One of the things that was a little annoying about Oblivion was that the devs didn't bother much with different skins (i.e. surface appearances) for rare NPC and enemy types, Unique ones, and lore specific ones.

Examples? The Last Ayelid King of Nenalata looked exactly like EVERY standard lich in the game, even liches who had never been Elves. Same clothes, same ugly face, same EVERYTHING. Rare, terrible Daedra and monsters looked exactly like their more common counterparts. The Spectres of some rare ancient king. . . looked like every other spectre.

Only with some of the goblin clan chiefs was there any difference at all ( in helmet, for example).

By the Expansions they had at least fixed this a little. Meridia's Daedra, though built on the same core as Xivalia, at least had a specific skin and look.

But my hope is, that in Skyrim, when you encounter a group of rare creatures, or a unique holdover from some earlier age etc. that those NPCs LOOK distinctive. Even if all they do is tweak the skin and hair tones, a secluded gathering of relic Falmer should not look identical to every Altmer in the game. If you encounter some undead Dwemer lich, he should not be identical to the games Draugr Dragon Priests, differntiated by nothing other than a subtitle.

Different skins would not add to immersion, but it would be nice.

id like to see that included in the game.

Come to think of it, this has always been a bit of a problem. In Daggerfall, there are several instances in the questline where you have the chance to kill traitorous NPCs - only as quest-related townspeople in Daggerfall were 2D sprites and didn't move, you'd usually have to go to a dungeon or castle to confront them. Unfortunately, they would just spawn as a stock human NPC ("Knight" for example) enemy - and sometimes, they could even spawn as the wrong gender.

Yes, for both variety, and I know making a re-skin is not very hard to do. More variety for not a lot of developer work, who's going to complain?

You don't think so? It definitely would for me. Everytime I accepted a quest and encountered some supposedly rare NPC type or enemy type, and it looked EXACTLY the same as one of the games standard NPCs, it took me out of the game a little.

The fact that ancient Aylied liches and recently dead Nordic liches in forts along the Skyrim border looked EXACTLY the same, right down to the clothing style, was immersion breaking for me.

If I were to encounter an Ice Monarch, it should be larger than the average Ice Atronach. If I encounter some grand overlord of The Xivalai, at least his clothing could be a little different from that of the standard Xivalia. If I encounter some undead king of The Falmer. . . he shouldn't look the same as every undead Nordic priest in the game. If he does, it breaks immersion.

running into some unexpected horror that does not look like every other beast I killed would be sweet

This is what would makes this game better, cause when I fight a speical named monster, I expect it to atleast look kinda different in that of even basic colour, or slight tweks like for exsample a bear that a king or something because its killed alot of hunters, too have scars and maybe parts of arrows sticking out of it.

oh now I see what you're saying. I thought you just wanted the normally green lich to be blue if it were rare, and red if it was special. I too do think that unique creatures ought to look unique, including zombies, not skeletons so much.

Now you've got my meaning. I too wouldn't expect much difference in skeletons, except that some might be larger, and I think there was one like that somewhere in Oblivion. Kynnareth's guardian Bear was supersized too I believe. But no, I didn't mean different coulours of lich to show some being more special, like in an old Link and Zelda game on Nintendo. I meant, a ressurected Ayelid king would look like an Ayelid, and wear ancient Elven armour, Falmer, if there are any, would be pale Elves, maybe with bluish hair. They could be the same build as an Altmer or Dunmer, but they should at least not look like the average Altmer or Dunmer in hue etc. The king of the frost Giants actually has distinguishing armour and a crown or something. . .he isn't just the identical twin of every other giant in the game, just with a subtitle under him that says "frost giant king." That is the sort of thing I mean. Make it look like someone actually put effort into making special NPCs look. . . special.

i for one would like to see a unique mammoth about 2x normal size completely grey with various signs of battle on its old hide such as scars arrows and maybe a broken tusk it will be called The Pale one it will be many times stronger then a normal mammoth and it will be found in a hard to access area near solitude

Agree, agree, agree. It would definitely add to the game. One of my issues with Oblivion was how little effort was put into differentiating the unique members of whatever cast.

I am.

I actually want this to be done for more than quests. I would love to see unique monsters inhabiting especially large ruins/caves.

Yes, definitely. I don't want someone to tell me to go and kill "Bob the One-legged Guar who has scars over his face", only for it to be a scaled up guar who is neither missing his leg, nor has anything resembling a scar.

Personally, I don't think that they should physically look different from anyone else of their race. Certainly not a different skin color. I'd be all for giving them unique armor, or something similar, to make them stand out, though.

Some texture variation among common enemies, different model and texture for unique.

another example... the udyrfrykte matron.

look at the udyrfrykte in bloodmoon... it was freaking AWESOME looking!

but no, the big, bad mother who was supposed to be extremely dangerous in oblivion, was not only a pushover, but it was just another common, ugly, green troll... the same kind you saw running around in the wilderness occasionally.

that saddened me, i was hoping for something incredible... yeah, ok, they give the matron a "snow cloak" that makes her appear mostly invisible and frosty... except that effect only worked a small percentage of the time, and i dont think the frost effect worked AT ALL! :facepalm:

i also agree with the examples in the main post... as much as i loved oblivion, it lacked quite alot, special enemies looking like common trash was one of my irritations.

i did appreciate how they gave some enemies variation, though... goblins, minotaurs, skeletons, zombies, etc... all have varied appearances.

they should take that a step further, though... come on, EVERY skeleton/zombie ya ran into looked like maybe it belonged to an imperial, or one of the human/elven races... what, did orcs, argonians, and khajiit never get turned into undead slaves?

...kinda ironic, since they were made into slaves and treated badly while living. :confused:

how badass would it be to run into skeletal argonians, khajiit, and orcs?

if there is a skeletal warrior summon, they should have it randomly choose between the normal skeletal build, an orc build, argonian, and khajiit build... :biggrin:

That would be a Mammoth Mammoth. Maybe a little too big.



Yes, I agree. There are unique characters that should be making a name for themselves especially in radiant AI/story where npcs should be making their own stories as well.

More unique looking creatures and people in the game IMO.

*COUGH*mannimarco*COUGH*

Ah yes, some here will remember the giant slaughter fish in the depths of the undersea caverns beneath the tower of Fathis Arnen, Daedra binding sorcerer of Bravil. It was unusual, unexpected, and therefore awesome.

By contrast, Erandur, the lich of Lost Boy Caverns. . . looked just like every other lich, and just like the last King of The Ayelids. It was a cutting of corners. Mages who just became liches should not have the exact same look, right down to the helmet, shoulder pauldron and ratty, tattered arss red robe as a necromancer-lich who has been dead for three hundred years, and these, in turn, should not be idenctical to undead Ayelid kings from five centuries before that.

And I am entirely with what one of the other posters (I think my friend with the Inuyasha icon) about the troll and a host of other creatures as well. If you bother to put special characters in the game, how hard can it be to put a different skin on them. The model doesn't need to be overhauled from the core out. A simple difference in appearance will go a long way with all but the most uptight and demanding gamers.

I really want this :yes:

You and I both. It makes the experiences more unique and more plausible and realistic.