Why do your elfs in cinematics have normal human looking eyes?

Nic727

I guess I’m the only one who like how they look in cinematic. If only the game would have a graphical upgrade… Eveli in the game looks like a baby.

Syldras

Jaraal wrote: »

I don't recognize the symbol on her breastplate... looks like some sort of stylized lotus flower or star. But the armor definitely has some sort of Thieves Guild / Dark Brotherhood vibe going on..

Look here:
https://esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net/ape/uploads/2023/01/c5072476057afd103910cca1d5f690cd.jpg
Both the shoulder pieces and that chest piece seem to be stylized depictions of Hermaeus Mora (the round thing being one of his eyes). She's just some random Mora cultist Arcanist person, player character replacement thing, it seems.

Nic727 wrote: »

I guess I’m the only one who like how they look in cinematic. If only the game would have a graphical upgrade… Eveli in the game looks like a baby.

I don't mind better graphics, but mer should look like mer, not like humans.

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

This is definitely done intentionally, of some dumb reason. A reason which boils down to one obvious thing, they are all attractive young elven women. Which is such an icky thing to me and just reminds me of all those mobile games and not large triple A games that pours mainstream attractive women all over their ads and trailers.
I think making them actually look like proper Elder Scrolls mer would be better for attention, because they don't look generic and like every other elf. It grabs attention, interest, and that's what you want, so people will look up what it is and may be interested enough to try it out. Now they look it up and see that it's not what the trailers show. I've personally always gotten curious when a company has gone outside the mold with the typical fantasy races, and my favourite elves belongs to settings that are not the typical pretty pointy eared humans.

I totally agree. It's also quite telling that all cinematic chapter announcement trailers that focus on one character only (there are also a few that show a group of heroes) show young women. I mean, they could have also shown us a male cultist this time... But no, it's always young women.

Jaraal

Syldras wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

I don't recognize the symbol on her breastplate... looks like some sort of stylized lotus flower or star. But the armor definitely has some sort of Thieves Guild / Dark Brotherhood vibe going on..

Look here:
https://esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net/ape/uploads/2023/01/c5072476057afd103910cca1d5f690cd.jpg
Both the shoulder pieces and that chest piece seem to be stylized depictions of Hermaeus Mora (the round thing being one of his eyes). She's just some random Mora cultist Arcanist person, player character replacement thing, it seems.

That makes sense, but what are the devil daedra that the Mora cultist is fighting? And are we supposed to be helping or killing the cultists?

Syldras wrote: »

It's also quite telling that all cinematic chapter announcement trailers that focus on one character only (there are also a few that show a group of heroes) show young women. I mean, they could have also shown us a male cultist this time... But no, it's always young women.

The male Dunmer does look kinda like Master Roshi, now that you mention it.

Syldras

Jaraal wrote: »

That makes sense, but what are the devil daedra that the Mora cultist is fighting? And are we supposed to be helping or killing the cultists?

Now, that's getting more complicated. I'm not completely sure (and I won't check the whole reveal stream again), but aren't those ugly things people who mutated because they stayed in Mora's realm for too long? And the grinning bulkier one also some "mysterious, hard-to-figure-out" Daedra from Apocrypha? Not sure why the Mora cultist is fighting them then, of course... Problably because they're attacking grandpa or something.

Jammy420

The bottom two I can definitely forgive, but this one just looks like a human slapped some green face paint on and some plastic elf ears.

Jammy420

Maitsukas wrote: »

Eveli Sharp-Arrow in the Gates of Oblivion CGI trailers:


Her face model used in-game:

Thats still far more accurate than this one.

Sin_Arcain

I thought the daedra and Mora were well done in the trailer. And then there was this woman who I could only assume was a Dunmer because of the shade of the skin and the theme of the DLC. Reading the posts now I wonder too if it was meant to be a Dunmer at all, or a Breton or so instead. Breton trying to disguise herself as a Dunmer to do undercover work or something. But then I feel like I am just trying hard to excuse the look..

If it is a Dunmer I think it is awful. I wish, too, that mer in the trailers looked more like mer in the game with the sharp features, ridged brows, the upcurving eyebrows, and of course the large irises. I can understand some people find these features alien (yet a lot seem to play them), and perhaps wouldn't appeal in the trailer, but if that is Zenimax worries they could have just a human main character there. As someone who plays the game in big part because of the lore such representations in the trailer are disappointing. And I find putting pointy ears on any human and call it a mer sloppy.

As to the OP pictures:
1. Undercover human
2. I can guess it as a Dunmer
3. Tolkien elf
4. I personally don't like the trailer Eveli, either. She looks too old compared to the in-game one, missing freckles, eyes' shape and colour are off, and eyebrows are very different too.

Syldras

Sin_Arcain wrote: »

Reading the posts now I wonder too if it was meant to be a Dunmer at all, or a Breton or so instead. Breton trying to disguise herself as a Dunmer to do undercover work or something.

I'm sure no one will notice

Einar_Hrafnarsson

TBH, i mistook the latest Elf in the cinematic for a female Orc.

Jaraal

Einar_Hrafnarsson wrote: »

TBH, i mistook the latest Elf in the cinematic for a female Orc.

It's possible, if she had a tusk reduction surgery. Features still look Breton or Imperial.

Ajaxandriel

Syldras wrote: »

The only reason I can imagine is that they believe a too unusual appearance would appeal to their (potential) customers less.

It could be - but in the same time we know Avatar movies and a lot of other "non-human" popular stuff that work very well in the larger public...

It's like they use live action actors but without live action... It's disturbing. Maybe the goal is to look like Cosplayers so the ESO cosplay community can feel more accurate?

Jaraal wrote: »

Dr_Con wrote: »

Ultimately, I think if someone can figure out what her armor pattern most closely resembles, that will reveal more info about her identity (then again, it could be a big nothing burger)

I don't recognize the symbol on her breastplate... looks like some sort of stylized lotus flower or star. But the armor definitely has some sort of Thieves Guild / Dark Brotherhood vibe going on.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned... could this possibly be the return of House Dagoth? They've been keeping to themselves and building their army in the northern part of Vvardenfell. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see them back in action.

Dr_Con wrote: »

Is that Matt Firor?

It's the sigil of Hermaeus Mora.
At first glance I thought it was Mel Adrys, as he was teasing the Telvanni Peninsula during the Black heart event. However how plausible this vampire hunter would wear Herma-Mora symbol? So someone suggested to me it is the Leramil the Wise new character, as he have been presented as a Dunmer on the site (and not an Altmer we saw during the announcement...)

Einar_Hrafnarsson wrote: »

TBH, i mistook the latest Elf in the cinematic for a female Orc.

I doubt this, the Orcs have even more marked features, distinct from humans
(Where tusks?! )

Dr_Con

Sin_Arcain wrote: »

I thought the daedra and Mora were well done in the trailer. And then there was this woman who I could only assume was a Dunmer because of the shade of the skin and the theme of the DLC. Reading the posts now I wonder too if it was meant to be a Dunmer at all, or a Breton or so instead. Breton trying to disguise herself as a Dunmer to do undercover work or something. But then I feel like I am just trying hard to excuse the look..

If it is a Dunmer I think it is awful. I wish, too, that mer in the trailers looked more like mer in the game with the sharp features, ridged brows, the upcurving eyebrows, and of course the large irises. I can understand some people find these features alien (yet a lot seem to play them), and perhaps wouldn't appeal in the trailer, but if that is Zenimax worries they could have just a human main character there. As someone who plays the game in big part because of the lore such representations in the trailer are disappointing. And I find putting pointy ears on any human and call it a mer sloppy.

As to the OP pictures:
1. Undercover human
2. I can guess it as a Dunmer
3. Tolkien elf
4. I personally don't like the trailer Eveli, either. She looks too old compared to the in-game one, missing freckles, eyes' shape and colour are off, and eyebrows are very different too.

the "human" would still have to be nord, breton, imperial, redguard, etc.

I doubt that Zenimax would do an interpretation of an undercover human using any means to appear like another race. This would imply an illusion magic system at best, or something else that would get people on twitter calling for the game to be cancelled.

NotaDaedraWorshipper

I'm going to see derpmer for awhile everytime I want to play, aren't I?

francesinhalover

noblecron wrote: »

See now Naryu is fine. I like her. She works. The elf works too because you can get that skin color for Altmer in ESO kind of using the l

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

I'm going to see derpmer for awhile everytime I want to play, aren't I?

Play directly from the exe file, not luncher xDDD

Dr_Con

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin is there any word on whether or not it is intentional that both elves depicted do not have red eyes, in either the iris or sclera? Specifically, in the games the sclera is red- in other depictions from different ESO trailers we have the Iris being red (which seems to be an intentional choice to compensate). This seems like something that could be addressed, either due to there being budget concerns or a simple oversight, but there are implications as well, as the next chapter will feature Hermaeus Mora, and one of this prince's defining or most "human" characteristics is its eyes.

Whether intentional or not, it doesn't hurt to have it (the eye color) clarified upon because some of us are trying to make sense of it (the eye shape isn't a huge concern to me, i accept it as a limitation due to budget or that it was accounted for with the eyeliner).

Jaraal

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

I'm going to see derpmer for awhile everytime I want to play, aren't I?

The expression on elf imposter's face reading these comments like:

Syldras

Dr_Con wrote: »

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin is there any word on whether or not it is intentional that both elves depicted do not have red eyes, in either the iris or sclera?

And while we're at it, a little bit of feedback: While I understand that trailers are also supposed to get players interested by making them wonder what some of the things shown are about, that doesn't exactly happen if everything just seems random. The latest trailer is a bit better in that regard, but most announcement trailers were... well, hero placeholders running around somewhere and in the end fighting some random person/creature, and that's it. Void of context and meaning. What remains are wellmade special effects, but many game trailers have that, that's nothing outstanding. How about a bit of a narration instead? That's the thing that would grab my intention: An interesting story. Not random "cool looking" people jumping around, especially knowing that game graphics will look completely different anyway.

cyclonus11

I don't watch the cinematic trailers because of this. They look too weird.

Hotdog_23

My thoughts are it is an intentional artist choice. People connect with other thru the eyes most of the time. Having the eyes look different from regular, normal looking eyes we see every day when be disconnecting for most people. Except, use ESO nerds. These trailers are meant as a PR piece for the masses and not fanboy art.

 Stay safe

Melzo

The heroine from Necrom came straight from Tes 4 Oblivion. The picture shows a swollen face) Straight from the Oblivion Editor

Syldras

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

My thoughts are it is an intentional artist choice. People connect with other thru the eyes most of the time. Having the eyes look different from regular, normal looking eyes we see every day when be disconnecting for most people. Except, use ESO nerds. These trailers are meant as a PR piece for the masses and not fanboy art.

Huge mushrooms, different kinds of monsters/daedra, all the horrors of Hermaeus Mora's realm as well as the two "Dunmer" having grey skin is okay - but if the protagonist has red irises (not even sclera) it would be offputting?

Now I'm wondering how other franchises do their races that have non-human looking eyes in their trailers.

ADarklore

Not sure why there is even a discussion about WHO the male dark elf was in the trailer, because, IMO, it's clearly Leramil the Wise.

"Leramil the Wise is a Dark Elf who seeks your assistance in Apocrypha. They are not a worshiper of Hermaeus Mora but uses knowledge from the Prince that is useful to them."

Also, there is nothing that states that the cinematic elf is actually a dark elf. Although, keep in mind, our own character creator allows us to create lighter-skinned dark elves without red eyes. Also, perhaps due to budget constraints, ZOS couldn't afford the re-touching of the eyes to make them red.

Syldras

ADarklore wrote: »

Not sure why there is even a discussion about WHO the male dark elf was in the trailer, because, IMO, it's clearly Leramil the Wise.
"Leramil the Wise is a Dark Elf who seeks your assistance in Apocrypha. They are not a worshiper of Hermaeus Mora but uses knowledge from the Prince that is useful to them."

I think a picture of Leramil was shown in the announcement stream. I didn't screenshot it, but it was not the old man from the trailer.

ADarklore wrote: »

Also, there is nothing that states that the cinematic elf is actually a dark elf. Although, keep in mind, our own character creator allows us to create lighter-skinned dark elves without red eyes.

Yes, light grey eyes, that still don't look human.

ADarklore wrote: »

Also, perhaps due to budget constraints, ZOS couldn't afford the re-touching of the eyes to make them red.

Daedra - yes. Huge mushrooms - yes. Red eyes and sharper facial features - unaffordable!

Aztrias

ADarklore wrote: »

Not sure why there is even a discussion about WHO the male dark elf was in the trailer, because, IMO, it's clearly Leramil the Wise.

"Leramil the Wise is a Dark Elf who seeks your assistance in Apocrypha. They are not a worshiper of Hermaeus Mora but uses knowledge from the Prince that is useful to them

Leramil is an Altmer, shown in the Necrom reveal:

Jaraal

Aztrias wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

Not sure why there is even a discussion about WHO the male dark elf was in the trailer, because, IMO, it's clearly Leramil the Wise.

"Leramil the Wise is a Dark Elf who seeks your assistance in Apocrypha. They are not a worshiper of Hermaeus Mora but uses knowledge from the Prince that is useful to them

Leramil is an Altmer, shown in the Necrom reveal:

At least one person seems to think they are a Dunmer.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Leramil_the_Wise

Aztrias

To me the name is a dead give away, it has a very Altmer vibe to it.
Besides the character model is 100% High Elf. (unless it's a placeholder, which I doubt)

cyclonus11

Jaraal wrote: »

Einar_Hrafnarsson wrote: »

TBH, i mistook the latest Elf in the cinematic for a female Orc.

It's possible, if she had a tusk reduction surgery. Features still look Breton or Imperial.

Also, orcs still have elven eyes since they are mer after all

Mood wrote: »

Vevvev

Ekzorka wrote: »

The Dragon spitting out a flame through a holes in the mouth, not with Tu'um:

I cannot unsee this now... welp...

Syldras

Aztrias wrote: »

To me the name is a dead give away, it has a very Altmer vibe to it.
Besides the character model is 100% High Elf. (unless it's a placeholder, which I doubt)

It fits the Altmer naming conventions perfectly, although there are also Dunmer names ending on -mil. From the looks, that's definitively an Altmer, though.

Jaraal

nuttytom wrote: »

[snip]

I think people are just trying to make sense of the double standard, why elves look elves in the game but humans in the cinematics. Obviously ZOS doesn’t want to explain it to us, so we are left to speculate.

[edited to remove quote]