### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/25 "2014-02-04T03:51:39Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> That leaves us - Orsinium proper, Summerset Isles, Valenwood, Elsweyr, and Black Marsh, assuming they don’t revisit a place.
Given those options, I’d like to see the next game cover both Valenwood and Elsweyr, with Southern Cyrrodil thrown in for good measure.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/26 "2014-02-04T04:23:17Z")
> [@Merneith](#):
>
> I think they wouldn’t have any trouble selling the kitty-kat race game, especially because, if they go that route, there will be a natural backdrop of the long running war with the Bosmer in Valenwood - which is right next door and Valenwood is currently part of the Dominion…
Well, Skyrim is mostly Nord, with Dunmer towns. Morrowind is mostly Dunmer. Oblivion was more cosmopolitan, but still man human races. I think it wouldn’t work as well if most of the NPCs were Khajit. It would be interesting though if they added more races, specifically the subspecies of Khajiit. The ones from Morrowind on to Skyrim are the Suthay-raht. Ohmes were in Arena and Ohmes-raht in Daggerfall\*. I doubt you’d be able to play as Alfiq (smart housecats) or Senche-(raht) (giant big cats, maybe not sapient). But it’d be nice to see them.
\*Both of these were essentially humans with tails, and the subspecies seems to me to be a retcon for Bethesda’s changing definition/improved technology.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2014, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/27 "2014-02-04T05:22:29Z")
One thing that amused my as a Khajiit was the flavor text for when you are a werewolf. "Is that…fur? Growing out of your ears?
_\_ “Why yes; this one is impressed at your perceptiveness. Are you aware that water is wet as well?”
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/28 "2014-02-05T04:57:51Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> On another board I posted a poll on “Would you prefer to be turned into a Khajiit or an Argonian?”; Argonians won, interestingly.
Well, let’s ask the folks here, see if we get other answers: If you had the choice to be an Argonian or Khajiit, which would you choose?
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/29 "2014-02-05T05:18:28Z")
In the wild, Argonian for the disease resistance, waterbreathing and regeneration.
Socially, being a kitty person would be a lot easier than looking like a I come from a bad 80s TV series.
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### Author:  [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/30 "2014-02-06T17:23:18Z")
Khajit all the way.
You can carry a few potions around and get the same effects as waterbreathing and disease resistance.
Khajit claws and Night vision are more unique abilities.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/31 "2014-02-06T19:54:49Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#):
>
> Khajit all the way.
>
> You can carry a few potions around and get the same effects as waterbreathing and disease resistance.
>
> Khajit claws and Night vision are more unique abilities.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a very poor user of potions and other one-time items in TES and other games. It would never, ever occur to me to quaff a disease resist potion, even when venturing into a vampire lair. So they sit unused until I sell them. If a disease bothered me that much, I would reload. As it is, with lycanthropy being easy to get, or corprus in Morrowind, disease immunity is earned quickly, thus I only get maybe 2 diseases in an entire playthough. Thus I like the “flavor” that getting one provides, as well as seeing the funny names.
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### Author:  [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/32 "2014-02-06T20:33:48Z")
You don’t need disease resistant potions, silly goose. Just a couple “Cure Disease” potions does the trick. Or you can just stop by the nearest shrine.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/33 "2014-02-07T02:01:13Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#):
>
> Khajit claws and Night vision are more unique abilities.
Absolutely. Plus, Khajit seem to have close and warm social bonds and their people consider hard-core drugs acceptable for snacking. Argonians are nice enough, but often seem to have a rather anti-social attitude towards their own. Also, evidently the Khajit ladies don’t mind their men’s sexual traits… 😃
I would really love to see an Elsweyr/Valenwood game, but I have my concerns that Bethsoft just isn’t up to the task. This is an area of the Elder Scrolls world that needs a lot of careful thought, and probably a lot of custom systems. Much of the cruft in Skyrim will look increasingly dated if it’s not improved drastically for their next big release. Consider the hilarious animations, the horribly bad Thief and Mage storylines, major questlines being bugged, and the clunky console-focused interface, and you can see just a few of the points that need improving.
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### Author:  [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/34 "2014-02-07T14:07:52Z")
You thought the Thieves’ Guild storyline was bad? That was one of my favorites. The Mage’s College was pretty lame, I’ll give you that one.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/35 "2014-02-07T14:35:19Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#):
>
> Consider the hilarious animations, the horribly bad Thief and Mage storylines, major questlines being bugged, and the clunky […] interface
Ah, I see you’ve met Bethesda Softworks :D.
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/36 "2014-02-07T17:12:34Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#):
>
> Well said, Kobal2.
>
> Beat up dragons for their lunch money? Hmmmmmmmmmm! And I’ve been using light armor all this time, darn it. I hope the heavy gauntlets perk isn’t too far up the Heavy Armor tree.
I saw somewhere (in a Cracked article?) that someone had beaten the entire main quest just by punching. I don’t know how exactly that would work during the big battle with Alduin on the Throat of the World, but damn it would be satisfying.
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> I wonder if anyone did a race preference poll. I’m gonna guess generic Imperials or weird Bosmers are low on the list, even lower than douchebag Altmers.
Hey now, I like the Altmers. They’re not all bad; just look at Ulundil (who hit on my character once as he was standing over his murdered wife :dubious: :D).
> [@smiling\_bandit](#):
>
> For a social reason,\*\* it seems like the Devs haven’t been terribly interested in Khajit or Bosmer, who are often used as criminal or comic characters but rarely important ones.\*\* Which is odd because those two in particular sound as though there’s a lot of intriguing storytelling options. They have some interesting cultural notes and often travel widely.
This is especially apparent in Oblivion. Mankar Camoran, according to all the lore, was a Bosmer. In the game he was an Altmer. I have a theory about this relating to the rise of the Thalmor, but it’s only my way of making the GLARING RACIAL INCONSISTENCY work in my little world.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/37 "2014-02-08T00:46:55Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#):
>
> You thought the Thieves’ Guild storyline was bad? That was one of my favorites. The Mage’s College was pretty lame, I’ll give you that one.
See Shamus Young’s site for a complete demolishing of the storyline, bit by bit. Nearly every aspect of it was a complete failure in some respect. It’s a pretty epic takedown by the end.
[http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422](http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422)
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/38 "2014-02-08T15:02:52Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#):
>
> See Shamus Young’s site for a complete demolishing of the storyline, bit by bit. Nearly every aspect of it was a complete failure in some respect. It’s a pretty epic takedown by the end.
>
> [Skyrim Thieves Guild Part 1 - Twenty Sided](http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=14422)
That is a masterful takedown indeed. It also brings up a big problem I have with the game. Everything happened twenty or thirty years ago, but why has everything been left to fester for so long? Do you really expect me to believe that Ulfric’s rebellion’s been going on _twenty years_ with no resolution? Shorten the time on the wars, Bethesda. Make it five or ten instead of twenty or thirty.
Also, why is the Skeleton Key suddenly so powerful? In Oblivion it was just an unbreakable lockpick and two hundred years later it’s the all-powerful Key to Everything? A quick CYA from the writing staff would help. Make that the \*real _Skeleton Key while the one that Nocturnal’s just givin’ away in Oblivion_ the reward for services rendered key that fades away after a while. Aren’t the Daedric artifacts supposed to do that anyway?
\*I haven’t played the other TES games except the last two so I can’t speak for the other three.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/39 "2014-02-08T16:07:47Z")
Even better - it’s not like Nocturnal actually cares about the thing being stolen, particularly. It happens all the time (her being the God of Thievery, it’s sort of her thing). Also, nobody else had this pointless “Nightingale” thing.
My thought? She started all this nonsense to get rid of the morons among the Skyrim thieves. 😃
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyrim-khajiit-get-no-love-from-devs/680272/40 "2014-02-08T21:56:37Z")
Wow, talk about hard to please. It makes some interesting points, like plot holes and companion AI, but the rest of it seems like the author has a snark quota. I can’t stop imagining it read by Dennis Miller. Yes, I’ll nitpick back.
The author seems to be familiar with TVTropes, so does he know that “Tropes Aren’t Bad”? Even “A Wizard Did It,” which is okay in small doses. He wants a mead moving cutscene, or thinks that the guard is the first LEO in history to threaten grave consequences without justification? Or that the Skeleton Key doesn’t work as promised, because there are plot-locked doors just like in _every sandbox game ever_? Or nitpicking the Nightingale name (and doesn’t know what Nocturnal is)?
And having worked at a bank, it goes: new employees = no key; middle employees = key A; higher employees = key B. There is not one copy of each key in the bank. I rather liked the variety of quests instead of the standard fetch quest that thieves get forced into in games (those slogs are for the radiant quests).
Karliah, being a Dunmer, probably changed her original plan which was to let the damn Breton die of old age. 🙂
And Nightingale Subterfuge kicks ass. It was always a problem (worse in Oblivion IIRC) where you’d get a frenzy spell or something, and it would be “foes up to level 6”. I’m level 20, it would be easier to punch them to death. Master level spells only go up to base level 25, and unless I intentionally grinded Illusion hardcore, I’d be level 50 by the time it’s 90.
On topic: no Khajiits in the guild? For a group of downtrodden, there’s a lot of fantasy-WASPs there.
I always thought it was funny: when my character dies, Nocturnal comes to claim me. Then Sovngarde says “nuh-uh!” Then Hiricine comes to claim my werewolf spirit. And so on, I think there’s more.
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