hot take?

[u/cozysweetpotato]

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)

[u/MaeniacXIII]

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

[u/cozysweetpotato → u/MaeniacXIII]

Absolutely Skyrim is a rough environment in rough times so it makes sense for the setting and storytelling