Imperial should have been a Template, not a standalone race. Imperials come in all shapes and sizes: man, mer, and beast.

Orcs weren't a playable race, but they were a distinct race in the lore, and Daggerfall justified their addition to the world.

Also - Khajiit are more Chinese/Indian than Arabic

I again disagree, they give Cyrods their own identity instead of the boring excuse that they are just southern Nords.

I have a problem. My brain keeps re-writing the thread title into "Imperials are vastly over-rated."

It's good you found a roleplay you like, however. It's too bad they didn't make more practical ways to roleplay a merchant or bard. A righteously smiting moth priest might be a fun roleplay.

As for Cyrodiil's culture, I'll take as a hopeful sign that they're talking about Nibeneans as though these are an actual subculture again. I hope with the empire fracturing that the ancestor cults, tribal tattoos and marsh culture come back.

I enjoy playing as Imperial also. They don't get much love/respect as they are seen as the 'ordinary' human race in the game. But like most things it's a matter of opinion & there are races to suit everyone's needs or RP. They make excellent Paladins or Battlemages.

If (Or rather when) the Empire falls that's what I hope so too, I would love to see the Nibens and Colovians to get their own culture back.

Imperials are awesome, quit hating.

IMO, Bretons are more "ordinary" from a high fantasy perspective than Imperials.

By "Giving them their own identity", it absolutely destroyed the original, and far more interesting identity of Imperials. They also took away the Culture and Cunning from the Nords, and Valor and Martial Tradition from the Bretons. Instead of being a largely-unified culture that spread across the land by an overwhelming desire to get the surrounding races to shut up and stop killing them, we got Yet Another Race of Ethnocentric Barbarians Defined By Province (backed by Septim and his Big Stompy Robot - but a Man-God and metal pet aren't enough to conquer and rule a world - you need a mandate from the People).

The Imperials weren't supposed to be either "Just southern Nords" OR Yet another race of [censored] ethnocentric barbarians - they were supposed to be a conglomerate of the men, mer, and beasts that rejected the cultures of the provinces they hailed from long ago after meeting in the middle of the Arena, and formed their own semi-unified culture. And, from that culture, they told the outlying barbaric races (Including Altmer, who are barbarians in their own way) to sit down, shut up, and play along.

No, it pretty much is giving Cyrods their own identity, all I'm hearing is whining about how they take away from other races but no, those races still have those qualities. The Nords are cunning in their own way, the Bretons are still a society of kingdoms that have a long history of being ruled by martial genius and the knighthoods of High Rock help with the valor.

All I'm hearing is "they shouldn't be a race because they make other races less interesting!" which IS NOT the case.

They are probably my 2nd favorite race, lol. A lot of players like them though, as they have resistances to magic (and mana boost in the past games), which makes them good for min-maxing players.

I like imperials. Good balanced race who tend to be a little more logical than crazy, arrogant nords or dunmers but emotional and compassionate enough to not reach the levels of the High elves. People who dismiss imperials simply because of "boring romans" or "boring normal humans" are just missing out.

Ingame, I find Voice of the Emperor much more useful than Battle cry (enemies running away is more of a hassle than having them just stand there), or many of the other racial powers. The +10 to restoration is actually pretty useful because since restoration is a bit of a pain to level (same with orcs and their +10 to heavy armor).

Look at the nords of west skyrim. Look at the Nords of east Skyrim.

the nords of west skyrim are boring imperials because of the imperials.

the Nords of east Skyrim are Nords.

the nords of west skyrim are basically imperials.

Do the nords of west skyrim still have Nord qualities? nah. The imperials ruined the Nords.

....
Oh dear god
Here we have a good example of STORMCLOAK PROPAGANDA
PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PEOPLE, THIS IS WHAT NOT TO POST.

It's nothing to do with me being a Stormcloak supporter. I hated the imperials before I made my decision of which side I would support.

Yea SURE

Western Nords are not "lesser nords" because they follow the empire, saying that is like purposely trying to piss people off and start arguments.

THAT is why people shouldn't post that crap, it's flamebait.

The Imperials are clever, industrious thieves and con men. Their legions are invincible, but individually they are weak and cowardly. Their civilization is a shabby imitation of High Elven culture, cheapened by the common greed and grasping nature of their merchants and monopolists. They have subjugated and enslaved the various peoples of Tamriel, and called this coerced submission 'peace.'?

- basically what your fellow Dunmer think of the Imperials

And do I care what one or a group of people think? Not all Dunmer are anti-imperialistic and need I remind you that the Dunmer for a long time looked down on other societies and races as inferior?

The Dunmer are the most xenophobic society save for the Redoran and Hlaalu and even those have a lot of Xenophobia. Hell Hlaalu was controlled by the Camonna Tong and the leader of House Redoran during Morrowind was xenophobic as hell.

I'd have to disagree, but that may be because I like Bretons. I see a race that has human AND elven ancestory more interesting than humans who are good at trading. Don't get me wrong though, I don't dislike Imperials.

I think Imperials could be an interesting race, because there is some interesting lore about them, but we don't see much of it in the games. Bretons (that aren't Forsworn) could also be depicted in more interesting ways than they are.

It's nothing wrong with being inspired by Romans or medieval Europe (or vikings for the matter); why is Europe less interesting than e.g. Japan or the Middle East? It is probably more interesting than Japan to the Japanese. That Europe = generic and boring is in fact a pretty eurocentric perspective. It's true though that European themes have been used a lot in fantasy (for the same reason; popular culture is eurocentric). But it's perfectly possible to make a culture based on European history interesting, and there are such possibilities in TES lore. Though there isn't much done with it in the games. But the Thu'um, ancient Nord burials and dragon cult, and the Forsworn, are good examples.

My point is the dislike of Imperials doesn't just come from Nords or Stormcloaks in particular.

I think from a aesthetic standpoint the Imperials had the potential to be interesting with schism between Colovians and Nibenese and the integration of different cultures. Their home province being the largest and one of the most diverse regions also helps. Of course this was just early lore. Then new lore conforms to gameplay mistakes and now we have a much less interesting province and people that are also dragging the rest of Tamriel down with their crap as well. (i.e Skyrim)