The Elder Scrolls

[Pierre D'Olnique]

Whenever I have to interact with those NPCs, I mute the volume. It's laconic, no emoting, meandering, and pretentious in tone. In short, absolute dogshit.

So, 100% true to how real life sheboons are. Doesn't help that every prominent female of that race is just a completely unlikeable cunt.

 

[Spooky Dogwood]

Female redguards have always had particularly bad line delivery. Why they kept her voice in and got rid of the OG male orcs and elves I have no idea.

I've spent a little time looking at the difference between VAs in Skyrim and Oblivion, only to realize that outside of Nords the races of Men have no unique voices. They've added significantly more VAs and voice types to the game probably due to criticism Oblivion got, but mixing so many voices between different races makes them less distinct. I started looking into it in the first place because I couldn't for the life of me remember what Redguards sounded like in Skyrim even though I played it recently. I've talked before about how they've toned down the racial dimorphism too much in Skyrim and how you can't really tell what race some characters are at a glance, especially if they have a midtone complexion, but I've never noticed how much the voices blurred together.

 

[Übertroon]

I've spent a little time looking at the difference between VAs in Skyrim and Oblivion, only to realize that outside of Nords the races of Men have no unique voices. They've added significantly more VAs and voice types to the game probably due to criticism Oblivion got, but mixing so many voices between different races makes them less distinct. I started looking into it in the first place because I couldn't for the life of me remember what Redguards sounded like in Skyrim even though I played it recently. I've talked before about how they've toned down the racial dimorphism too much in Skyrim and how you can't really tell what race some characters are at a glance, especially if they have a midtone complexion, but I've never noticed how much the voices blurred together.

I usually tell by their name.
Tertullius Brutus, Imperial.
Erik Volkmar, Nord.
Knobgobler Dumas, Breton.

 

[Spooky Dogwood]

I usually tell by their name.
Tertullius Brutus, Imperial.
Erik Volkmar, Nord.
Knobgobler Dumas, Breton.

That's something you intuitively pick up on if you've played the previous games, but I wonder how familiar people who only ever played Skyrim are with the naming conventions of races that have less representation in the game. And while I don't care to do the research to prove it at the moment, I feel like Skyrim has more characters that only have a nondescript first name and no last name. While I'm complaining about lack of distinct characterization, I also miss how in Oblivion you could ask practically every NPC about themselves and they would tell you about their background and what they do. I should make a sloptube channel with all these idle thoughts I've been having about TES lately.

 

[Problematic User Forever]

Why they kept her voice in and got rid of the OG male orcs and elves I have no idea.

They kept her voice because it was distinct to her race, while Orcs and Nords shared voice actors. Adding voices had nothing to do with performance.

Originally, Wes Johnson was going to voice male Imperials and Bretons in Oblivion. I believe that there's actually a shit ton of voice files left over in the original game of Wes Johnson doing a lot of Breton dialogue, including Jauffres and even Martin Septim.

 

[Sheep King]

I feel like Skyrim has more characters that only have a nondescript first name and no last names

Nords having a lack of surnames is consistent with Oblivion and Morrowind, Nords typically use acquired names rather than family names unless they're from a prominent family, so it makes sense Skyrim has less overall.
Bosmer and the beast races are alien enough cultures that them not having surnames fits, with both Bosmer and Argonians being jungle dwellers with jeet-like populaton growth who probably don't give a shit about ancestry within their own borders and I'd bet money the average Khajit doesn't even know their own father let alone a family tree.
Imperials and Bretons have surnames because of feudalism. Orcs use tribal surnames, and Dunmer also come from a tribal society with a strong focus on ancestor worship which explains them.

The odd ones out imo are Altmer and Redguards; maybe Redguards are few enough to not need them but Altmer seem like they should. Maybe both groups just avoid using their surnames outside of their own borders for convenience.