What bugged me the most in Oblivion about voices wasn't that there were like 8 of them (though that did kill it for me) but the fact that Elves sounded like any other humans, and the beast races (Argoinians and Khajiit) just sounded unnatural, I prefered their voices from morrowind (even though they weren't used much). In morrowind High elves always sounded and talked like they were high and mighty, Dunmer had that unique accent, and Wood elves, well, I always knew when a wood elf was nearby just by the sound of their voice.


Also, just my personal rant on the models for beast races. Quite honestly, I hated them in Oblivion, I mean they are BEAST races. They don't have to be almost alien looking like they were in Morowind, but acknowledge that they are not humans, and they should not look and walk like humans with furry faces and pointy ears or horns.

I completely agree.

I liked the Argonian voices in Oblivion, I thought they sounded natural. What I didn't like was they had human bodies with tails. I'd like the beast races to look like beasts and, dare I say, I'd like Orcs to look more like...http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/3973/battlefield1.jpg?

I don't want Warcraft orcs.

I didn't really like that either. I'm totally with you, Panda Warrior. I really liked being able to differentiate the voices of the seperate races on Morrowind. And like you said how all the elves on Oblivion shared the same voice when they're really only similar in the fact that they've got pointy ears.
Another thing was recycling grunts and battle voices between Lizards/Kitties/Nords/Orcs. It kind of bugged me.. just a little, not a massive issue.

I really liked the beast races (better) on Morrowind as well, with the different legs and walking, etc. But from what I was told is that Morrowind was the 'odd man out', I guess that they did look kind of human-y on all the previous games they were featured in. :shrug:
However, I'm really in favor of a revival of the Morrowind beast races! But I don't know the lore well enough to determine if it's just my personal preference in interpretation of the beast races to be like they were in Morrowind, or if technically they are supposed be human-y... with tails... and scales... and fur.

But I'm encouraged by what the said in one of videos on the GameInformer deal, about the artistic direction; making each race "feel different". :tes:

I agree the Elves were much better in Morrowind, although that's because of Jeff Baker doing the Male Dunmer voice. Having Craig do all the male Elf voices in Oblivion got annoying. He could do the Wood Elves really well and some of the Dunmer's like Modryn Oreyn but the High Elves were just bad. Hearing Stump do the Voice of Mankar Cameron was a relief and hopefully somebody similar could do the voices for the High Elves in Skyrim because that's how the Male High Elf's voice should sound, powerful and arrogant. The Female Elves voice in Oblivion was ok although I wouldn't mind something different for the Female High Elves this time around.

Argonians should definitely have a hiss to their voice. More raspy.

I agree the Argonians and the Khajitt shouldn't have the same voice over.

The male Argonian voice is the same in Morrowind and Oblivion (Jonathan Bryce). I think it's the same actress doing the female Argonians too (Elisabeth Noone), but it was done much better in Obliivon -- male and female Argonians actually have the same rough-throat style of speech and sound like they actually belong to the same race, unlike the male/female Dark Elves in Morrowind. I don't particularly care for the Khajiit sharing the same beast race voice in Oblivion, but that's due to the lack of actor variety.

well i liked the oblivion beast race voices (mainly for the sound of argonian male laughter) as for appearence morrowinds beast races did look more beastly but the problem for me is they where to beastly they looked like the argonian or khajiit equivilant of a neanderthal just as the oblivion beast races looked to human like if some happy medium between the two could be reached i would be very happy

All I can say is that I agree with the OP.

I can't say I want every NPC voice to be a ridiculously exaggerated stereotype. Why should every Altmer sound super arrogant? Why should ever Orc sound brutish? Etc. I'd rather they sound less exaggerated than having each race being a ridiculous caricature, regardless of the individual.

As far the beast races, I'd like them to be like Oblivion but a little more unique. No more spray painted bodies but still mostly human shaped.

I hope we'll see more variance between characters.

It wouldn't hurt my feelings, if they stopped using famous actors to voice certain characters, as well. You know how they use whoever's willing to do temporary dialogue as placeholders for the final voice actors? I wish that they would keep those original voices. I don't remember which one, but Oblivion had a couple videos before release, and one showed a Dark Elf and human of some form talking to each other, and even called each other by name. Amazing.