Bethesda has said that the various races in Skyrim will actually look different!!!

Morrowind wasn't too bad, but in oblivion, everybody looked like an imperial with various hughes of skin.

So how far do you think they'll go? Will there be a detectable difference between a Bretons face and an Imperials? Will each race have a unique body type? Will their hieghts, weights, and physiques varry? Will they all look somewhat similar, or will they all look radically different?

And most importantly: Will elves actually look atractive? In Oblivion especially, Altmer and Bosmer were uglier than orcs! Elves are supposed to be fair and beautifull damnit!

I disagree that they looked similar. I thought only imperials and Bretons looked similar.

And yes, basically everyone in Oblivion looked unattracrive, but you really think Elves are worse than this? http://cache.kotaku.com/images/2006/04/1145592572_mazoga_001_.jpg

I'm hoping they look a bit more diverse than Oblivion, but it need not be much, save the Imperial breton issue.

Everyone seemed too human in Oblivion. I hope there's more differentiation between the races

We don't know how strong the differences will be, though we can probably assume that elves will differ more from Imperials or Nords than say Bretons, orcs, even more so, and Khajiit and Argonians... that goes without saying. Given what we've heard on the races so far, I think we can expect fairly noticable differences even in different human races, but how major these will be I can't be sure. I highly doubt all races will have unique body models, but I really hope at least Khajiit and Argonians do, being exactly like humans except for fur textures or scales, having a tail, and different shaped heads just isn't quite enough, at the very least, they NEED to have claws again. That and making it so that you can tell Bretons and Imperials apart without needing to first hear them speak should be Bethesda's first priority when it comes to improving racial diversity from Oblivion (I won't go on about making the models actually look better as the images we've seen show they've already succeeded there.)



I'd say so, since orcs are supposed to be ugly, that's the way they are, I'd be disturbed if orcs looked pretty. Elves on the other hand have traditionally been said to be beautiful in fantasy, and while the Elder Scrolls can certainly break from that trend if Bethesda wants, I've never seen any lore saying that elves are intended to be ugly.

This is Elder Scrolls, not Tolkien. Elves don't have to be beautiful, actually Orcs are a race of elves, the Orsimer.

Seriously though, I hope they do spend a little more time with the faces.

I may have exaggerated slightly to make a point...




Completely agree.



Hmmm, just like Tolkien...

Beast races need to look like a beast race...

I know this is a bit much to expect, but I would love to see Khajiit abilities that let them do catlike jumps and pouncing attacks.

Bethesda have stated (in the art video, I think) that they want to make the races far more distinct than previously.

I'm excited to see Skyrim's Argonians, Khajiit, and Orcs, because they're almost certainly very distinct, and the Argonian concept art looked extremely promising.

I'm most curious to see the differences between Imperials, Bretons and Nords, because it's much less obvious how they might be made unique.

As for the elves, I'd like them to move closer to the "beautiful elves" concept, with something exotic and/or slightly alien to separate the wood elves and high elves (the dark elves are already obviously different) - in features, not merely height and skin tone.

I really hope that Bretons are distinguishable this time

Even the small concept art pieces I've seen with elves, Redguard(?) female, and the Argonian tells me they have it well in hand. Not only did they improve the differences, but I also saw that apparently it's confirmed that each race will have "custom-fitting" armor.

I can't wait to see Khajiit and Orc rac pics, though. No more puffy-monkey-cats! Or green-pig-hulks!

Edit: @Fearless Hero ^^^^We always seem to think alike. If you had to wager for Skyrim, which race do you think will be the best looking by design and/or attractiveness standards?

You can't really see it too well, but in the Trailer, in the notable "Assassin" scene, you can see what appears to be an Altmer sitting down. You can't make out many details, but the overall Facial structure is very... Alien? Definitely not a yellow-skinned human.

I completely agree. Absolutely. Exactly. Awesome post.

I can't be arsed to find links, but I'm pretty sure the first edition of the Pocket Guide says that Cyrodiil is mostly jungle, and concept art showed Imperials to have an air about them of South American natives. It'd be a pretty big retcon (unretcon?) to change them from the psuedo-Romans they are today, but it'd be nice, and it'd certainly add variation to the races.

Bretons are part mer, that should probably be reflected in their faces. Dunmer should have strong cheekbones and sharply defined features, akin to indigenous North Americans. Argonians and Khajiit should go back to their Morrowind forms. It'd be killer for all Bosmer to have black eyes a la http://image03.webshots.com/3/3/49/48/15234948SmqreXHyDY_fs.jpg.

And the rest I pretty much like as they are.

Hmm, hard to say (and very subjective, of course), but if I had to bet, I'd go with either Nords (the tall and beautiful golden hero ideal); Bretons (refined, "noble" and dark features, an elvish beauty); or Bosmer (provided they're less comedic - a wild and fey sort of beauty).

I also forgot the Redguards in my post above (sorry Redguard fans) - I really liked the concept art of the woman with the halberd as well, who I'd assume is a Redguard. That design reminds me of nothing so much as the http://www.zeldawiki.org/Gerudo people from the Zelda universe.

I agree without reading up on the lore I would have never know Bretons are supposed to be half-mer.

I would have to put my vote in for best design of a race to......Dunmer. I have a feeling they will be really well done.

As for most attractive:

Male - Breton and Imperial in the sophisticated noble look, and Nord for ultra masculine power. And I'll be so happy if I can make a Redguard that looks like http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.accesshollywood.com/content/images/41/230x306/41076_djimon-hounsou.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.accesshollywood.com/djimon-hounsou-named-the-most-beautiful-black-man-alive_article_7618&usg=__Xbb3nUvijy7iEaA1dEynRkJ1sZc=&h=306&w=230&sz=46&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=kj2H8T3ujYOkoM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=89&ei=v0eUTY64J8Oa0QGHlI3lCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDjimon%2BHounsou%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SUNA_en%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D902%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1689&vpy=216&dur=6156&hovh=244&hovw=184&tx=131&ty=128&oei=v0eUTY64J8Oa0QGHlI3lCw&page=1&ndsp=93&ved=1t:429,r:31,s:0 from Gladiator
Female - Based on the art as an example, I'm betting (and hoping) that Redguard females will be amazing in a more raw, Nubian style, but with mixed and/or refined fetures as well. The Oblivion Redguard's all looked like they belonged in 80's music videos, lol. Also I expect exceptional beauty from the Dunmer females and all of the human races should be realistically attractive. The Nord woman in the screen is a perfect example of this. Lastly, this may seem somewhat surprising, but I expect the Khajiit females to be vastly improved and possibly even quite sixy if they do Khajiit eyes and redesign body features the way I expect.