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Bretons the Boring

Vanya
Vanya
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Updated:


Bretons. Quite possibly the only race that I personally find least interesting. They seem to appear Hmph, let us call it too simplistic,standard compared to other races of Tamriel.

- Breton's lore? Extremely limited, Their culture,characters, Never heard of them personally except High King Emeric or "Bretons" as one of the playable races in TES
- They are politically divided as well, even their religion views and feudal culture system and society is again too standard.
- There is very little content related to Bretons in general them being 2nd or 1st most shunned race with Poor orcs
- Breton style is a turn off, their architecture made of stone or wood typically resembles those from Medieval England for instance.
- Breton characters aesthetically look least appealing both males or females, even Nords are superior
- I yet have to find my favorite Breton NPC with exception of Golden Knight champion of Meridia who had good sense of humor, no i have not experienced Daggerfall covenant, I am sure they have a great story, but I will play as Redguard
- Daggerfall covenant is by far the weakest faction ,divided,least populated,politically,economically and lackingsheer military might or strength of numbers as Aldmeri Dominion or Ebonheart pact. Its really a miracle how they manage to convince the Orcs to join. Bretons are deluded,High elves are number 1 magic users for instance. Nords have way bigger army,Redguards may be most talented but way too independent and scattered DC teritory is smallest as well.
- High rock in particular Glenumbra or Stormhaven at least for me have not captured the magic charm or intensity like other zones, Do not mistake me they are all unique and special in their ownnn way. But in high rock i often feel I explore Planet Earth not Tamriel ,at least Southern part,Rivenspire seems different.
- I have explored region and analyzed Bretons enough in my own view to safely say they are by far the least captivating race of them all
- Even Breton racial passive skills are overrated, Nords beating them by nearly double in their spell resistance.
So much for famous Breton super magical resist, they were better in TESV with 25% magic resistance.

I wonder however does anyone else share my outlook?

Edited by Vanya on January 29, 2021 7:19PM
  • El_Borracho
    El_Borracho
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    As for gameplay, Bretons are strong healers and one of the top races for Mag DK because of their sustain.
  • Aptonoth
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    When I read about Breton's before ever going there holy *** half elves who are almost as good at magick as normal elves. They must have a unique culture and art style then you get there and there is literally nothing of that. No race's background lore is so unfitting to what they actually are.

    The Nords have Dragon Priests, their legend of being created by Kynn, the greybeards, and shalidor one of the most powerful mages and the first archmage of the mages guild. Nord's have WAAAAAAY more connection to magick than the Breton's at this point. If anything the nord's should be half magick half stamina race and the Breton's need retconning of their elf lore to be gone. All the Breton's we see are completely dumb at magics like Lady Laurent even bumbling.

    I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda changes the racial stats of the two races in the next game as they make absolutely no sense at all and don't fit what we actually see and know of these races in person.
  • Odovacar
    Odovacar
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    I like them for their human/European looks (love the dark hair). Not to mention my Templar healer enjoys their passives too, lol.

    Beautiful Breton <3

    EeUGqtm.png
    Edited by Odovacar on January 29, 2021 9:19PM
  • Ghanima_Atreides
    Ghanima_Atreides
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    They are peak European high fantasy and I love that about them. They're one of my favourite races and the majority of my characters are Bretons. :)
    [The Beauty of Tamriel] My collection of ESO screenshots

    Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock.
  • volkeswagon
    volkeswagon
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    I beg to differ. They make great healers. I have a fat goofy Breton with horse shoe pattern baldness named Bob who runs around in a bathers towel dyed to match his skin tone. He is one of my most interesting characters and people seems to love him as he gets plenty of attention.
  • Maxx7410
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    There isnt new lore for them sice a lot, we need that the rich history and culture of the awsome Bretons be shared to the rest of the sub spacies of Tamriel!!!!
  • KovalskyNestor
    KovalskyNestor
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    I agree, I remember being excited to explore High Rock and experience bretons culture. But it turned out meh. Not to mention how easily they could just added elf ears instead of normal human ones.
    Bretons have potential. In skyrim, reachman lore was really interesting and it added flavor to bretons.
  • freespirit
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    Love my Bretons!

    I have many! :)
    When people say to me........
    "You're going to regret that in the morning"
    I sleep until midday cos I'm a problem solver!
  • FrancisCrawford
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    I have far more Bretons than I do of any one other race.
    • The passive skills are quite good right now.
    • Their appearance is ordinary-human, which is fine. (When I picked race so that appearance would best match my mental image of a character, I wound up with several Bretons, one Redguard, and one Bosmer.)
    • The DC happens to be my favorite zone for stories, by far.

    Some of my favorite NPCs are Breton, including:
    • Darien
    • Jakarn
    • Gabrielle Benele
    • King Emeric

    Haskill and Stibbens are of course amusing as well. Various NPCs in the city of Daggerfall are well-done too.

    I don't like the bimbo-ish quality that female Breton voice acting tends to have, but that's my main complaint about the race.

  • Sylvermynx
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    Love my Bretons! Have lots of them.... DC is my favorite of the factions. Also have lots of Redguards, but no Orcs. Orcs and argonians are the races I'll never play (and never have played them in any of the games since Arena - and I've played them all as they released over the years).

    I'm not very happy with any of the races' VA stuff that goes on, and the Breton voices are about the worst, at least the females. Not real thrilled with the males either. I just wish the characters were mute.

    *waves at FrancisCrawford*
    Edited by Sylvermynx on January 29, 2021 11:03PM
  • volkeswagon
    volkeswagon
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    Khajiits rule. So soft and pettable. Like giant kitties
    Edited by volkeswagon on January 29, 2021 11:43PM
  • Ratzkifal
    Ratzkifal
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    Bretons have higher spell resistance when hit by a status effect and on PTS Nord got a heavy nerf that puts them almost down to the base resistance Bretons have.

    Your opinion on the Daggerfall covenant is questionable too, since I do not see where you base that on. Highrock has always been very big on trade, so economically they are probably in the lead right now, especially since their greatest rivals on the sea, the Redguards, joined forces with them. Their combined navy should outnumber that of the Dominion, although it is unclear if they outclass them too. Economy is the Covenant's whole deal!
    Then there is the part about them being the weakest in numbers and might and splintered, when I haven't actually seen any major part of Highrock or Hammerfell that doesn't agree with their current rulers like in the other alliances.
    Skyrim is split into east and west and even though they made peace with the west, the war over Cyrodiil is still not a Western Skyrim war. House Telvanni is not part of the pact and cares little for Cyrodiil, so the Dunmer forces are severely lacking mage support. The Tribunal, who would have been a deciding factor in this war, do not seem to care so much about it as long as nobody invades their homeland. And then a lot of Argonian tribes in the heart of Blackmarsh simply do not care for the tribes that did join the pact.
    Meanwhile on the Dominion side we have both Khajiit and Bosmer recovering from a plague and only the Altmer are really at their full strength, although it was stated by the former loremaster that they are in a period of decline right now as well, as evidenced by the many ruins on the island.

    Bretons might have the most unintersting lore, but their alliance both in PvP and in the lore is a force to be reckoned with.

    Also I feel it is easier to make a good looking Breton than a good looking Nord, but that's just me.
    This Bosmer was tortured to death. There is nothing left to be done.
  • Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
    Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
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    freespirit wrote: »
    Love my Bretons!

    I have many! :)

    Jean-Luc Freyard approves this message.
  • Sylvermynx
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    Ratzkifal wrote: »
    <snip>
    Also I feel it is easier to make a good looking Breton than a good looking Nord, but that's just me.

    Nope. Not just you. I have yet to make a decent looking Nord fem. Males.... marginally easier/better.

    Bretons FTW....

  • Vanya
    Vanya
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    P.S. Bretons are pretty much done,High rock is expanded. Also
    Odovacar wrote: »
    I like them for their human/European looks (love the dark hair). Not to mention my Templar healer enjoys their passives too, lol.

    Beautiful Breton <3

    EeUGqtm.png

    No race can call themselves gorgeous not even remotely close to Dominant Superior Altmer, High elves. Tsk tsk. She would give you that hard stare. D9Yaqnk.jpg
    Edited by Vanya on January 30, 2021 3:03AM
  • MellowMagic
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    Vanya wrote: »
    P.S. Bretons are pretty much done,High rock is expanded. Also
    Odovacar wrote: »
    I like them for their human/European looks (love the dark hair). Not to mention my Templar healer enjoys their passives too, lol.

    Beautiful Breton <3

    EeUGqtm.png

    No race can call themselves gorgeous not even remotely close to Dominant Superior Altmer, High elves. Tsk tsk. She would give you that hard stare. D9Yaqnk.jpg

    Lol no,

    Soft breton face vs sharp elf face

    Soft face every time.
    PC / NA @MellowMagic
    Imperial named with some sort of variation of "Deo"
    By the Divines...
  • NotaDaedraWorshipper
    NotaDaedraWorshipper
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    Vanya wrote: »
    Updated:

    - There is very little content related to Bretons in general them being 2nd or 1st most shunned race with Poor orcs

    Hahaha, what?! No they aren't.
    [Lie] Of course! I don't even worship Daedra!
  • Unit117
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    Bretons are honestly my favorite race
  • Stokowski
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    It's OK not to like Bretons.

    They are, after all, Nirn's version of the French.

    ;)
  • Eedat
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    I like Bretons. I have a couple of them I use for healers. Aesthetically I'm torn between Altmer, Breton, and Redguard. I dont super deep dive into lore so there is plenty enough Breton lore to satisfy me.
  • RedMuse
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    Gameplay wise the Bretons are good but holy *** storytelling and lore wise they're completely lackluster. Calling them one dimensional would be greatly exaggerating their depth. Unfortunately ESO is never going to do anything with them as all their zones are filled out so there's no option. I'd love to be wrong about this, but I won't hold my breath to be proven wrong.
  • Banana
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    Bretons the best lookers. Therefore the best
  • Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
    Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo
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    Stokowski wrote: »
    It's OK not to like Bretons.

    They are, after all, Nirn's version of the French.

    ;)

    Don't be jelly ;)
  • starkerealm
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    Aptonoth wrote: »
    When I read about Breton's before ever going there holy *** half elves who are almost as good at magick as normal elves. They must have a unique culture and art style then you get there and there is literally nothing of that. No race's background lore is so unfitting to what they actually are.

    The Nords have Dragon Priests, their legend of being created by Kynn...

    If we went by creation myths, we should probably be bowing down to the Khajiit. So, maybe that's not such a good example.
    Aptonoth wrote: »
    ...the greybeards, and shalidor one of the most powerful mages and the first archmage of the mages guild.

    And Shalidor is the exception, rather than the rule. You'd be hardpressed to name another Nordic Mage aside from Shalidor. Meanwhile, you can't swing a dead cat in Wayrest without accidentally hitting three Breton mages.
    Aptonoth wrote: »
    Nord's have WAAAAAAY more connection to magick than the Breton's at this point.

    Except for, you know, the part where they don't.

    The Nords and Redguard look at magic with suspicion and distain. Nords who want to pursue a magical education in Skyrim are extremely limited in their options, and there are comparatively few. The Pact relies far more strongly on cadres of Dunmer and Argonian mages to support their operations.
    Aptonoth wrote: »
    If anything the nord's should be half magick half stamina race and the Breton's need retconning of their elf lore to be gone. All the Breton's we see are completely dumb at magics like Lady Laurent even bumbling.

    In comparison to all those Nords with absolutely no magical training whatsoever.

    This is the thing, the vast majority of Bretons have some degree of magical education. They may not be practiced spellcasters, but basic magical knowledge is very common in High Rock.

    In contrast, once you get outside of Winterhold, magical knowledge becomes incredibly sparse in Skyrim. You'll find court mages, and a handful of others wandering around (mostly non-Nords), but the general population regards magic as the domain of witches and daedra.

    The Greybeards are an unusually poor example here, as they're not actually mages at all. The dragon language itself has power, and uttering those words invokes that power, but it's not the same as aetherial "magick."
    Aptonoth wrote: »
    I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda changes the racial stats of the two races in the next game as they make absolutely no sense at all and don't fit what we actually see and know of these races in person.

    I doubt it. Simply because, the Nords are incredibly biased against magic, while Breton culture prioritizes it. It would be like saying, "the next game will give Bosmer a huge buff to heavy armor, because they're short, like dwarves! ...and dwarves love heavy armor!"
  • starkerealm
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    Vanya wrote: »
    P.S. Bretons are pretty much done,High rock is expanded. Also
    Odovacar wrote: »
    I like them for their human/European looks (love the dark hair). Not to mention my Templar healer enjoys their passives too, lol.

    Beautiful Breton <3

    EeUGqtm.png

    No race can call themselves gorgeous not even remotely close to Dominant Superior Altmer, High elves. Tsk tsk. She would give you that hard stare. D9Yaqnk.jpg

    God, that's horrifying. Why did you hit that poor creature in the head with a shovel!?
  • Vevvev
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    When I first played as a Breton in Skyrim I never went back. When I returned to Oblivion I even rolled a Breton character because I loved them so much. They have very interesting lore but ESO has not been bringing that lore to the forefront of their culture, and once again that also makes sense considering their history. When the Bretons gained power when the Direnni Hegemony retreated to their island in the Illiac Bay they tried to distance themselves from them. Thing is the Bretons with purer elven blood in their veins used that excuse to become the nobility.

    Since pretty much every Breton has some sort of elven blood due to centuries of history the whole thing of find a hill and declare yourself king became apart of their culture. Their culture revolves around striking out a name for yourself and nobody who is born a peasant has to stay a peasant. Knightly Orders, Adventurers, Spell Swords, and Feudal kingdoms are what the Bretons are known for and why I love them.
    PC NA - Ceyanna Ashton - Breton Vampire MagDK
  • Stokowski
    Stokowski
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    Youyouz06 wrote: »
    Stokowski wrote: »
    It's OK not to like Bretons.

    They are, after all, Nirn's version of the French.

    ;)

    Don't be jelly ;)

    I knew I should have added the disclaimer "... but my best friends are my main is a Breton." (My main is a Breton. Weird.)

    o:)
    Edited by Stokowski on February 1, 2021 2:46AM
  • mimisapje
    mimisapje
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    Bretons are my favorite race, so I'm already biased when it comes to discussing them.
    The medieval fantasy style is the thing that actually attracted me to them.
    I'm a fan of history, so seeing elements of that back in games, is a big plus for me.
    I also like to 'relate' somehow to my characters, and a breton is the closest I can get as simple European pleb.

    But when it comes to representation in eso, it's been severely lacking, to that i have to agree.
    The zone stories in High Rock barely touched the actual culture and history of the Bretons.
    They are skilled magicka users due to their connection to the Direnni and have many skilled knights in their ranks. They have a real military strength, and I believe their covenant is actually one that could last for years, unlike the Ebonheart pact, which was only made to stop the unification of the Empire again.
    Yet the only race passives that we get is magicka regen and spell resistance. It would make more sense to have made them a more 'hybrid' race. With the new race changes coming up it makes even less sense to give Altmer extra spell and weapon damage, when Altmer are know for magic skills, not their fighting one.

    And then the topic of the zones story. What did we get in their 3 main Breton regions?
    Random werewolf invasion, a 2nd 'Skyrim Vaermina' questline, wyrd sisters & vampires with a deus ex machina at the end.
    Although I did like the part with the Wyrd sisters, as it's barely been talked in other games, it felt like they were everywhere in Glenumbra, when it's more likely that they represent a smaller part of the inhabitants of that region.
    Bretons are all about political intrigue and backstabbing politics, yet we didn't see any of it. The rivenspire story started good and in that direction, but then it just went sideways when it came clear that everything happened because of an ayleid relic.

    So I'm hoping that one day there will be a DLC that dares to touch that political part of their culture and where the story isn't 'obvious' (like the Western skyrim story)
    PC EU
    Main: Falure - Breton Templar
  • Iccotak
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    Breton sounds like Britain

    I do not think that is a coincidence - they are supposed to be classical fantasy
  • Cirantille
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    They are a bit basic not gonna lie
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