On Skyrim, one day to go...

So Skyrim will hopefully be dropping through my mailbox tomorrow (no later than 1pm)...

What race to play though...

The basic gameplay choices appear to be between your Mage / Rogue / Warrior archetypal abilities with the various starting racial traits providing benefits in varying degrees to each.

Although a player will specialize through their actions in game it appears to be important to pick the right race for the style of gameplay that appeals to you the most. There's nothing stopping you playing a more magicka leaning race as a sword n' board slugger of course, but the game is so huge that whichever character you settle on you'd better me happy with for the next 300hrs of gameplay. At least as a 'main'. How far the game lends itself to alts and replayability remains to be seen.

So a quick rough and ready summation of the races.

Altmer: Strong mage feel.
Bosmer : poison and disease resistance - ranged and thiefy
Dunmer: appears to hybrid between magic and some stealthing abilities, perhaps masters of illusion.
Breton: Magic and healing
Imperial: Sword n Board, tanky
Nord: Damage dealing warrior
Redguard: ranged and one handed, feels a little hybridy.
Argonian: stealthy, thiefy
Khajiit: stealthy, ranged and thiefy.
Orc: warriors, berserkers.

It appears Altmer would be the best choice for strongly favouring magic, with Breton being an alternative. Rogues are spoilt for choice between Bosmer, Argonian, Khajiit and Dunmer, with the melee choices being between degrees of attack and defense.

Personally i'm split between a High Elf Altmer and a Nord. Rogues have always been a 3rd or 4th alt for me in MMO's although stealthy takedowns are always fun.

From the screenshots so far of the races, i must admit that most don't look all that visually appealing, if undeniably in keeping with the overall graphical feel of the game. Perhaps this is not so much of an issue given the game is designed to be played from the first person perspective. 3rd person will still be an option though and one i will probably make use of, if only for some relief from the 'floaty' hands effect that tends to plaque first person perspectives.

Anyway, happy Skyriming (!) tomorrow. I will post some screenshots and initial impressions if i can tear myself away from it.