Poll: Anyone else hate the Skyrim animal races?

[Lunar Templar]

they add diversity to a genera that needs it, seirusly, how many more RPGs do we need with JUST the human/elf/dwarf trio, screw that, gimme more races, fun races, the less they look like the 'big 3' the better.

also, your over thinking it

like

 

[direkiller]

In exploring Skyrim this last week, I discovered something. I really, really hate the animal races, or anthropomorphs or whatever you want to call them. Conceptually and aesthetically. First of all, they make little sense as a race. I mean really, people who are EXACTLY like regular people but with animal hides and fur? REALLY? What is the evolutionary advantage to that? Why are the changes in physiology restricted to the head and skin? Why aren't their joints reversed like animals legs? Why aren't they more muscular, or more svelt, or taller or shorter or hunchback? It makes absolutely no sense. It's like they just said "Hurr derp, let's stick some random animal heads on our people and call it a day!"

Then they're just ugly and wreak of laziness in design. Because once you think about it, the reason their physiology is the same as regular people is obvious. If their bodies are the same, the same animations and scripts can be used to make them move can be the same as well. And then I just feel awkward looking at them. They're like a furry's wet dream come alive.

So please, somebody tell me I'm not the only one who really can't stand these things?

it dates back to older Elder scrolls games when they had to keep them roughly the same(disk space and such)

To be fair they did rework them a bit in Skyrim to make them diffident but id imagine they cant go too far due to fan boy rage and having to rework every clothing item(basically 4x as much work).
although i wish they did seeing my charter's tale pokes though the nightingale armor

 

[lacktheknack]

That's what happens when you canonize different humanoid species and their appearances in 1993.

Anyways, you've probably inspired a modder to make them more animalistic, so give it a bit of time.

 

[Bato]

The beast races are very interesting, but only when you read into their lore and culture. Otherwise they're just furry bait, and I HATED them before I started reading all into Elder Scrolls lore.

The TES universe have these god-things, the Aedra, they're enititys of creation except they're technically mortal. If they want to make some sort of magical lizard race THEY DO IT BECAUSE SHUT UP I DO WHAT I WANT.
The Daedra are their opposites being immortal except all they can do is like, destroy and change things.

There is a particular type of Aedra, Hist Trees.
Sentient god trees.
And some lizards ate the sap of this tree once and tada:
http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/?p=conceptart&section=15262
They become sentient and build a culture around these trees,
In fact as I understand it Argonians are still just lizards
In that these human lizard people have sex and then they poop out little tiny salamanders
And as a child they have to eat hist sap to grow up and become just like the abomination that is their daddy
The more hist the more human, the less hist the less human.
So maybe that's how the Geico Gecko was born
He had like a drop of the sap.

http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/?p=conceptart&section=15266
Then you have these cat people where their race is dependent on moon cycles,
Between the two moons and the different phases they are in different types of Khajiit are born.
So like, they can be anything from talking kitty things about the size of house cats
To like weeaboos
To Furrys
To GIANT FUCKING ELEPHANT SIZE MONSTER CATS, imagine having THAT come out of your wife.
CONGRATULATIONS MITTENS
IT'S FOUR TIMES BIGGER THAN YOU
Also your wife is dead

And it's never directly explained how they came to be,
But like, the Weeaboo version of Khajiit are supposed to look like Wood Elves
Except they have tails and stupid cat ears or something
But Wood Elves LOOVE to eat hem some Khajiit because they are crazy cannibal people
And Moon Sugar is like the best marinade ever
So you're finger lickin'-good when you eat it all your life because for some reason your race is resistant to it.
So the Khajiit don't talk about it.
And the Wood Elves don't talk about it.
And everyone just gets pissed when mentioned.

Now, I ain't saying this is ever stated anywhere, but this sounds mighty suspicious to me.
But Wood Elves have this innate ability where if a group of them came together
And sacrifice a plant or something to some blood god
Or maybe a chloroplast god
And perform the Rite of the Wild Hunt
That group would all turn into beast-things and they normally go on murderaperampages
And after that they all have a blood-orgy and then kill each other.
Sometimes.

 

[franconbean]

My disdain from them stems from morrowind when they could not wear armour in certain slots because of their body shapes. They did remove this in Oblivion, but my dislike never really went away.
It's been a while, but if i recall correctly, khajit in morrowind did have reversed joints in their legs (they walked funny at least). They certainly didn't share a base character model with the other races.

 

[LordFisheh]

I don't particularly hate them, but I don't like the way people create a 'nonhuman' race by taking a human, giving it fur and whacking an animal head on top. By all means make them humanoid, but they still need to feel like a different species.

 

[ZexionSephiroth]

First of all, they make little sense as a race. I mean really, people who are EXACTLY like regular people but with animal hides and fur?

Realisticly? If Khajit lived in colder climates then a fur coat would be more useful than human sweat could ever be. As Human sweat evolved for hot weather. Sure you could argue that's what clothes are for, but by the same token it's possible khajit only came up with clothes when Nords showed them how they work.

REALLY? What is the evolutionary advantage to that? Why are the changes in physiology restricted to the head and skin?

Not to mention tails, but in any case think about why a creature would need a cat like head. Pressumably I can think that it may have to do with a meat rich diet they may have had before encountering nords and technology like bows and swords. I already mentioned fur. And I think a tail helps with balance. Digitigrade feet give them more spring in their step and cat ears allow better listening to their surroundings.

Why aren't their joints reversed like animals legs?

*facepalm* I looked up a picture of a cat's hind legs and they are not "reversed" per say as it is that between the ball of their foot and their heel is longer. That is it. Same leg, just different length... and also lifted up to walk on the ball of foot, but the khajit have that too.

Why aren't they more muscular, or more svelt, or taller or shorter or hunchback? It makes absolutely no sense.

When you're an ambush predator with an emphasis on speed, stealth, dexterity and acuracy (attributes of theives as well, which many khajit are); it makes a lot of sense for you to be as lithe as a cat. And since they are cats, that's a given. Which explains all of that. And as for hunch-back; I can hardly picture a hunchback being stealthy, can you?

It's like they just said "Hurr derp, let's stick some random animal heads on our people and call it a day!"

Unlikely. design processes work more like "Hey you know what would be cool? animal people!" followed by another asking "Will it make sense? I mean, it needs to fit naturaly into the setting". Which khajit do quite well when you consider that their focal point is the fact they are treated as scum, theives, assassins. Which creates a self fulfilling prophecy that they will be forced to be theives. A tale of racism... Okay, it's not perfect, but Show me one thing that is perfect And I'll show you a fake.

Then they're just ugly and wreak of laziness in design. Because once you think about it, the reason their physiology is the same as regular people is obvious. If their bodies are the same, the same animations and scripts can be used to make them move can be the same as well. And then I just feel awkward looking at them. They're like a furry's wet dream come alive.

So please, somebody tell me I'm not the only one who really can't stand these things?

Sometimes the lazy people have a point. If they have a similar to human form and animation pattern it becomes more endearing. At least up to a point, which I don't think skyrim has crossed yet.

As for the "furry's wet dream" comment, I have to say: "stop thinking about what other people are into, it makes you sound like more of a pervert than them." Because not only is what one person considers attractive their buisness and their buisness alone, but that Beauty itself is subjective on a level so complex you cannot understand it; having a complex interplay between so many subconssious elements that it's a Miracle that there are any people at all who's attractions are fairly mundane.

In fact, I'm sure everyone on this forum has some unusual quirk that they are attracted to; Gothic, Punk, anime-style, buisness people, sports stars, formal wear, red-hair, Russian, Japanese, American, British, German, Polyneisian. Some of these seem mundane, but consider that some people choose only partners with any one of those traits (possibly more); then it becomes clear they have have a harder time than people with low standards. And Then You realise, ALL people have that kind of mindset of narrow, wildly varying standards. Some of which just happen to choose features only pressent in fantasy, such as "Furry" as you're defining it.

My Forum Arguing hand is getting tired...

 

[ED-Tw0 ZeRo N9nE]

Op, you leave my Khajit alone, or else I'll have to bust out the Sword of Omens.

"Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Haha, couldn't help myself, any other Khajit fans like to do this?

 

[Fappy]

I love both of them. They have cool lore. That's about all I need to like a fantasy race.

 

[djAMPnz]

I like the way the Khajiit and Argonians look in Skyrim. They have evolved to be more 'human-like' than their predecessors.

Morrowing did it better

At first I thought this was just a typo, but you wrote it twice. My OCD is forcing me to point out it's Morrowind.

Also, Orcs (Orsimer) are elves, descendent from the Aldmer as all the other elves were. Mer means elf. As are the Falmer and Dwemer (Dwarves).

 

[worldruler8]

I like the way the Khajiit and Argonians look in Skyrim. They have evolved to be more 'human-like' than their predecessors.

Morrowing did it better

At first I thought this was just a typo, but you wrote it twice. My OCD is forcing me to point out it's Morrowind.

Also, Orcs (Orsimer) are elves, descendent from the Aldmer as all the other elves were. Mer means elf. As are the Falmer and Dwemer (Dwarves).

Oh, I guess I did. :/ I blame my dyslexia. But yeah, my point (and opinion) still stands.

 

[darksuccubus]

well, everyone already said everything, I like the races since Morrowind (and there they did look more animal-like) but the point is, they're supposed to be human-like. They do have different physiology - argonians are hatched from eggs and khajiits have spiky cocks (biography of barenzia, deleted chapter). They were created by gods and to me, they are different and unique enough

 

[Double A]

I like the Lizard dudes I'm probably going to play as one. Not necessarily because I like them, but because if my character is supposed to be Dragonborn I want to make my character at least look like there's some relation lol

That's actually one of the reasons I picked an Argonian as my first character in Skyrim, I thought it fit.

On topic though, I like them. It's a fantasy game, it doesn't have to make evolutionary sense why there are cat and lizard people around nor does it have to make sense why there are pointy eared people around.

Aaaaactually, the dragon blood means you're related to Alessia, also known as the chick who founded the first Empire by rebelling against Umaril the Unfettered and the Ayleids. Among her army was Pelinal Whitestrake, the demi-god/avatar/thing who killed Umaril the first time and had the sweet crusader gear from the Oblivion DLC. Anyway, she then founded the religion of the 8 Divines and allegedly was granted some of Akatosh's blood. Her descendants carry on the blood of Akatosh, which so happens to include notable individuals such as Talos, Martin Septim, and you.

So what this amounts to is that you're part time dragon god, are probably eligible for the throne of the Empire, and you don't have to feel bad about killing dragons as an Argonian because they aren't really your relatives.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Admittedly, I find it hard to believe that the Dragonborn is a...cat, or a lizard, but I think the animal races are good to have, because it's more choice, it fits with the world of Skyrim, and Argonians are awesome. What I hate is Khajiit with beards, I mean they either have beards or fur, make your f***ing mind up Bethesda. Also, if they didn't have Khajiits and Argonians then god forbid...they might have to use a relatable race as slaves and skooma dealers. I mean, the dark elves were sort of mistreated, but the real 'scum' of society in Skyrim's heirarchy are cats and lizards, and Bethesda did this so they wouldn't have to have a human race in their place.

 

[triggrhappy94]

Argonian is the only race I'll play as. The only thing I didn't like about them in Skyrim is how they got rid of the hissing accent.
If you don't like them, then you probably didn't play Oblivion, where they were the best race.
Bonuses to sneak, lockpicking, blade, and some magic. Along with disease and poison amunity and water breath.
And subtractions to speechcraft and barter, because everyone was racist, it didn't though those skills didn't do anything in that game.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Pff, racist.

Nah, I kid. But for the record, there IS no evolutionary reason for ANY of them to exist. Every race was created by some god.

Guess one of the Eight was a furry.

 

[Buccura]

I agree man, I hate those "Anthropomorphic" animal things or, whatever people like to call them. Animals that walk and talk? I am at a loss at trying to think of the last time I've heard such an asinine concept. And why do the cats have hair? That makes no sense! It defies the laws of science that Elder Scrolls has spent 5 games (and two spin offs) establishing!

 

[tofulove]

i remember in morrowind, they had better stats but could not wear shoes of gloves.

 

[Tiger Sora]

They were made from the gods of the game. They were reshaped from humans and elves. So there ya go.

I like the Kahjiit, those lizards.... not so much.

 

[Carrots_macduff]

it has probably already been said 10 times by this point but incase you didnt notice every single race has the exact same body shape for each gender depending on where you put the slider
and from this you might gather that if they wanted to make all the races have unique bodies and methods of movement i.e. inverted hind legs that would be alot of work