QFT. They look drawn, not realistic at all.


@ Destri :


... SPEW !!! Not the Nanas !!! If the Mams have hair, Maxical will be a Nord or something, ROFL !!

And then there were ten.

Unfortunately, I now find myself in total agreement with Rosa about the elves. They look terrible. I know the word for "male with decidably female traits" is androgynous, but what is it the other way around? Because that's what I'm seeing here.

My God those Dunmer are ugly. I mean, it's great that they're trying to recreate the Morrowind 'look', but even the MW Dunmer weren't all as hideous as that!

I agree that these example (and I must stress the word example) faces are nothing to write home about, but just look at the possibilities available in the character creator:

Khajiit – I am seeing a fantastic number of options in the different fur patters and colors. Your particular Khajiit can be everything from a white tiger to a black panther. And maybe it’s just my own particular fetish revealing itself, but I think the females look amazing!

All the Human races – I like the variations of skin tone within the races. And I like that the Bretons don't look so wussied-out in Skyrim. The characters all have a weathered look to them unlike, as Grits said earlier, the Play-Dough look of Oblivion. Good facial hair options are finally available! I also like the decent looking shoulder length hair, as opposed to Oblivion’s. Not to mention that we finally have short hair options for the Redguard!

Orsimer – We have eye color options for the Orcs! And, who knows, after donning your ‘mead goggles’ in a Whiterun tavern some of those women aren’t bad!

The Elves – Yeah, these elves are fugly for all of you hoping for the Tolkien variety. But let’s take a closer look, shall we? The Dunmer are no longer Smurf-colored (that really bothered me in Oblivion)! Now they look like the Ash-Born instead of the Navi. Remember that we now have body-type options. Judging from the neck size of all the Bosmer women you will still be able to make your petite Wood Elf archer (I’m looking at you Teresa and Buffy ). As for the Altmer, well, I’m sure that the faces we create don’t have to look like that!

I’ve got nothing else to say about the awesomeness of the Argonians!

I wasn't expecting Tolkien elves, either, but take one look at those female Dunmer and tell me that you didn't need to look again to figure out they were female. When you end up with gender-neutral faces like that, you did something wrong, period.

Khajiit - Not bad actually.

All the Human Races - They look really good, actually.

Orcs - Hmmm. Too human looking in my opinion, the models themselves are excellent, and I certainly could not make something like that, however I'm disappointed in the interpretation.

Wood Elves - Well, I won't encounter Fargoth here, thats for certain. My feelings are mixed until I play it directly.

High Elves - No. Just no. Not even close.

The Dunmer - Actually. They may not be our version of 'beautiful' but..this is the Dunmer done right. Most of you are Oblivion fans who've never played Morrowind, therefore, you don't truly know the lore. In fact Destri Melarg, I'm almost disappointed, for all your knowledge of TES lore, you don't know the story written by a certain god, who was alive and there when Azura cursed the Chimer?(Edited to add: I realized that the text only may have me come across as negative or hostile, neither was intended, DM. I in fact have a great deal of respect for your knowledge and thoroughly enjoy your writings!)

"Then Azura came forth anyway and cursed the Tribunal for their foul deeds. She told them that she would use her powers over dusk and dawn to make sure Nerevar would come back and make things right again. But the Tribunal laughed at her and said that soon they would be gods themselves and that the Chimer people would forget their old ways of worship. And Azura knew this would be true and that it would take a long time before her power might bring Nerevar back. "What you have done here today is foul beyond measure and you will grow to regret it, for the lives of gods are not what mortals think and matters that weigh only years to mortals weigh on gods forever." And so that they might know forever their wicked deeds Azura changed the Chimer into Dunmer, and their skin turned ashen and their eyes into fire."Let this mark remind you of your true selves who, like ghouls, fed on the nobility, heroism, and trust of their king."

So far, this is the only true depth I've seen in Skyrim that reflects the actual lore that Oblivion massacred, gods what a terrible game that was. I regret every minute and red cent I spent on that game.

Oh and this guy is totally my Chars cousin or something.

@Thomas Kaira Perhaps the women could be a little more feminine, but otherwise, they did a good job IMHO.

I'm not a fan of the wood elf and high elf presets.

The rest look pretty good to me though.

I take these as a demonstration of options, make your own face. I see beards, braids, wrinkles, scars, dirt, and tattoos that I like. And that’s just the Nords. I'm pretty excited about this.

All right, one gripe. Where's my curly hair?!

I actually think that we are in agreement here, Blackie. If I could refer your attention to post #23 of this very thread:

I like the look of the Dunmer in Skyrim. I hated that the Oblivion Dunmer looked more like the Smurfs than the Ash-Born. My comments above were in reference to those who would wish for a more Tolkienesque look via the character creator.


I may be wrong, but if you go back and look at those Dunmer again I think that they used the same head in each example. To me it just looks like they changed the features (eyes, mouth & nose), hair, and make-up. I think they did that for all the races, or are we supposed to believe that everyone in Skyrim possesses the same ridiculous chin?

@Black Hand: The males I don't have much of a problem with, it's the females. As you said, they are too masculine.

Well, here's hoping Bethesda will see reason and fix the female jawlines before release. Currently they are way too square.

Thankfully, those are all just presets, so we as the user will be able to fix it ourselves if need be. Face creation is one of the few char-gen options we still have left, after all.

I have to agree with you totally on this Master Chef TK. And if they have to be non-gender specific, I'd rather see them allow the women to look femine. And what is with the dirty skin? It is Skyrim, there is snow everywhere ... they can't melt some down and wash their faces?

Whoa, Altmer! I like the magical-looking eye colors. I wish the Bosmer had that green, though, the green of new leaves. Maybe I’ll make a tough Altmer who has survived a lot, and looks it. Never considered playing an Altmer before!


ETA: I’m going to have to try to be conservative with the dirt during character creation, or I’ll end up with the filthiest mer in Skyrim. Maybe there will be a perk for “Wash Your Face.”

I'm a Morrowind fan and I strongly disagree. The story only states that Azura changed their skin and eye colour, not that she made them ugly as sin. There's nothing in lore to say that Dunmer are supposed to be unattractive (if you can overlook their rather strange colouring) and plenty of references to individual Dunmer being beautiful/handsome, even from a human point of view. Seriously, there's a middle way in between 'Tolkien bishies' and 'ghastly freaks of nature'.

As for the Altmer, who definitely are supposed to be beautiful, don't even get me started. I think the main problem is that there's not enough variation between the different human or Elven races. Redguards should not look like palette-swapped Imperials, and ditto for High Elves and Dark Elves.

Quarrel! Quarrel! Do you quarrel, Miss?!



Aye, than you do but keep the peace.

I'm always up for a good quarrel. In all seriousness, I agree that the faces are much better than Oblivion, and it's clear that the character creator could be used to make nice-looking faces. I'm just not very impressed with those presets. (They all need a good wash, for a start.)

Oh my. A Dunmer woman with a dog. Familiar

On the topic of races, I like the fierceness of the Dunmer. I wouldn't call it ugly straight out, but I don't like the eyebrow ridges. They remind me of one of the aliens on Deep Space Nine. :/ Hopefully when customizing you can fix it.

And about the dog, I really, really hope you can give it commands... like telling it not to follow you into the dangerous cave. I remember they did pets in Morrowind and I was very upset when my scrib died. If my dog gets hurt I might cry

Alright, I haven't commented in here recently, and not only on account of my imminent move. Two reasons:

1) I have already expressed my opinions on the presence (for Argonians) and general structure (for Khajiit) that mammary glands should follow for the beast races.

2) I haven't been able to articulate a proper opinion on the elves, mostly since I didn't know what kept bothering me about them. I now think I have hit upon it, and while I know that what I am about to propose is going to draw immediate fire from the elf-supremacy faction (HAIL DRAGONBORN, HEIR To The EMPIRE Of MEN!!), as well as certain others, it is the solution that appeals most to me.

What I intend to do is this: swap out the general presets on the Bosmer and Altmer facial architecture, while keeping the color scheme and hair styles of each similar to the original (I may need to make the Haughty Elves just a little more golden/yellow).

I know, I know, it may be a little tough to visualize, but the Altmer seem to have the more 'wild look' and the Bosmer the more 'refined look' (if such things can be qualified, which I have difficulty doing). So while I like the respective selection of tattoos and hair styles, I just can't see myself keeping the general facial types categorized the same as they are now.

I know that this does not nearly satisfy some people. Tolkien is never going to be forgotten or overcome, and the original stories of the Fair Folk as beings that should never, ever be trusted without taking due care and consideration for one's own sake have pretty much fallen by the wayside (unless you happen to read stuff done by people that do their research). Allow me to reiterate that I have a problem with Tolkien's characterization of elf-folk, in case it was missed.

But now I have a solution that, if somebody else doesn't appropriate first, will be one of the first things I mod upon learning the new Creation Kit. My Altmer will look more mage-y (not a word, yet) and my Bosmer will look more like foresters and hunters. Most importantly, I'll be able to see the general characteristics that's contained in the lore match what happens in the game, while making sure to avoid the one over-used character that should apply to only a very fractional few in the rugged and dragon-infested province of Skyrim: Wimps. They need not apply.