I'm sorry but I lol'd at this. Reminded me of Ponty's photo from some time back
Not sure what you mean by gameplay here. If you refer to skill boosts, Argonians are really not that useful. +10 Lockpicking is not as useful as +10 Destruction or +10 Archery. Highborn is one of the best racial powers in the game. As for lore... that's indeed quite subjective
I've got to agree with brother Vaz here but take it a step further than he. In both terms of both gameplay and lore the Altmer have Argonians outmatched. As much as lore can be subjective, Argonians simply don't make sense. Now don't get offended, they aren't meant to. As fun as it might be to play as one can you ever truly say you understand it fully? They are alien to us as we have no frame of reference. Talking about Argonians always reminds me of the conversation between Tali and Shepard regarding the Geth
My top three:
3. Khajiit
2. Redguard
1. Argonian
Maybe you could flesh out your reasons a bit more...I mean, these all say "their lore is x and their gameplay is x".
Like, I have the Argonians as number 1 because a) Lizardmen are badass, b) they are contenders for the oldest inhabitants of Tamriel, and c) this. To be honest, I'll always be a little disappointed in their gameplay until the race with the snapping jaws full of meat-tearing teeth get a bite attack in melee.
Well, even though history generally says making a list of races you like and don't like usually doesn't end well...I'll play ball!
10. Nords: Nothing about them appeals to me! I hardly ever play tank characters, so stat wise they don't stick out, and their rather battle heavy, "the gods say so", follow traditions culture is something I don't like!
9. Orcs: Built for tanks...culture with polygamy and killing family as core elements... Nope nope nope!
8. Imperials: I can deal with their charismatic based stats, but the whole "Let's conquer everything" history turns me off a bit.
7. Redguard: Their stats for a fighter are okay, but not for how I play. And I find their culture a bit...booooring!
6. Breton: I love the stats, but their whole Game of Thrones-esque values make me a teeny weeny more likely to avoid them!
5. Wood Elf: I like the archery thing and I find their homeland intriguing back eating people! No!
4 .Dark Elf: I like their stats fiery magic theme and their lore interests me a LOT!
3. High Elf: Their stats are great and lore is reaaaally cool, but I don't like the pompous attitude! Not one bit!
2. Argonian: Their stats could be better, but they are so unique their lore is sooooo interesting!
1. Khajiit: Their stats are almost perfect for me and I love their culture..also. Yay! Kitties!
I'd have to say:
5. Imperial - Long live the empire!
4. Khajiit - Interesting personalities and moon-based culture.
3. Breton - Based on Britain/France/Celts, my favourite area for history (bar the colonies).
2. Argonian - Well... lizards. Great aesthetics and mysterious.
1. Altmer - Stuck up with every reason to be - the perfectionists!
If it counted, then I'd include Falmer, Dwemer and Daedroths, the sadly non-playables...
Here's how the 10 races of Tamriel break down for me.
I play in 3rd person so the appearance of a character probably matters more to me than it would to a 1st person player.
I divide the races into three tiers: Tier I are the races I really like in just about every way. Tier II I like almost as much as Tier I, but there's one thing about them that I don't like quite as much. Tier III I'm just very apathetic about for whatever reason. The number ranking within the tier ~does~ matter, just not a whole lot: the races inside of each tier are very close, and Tiers I and II are also quite close, as I said before. Also, my list is based more on lore, roleplay and aesthetics than gameplay, just because I'm really into lore, roleplay and aesthetics. On to the list!
Tier I:
1. Nord. I pretty much am a Nord in real life, and I love just about everything Nordic/Celtic/Germanic in origin, so it would make sense that Nords are at the top for me. I love their lore, I find roleplaying them to be very natural, and both their physical aesthetics (tall, strong, beardy) and cultural aesthetics (Viking/Celtic mix) are awesome. If I had to choose one favorite race, this would be it.
2. Dunmer. I find their Daedra-based lore to be quite fascinating, and while they are somewhat alien, they're still very relatable, so I find roleplaying as one quite easy and fun. Their aesthetics are also very cool, and the physical and cultural mesh very well.
3/4. Orsimer. They also have interesting Daedra-based lore, and a similar honorable barbarian vibe to the Nords, so the roleplay is easy for me. Both their physical and cultural aesthetics are very strong and intimidating, and besides: everyone roots for the underdogs.
3/4. Khajiit. Again, interesting lore, this time Moon-based, but still incorporating the Daedra. Also fun to roleplay, and while their cultural aesthetics (although good) aren't really represented in Skyrim, they're physical aesthetics are definitely great.
Tier II:
5. Reachmen. Even though they aren't technically a separate race from Bretons in-game, they consider themselves to be so, and so do I. Also: I very much like Reachmen, but, as you'll see later, I don't really care for Bretons much. Anyway: their lore is very interesting and compelling, their roleplay is very fun and easy for me, and their primal cultural aesthetic is very cool. My only small issue with them is that while the females look great, the males look kind of odd to me.
6/7. Altmer. Great lore, easy and fun roleplay, great aesthetics both physical and cultural. However, they do seem a little generically Elven to me, although they do have unique elements.
6/7 Argonian. Interesting and unique lore, and same aesthetic situation as the Khajiit. But to quote Veloth the Pilgrim: "I'm just not sure how to roleplay a semi-emotionless, lovecraftian-atheist, hivemind lizard person."
8. Imperial. Similar situation to the Altmer: Cool lore, easy and fun roleplay, great cultural aesthetics and fine physical ones. Only problem is they're just sort of a generic "Human Empire" sort of thing.
Tier III:
9. Bosmer. Great, interesting, unique lore, and easy, fun roleplay. Their cultural aesthetic is quite cool, although again: not represented in Skyrim. However, I find the Bosmer themselves to be rather ugly (not good ugly like Orcs though), and they just don't really "click" or "strike a chord" with me like the tier I and II races.
10. Reguard. Cool lore, fine physical aesthetic, cool cultural aesthetic. I really have nothing against them at all, the only reason they're not higher is that, to me, they seem to fill a very similar Middle-Eastern themed niche to the Khajiit, and I just like the Khajiit much better.
11. Breton. The only race who's lore I find completely uninteresting: they're humans who are good at magic because they have a little Elven blood, and they can't stop killing each other, that's it. Also, similar to what I said before with the Reachmen: although their cultural aesthetic is cool (again, not represented in Skyrim, except for maybe Plate Armor) and the females look good, the males look kind of odd to me.
I hate the game mechanics. Now that crap is done...