Just wondering where people stand on this issue? In past Elder Scrolls games apart from racial abilities and starting stats the choice of race has almost been purely aesthetic, every race was treated pretty much the same by nearly every character in the game, sure there was the slight disposition modifier with certain races starting off with a higher or lower disposition to your character however even this was pretty much nullified by the personality stat, and apart from the Breton's and the Altmer's higher magic pool and the Argonians ability to breath underwater even the racial abilities diddnt have much effect on gameplay either, there were no situations where certain races would excell over other races. Looking back at Morrowind where your choice of race should have had a much bigger impact choosing a beast race (which should of had every dark elf looking down their nose at you and treating you like dirt) had no effect at all and you were treated the same as you would had you chosen any other race, even the racist Dunmer harassing the Argonian in the bar in Vivec could be easily talked down as a Khajiit.

Now I may be a little ignorant on the subject here as I havent had the chance to fully try every race in Skyrim however is it any different in Skyrim? Will the Thalmor Justicars you see traveling the roads treat your Altmer Mage with more respect than they would a Nord Barbarian, do the Nords constantly look down their nose at your Dark Elf Assassin while the Dunmer in the Grey Quarter welcome you with open arms? I have heard that during the mission where you however are there any other situations where your choice of race come into play?

Personally I feel that if you are going to allow the player to choose his race then you should strive to make each playthrough as unique as possible, offer those who choose different races a wildly different experience to those who choose another race, while I know that this would be a monumental task in a game as big as Skyrim however I would be quite happy to see less content in each individual playthrough but more unique content depending on the race you choose. A good example of where your choice in race (or vampire type) has a bigger effect on the game would be Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Choosing a Malkavian would result in messed up dialogue choices and inanimate objects talking to you while choosing Nosferatu would make your character so hideous that you have to use the sewers to get around lest you frighten the humans with your grotesque appearance.

So where do you stand on the issue, would you rather have races have a bigger impact on the game or would you rather race choice be purely aesthetic?

Definitely yes!

I was about to click no, when I realised you meant in terms of how your character interacts with others, rather than just race abilities. Your race should definitely have a big impact in terms of that if relevant, yes.

Definitely, I think Skyrim already does too little to promote multiple play-throughs as opposed to morrowind and oblivion

Bringing spears back would already be enough to make me want to play an Argonian again, though that's probably not an example you're looking for

Yes, to an extent. NPC reactions should change, but quests should not be off limits. With one exception. A la DA:O, your initial intro to the game was different depending on your race. This was an awesome little story telling tool that allowed for a much different initial field and grasp of character. It would not have to be anything big, just sort of an initial intro/tutorial quest that would be optional. Of course, MOST TES players are well enough versed in the world to not need this backgrounding. But, for first time players, it would add to the tale and gain, I think, fan base more readily.

I agree on the idea of NPC relations but it shouldnt voerall limit you as a player. I do not want be penealized in the mages guild for picking an orc. I do not want to be forbiden to join the stormcloaks for being an imperial etc etc etc

As much as I like having nice racials I do not want to be forced to pick one race to truly succeed at any choice. For instance I don't want to limit myself to picking an orc,redguard or nord for a warrior and that kind of thing.

yep im an argonian player first but find no difference being an argonian as i did an orc you would think being an argonian dragon born would lead to many wise cracks from parthunaax :intergalactic: but hey we yell loud enough bethesda will listen eventually

Race has always been the most incosistent aspect of TES. I dont remember Morrowind well, but I think it was somewhat consistent in MW and OB, then it changed a lot again in SK. With attributes erased from existence, there seems to be even less differentiation yet.

There could be room for some likes x dislikes in SK, I believe Argonians and Khajiit are enemies, so are Nords and Dunmer (Maybe everybody x Dunmer...), but I dont know if any of this was considered worth developing by Beth....

i recall khajitts having a pretty nuetral relationship with argonians argonians in some circles tend to hate dunmer your right abot the dunmer nord thing though

I would like more difference but not to the point where "YOU DIDN'T PICK THIS RACE SO YOU CAN'T DO THAT" is popping up.

There should be at least some dialogue difference since Skyrim is a pretty crazy place - Nords vs. Imperials vs. Altmer with some Dunmer staggering about etc. Maybe one additional quest if the faction doesn't like you; for example if you're an Imperial and want to join Stormcloaks they'll have one extra task for you to "prove yourself".

And racial abilities that aren't mostly completely worthless. Maybe even introduce Health/Magicka/Stamina differences between races with a shared pool of 300.

thx for correcting me, i just know some races tend to be more rival towards others, didnt know which though.

Exactly - say u toss attributes away for good, why not make sth like this:

for instance, one race has 20% more health but 20% less Stamina, another one 10% more health only, another 20% more Magicka but 10% less health and Stamina, etc...

I can see both sides of this issue.
On one hand I very much want all the races to feel very different, with drastic differences in bonus starting skills, racial powers and disadvantages (Probably the thing I miss the most from OB/MW....none of the races in Skyrim have even one negative effect on them)

However..
I do see the other side as well. In past games if I wanted to play a heavy armor wearing, two handed sword wielding knight, but really liked the look of the Bosmer/Altmer/any race that did not specialize in heavy weapons and armor, I could play that character, but at the expense of always knowing they would never be as powerful as a Nord in the same spot.

Now if I like the aesthetics of a Orc, but want to go pure mage, I can fairly easily. On the one and this is a good thing but at the same time it also is the cause of the "a nord can be as agile as a bosmer/altmer can be as hard hitting as an orc" issue that kind of bothers me.

IDK, just my two cents.
I'm beginning to realize that Bethesda has a very split player base with the "game" gamers on one side and the RP'ers on the other. With Skyrim they tried their best to satisfy both parties and it's caused the game to suffer.

I played a Redguard in Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. The Dunmer were/are/always will be just dikes, the Imperials were largely ambivalent, and the Nords seem to feel the same way.

I don't know how to feel about this, frankly. I'm still too butthurt over losing Adrenaline Rush.

I could tell which way you were leaning based on the choices you gave us but frankly I think there is enough diversity between the races although I would have liked more diversity between sixes.

EDIT: Meh you should have taken out gameplay because I thought you meant racial abilities not interaction. I had fun beating done people that called me a milk drinker.

no prob its funny for all theyve endured the khajitts are the one race that doesnt have a fixed disposition against the other races not even the dark elves :intergalactic:

I would like some "I'm going to cut your face off"-ish dialogue options with Argonians, if you're a Dunmer.

I still want to choose the race that looks cool to me without being forced into a race so I go with the second option. Bretons should have a bigger bonus to magic, Orcs a big bonus to two handed, etc.

I would have absolutely no problem if certain quests were off limits for certain races, at all. I think that would be awesome actually. I also wouldn't mind if there were skill limits placed on starting certain quests either. I find it ridiculous that you can become the Archmage with no magic skill, A Companion with no melee skill, the hero of the Stormcloaks being a Dunmer, etc. I see no downside in this. Why should you be able to do every quest in the game in one playthrough?

Missing attributes pretty much killed 75% of what made Races better than others in different areas (and race individuality as a whole).
But I wouldn't mind more Race dependent content in the game, I mean they could always bring the "Outlander!? *Cold Shoulder* Stuff from Morrowind for races that aren't Nord.

yep the bretons are supposed to be second best if not as good as altmer in magicka use yet only the altmer have the 50 point increase at start and the redguards?! th! they didnt get a stamina boost, nords orcs got no health boost etc :unsure2:

attribute differences never really mattered before, you could easily overcome them without any effort.

What made them special were mostly the powers, which are actually unique now.


Anyway, on the NPC reactions, I think Skyrim did the best variation yet, but there is still room to improve.

I voted "yes absolutely".
In fact i'd welcome being "restricted" in certain ways and feeling my choice has a consequence.
That would also add a lot to the replay value for me.
I realize though, that's not what TES is about, and that the current model appeals to a much wider audience than what i would have preferred.

Yeah definitely, as a Khajiit I found it strange that I was allowed into the cities without any bargaining at all, while the rest of the cat-people are forced to camp out of the cities.