Skyrim Orcs vs ESO Orcs

Hollyniss · February 12

Really wish we could make our Orcs look more like the ones in Skyrim (they looked better in my opinion). They look weird in this game, especially their ears...The males at least look similar to Skyrim's versions. But the women, even when you play with the sliders look nothing like the ones in Skyrim. They're too soft and human looking with puny tusks (Skyrim's Orcs had better tusks and better tusk options). I also liked how in Skyrim they actually had muscle definition, in this game they're bulky/chunky when you try to give them muscle. Character creation in general could do with a good overhaul...
Also, why aren't there any green tinted skin tones? They're mainly brown and grey. Yet there are npc Orcs with green skin... Why don't we have this option available in character creation?

GloatingSwine · February 12

Maybe they should go back to the neon green of Oblivion.

Stx · February 12

The male orc honestly looks really similar… at least going by your pictures. The lack of green tones is odd but as far as looks I don’t see an issue.

The female orcs have the typical MMO ‘glow up’ to make them pretty or more attractive. I don’t know if this is done for consumer preferences or what, but there is definitely a noticeable difference. I’m sure you can still make a savage looking orc chick if you mess with the options but I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure.

VoxAdActa · February 12

Skyrim orcs (and, actually Skyrim everything other than humans) look like monsters. Their faces are distorted, ill-proportioned, and sharp-angled. ESO orcs are less monstrous and more people-like.

After playing ESO for so long, I can't go back to vanilla Skyrim; the character models look awful in general, but elves and orcs in particular look sinister and thumb-like. I spent a whole day downloading and tinkering with mods to make them look better (and only mostly succeeded) before I could bear to play it.

FabresFour · February 12

If you try to create an Orc similar to the ones in Skyrim in ESO, you can. They end up looking quite similar—you just need to make the Orc's face less square and more angular, reduce the cheekbones and jawline, and make the neck thinner as well. The Orcs in ESO are much more "bulky" than those in Skyrim—larger, with bigger muscles. Skyrim's Orcs are more defined, as if they just walked out of the gym.

Unfortunately, what I don’t like much about ESO’s Orcs is that you can't customize their teeth. Being able to make an Orc with a broken tooth or adjust their dentition would be REALLY cool. I think ESO’s Orcs have very small teeth. Compare them to Skyrim’s!

Additionally, the skin tone is quite different too. It’s a shame there aren’t more green shades for Orcs. It doesn’t have to be like Oblivion, but in Skyrim, they were much greener.

Here I tried to create a Skyrim Altmer in ESO lol:

ow, and i have this little comparison that i created some years ago

Hollyniss · February 12

FabresFour wrote: »

If you try to create an Orc similar to the ones in Skyrim in ESO, you can. They end up looking quite similar—you just need to make the Orc's face less square and more angular, reduce the cheekbones and jawline, and make the neck thinner as well. The Orcs in ESO are much more "bulky" than those in Skyrim—larger, with bigger muscles. Skyrim's Orcs are more defined, as if they just walked out of the gym.

Unfortunately, what I don’t like much about ESO’s Orcs is that you can't customize their teeth. Being able to make an Orc with a broken tooth or adjust their dentition would be REALLY cool. I think ESO’s Orcs have very small teeth. Compare them to Skyrim’s!

Additionally, the skin tone is quite different too. It’s a shame there aren’t more green shades for Orcs. It doesn’t have to be like Oblivion, but in Skyrim, they were much greener.

Here I tried to create a Skyrim Altmer in ESO lol:

ow, and i have this little comparison that i created some years ago

Yeah, I'm not a fan of their small tusks (and lack of customization) either. Their tusks looked much cooler in Skyrim. Tusks are a thing of pride in Orc culture. Small skinny tusks are just kind of...embarrassing, lol. The female orcs just looked better to me in Skyrim. They looked really cool. Brutal and barbaric. They're almost too human in ESO (even when you tweak their looks a bit in character creation). The women also have weird looking ears in ESO. They're rounded with a pointy tip that folds over. The male orcs at least look similar to Skyrim, just with smaller tusks...

And yeah, I don't want Morrowind/Oblivion skin tones either lol. Just slight greenish tints (again, like Skyrim) nothing crazy. Really don't want to look like Shrek xD.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · February 12

You can make them quite similar in appearance, but the lack of a slight green-ish hue is disappointing especially when some npcs actually have it.

Some races could do well with a third hue row of skintones, orcs being one. The second row for them and dunmer should also get fixed because that one is all shiny and almost metallic, which gets more noticeable the darker shade you pick. It looks very unappealing, almost like your character got a layer of oil on them.

I'm also bothered by how female characters can't be close to being made as large and muscular as the male. Like if you put the female body triangle in as muscular as possible they are still like 1/3 of the mass the male characters are. Their faces are also much more prettified.

FabresFour · February 12

Hollyniss wrote: »

FabresFour wrote: »

If you try to create an Orc similar to the ones in Skyrim in ESO, you can. They end up looking quite similar—you just need to make the Orc's face less square and more angular, reduce the cheekbones and jawline, and make the neck thinner as well. The Orcs in ESO are much more "bulky" than those in Skyrim—larger, with bigger muscles. Skyrim's Orcs are more defined, as if they just walked out of the gym.

Unfortunately, what I don’t like much about ESO’s Orcs is that you can't customize their teeth. Being able to make an Orc with a broken tooth or adjust their dentition would be REALLY cool. I think ESO’s Orcs have very small teeth. Compare them to Skyrim’s!

Additionally, the skin tone is quite different too. It’s a shame there aren’t more green shades for Orcs. It doesn’t have to be like Oblivion, but in Skyrim, they were much greener.

Here I tried to create a Skyrim Altmer in ESO lol:

ow, and i have this little comparison that i created some years ago

Yeah, I'm not a fan of their small tusks (and lack of customization) either. Their tusks looked much cooler in Skyrim. Tusks are a thing of pride in Orc culture. Small skinny tusks are just kind of...embarrassing, lol. The female orcs just looked better to me in Skyrim. They looked really cool. Brutal and barbaric. They're almost too human in ESO (even when you tweak their looks a bit in character creation). The women also have weird looking ears in ESO. They're rounded with a pointy tip that folds over. The male orcs at least look similar to Skyrim, just with smaller tusks...

And yeah, I don't want Morrowind/Oblivion skin tones either lol. Just slight greenish tints (again, like Skyrim) nothing crazy. Really don't want to look like Shrek xD.

Honestly, I think that if you really want to, it's possible to make more aggressive/wild-looking female Orc characters in ESO. But even so, I still think Skyrim had a more realistic/less cartoony texture, which made the characters look dirtier, enhancing that sense of wildness lol.

VoxAdActa · February 12

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

I'm also bothered by how female characters can't be close to being made as large and muscular as the male. Like if you put the female body triangle in as muscular as possible they are still like 1/3 of the mass the male characters are. Their faces are also much more prettified.

I definitely agree with this. I guess it's kind of understandable for humans or elves (though, this is a fantasy game, which is not constrained by IRL rules of biology and physics, so the option to create a hulked-out female Breton should still be on the table). But it makes no sense at all to exclude that option from orcs.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · February 13

VoxAdActa wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

I'm also bothered by how female characters can't be close to being made as large and muscular as the male. Like if you put the female body triangle in as muscular as possible they are still like 1/3 of the mass the male characters are. Their faces are also much more prettified.

I definitely agree with this. I guess it's kind of understandable for humans or elves (though, this is a fantasy game, which is not constrained by IRL rules of biology and physics, so the option to create a hulked-out female Breton should still be on the table). But it makes no sense at all to exclude that option from orcs.

Orcs, nords, redguards and imperials definitely should be able to get more beefy than they can. Maybe not fully the same as the male characters (who can go beyond real life realistic proportions at places), but definitely closer than what they can right now. It's not just muscle definition or mass, it's also just things like width of the body, like at the shoulders and torso.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · February 13

I also don't get why male orcs get so extremely wrinkly and worn faces and the female faces has absolutely none of that. They can't get the complexion the other have.

Like this face below is still so smooth, even if you compare it to the smoothest you can make a male character's face

FabresFour wrote: »

[

Honestly, I think that if you really want to, it's possible to make more aggressive/wild-looking female Orc characters in ESO. But even so, I still think Skyrim had a more realistic/less cartoony texture, which made the characters look dirtier, enhancing that sense of wildness lol.

tomofhyrule · February 13

I love playing an Orc (power fantasy for the win), but I'll totally agree that ESO's version is... slightly lacking. At least it's not the Shrek monstrosities that Oblivion had (and if the rumors of a remake are true, I really hope that they redo that).

Looking back though, Morrowind's were well done, as low-poly as everyone in that game was (also Morrowind remaster pls?).

You could really get a sense of the gruffness of them, and I really liked how it worked.

Oblivion...

...yeah.
Ok, they're not all bad, but still. Oof.

Skyrim's looked great, in my opinion. Honestly, the roughness of Skyrim's Orcs was really what got me into playing an Orc since then in the first place.

I really think there's a lot that Skyrim did right in that department. I actually just started a new Skyrim playthrough with this guy, and I'm loving it.

As for ESO, I definitely made an Orc my main, and I'm actually pretty happy with how he looks.

Sure, he's maxed on muscle size (and I wish I actually did have arms like that in real life lol), but I am definitely getting the 'Orc-y' vibe from him. He's not as rough as Skyrim Orcs, but he's still good enough. I just really wish he could have green skin instead of having to choose between shades of grey or brown, especially when there are NPC Orcs with greener skin (like Mordra and Skrodo)
I feel like ESO's failing with the Orcs though is the ladies. ESO's female Orcs really look like Bretons with cute little tusks, and the fact that you can't really make them beefy (or even that rough in the facial department) just calls to mind that one meme

However, probably the best Orc I've ever seen was BG3's. Granted, they really did have the "only 5 faces" syndrome and 4 of those faces sucked, but the 5th was perfect and exactly how I pictured my Orcs to look like.

Stx · February 13

Tried my best to make a savage looking Orc chick

Hollyniss · February 13

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I love playing an Orc (power fantasy for the win), but I'll totally agree that ESO's version is... slightly lacking. At least it's not the Shrek monstrosities that Oblivion had (and if the rumors of a remake are true, I really hope that they redo that).

Looking back though, Morrowind's were well done, as low-poly as everyone in that game was (also Morrowind remaster pls?).

You could really get a sense of the gruffness of them, and I really liked how it worked.

Oblivion...

...yeah.
Ok, they're not all bad, but still. Oof.

Skyrim's looked great, in my opinion. Honestly, the roughness of Skyrim's Orcs was really what got me into playing an Orc since then in the first place.

I really think there's a lot that Skyrim did right in that department. I actually just started a new Skyrim playthrough with this guy, and I'm loving it.

As for ESO, I definitely made an Orc my main, and I'm actually pretty happy with how he looks.

Sure, he's maxed on muscle size (and I wish I actually did have arms like that in real life lol), but I am definitely getting the 'Orc-y' vibe from him. He's not as rough as Skyrim Orcs, but he's still good enough. I just really wish he could have green skin instead of having to choose between shades of grey or brown, especially when there are NPC Orcs with greener skin (like Mordra and Skrodo)
I feel like ESO's failing with the Orcs though is the ladies. ESO's female Orcs really look like Bretons with cute little tusks, and the fact that you can't really make them beefy (or even that rough in the facial department) just calls to mind that one meme

However, probably the best Orc I've ever seen was BG3's. Granted, they really did have the "only 5 faces" syndrome and 4 of those faces sucked, but the 5th was perfect and exactly how I pictured my Orcs to look like.

Yeah, Skyrim is what made me love the Orcs as well. It sure as hell wasn't Oblivion, lol. The male Orcs look okay in this game, but as you've stated the women are another matter. Too soft, even when you try to make them look barbaric and savage. Mine looks kind of savage now with stage 3 vampirism. But still prefer the female orcs from Skyrim. Don't get me wrong I think the Elves, Khajiit (although I liked the look of their fur and tails better in Skyrim), and Humans got a massive improvement. But the Orcs (female) and Argonians (preferred the raptor look) got the short end of the stick.

Your Orcs in Skyrim, ESO, and BG3 look REALLY cool! The textures and details are really well done in BG3, although they could have added better character customization as they have few faces (I use mods, lol). But that game has insane graphics, wish we had an MMORPG that had graphics like that...but then everyone's computers would probably explode, lol so maybe not.

Hollyniss · February 13

Stx wrote: »

Tried my best to make a savage looking Orc chick

Oh, she looks cool actually!

Dragonnord · February 13

They look much, much better now in TESO.

Imho, they look 100 times better now, as you also can create a huge amount of different looks and body shapes for them. Just play with the slides and you'll see.

Btw, orcs don't have to be green. Just look at LOTR. Have you ever seen a green orc in Lord of the Rings movies?

Yes, this is not LOTR, I know, but he have always seen things "eveolving" (regardless era) in TESO comparing to past Skyrim, Oblivion and so.

Just check Daedra and Aedra princes in the different TES versions and you'll see what I mean.

AvalonRanger · February 13

Well, I like ESO character modeler rather than any of TES series.

Hollyniss · February 13

Dragonnord wrote: »

They look much, much better now in TESO.

Imho, they look 100 times better now, as you also can create a huge amount of different looks and body shapes for them. Just play with the slides and you'll see.

Btw, orcs don't have to be green. Just look at LOTR. Have you ever seen a green orc in Lord of the Rings movies?

Yes, this is not LOTR, I know, but he have always seen things "eveolving" (regardless era) in TESO comparing to past Skyrim, Oblivion and so.

Just check Daedra and Aedra princes in the different TES versions and you'll see what I mean.

There's green orc npcs in ESO...
I just prefer green Orcs (not Morrowind/Oblivion green, Skyrim green or ESO green we see on some Orc npcs).
The Orcs in this game don't look 'evolved' at all...they're too human (the women anyway). And believe me I played around with the sliders, and I still prefer Skyrim's Orcs when it comes to the females...I also liked how they had muscle definition (they're just bulky/chunky in this game when you try to give them muscle).

Hollyniss · February 13

VoxAdActa wrote: »

Skyrim orcs (and, actually Skyrim everything other than humans) look like monsters. Their faces are distorted, ill-proportioned, and sharp-angled. ESO orcs are less monstrous and more people-like.

After playing ESO for so long, I can't go back to vanilla Skyrim; the character models look awful in general, but elves and orcs in particular look sinister and thumb-like. I spent a whole day downloading and tinkering with mods to make them look better (and only mostly succeeded) before I could bear to play it.

Well Orcs are supposed to be monsters, lol. That's kind of the point. They look human now...especially the women. I do agree that the Elves look MUCH better in this game. They looked HORRIBLE in Skyrim. Hated it. Had to use several mods before they were playable (for me anyway). So, the Elves in ESO are a MASSIVE improvement. But the Orcs and Argonians? Nope. For Khajiit, I liked how their ears flattened and had their fangs bared when in combat (miss that). I also liked their tails better (not long and skinny). But they too look better in this game, would love to have more playable subraces though. Really want to make a Pahmar-raht.

Maitsukas · February 13

Today's Orcs are still better than what was planned in 2011/2012:

Hollyniss · February 13

Maitsukas wrote: »

Today's Orcs are still better than what was planned in 2011/2012:

LMAO yeah that's true. I'm glad they don't look like THAT. Too much World of Warcraft there...

Tan9oSuccka · February 13

The Oblivion Orcs are legendary! 😆

Elvenheart · February 13

I thought the only reason some orcs are green is that they have been corrupted by Daedric fel magic…oh, wait, wrong game.

AvalonRanger · February 13

I love their grim face to conquer hard challenge.
Just make them noble warrior appearance.

Dragonnord · February 14

Hollyniss wrote: »

There's green orc npcs in ESO...

Show me one.

tomofhyrule · February 14

Dragonnord wrote: »

Hollyniss wrote: »

There's green orc npcs in ESO...

Show me one.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Mighty_Mordra
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Skordo_the_Knife
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Captain_Graalug
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Brulak
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Grushbub
I could keep going if you want.

There are several examples of NPCs with unavailable cosmetics, and it's obvious that NPC Orcs have another skin tone that's more greenish, and a few shades of it at that. We've also seen NPCs with haircolors that are unavailable in character creation (Trynhild's shade of red is not available for Nords, and then of course everyone wants to talk about Leythen and the dark-haired Altmer), and even eyecolors that can't be used (Erwurlde, a guild trader in Mournhold, has blue Altmer eyes, which are unavailable in character creation.

If you want to check, go up to any of those NPCs and see how closely you can match the color. Sure, the lighting is weird in pictures, but the best way to see it is to go up to them yourself and see that you cannot make that skin color no matter what.

redeyedclyde · February 14

GloatingSwine wrote: »

Maybe they should go back to the neon green of Oblivion.

More of a Pea & Ham soup I'd say.

Hollyniss · February 14

Dragonnord wrote: »

Hollyniss wrote: »

There's green orc npcs in ESO...

Show me one.

Here's another one:

Moglurkgul (found in Stros M'kai)

And as @tomofhyrule stated there's plenty of other instances where npcs have options we don't have.
Hair and eye colors for example. This game has been out for 10 years and we STILL don't have a lot of basic options that npcs have...and the really crappy thing is if/when they do add colors, markings, ect it's almost ALWAYS in the form of Crown Crates. This should be stuff that's automatically added and included in base-game updates...
Same with more fur colors/markings for Khajiit. More scale types and colors for Argonians. As well as more customization options for them in general to match more subraces (which should have been added/included with Murkmire and Elsweyr). They tease us with all of these cool looks/appearances and then half-heartedly release them with skins (via Crown Crates).

BXR_Lonestar · February 14

GloatingSwine wrote: »

Maybe they should go back to the neon green of Oblivion.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In all seriousness, I love my Shrek Orcs lol