What Is Your Favorite and Least Elder Scrolls Architecture?

Aliyavana

For me, it is about a tie between clockwork and dwemer but dwemer architecture tends to have more variety in terms of environments and automatons along with often being in mountainous terrain. Often you might find their buildings in beautiful caves with amazing vegetation. For me my least favorite is Breton as I don't like the common fantasy aspect of their architecture.

Rogue_Ghost

I've always enjoyed the Nord architecture the most. Mistveil Manor and Autumns Gate are both properties that I purchased in the Rift.
Khajiit is growing on me though.

DanteYoda

My favorite is High elven Housing..

My least favorite is Argonian houses...Mud huts.

Froil

Least favorite? Everything Breton. It's just your basic, cliche medieval fantasy architecture. This also applies to their armor and weapons. It's so boring and cliche... A shame given that I love Bretons; they're my favorite human race.

Favorite? Either Khajiiti, which I feel resembles Southeast Asian styles, or Redguard and its Middle Eastern influenced architecture.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Least favorite is Summerset's, it's generic and bland. Breton also gets marked down for the same reasons.

Most favorite...hmm, I'm going to say Ayleid. As a culture they were terrible people, but their buildings are graceful and elegant. Wrothgar had some nice architecture too, there were a few Nedic delves that made me stop and stare in awe, and House Redoran's tendancy to make buildings out of the things they killed is just kind of cool.

Cerbolt

Least favourite has gotta be Breton, it's just so dull and generic looking. Whereas at least Argonians mud huts are something different even if they are incredibly stupid looking. My favourite's probably Khajiit, though I'm bias. Their cities just seem so vibrant and lively.

Aliyavana

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Least favorite is Summerset's, it's generic and bland. Breton also gets marked down for the same reasons.

Most favorite...hmm, I'm going to say Ayleid. As a culture they were terrible people, but their buildings are graceful and elegant. Wrothgar had some nice architecture too, there were a few Nedic delves that made me stop and stare in awe, and House Redoran's tendancy to make buildings out of the things they killed is just kind of cool.

So would you say summerset or breton architecture is better?

LeHarrt91

My favourite is Nibanese (Linchal Grand Manor) or white Marble. Least favourite is Colovian it looks so gloomy

Pink_Violinz

I still really like Dunmer architecture, especially in Vvardenfell. It's the perfect balance between familiar and alien. You get something vaguely similar to Japanese, to towers of stone and mushrooms. Dunmer buildings just have a lot more soul poured into them.

Argonian buildings look horrible. I get it, mud huts, but c'mon... There are ruins everywhere, made of stone. Surely they're more sturdy than some dirt you slapped together one afternoon.

BigBragg

My favorite is the Gold Coast. Though some of the Summerset work is nice too.

Least favorite is Argonian. Just basic, round mud huts.

Aesthier

Aliyavana wrote: »

What Is Your Favorite and Least Elder Scrolls Architecture?

Favorite?

The graphics.


Least Favorite Architecture?

Performance stability.

Malacthulhu

Froil wrote: »

Least favorite? Everything Breton. It's just your basic, cliche medieval fantasy architecture. This also applies to their armor and weapons. It's so boring and cliche... A shame given that I love Bretons; they're my favorite human race.

Favorite? Either Khajiiti, which I feel resembles Southeast Asian styles, or Redguard and its Middle Eastern influenced architecture.

Same cept the daggerfall alliance motif is actually nice and intricate.

BretonMage

Favourite would be Altmer or Redguard. I am not overly fond of the rustic styles of Argonians or the Bosmer. I'm a bit conflicted wrt the Khajiti style: on one hand, I do love SE Asian styles; on the other hand, it's almost a direct copy of Thai architecture, so it feels borrowed at best.

AuldWolf

I'm old enough to remember when 'Fantasy' wasn't a genre, it was called 'Science Fiction.' There was very little true sci-fi or fantasy around that time, it was more fantastical science-fantasy in nature. I miss that. Pern, Discworld, Temeraire, and its ilk being perfect examples. I'm sad we lost that. Though the Clockwork City is a shameless callback to the days where there wasn't such a strictured (and yes, that's not a typo) approach to sci-fi and fantasy.

Lots of things are better in modern literature, I'll tell you that. I can definitely tell you that as an old fart. The representation of groups of people is much more impressive across the board. We're beginning to see even representation of trans people and otherkin (or other groups with body dysphoria) in the genres and this pleases me. Sometimes it catches me off guard (in a pleasing way) how open-minded contemporary authors can be. Not everyone is George R. R. Martin (which we can all be thankful for). Still, the more fantastic element can be missing from a lot of contemporary fantasy and sci-fi, so the Clockwork City was lovely to see. It was a very bold move. It's one of the things ZOS did that won me over.

Aside from that, more fanciful and colourful architecture tends to come in second place. Both redguard and khajiit are very notable here. Abah's Landing especially sticks in my mind as an incredibly lovely place. There's a verticality to such places too that appeals to me. Some middle-eastern and european cities have that, where they're very layered and tiered. On the upper levels it can feel like you're on top of the world, so it can be especially fun to clamber around. I have some very good memories of jumping around the rooftops in Abah's Landing, getting to high up perches where I wasn't supposed to to have an unmatched looking point.

My least favourite would be, naturally, that which serves to least inspire me and light the fires of my imagination. We probably all have a subjective view on this, but for me that's anything overly historical. Even alternate history can be dourly dull and excessively tedious as anyone can move a few events around to change things. I never understood why people thought that was so clever, it's confounding. The closer to reality something is, though, and especially the closer to an incredibly over-saturated representation? That's where you'll find my displeasure.

Can you guess?

It's not Imperial, surprisingly. At the very least, there, they tried to do something Greco-Roman. I appreciate that effort. That was especially noticeable in Oblivion which was rolling around in Greek mythology like a pig in muck, someone at Bethesda was very much a nerd for that topic and their enthusiasm was infectious. I'm not sure whom it was they lost, come Skyrim, but by that point the magic had faded. There was no passion in Skyrim. I didn't feel the identity, personality, or life of the location as I had with Morrowind and Oblivion.

So, nord architecture? Getting closer! Still, in ESO at least, nord architecture has a certain charm to it that elevates it above the lowest rung. It's not very high up there, certainly, with almost everything else above it. The very makeshift, faux-manly nature of it though is somewhat entertaining. It definitely fits the skalds and there's a part of me that appreciates what's been done with it. There is at least a little of that identity and life present, someone cared. I couldn't not notice, even though I had no personal passion for the areas in question.

What does that leave us with, then?

If you guessed breton architecture, you'd be correct! When I first explored Wayrest I thought I'd dropped through a portal to World of Warcraft, I tripped out because it was so close to Stormwind that I couldn't believe it. The Covenant lion is blue, it had very similar catapultts lying around, and if I'm not imagining it (I don't want to go back there)... the rooftops were even blue??? It's the most cloyingly unoriginal fantasy architecture you could go for. It's been in everything. Dungeons & Dragons probably has a patent on it by this point so I'm surprised they didn't sue (for the hyper-literal, I'm being facetious!).

There you go, then. I can only talk to what inspires me and what does not. I was bored to tears by Covenant architecture. I was in my oils in the Clockwork City and Hew's Bane.

Aliyavana

AuldWolf wrote: »

I'm old enough to remember when 'Fantasy' wasn't a genre, it was called 'Science Fiction.' There was very little true sci-fi or fantasy around that time, it was more fantastical science-fantasy in nature. I miss that. Pern, Discworld, Temeraire, and its ilk being perfect examples. I'm sad we lost that. Though the Clockwork City is a shameless callback to the days where there wasn't such a strictured (and yes, that's not a typo) approach to sci-fi and fantasy.

Lots of things are better in modern literature, I'll tell you that. I can definitely tell you that as an old fart. The representation of groups of people is much more impressive across the board. We're beginning to see even representation of trans people and otherkin (or other groups with body dysphoria) in the genres and this pleases me. Sometimes it catches me off guard (in a pleasing way) how open-minded contemporary authors can be. Not everyone is George R. R. Martin (which we can all be thankful for). Still, the more fantastic element can be missing from a lot of contemporary fantasy and sci-fi, so the Clockwork City was lovely to see. It was a very bold move. It's one of the things ZOS did that won me over.

Aside from that, more fanciful and colourful architecture tends to come in second place. Both redguard and khajiit are very notable here. Abah's Landing especially sticks in my mind as an incredibly lovely place. There's a verticality to such places too that appeals to me. Some middle-eastern and european cities have that, where they're very layered and tiered. On the upper levels it can feel like you're on top of the world, so it can be especially fun to clamber around. I have some very good memories of jumping around the rooftops in Abah's Landing, getting to high up perches where I wasn't supposed to to have an unmatched looking point.

My least favourite would be, naturally, that which serves to least inspire me and light the fires of my imagination. We probably all have a subjective view on this, but for me that's anything overly historical. Even alternate history can be dourly dull and excessively tedious as anyone can move a few events around to change things. I never understood why people thought that was so clever, it's confounding. The closer to reality something is, though, and especially the closer to an incredibly over-saturated representation? That's where you'll find my displeasure.

Can you guess?

It's not Imperial, surprisingly. At the very least, there, they tried to do something Greco-Roman. I appreciate that effort. That was especially noticeable in Oblivion which was rolling around in Greek mythology like a pig in muck, someone at Bethesda was very much a nerd for that topic and their enthusiasm was infectious. I'm not sure whom it was they lost, come Skyrim, but by that point the magic had faded. There was no passion in Skyrim. I didn't feel the identity, personality, or life of the location as I had with Morrowind and Oblivion.

So, nord architecture? Getting closer! Still, in ESO at least, nord architecture has a certain charm to it that elevates it above the lowest rung. It's not very high up there, certainly, with almost everything else above it. The very makeshift, faux-manly nature of it though is somewhat entertaining. It definitely fits the skalds and there's a part of me that appreciates what's been done with it. There is at least a little of that identity and life present, someone cared. I couldn't not notice, even though I had no personal passion for the areas in question.

What does that leave us with, then?

If you guessed breton architecture, you'd be correct! When I first explored Wayrest I thought I'd dropped through a portal to World of Warcraft, I tripped out because it was so close to Stormwind that I couldn't believe it. The Covenant lion is blue, it had very similar catapultts lying around, and if I'm not imagining it (I don't want to go back there)... the rooftops were even blue??? It's the most cloyingly unoriginal fantasy architecture you could go for. It's been in everything. Dungeons & Dragons probably has a patent on it by this point so I'm surprised they didn't sue (for the hyper-literal, I'm being facetious!).

There you go, then. I can only talk to what inspires me and what does not. I was bored to tears by Covenant architecture. I was in my oils in the Clockwork City and Hew's Bane.

exact same way I felt about Breton architecture. Also dislike that imperial architecture that looks dull, I think nibenese?

ezio45

Favorite Is Summerset but Clockwork buildings are nice too

Least favorite is probably argonian and wood elf

Argoinian n is savable if they focus more on the Aztec style buildings but the mud hut thing doesnt work and is just lame

Wood elf tho I have no ideas on how to make this better, maybe feel go more fantasy and less primitive....

I feel like primitive style just cant look good even when its done well

Faulgor

Best: Redoran
Worst: Altmer

Anacario

Favorite: clockwork, altmer, dwemer, even telvanni. That's right, I said it!

Least favorite is probly breton, along with imperial colovian. Just too boring.

Aliyavana

Anacario wrote: »

Favorite: clockwork, altmer, dwemer, even telvanni. That's right, I said it!

Least favorite is probly breton, along with imperial colovian. Just too boring.

id agree with telvanni if it resembled the earlier elder scrolls games, lol

Darkstorne

My favourite is Khajiit, partly because it genuinely is a very unique look that suits their culture, and it isn't something that feels cliched in fantasy like the Argonian "lizard-men are Aztecs" architecture ZOS also opted for. But also because most of Elsweyr is untouched so far, so it doesn't suffer from the issue most provinces do of "one architectural style for the entire province". Imagine if TESV Skyrim used Whiterun's architecture for every city in the game. That's the ZOS approach to architecture Hopefully a future Elsweyr expansion doesn't fall into that trap.

Least favourite... I can't decide between Argonian and Altmer. Argonian because, as said, it's cliche as f***. Altmer is more difficult because the architecture is incredibly beautiful and detailed, but isn't even remotely lore friendly. And that makes me insanely confused! I really want to know about the discussions that took place at ZOS, because they must have discussed the gleaming towers of crystal and glass that Alinor is so renowned for. They must have played around with the idea of at least adding glass and crystal spires to the tops of stone towers. But for whatever reason they decided to completely ignore existing lore and opted for 100% grey stone square castles and towers with a gothic vibe, leaning on the old "in game sources were lying" crutch for the umpteenth time.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here and assuming there's a completely valid reason why they couldn't make a glass and crystal theme work, because they're clearly a talented team. I just really would like to know what that reason is. As a long-time TES it's eating me up inside

My most hated aspect of architecture in this game though is the scale. Seems it's something they're stuck with, because they can't rescale all the buildings in the game, and if they made new expansions work with a realistic scale then it would highlight how bad this problem is when you returned to older parts of the game. But here you go, check out my max height Redguard standing outside this "small" house! What a useful window this must be, made for giants so that no man or mer stands tall enough to see through or out of it Every single building in the game suffers from this.




What were they smoking when they decided this was the scale all buildings should adhere to?

OrdoHermetica

Darkstorne wrote: »

What were they smoking when they decided this was the scale all buildings should adhere to?

To be fair in that specific instance, sitting windows are A.) a thing and B.) totally a thing the Altmer would install in even small houses.

HappyLittleTree

Most favourite: Saxhleel

Least favourite: Altmer

Aliyavana

DarkScatha wrote: »

Most favourite: Saxhleel

Least favourite: Altmer

you like mudhuts over beautiful marble buildings?

MLGProPlayer

1. DLC Redguard (see Hew's Bane)
2. DLC Altmer (see Summerset)
3. DLC Dunmer (see Vvardenfell)

HappyLittleTree

Pink_Violinz wrote: »

I still really like Dunmer architecture, especially in Vvardenfell. It's the perfect balance between familiar and alien. You get something vaguely similar to Japanese, to towers of stone and mushrooms. Dunmer buildings just have a lot more soul poured into them.

Argonian buildings look horrible. I get it, mud huts, but c'mon... There are ruins everywhere, made of stone. Surely they're more sturdy than some dirt you slapped together one afternoon.

IF you'd know the lore you'd know that the ruins are ruins for a reason, also with the addition of murkmire i guess we might get more reed like huts.
(the big effin island grand topal hideaway is Murkmire style btw.)

Darkstorne

OrdoHermetica wrote: »

Darkstorne wrote: »

What were they smoking when they decided this was the scale all buildings should adhere to?

To be fair in that specific instance, sitting windows are A.) a thing and B.) totally a thing the Altmer would install in even small houses.

This isn't a specific instance though, it's all windows in the game Go check out the size of a door or window on even the smallest houses you can find, in any province. Presumably it's a holdover from when the game was being designed more like WoW than a TES game. A lot of that has been changed post launch, but this game was never originally intended to have a first person view option, and was built for a fully zoomed out third person view like WoW has. Most people still play third person due to the combat design all but requiring it, but it seems very few people play with a max zoom camera outside of dungeons/trials/Cyrodiil.

gepe87

I like tribal themes, so bosmer/khajiit/argonian are my favourites.
Breton is meh, too cliché as someone wrote.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Aliyavana wrote: »

So would you say summerset or breton architecture is better?

Depends what you mean by 'better'. As I said I dislike Summerset's the most. I give Breton a little leeway for being in the first zones created when ZOS was still getting practice at city design, and a little more leeway because being a human culture, the fact that their buildings look like human buildings is less of a flaw. It's still boring, generic, and part of what makes the Daggerfall Covenant atmosphere so tediously dull, though.

MaisonNaevius

My favorite architecture is the imperial style of the second Empire (or colovian architecture ? - But this architecture is adopted in the nibenese city of Cheydinhal).

Jaimeh

I like Altmer, Khajiit, Redguard, Imperial, Ayleid, Clockwork, and Nedic (if that's what the structures in Craglorn are). I also like Dunmer furniture/decorations, but their architecture makes no sense to me--if I ever wander inside St. Delyn's Waistworks I may never come back out again I'm not very fond of Argonian architecture, though that might change with the new DLC, where we'll see more of it.

Kuramas9tails

I like and dislike some things from each of the styles...BUT

I defiantly like the clean, bright stone style in Summerset. I also enjoy the warm textures of the Redoran and Indoril styles. Redguard has a nice okay in my heart as does Khajiit and Breton.

Least favorite? Orc. The style feels like a muggy basement.