So... i dont see the fascination with ppl liking Nords and Argonians
i mean nords are humans which we are already are so ....big woop lol .... and argonians look stupid looking no offense just an over sized lizard .

i like elves better

im just curious to why people like the humans and beast races .

ps. dont get me wrong i like the diversity in elder scrolls .

Because elves are ugly and jerks
Nords are jerks but epic
Argonians can breath underwater, have warrior and thief skills at the beginning, and are just plaine cool

Well, one reason some people like human races might be because they are making a character based off them.

In most fantasy games I play elves. I love them. But in Skyrim they are so darn ugly and due to the lack of any real racial differences they don't have any of the bonuses you generally associate with elves (like in D&D). So for Skyrim, I generally play a Nord. I have played a Khajiit however and loved it. They look 100% better than they did in OB. I still miss the animal legs from Morrowind though.

I like playing as the beast races because everything else seems to human to me(besides the humans.) I find playing as them more interesting. To me the beast races are the only unique race we can play as.

I know. It looked better on them and it made them stand out from the other races. To me that makes them live up to their "Beast race" name. Now they just look like humans with a tail.

I think the Argonians look brilliant in Skyrim, however I must say that the male beast races tend to look better which is annoying because I like to make female characters as I'm a woman. The male beasts look more extravagant but that may be because in nature, male animals tend to look more vibrant and interesting to attract females so in that case they've done well there!

I have 2 wood elves because I think they make fantastic assassins. After all, "there are no finer archers in all Tamriel" I agree that the elves aren't so "pretty" in Skyrim but remember Oblivion, where every race looked the same?! The Argonians for example had no texture to their faces, they looked terrible! All beast races couldn't be customised enough, but now, the customisation in Skyrim is great. If you play around for long enough you can make 'pretty' elves I'll try to get a picture of my main and make her my avatar on here (I'm a new member so forgive the lack of picture!)

I play as Nord because I like to create myself in games like ES and Fallout, I also love their lore though. I love Argonians and Orcs as well though, their culture is really cool and I like Argonians not only the way they look but also their abilities like breathing underwater and disease resistance and such.

Nords are taller than Imperials and as built as Orcs. This makes them bigger than normal humans (who are represented by Imperials) and they are natives to Skyrim, the province you are fighting in, making dialogue alot friendlier toward you when talking to AI's. They are natural warriors and being a Nord ties into the story of being Dragonborn. Tiber Septim was a Nord, Dragonborn and the patriarch of the Royal family. In someway you are like a reborn version of the Man who became a God.

Argonians are Lizards with a large jaw, tail and with the ability to breathe underwater. They have scales and are oddly good warriors. I have never played an Argonian but I think people find some irony using an Argonian (An Oversized Lizard) to fight a Dragon (An Extremely Oversized Lizard).

No. Take a look at the average heights of humans in different countries around the world. Many ethnicities are taller than others. Imperials are loosely based on Romans and Nords are loosely based on Scandinavians. Imperials don't represent "normal" humans at all. You've even got Redguards who I think are loosely based on sub-Saharan Africans.

Humans are boring, the elves are ugly and argonians are lizards All that is left are the cats, but that's okay because cats are awesome

This is the best I could do with very few mods. Still doesn't look great though. http://i48.tinypic.com/334hlx5.jpg

Personally I stick pretty much to Dunmer in any Elder Scrolls game. I like their sinister look, their amazing land, culture, and just plain lore. Morrowind really made like them as a race, made me see a world that was so different from ours. After Oblivion and Skyrim (Two very human territories) I've grown to appreciate Morrowind a lot more. Too bad everything has pretty much changed completely there.

I can understand why people pick the other races though. Maybe they just dig the look, think they're cool, like their stats, liked their lore, or just picked randomly. Personally I don't hate any race in the game. I'm not to fond of Argonians but I'd rather not get into that

I think Altmer are really cool as well, I like their attitude towards other races and their purity laws and of course their height and appearance. Wouldn't play as them though obviously as I always try to make myself in games.

By "pretty" elves I mean pretty for a Skyrim Elf - of course they're not going to look like Nords or anything but I think yours looks good I think people say the elves are ugly because the presets don't look all that great, also I think it may be the fact that the eyes are lacking bright colours, on Oblivion you could make a wood elf with green/blue eyes but now they're all brown, black or blind o.O you could make a really lovely looking character as a Nord or an Imperial but the races are supposed to look very different I also have a Nord and a Dark Elf At first the Dark Elves put me off due to their very tired, aged appearance, however a bit of war paint sorts them out, I gave mine the white eyes and the palest skin, with white hair, and she actually looks way younger than the other dark elves in the game simply because of that war paint obscuring her withered eyes. I spend ages customising my characters

It does come down to personal preference. Nord's are nice to play because of their culture and it is nice to play the home side in a TES game. I never got round to playing imperial in Oblivion so its nice to do so in Skyrim. Argonians look nice because they are raptors! I miss the walk from Morrowind though.

True, Nords were based on Scandinavians as there are a number of references throughout the game. Nords in Oblivion were people from the North and fit the image of Northern Barbarians people had during the Middle Ages when Vikings and such of the like came from countries such as Scandinavia however I never actually said they were from any region. Nords are large, hulking humans as I said and was my point. The were the first humans actually according to lore in-game. Imperials are closer to the average height of every other race. Nords, Orcs and High Elves are taller than every other race. I also said that was reason to play them in game. And irregardless Imperials are the representation of Civilized man, Nords are Barbarious man. Again according to in-game lore.

As another note. Imperials are not loosely based on Rome and its culture. They are heavily based. Their military is called the Imperial Legion (Roman Legion), they have an Emperor (As did Rome), they have an Elder Council of Representatives (The Roman Senate) and they are opposed by supposed Barbarians from the North, Nords (The Roman Empire was opposed by Celts, Gauls and Barbarians from Northern Countries and Regions). For God sake their armor in-game is identical to Centurion (Officer in-game) and Legionairre (Legionairre in-game also) armor. They even have the same weapons. The Roman Gladius is the Imperial Sword.

Example of two greatly differing human average heights.

Bolivia - Males 5ft 3in
Females 4ft 8in

Netherlands - Males 6ft
Females 5ft 6in

As you can see Dutch humans are much taller than Bolivian humans. Hence Imperials are not closer to the average heights of humans as there is none, they differ to greatly.

They are still only loosely based on Rome, not heavily. A lot of their culture models it but really it depends on which game I suppose, Oblivion the Imperial Legion wasn't very similar to the Roman Legion at all, whereas in Skyrim it is more similar.


And Gauls were Celtic.

Celts were from across Europe. Gauls specifically came from Central-Western Europe. Modern Germany, France and the like. Gauls were also the predominant opposition to the Roman Empire.

Not the Human Race.

Your point is valid but irrelevant to my point.

True Oblivion had less reference to it than Skyrim but irregardless of that the Imperial Empire is still Heavily Based on the Roman Empire in Skyrim.

Wait, so you don't get why people like playing as humans, because they already are, okay, understandable, but then you don't understand why people play the most non-human race?

They were still Celtic though, you stated "The Roman Empire was opposed by Celts, Gauls..." as if they were a seperate people. Suppose it doesn't really have anything to do with the main point however.

True. I distinguish them only because in Ireland, Scotland and Wales there were Celts, not Gauls. When the Roman's invaded they fought Celts not Gauls. When they entered what they called Gallia at the time, they fought Gauls not Celts. Gauls actually also had their own early-variety of Celtic called Gaulish. Still when broken down to the base, they stemmed from European Celts.

They fought Caledonians in Scotland, which they called Caledonia. Celts were still divided into seperate entities, they just shared a common culture and language due to trade routes and such. I don't think there was one universal Celtic language spoken, most likely many seperate languages grouped under Celtic, Gaulish would have most likely just been one of these.

I like all the races, but I just prefer the beast races. I like Dunmer, though. Bosmer are cool, too. I'm already a human. I don't really want to play as a human if I'm wishing to live out a fantasy.

I don't mind playing human, the lore of the races can also make playing human interesting.

For example I'm not athletic but quite scholarly, which why I usually play a mage. So playing a nord two-handed berseker can be a refreshing change for me.