why there should be a "racial voice/accent" at all. These people are all living together in the same country; why should they have different accents, as if they came from different places?

As for the tonality of the voice, I feel it's more important to have variety than to have a "racial type." There should be more Nord voices, more Dunmer voices, etc. (It's at its most ridiculous in Oblivion, where all the male Mer races are spoken by one voice actor, Nords and Orcs by one actor, etc.)

I can accept the beast races having different speaking voices, because they have a physiological difference. I also think the Orcs should have an articulation problem with certain sounds, given that their tusks should prevent them from making clear "M" and "B" sounds. (Try speaking with a pencil in your mouth; that's the way an Orc should sound.)

Hmm... Well, the only voices I can recall are the Emperor's voice and "HALT!" and "Vengeance!" and I don't think any of those were Dunmer. My Dark Elf Spellsword sure never said anything to me.
Can't remember what Dram sounded like - for some reason, a low raspy menacing kinda (almost whisper) voice comes to mind, so you could be right about that being the first Morrowind-ish Dunmer voice (maybe the first voiced example, period). I know the Khajiit voice was basically the same accent that is used currently and from Morrowind.

Yeah, you don't hear any Dark Elves in Daggerfall.

I think just using accents that fit their RL inspirations is best, if they have them. Russian and Aussie would sound weird on some characters.

Morrowind was definitely the best accent for Dunmer. They have been really bad since then.

Staying with the Ashlander yurt tents, shamans, wasteland hunters etc theme, this is my idea for Dunmer accent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w64wh17UDOE

Seems like that would be a fitting accent for Dunmer if he just added the Morrowind "throat-cancer" gravelly sound to it.
I forgot to say - yeah that cockney/australian or whatever that accent is supposed to be in Skyrim kinda svcks. That's got to be my least favorite accent in the game. Even the Bosmer sound less annoying to me this time around, and that's no small accomplisment.
Oh - and not to offend any Aussies out there - I love the actual accent. RIP Steve Irwin, you are truly missed... However, that fake sounding accent the Dunmer use in Skyrim just doesn't sound right for them.

For those who are in doubt, the raspy Dunmer voice started in Redguard with Dram. His voice carried over to MW thank God. There's an internet phrase that goes, "Can I've your babies?" Well, I would say that to who ever made that incredible Dunmer voice, lol.