Little cabbage-headed Asura's in GWs: Heads like a goldfish bowl to house their huge brains: If one was coming up an escalator while I was going down and it's head was level with my foot...
Where'd you get this picture, I haven't seen this anywhere The armor of the one on the right is new...anyway I think they're absolutely adorable. In a Garbage Pail Kids sort of way. So creepy. With their huge heads and extra sharp teeth (have you seen them smile? It's horrific). I shall be making my Asura a Necro so he can be all gross and creepy and stuff
Munchkin races don't bother me provided they're presented well. WoW gnomes weren't. Most Dwarves are really badly done, too. The only time I remember liking a Dwarf races was in Dragon Age: Origins, because they still were proportional...sorta...not just rolly pollys with legs and arms have the length of the rest of the world's.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Half Giants from Vanguard top the list for me. I usually play large ugly races, trolls, ogres etc, but couldnt handle the oversized downs children in Vanguard. Reminds me of Blaster with his helmet off from Mad Max.
I hate Drakin in EQ more than anything. They are horrible.
That said, just about anything using EQ's original tectures is horrible by today's standards, although DE and HE came out nice. Ogres and Trolls, horrible.
The race design doesn't matter to me as such because the truth is that there is more 'design' in non-humans to try to make them different and part of the world. The problem is a lack of identity and culture.
Final Fantasy X was the first of the Final Fantasy Games where the races had their own cities, cultures and differences...where humans in one part of the world behaved differently than the humans of another part of the world.
The failure to many races is trying to make them "human-like" to facilitate being non-human.
If you take a look at star trek and star wars which both had plenty of races. Star Wars races were made to be "different" and act "differently" while Star Trek races are more "human-like" regardless the difference to say "we are all the same"
Unfortunately, the more human one makes a race, the more one destroys identify, but a race without any form of facilitation also fails too since no one can relate to. In fact if we look at MMORPG stories, they fail miserably from a creative writing point of view.
Giving you guys an example...
When a writer thinks of a race, the idea is to make something unique, but to also make a tension. A whole race, in identity can have a archetype associated with them. The same is true for groups (Jedi vs Sith made up of two different archetypes). A lot of non-humans, are also made as a generalization of what the belief are of people...
Not too long ago, people of Germanic Origins were referred as Barbarians. Lets not forget the stereotype facing Chinese and Japanese, not to mention Stereotypes close to home, like the differences between Northerners and Southerners in the US...
When a race is made for the sake of being "different" with no personality or identity outside of pure stereotypes and cast into a story to exist as "human-like" as "non-humans" in either a "warlike" or "non-warlike" method, we end up with such boring races.
A Frog Race, The TaruTarus (from FFXI), Undead (WoW), Asurans (GW), etc....All could have been made more interesting to the point one overlooks appearance. Problem is that when a race isn't that well thought out of, the last thing we have is looks to appreciate the race and when that fails, all is lost.
A Race can look like crap, but if it has a good story, ability and very different along with a good archetype, it can be a Gold Mind for players and a supporting fanbase, otherwise it will explode in your face.
I think listing wow races in top 5 list was an epic fail. WoW have a kiddish, outdated, ugly graphics they can't do better, every race in that game is ugly.
Wait a sec, you put the Undead one of the cooler looking races in WoW over Tauren? I mean they are quite possibly the ugliest race in the entire game, they look like Cow men with downsindrom. I guessing your trying to take in to account armor at end game which covers up their hideous faces and completely absurd body proportions.
Gnomes get #3? Just in WoW I can find 2-3 other races that are worse, in other games I can find another 3-4 from a combo of MMOs.
Your list seems lazy, with little time put together with little real backing. Next time take a bit more time.
Thee hee this is a fun post to read through. Guess its a matter of taste.
I found many eq2 races to be annoying because they were trying to be realistic, but the proportions were screwed up - Like its better miss on purpose than trying for perfection and only come close. And to completely disprove my point, did you ever try Chronicles of Spellborn ? now thats what I call ugly races (were they even finished?).
All Manga wapaneese doll face races can really make me throw up... all a matter of taste.
Froglocks back when they were added to the game as a player race were extremely popular becasue they were considered "Cute." Gnomes are cute and are fun to be around.
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
AAAAhahahahahaha I have to agree with this list - except Shar. I had a Shar Vampiir during my short run with Hibernia, and he was pretty cool. I guess they are only tolerable if you are a vampire.
My main Hib was one of them light-shadow spell casting folk. Ahh, the name escapes me... Eldritch? I think. Champion was pretty cool too, but I never got any of my Hibbies past 20. Midgard was my real faction, then Albion.
jim henson's a hero of mine but i'll forgive yer insult (read: ICBM incoming!)
my list:
5) roegadyn of ff14- their voiceacting fits really well but they jst look blaaaaaaa
4) ogres of eq1 -the male only, because the female ones were so darn ugly tey were cute. I had one named Bigrhonda
3) trolls of both EQ's -only sexy troll is wow troll!
2) undead of WoW -the author had it right.
1) Dark elves of L2, mainly for the dopey way they run.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
what? the Draenei women are smoking hot....but id have to agree with the males being somewhat unpleasant, however i wouldn't say they were ugly since their appearance doesn't make me want to avoid looking at one at all cost.
I have to agree with other posters, how you could leave out the Firbolg and Iconnu from DAoC is beyond me. And why you would include gnomes from Wow? BTW it is not undead from Wow, but the forsaken, you need to keep current.
I hate when people knock the graphics of old games. Come on, EQ1 had amazing graphics for its time, and some of the most ogre-y ogres ever.
What has no excuse is the ogres from EQ2, the textures on their armor stretch out, revealing ugly bump maps and creating some serious clipping issues for a game trying to look "realistic".
------------------------ Everyone on this site: 1: MMORPGs are DOOMED, and I have the answers to save them! 2: THIS game's gonna kill WoW! 3: I wish things would go back to the Golden Age of MMORPGs, which only existed in my mind...
Are we all talking about the same sort of ugly? Are we talking ugly looking physically or ugly the way they were created? Arguably all the WoW stuff is ugly looking in comparison to newer games because of a lower polygon count on character models, giving them such angular and non-rounded forms.
Personally I'm going with ugly the way they were created. Some races are supposed to be ugly looking and if they pull it off then job done well to the creators.
p.s. I think WoW needs to overhaul their character models with an increased polygon count so they start maturing with the times and look a little less goofy.
You take that back! Gnomes are the most elusive, bad-ass, cutesy, fluffy, smexiest race of all time! How come I get more moos than the average Horde Tauren on my Gnome Warrior when I stroll around Stormwind or Dalaran (pre-Cataclysmic catastrophe)? And don't tell me because my name is Midgetcow either!
There's quite a difference to me between all of the following: "not pretty", "pretty ugly", "very different from human", and "too ugly to want to play".
5.) Undead – WoW
I know it’s cool to love zombies. Frankly, I get why the Undead are so popular in WoW. Heck, I get why the entire Horde faction is so beloved. But aside from one other race in the game (and I’m shockingly not talking about the Trolls), the Undead are absolutely wretched looking.
The Forsaken are actually pretty ugly in the best possible way, for the most part. Not too ugly to play. Who else could rock the leather-straps crossing the open nasal cavity-look? The agony and irony of looking so carefully dressed and being dead meat, like some guest locked and forgotten in a closet at Miss Favisham's wedding feast; decadence personified.
(The Horde itself seems unfortunately oversupplied with hunchers-over and humpbacks. This race is the egregious example. The Tauren are buffalo-beastmen-- you expect a hump. Orcs and trolls have tusks and that suggests a "biological" fictional explanation that doesn't strain credibility, for those of us who pay any attention to world and story elements. The Forsaken are animated corpses. If they can stand up and walk around *at all*, they can just as easily stand up straight.)
But aside from the parenthetical objection to their posture stated above, my perambulating posthumous pet peeve at finding myself in one of their bodies would be how very damned silly I felt having my the knees and elbows not only out of all my clothes, but also out of all my skin and flesh. Please. One or the other, perhaps, but not obligately both. Don't get me started on the feet.
4.) Rodian – SWG
I feel a little bad bringing Greedo’s people into this, especially because it wasn’t SOE who made them look so incredibly ridiculous, but LucasArts. Still, the poor tribal folk will get no love from me. You just won’t catch me playing them in SWG, or pretty much any Star Wars flavored game where they’re selectable. I attribute this to the MMO “butter-face” effect. The body is entirely human, and looks rather normal… but that face.
But isn't the non-human form of the Froglok, from head to toe, part of what you don't like about them? No sense cavilling about a detail that wouldn't change your mind if it were different.
I agree, though, that I'd just never get around to playing one without some kind of extra inducement.
And I'd rather kiss a Wookie. Just saying.
3.) Gnome – WoW
Worse than the Undead. Can I just leave it at that? They’re too short, trying to be too cute, and more annoying than just about any of the late Jim Henson’s worst creations (no disrespect to the man who created The Dark Crystal).
But some of us *like* being annoying, in (forgive me!) small doses and my (auction house maven) yenta Gnome with her vaguely Chicago-ese Yiddish-like accent and wisecracks was the Terror of Shins everywhere in Stormwind.
I've heard it said, "so ugly they're cute" but I think "so cute they're ugly" works, too. Also, I find them incredibly sinister, and that's never a bad thing, is it?
1.) Froglok – EQ2
Still, no other race has made me shake my head more than the Froglok. They’re a hit with the EQ crowd. I mean, who doesn’t love Kermit?
No, wait. Aside from Miss Piggy, who *did* love Kermit? Kermit would not be my metaphorical Froglok of choice.
Giant frogs that hop around appropriately sounds like a cool idea on paper… until you put them in the game and they wind up just looking like a further-malformed version of Quasimodo. Don’t get me wrong, I think the animations that EQ2 has managed to work in for the Frogloks are fantastic. I just think their version of an anthropomorphic frog is a lot less appealing than Jim Henson’s (redemption for an earlier insult to a dead man).
But at least they don't look precisely like human boys and girls in Frog Suits, or like cloth puppets; they're just not all that anthropomorphic, and rather well-defined. They are more differently formed than malformed, at all.
Casilda Tametomo, Priestess of Soldeus | AKA Lepida Aegis-Imperium.com
«Si oblitus fuero usque ad finem omnia opera eorum»
Comments
how is atrox not #1
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Where'd you get this picture, I haven't seen this anywhere
The armor of the one on the right is new...anyway I think they're absolutely adorable. In a Garbage Pail Kids sort of way. So creepy. With their huge heads and extra sharp teeth (have you seen them smile? It's horrific). I shall be making my Asura a Necro so he can be all gross and creepy and stuff 
Munchkin races don't bother me provided they're presented well. WoW gnomes weren't. Most Dwarves are really badly done, too. The only time I remember liking a Dwarf races was in Dragon Age: Origins, because they still were proportional...sorta...not just rolly pollys with legs and arms have the length of the rest of the world's.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Half Giants from Vanguard top the list for me. I usually play large ugly races, trolls, ogres etc, but couldnt handle the oversized downs children in Vanguard. Reminds me of Blaster with his helmet off from Mad Max.
I hate Drakin in EQ more than anything. They are horrible.
That said, just about anything using EQ's original tectures is horrible by today's standards, although DE and HE came out nice. Ogres and Trolls, horrible.
Trolls from EQ2
The Elf races from Final Fantasy XI and XIV.. They always stand like they're hiding a gerbil for Richard Gere.
Dwarves from any game.
Twi'leks.. WTF are those stupid flesh horns supposed to be? Looks like they're wearing one of those funky jester's hats you see on the rave kids...
Faeries from EQ2.. OMG yes I so want to have butterfly wings, but only be able to float a foot above the ground...
Frogloks are awesome, original and simply great. But I agree with Gnomes, they are ugly and look so weak. This article is a waste of time.
Carpe Diem
The race design doesn't matter to me as such because the truth is that there is more 'design' in non-humans to try to make them different and part of the world. The problem is a lack of identity and culture.
Final Fantasy X was the first of the Final Fantasy Games where the races had their own cities, cultures and differences...where humans in one part of the world behaved differently than the humans of another part of the world.
The failure to many races is trying to make them "human-like" to facilitate being non-human.
If you take a look at star trek and star wars which both had plenty of races. Star Wars races were made to be "different" and act "differently" while Star Trek races are more "human-like" regardless the difference to say "we are all the same"
Unfortunately, the more human one makes a race, the more one destroys identify, but a race without any form of facilitation also fails too since no one can relate to. In fact if we look at MMORPG stories, they fail miserably from a creative writing point of view.
Giving you guys an example...
When a writer thinks of a race, the idea is to make something unique, but to also make a tension. A whole race, in identity can have a archetype associated with them. The same is true for groups (Jedi vs Sith made up of two different archetypes). A lot of non-humans, are also made as a generalization of what the belief are of people...
Not too long ago, people of Germanic Origins were referred as Barbarians. Lets not forget the stereotype facing Chinese and Japanese, not to mention Stereotypes close to home, like the differences between Northerners and Southerners in the US...
When a race is made for the sake of being "different" with no personality or identity outside of pure stereotypes and cast into a story to exist as "human-like" as "non-humans" in either a "warlike" or "non-warlike" method, we end up with such boring races.
A Frog Race, The TaruTarus (from FFXI), Undead (WoW), Asurans (GW), etc....All could have been made more interesting to the point one overlooks appearance. Problem is that when a race isn't that well thought out of, the last thing we have is looks to appreciate the race and when that fails, all is lost.
A Race can look like crap, but if it has a good story, ability and very different along with a good archetype, it can be a Gold Mind for players and a supporting fanbase, otherwise it will explode in your face.
I think listing wow races in top 5 list was an epic fail. WoW have a kiddish, outdated, ugly graphics they can't do better, every race in that game is ugly.
Wait a sec, you put the Undead one of the cooler looking races in WoW over Tauren? I mean they are quite possibly the ugliest race in the entire game, they look like Cow men with downsindrom. I guessing your trying to take in to account armor at end game which covers up their hideous faces and completely absurd body proportions.
Gnomes get #3? Just in WoW I can find 2-3 other races that are worse, in other games I can find another 3-4 from a combo of MMOs.
Your list seems lazy, with little time put together with little real backing. Next time take a bit more time.
Thee hee this is a fun post to read through. Guess its a matter of taste.
I found many eq2 races to be annoying because they were trying to be realistic, but the proportions were screwed up - Like its better miss on purpose than trying for perfection and only come close. And to completely disprove my point, did you ever try Chronicles of Spellborn ? now thats what I call ugly races (were they even finished?).
All Manga wapaneese doll face races can really make me throw up... all a matter of taste.
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
Froglocks back when they were added to the game as a player race were extremely popular becasue they were considered "Cute." Gnomes are cute and are fun to be around.
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
AAAAhahahahahaha I have to agree with this list - except Shar. I had a Shar Vampiir during my short run with Hibernia, and he was pretty cool. I guess they are only tolerable if you are a vampire.
My main Hib was one of them light-shadow spell casting folk. Ahh, the name escapes me... Eldritch? I think. Champion was pretty cool too, but I never got any of my Hibbies past 20. Midgard was my real faction, then Albion.
jim henson's a hero of mine but i'll forgive yer insult (read: ICBM incoming!)
my list:
5) roegadyn of ff14- their voiceacting fits really well but they jst look blaaaaaaa
4) ogres of eq1 -the male only, because the female ones were so darn ugly tey were cute. I had one named Bigrhonda
3) trolls of both EQ's -only sexy troll is wow troll!
2) undead of WoW -the author had it right.
1) Dark elves of L2, mainly for the dopey way they run.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
what? the Draenei women are smoking hot....but id have to agree with the males being somewhat unpleasant, however i wouldn't say they were ugly since their appearance doesn't make me want to avoid looking at one at all cost.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
the picture of the Froglok posted is from EQ not EQ2....
because where the game comes from apparently people are like that
^^
I thought of the Everquest Trolls as soon as I saw the headline.... sadface they are not listed here, but Frogloks are? Whaaaat?
I have to agree with other posters, how you could leave out the Firbolg and Iconnu from DAoC is beyond me. And why you would include gnomes from Wow? BTW it is not undead from Wow, but the forsaken, you need to keep current.
I hate when people knock the graphics of old games. Come on, EQ1 had amazing graphics for its time, and some of the most ogre-y ogres ever.
What has no excuse is the ogres from EQ2, the textures on their armor stretch out, revealing ugly bump maps and creating some serious clipping issues for a game trying to look "realistic".
------------------------
Everyone on this site:
1: MMORPGs are DOOMED, and I have the answers to save them!
2: THIS game's gonna kill WoW!
3: I wish things would go back to the Golden Age of MMORPGs, which only existed in my mind...
Are we all talking about the same sort of ugly? Are we talking ugly looking physically or ugly the way they were created? Arguably all the WoW stuff is ugly looking in comparison to newer games because of a lower polygon count on character models, giving them such angular and non-rounded forms.
Personally I'm going with ugly the way they were created. Some races are supposed to be ugly looking and if they pull it off then job done well to the creators.
p.s. I think WoW needs to overhaul their character models with an increased polygon count so they start maturing with the times and look a little less goofy.
You take that back! Gnomes are the most elusive, bad-ass, cutesy, fluffy, smexiest race of all time! How come I get more moos than the average Horde Tauren on my Gnome Warrior when I stroll around Stormwind or Dalaran (pre-Cataclysmic catastrophe)? And don't tell me because my name is Midgetcow either!
There's quite a difference to me between all of the following: "not pretty", "pretty ugly", "very different from human", and "too ugly to want to play".
5.) Undead – WoW
The Forsaken are actually pretty ugly in the best possible way, for the most part. Not too ugly to play. Who else could rock the leather-straps crossing the open nasal cavity-look? The agony and irony of looking so carefully dressed and being dead meat, like some guest locked and forgotten in a closet at Miss Favisham's wedding feast; decadence personified.
(The Horde itself seems unfortunately oversupplied with hunchers-over and humpbacks. This race is the egregious example. The Tauren are buffalo-beastmen-- you expect a hump. Orcs and trolls have tusks and that suggests a "biological" fictional explanation that doesn't strain credibility, for those of us who pay any attention to world and story elements. The Forsaken are animated corpses. If they can stand up and walk around *at all*, they can just as easily stand up straight.)
But aside from the parenthetical objection to their posture stated above, my perambulating posthumous pet peeve at finding myself in one of their bodies would be how very damned silly I felt having my the knees and elbows not only out of all my clothes, but also out of all my skin and flesh. Please. One or the other, perhaps, but not obligately both. Don't get me started on the feet.
4.) Rodian – SWG
But isn't the non-human form of the Froglok, from head to toe, part of what you don't like about them? No sense cavilling about a detail that wouldn't change your mind if it were different.
I agree, though, that I'd just never get around to playing one without some kind of extra inducement.
And I'd rather kiss a Wookie. Just saying.
3.) Gnome – WoW
But some of us *like* being annoying, in (forgive me!) small doses and my (auction house maven) yenta Gnome with her vaguely Chicago-ese Yiddish-like accent and wisecracks was the Terror of Shins everywhere in Stormwind.
I've heard it said, "so ugly they're cute" but I think "so cute they're ugly" works, too. Also, I find them incredibly sinister, and that's never a bad thing, is it?
1.) Froglok – EQ2
No, wait. Aside from Miss Piggy, who *did* love Kermit? Kermit would not be my metaphorical Froglok of choice.
But at least they don't look precisely like human boys and girls in Frog Suits, or like cloth puppets; they're just not all that anthropomorphic, and rather well-defined. They are more differently formed than malformed, at all.
«Si oblitus fuero usque ad finem omnia opera eorum»