r/oblivion • u/cozysweetpotato • 1d ago
hot take? Discussion
Personally I really love the way the characters in Oblivion look (especially compared to Skyrim and their gaunt sunken yuck) but all I see are people making fun of the way they look 😭 is this an unpopular opinion?
I especially like the way the characters in Oblivion look because they feel realistic especially for that world and you can make a pretty character but not a hyper pretty character which is refreshing. I also love how round the faces/heads are it adds a softness I really like and I love the eye colors as well and think they are very beautiful even today. It just feels very charming and Obliviony (which is to say beautiful but unsettling at times)
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u/No-Return-6341 1d ago
I agree 200%.
On top of your points, facial expressions in Oblivion... I've never seen anything like that in any other game.
When they look at you like this, you really feel it:
https://i.redd.it/oimju2x5eax41.jpg
Or when they look at you like this, their serene happiness is contagious:
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Filg82vfge7g51.jpg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D8772538901e553f4d68204dd3a1c885390b46733
It's an extra dimension of immersiveness that no other game really has.
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u/DudeOvertheLine 1d ago
At first I was really weirded out by oblivion’s faces (mostly the face cam) since Skyrim was my first elder scrolls game, but now that I’ve played them both, I gotta say, I love the color of oblivion! Skyrim is all gray and snowy and depressing. Rarely is there a quest where I feel the character is truly happy in the end. That aside, I love the vibrancy of the characters in oblivion—they have far more personality than in Skyrim. And you can give them neon hair without mods—how cool is that!
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u/ElectricSnowBunny Criminal Scum 1d ago
they were a welcome change from Morrowind
to me they are goofy looking but also charming, and seem very much a part of the world
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u/PossibilityLarge6910 1d ago
True. People in Skyrim have a bit of dark circles- shadow on their faces. Must be because of the cold climate. But yeah Oblivion faces are very warm and friendly lol.
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u/Arumat22 23h ago
I love the way the characters look in Oblivion- the game itself reminds me of a beautiful water color painting. I absolutely despise how characters look in Skyrim/ESO. They are so ugly and gritty. Maybe that's the point, but still; also Argonians look MUCH better in Oblivion, it's like Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance Reptile. The only time Reptile actually looked like his namesake. People always meme on how ugly you can make characters but a majority of the NPC's look like people you'd see in real life (or a more lumpy version of them). My imperial looks like a stud
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u/Dangerous_Check_3957 1d ago
It’s not something I love about oblivion but it doesn’t detract from the gameplay so I just deal. Honestly I always do a random appearance. I never spend time in the character creator. I think the oblong faces are funny sometimes. Some ppl call it “charm”
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u/AttentionKmartJopper 1d ago
I feel this. I'm putting together a modded playthrough right now and I think NPCs are the one visual element of the game that I am not messing with very much. Updated hair and face textures, sure, but no overhauls or new modded hairstyles. I WANT my charmingly cartoonish NPCs who seethe over the filthiness of mudcrabs and throw me over-wide grins when I'm bartering with them.
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u/ProfConduit 11h ago
Agreed, and I had no trouble making a reasonably pretty Breton lass with a few random generations followed by minimal sliding on the bars. Martin's sexy enforcer. Hot scourge of Daedra.
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u/MaeniacXIII 7h ago
For me I think about the times they are in - in Oblivion the empire is thriving until uriel dies (at least cyrodil is, pretty sure there's a couple of conflits going on in other provinces), literally the day the game starts is on the Harvests End festival where every body gets free drinks and food, (people in kvatch were probably all outside celebrating when the gates opened) so the chubby "potato" faces most of the characters have for me are lore accurate for the times they are living in - the average citizen is just that, and average citizen - that's why it is so horrible to the characters that the emperor was 💀 and gates started opening everywhere - they were comfy, this is the apocalypse in their eyes
In skyrim, there are no dragonborns anymore, legends are just that - legends - everybody is having a hard time unless they are super wealthy or powerful, so it makes sense that everybody looks haggered and dirty
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u/cozysweetpotato 7h ago
Absolutely Skyrim is a rough environment in rough times so it makes sense for the setting and storytelling
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u/Background_Blood_511 12h ago
oblivion's faces could've been better but it seems like they rushed i
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u/Pristine_Teaching167 1d ago
I agree. I find the looks of certain characters to be better than Skyrim. For instance Argonians. I really love how they look in Oblivion and not so much in Skyrim. Same with Bretons. In Oblivion they look different but in Skyrim they just look like a Nord or Imperial. I can’t tell any of them apart just walking around in Skyrim but in Oblivion you can.