Let me guess....The Imperials of Skyrim were always based on : V - Skyrim

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:24 am

Just like in Mass Effect, they are talking on other lenguages, but since is a game you need to udnerstand. Why would you want to try to udnerstand a game on an alien lenguage? Imagine the time to create that lenguage also. . Just certain moments can be on other lenguages.

I don`t like that reasoning at all.

I prefer to think that everyone knows a major language that`s called `Common` which most everyone can understand. it`s like a mix of all languages. When no one talking to you, they speak their own language.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:08 am

And there are other languages then English in TES anyhow, a few are quite detailed as well. They're just not spoken in game dialogue for obvious reasons.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 7:50 am

And there are other languages then English in TES anyhow, a few are quite detailed as well. They're just not spoken in game dialogue for obvious reasons.

There was that Ashlander guy in Morrowind who spoke Ashlander.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:59 am

The Byzantine Empire is just what we today call the Eastern Roman Empire. They descended from the Roman Empire, they called themselves Romans. Rome, the city itself, lost importance even before the East/West split. Rome stopped being the capital of the Roman Empire in 286 AD. In 324 the capital was changed from Nicomedia to Byzantium which was renamed Constantinople. The Roman Empire was split in 395(permanently, there was a few splits then rejoins before that), the Western Roman Empire fell in 476, and the Eastern Roman Empire(or Byzantine Empire as we call them now) fell in 1453.

I am so glad that we have smart people on this forum!

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:25 am

I never noticed that in Obvilion. The imperials seem very orignal to me in the other games.Homever, when i saw their armor in Skyrim, i instantly noticed their similarities to the Roman Empire. And there are just too many.

That how it was in Morrowind and for me personally it is a great idea.

I like the Roman Empire inspiration for the Imperials.

The same way Nords are obviously Norseman and Bretons are inspired by the druid culture of the Celts.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:37 am

And Belgium doesn't have a huge assortment of girly fruity beers? Lolol. :biggrin:

True. I stand corrected. :blush:

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:44 am

Even the ancient myths come from other ideas LOL. The only guy i know that is original is Tolkien. But i'm not entire sure. They say that he created LOTR by his experiences on the first world war as well on ancient myths.... So just a bit of originality.

He wasn't entirely original. There were certainly dwarves and elves and stuff before him.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:23 am

The Byzantine Empire is just what we today call the Eastern Roman Empire. They descended from the Roman Empire, they called themselves Romans. Rome, the city itself, lost importance even before the East/West split. Rome stopped being the capital of the Roman Empire in 286 AD. In 324 the capital was changed from Nicomedia to Byzantium which was renamed Constantinople. The Roman Empire was split in 395(permanently, there was a few splits then rejoins before that), the Western Roman Empire fell in 476, and the Eastern Roman Empire(or Byzantine Empire as we call them now) fell in 1453.

yes but when people talk about "The Roman empire" they tend to be talking about before Byzantine. Generaly before the sacking of Rome. The fate of the roman empire kinda resembles that of cyrodil (I love all the history references in TES)

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 7:36 am

Right I think they called them pila or pilus.

Singular 'pilum', plural 'pila' if what little I remember on latin grammar isn't scambled beyond recognition.

The standard Legion drill was pretty basic : send a volley of pilums (let's stick with english grammer here) to disrupt the ennemy ranks and mess up wtheir shileds, then engage at close range. Which usually involved smashing your shield in the other guy's face to unbalance him and making a quick stab at tinner thigh area - hard to armor and the femoral artery runs there.

It was nonetheless fairly effective when combined with the level of discipline and group working of the Legion.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:48 am

I'm not really a fan of the Restored look, I more prefered Oblivion's style with the Imperials especially the Armor.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 5:11 am

The races all borrow heavily from one or two real world/mythological cultures for a lot of superficial features, which is what I believe the thread was about.

One or two? nahh, your waaay oversimplifing it, which is fine if you need to make some sort of 1:1 comparison for the sake of character creation and what not but it won't fly if your just trying to simplify The Elder Scrolls into something less complex than what it really is.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:27 am

I never noticed that in Obvilion. The imperials seem very orignal to me in the other games.Homever, when i saw their armor in Skyrim, i instantly noticed their similarities to the Roman Empire. And there are just too many.

It's just to similar, even the ranks of Legate and Generals. Now we must notice that the Roman Empire used exclusively spears, now that those of Skyrim uses swords exclusively. Anyone knows why the spears were removed?

Now i must ask, was the Imperial Legion of Skyrim supossed to be inspired from the Romans of the real world?

Not gonna read through all the replies, so it may have already been said, but have you not played Morrowind?

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:16 pm

Not gonna read through all the replies, so it may have already been said, but have you not played Morrowind?

They were still more unique than what we see in Skyrim.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:48 am

They were still more unique than what we see in Skyrim.

As was clearly stated a few times before in this thread: not at all.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:19 am

As was clearly stated a few times before in this thread: not at all. :wink:

http://images.uesp.net/f/fe/SR-concept-Imperial_Armor.jpg

http://images.uesp.net/0/02/MW_ImperialArmor.jpg

Don't know about you but I do :wink:

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:49 am

Why are people talking about Romans wearing trousers? -_-

is this a trick question

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:19 am

if you think the imperial armor looks roman you should check out the blades armor....

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:06 am

Blades are not Imperials.

Besides, we need whips in this game as a weapon.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:11 pm

Actually, I'd say it was when the Palaialogos took the Byzantine empire. They were obviously Greek, not Roman.

I don't see why you'd draw the line at him considering:

" Even with our imperfect knowledge of Byzantine genealogy, no less than eleven emperors may be traced among his ancestors."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_VIII_Palaiologos

yes but when people talk about "The Roman empire" they tend to be talking about before Byzantine. Generaly before the sacking of Rome. The fate of the roman empire kinda resembles that of cyrodil (I love all the history references in TES)

hehe, which one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome

You're probably referring to the 410 sacking. I guess I just don't see the point of thinking that the Western Roman Empire counts as the Roman Empire, but not the Eastern Roman Empire. Why does the Western Roman Empire count as the Roman Empire just because they failed so quickly, yet the more successful Eastern Roman Empire doesn't count? If they're trying to refer to the unified Roman Empire, it's a bit anol but they should clarify that then.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:45 pm

Blades are not Imperials.

who said they were?

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:39 pm

I never noticed that in Obvilion. The imperials seem very orignal to me in the other games.Homever, when i saw their armor in Skyrim, i instantly noticed their similarities to the Roman Empire. And there are just too many.

-Soldiers

-Ranks

- It's Fall.

-Weapons and armor

These are all the sets of armors we can found in-game:

http://images.eurogamer.net/2011/articles//a/1/4/1/6/4/3/2/1121ImperialArmor.jpg.jpg

This is a concept of a Roman soldier:

http://www.techpin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/coolest-looking-soldiers.jpg

Now in-movie:

http://www.lore-and-saga.co.uk/assets/images/Legion1.JPG

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eXc_EwBohOg/TSsS7036sdI/AAAAAAAADIg/ne814r_nFm8/s1600/Caesar.jpg

It's just to similar, even the ranks of Legate and Generals. Now we must notice that the Roman Empire used exclusively spears, now that those of Skyrim uses swords exclusively. Anyone knows why the spears were removed?

Now i must ask, was the Imperial Legion of Skyrim supossed to be inspired from the Romans of the real world?

Spears weren't exclusive. Far from it. In a phalanx, spears were used. But before 1 AD, soldiers realized, you just run a chariot into a phalanx to break it. A Horse dies...so what? It falls on a soldier or 2 pinning them. The soldiers would pull their swords or daggers then. Spears telegraphed too easily. Easily parried, when the enemy isn't behind a shield, with several commrads pushing forward and stabbing at you. Shortswords and daggers when the phalanxs fell apart and it REALLY became hand-to-hand. It's why the soldiers carried the short-sword/heavy dagger AND spear. Greeks and Romans both. The shields were large, heavy, thick and cumbersome. If the formation was broken, they'd generally just drop the shield so they could move and pull their blades. I'm talking late Republic, Early Empire period.

I think it was the Swiss who invented the pike, so that infantry could confront cavalry more effectively. And that was after the west had fallen. And the 2-handed sword, the zweihander, was invented to mimic the usefulness of the pike against horse, and still be used vs. infantry. At least, that's what I remember from Western Civilization class, 25 years ago.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:30 am

they did change the style in Oblivion but the blades had roman armor on

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 7:22 am

Rome is kind of THE empire. The words "empire" and "emperor" were coined to describe it, during the rennaisance. The word empire didn't exist when there actually was an empire. Since then, of course, it is used liberally to describe any powerful nation, business or community. But was originally created only to describe Rome and it's leader.

So it kind of makes sense that the empire of Cyrodiil is based on Rome. It was kind of the most important one, historically.

» Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:39 pm

One or two? nahh, your waaay oversimplifing it, which is fine if you need to make some sort of 1:1 comparison for the sake of character creation and what not but it won't fly if your just trying to simplify The Elder Scrolls into something less complex than what it really is.

Hence the "superficial features" not every facet