Hi there Empedocles!


Why are you rationalizing what is obviously a tech limitation? I mean, presenting the absence of body build variety as something logical and reasonable is sending the wrong message to Beth. I can certainly understand their motives, but in future I would like this issue to be addressed, instead of trying hard to come up with an oblique reason to justify the absence. Because in the future we may well have the tech abilities to generate different body builds and not do so because, well, it's a cold poor country and people are uniformly fit.

Fun to have a character that is fat :3

But it's not just a rationalization when the in-game societies are obviously influenced by feudal ones. Not many people would have been fat. Even without any kind of limitations, it would still be unrealistic to have fat beggars running around. Basically anyone who wasn't rich substited on gruels, vegetable stews, and dark bread in most of Europe. So it's slightly justified.

Hello there Zero the Mage. Hope you're having a great day.


What's more unrealistic, having one size fits all body build or having slightly yet noticably different ones? Look at medieval paintings that depict rural scenes. I'd be pleased to hear from you if you have any points you wish to raise.

Who knows, I guess? I don't think it matters all that much, really.

More roleplaying options never hurt. And not everyone wants to powerplay, it's fun to gimp your character somehow. And you could make up for the slower speed somehow...

In my opinion it would be great if a muscular looking guy would be strong, a thin looking guy would be fast/agile, and a fat guy had more hit points. Things like that.

HI anthonyrf!


The same reason they've added children in: variety, plausability. It's not my #1 concern, not even on my top 10, but it would certainly make the game better.

this is skyrim not america

Paintings are not necessarily an accurate reflection of life at the time. Considering that rich people tending to commission paintings, and rich people would have a higher chance of being fat, it makes sense if they ended up in a painting. Also, a quick google search then wiki walk reveals little in the way of fat people in rural medieval paintings. Perhaps you are thinking more in terms of the Renaissance which did have some overlap with medieval art beginning in the 1400s. (And if by fat you mean 'not wafer thin' then that could also be include body types that are not necessarily fat in the category of 'fat'.)

The term medieval covers quite a range in history, specifically the 6th to the 15th and perhaps 16th (500s-1400s or 1500s). Paintings differ stylistically by region and time period. One thing I do not see and have not seen are an abundance of fat people in medieval art. Quite the opposite in fact. While they are by no means absent, they were not common.

Medieval diets were also not very calorie-packed. Meat was for the upper classes. And unless you had someone doing everything for you and moved very little, it would be difficult to pack on weight. Doing everything by hand isn't forgiving.

Some of the nobles are kinda chubby...

Nazeem would be funnier if he was a fat guy holding a chicken leg.

"Do you get to the cloud district very often?" *looks at your stomach* "...Oh what am I saying. Of course you don't." *chomp*

Everything makes sense now. Nazeem is secretly fat. (The sound of his voice is in my brain now, my brain! Augh! Thank you.) He's the one random npc that makes me grit my teeth every time I pass him. Fat Nazeem would make sense, considering he does nothing but go to the Palace and then lord it over people...

As an aside, it would be interesting to see attractiveness turned on its head as well. Fat = Rich = Desirable was the rule in many societies in Europe (and is still found in different cultures the world 'round.) It meant you could afford food.

Well, Ulfric could stand to lose a few pounds, but that's about it.

Hi again.


Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to turn this into a discussion on medieval history and culture. If you believe paintings are not a reliable source, then you shouldn't draw any conclusions based upon them one way or the other. My point is: even taking into account the weather, the diet, the somewhat narrow genetic pool, there would still be fat, fatter, taller, shorter, slimmer, people in Skyrim. The absence of different body builds contradicts this and is of course due to a range of limitations, not a design choice. Pretty much like the inclusion of children, these diverse builds would make for a better game.

We're all sitting in front of the TV playing Skyrim.

people of tamriel have very fast metabolisms...

I take it you haven't seen him nekkid.

There Are No Fat True Sons Of Skyrim

the question is, are you fat? or what?

You should solve rubix cubes for money!

at mcdonalds ofcourse


is your next question why old ladies have the body of a 20 year old?


game mechanics obviously

I think Bethesda would have to completely rework how they handle textures to make this happen.

But, as stated, I don't think many players want to play a fat character or that the game world really needs them. That's small solace for those people who do want to play as a fat guy or girl, but given the choices of spending time enabling mounted combat, adding new quests and monsters to the game etc. vs the vast amount of work that would have to happen to enable fat characters for the 0.1% of people that want to play one, it's an easy choice.

McDonalds/ thread

Wait for it ...

http://i47.tinypic.com/o6io8p.jpg

wait for it ...