The Huskar Social Union wrote:Ism wrote:Berserker Rage intensifiesYou know, I always found it strange that Nords didn't get the berserker rage, on account of the actual berserkers being Norse.
Well i guess they both can be berserkers but yeah makes sense they would have it too.
Orcs in ES have always felt a bit i dont know, lackluster? they are meant to be excellent soldiers in the imperial army but you never see a single Orc legionary in Oblivion or Skyrim from what i can remember. And i believe they are meant to be excellent armour and weapon craftsmen but their stuff looks so inferior and primitive compared to everyone elses (Mainly the weapons i actually quite like their armour)
Part of the lack of representation is an issue with engine limitations, or at least that's what I would imagine. Still, they could have at least given us an orc legate, we got an altmer after all. The smith in Markarth is an ex-legionaire, for what it's worth.
As for their weapons and armor, well, it is pretty good. I mean, compared to common arms and armor, iron, steel, imperial uniforms, even steel plate, Orcish is generally better. Dwemer arms are better, though the armor is worse (why they did that I do not know), and then obviously, ebony, daedric and dragonplate are just better.
So, with the Orsimer's work, we see something roughly on par with the Dwemer's work, which I'd say is impressive, given the difference in technological sophistication.
And, looking at the better materials, we have the crystallized blood of a god, the same blood but infused with Daedric souls, and the bones of reality warping pseudo-angels. Dragonborn adds stalhrim to the mix, which is innately magical. So, Orcish armor is the best you'll get from mundane materials, with better armors all being from more exotic materials, most of which have some direct relation to the divine.
A look at arms shows that, indeed Orcish arms just don't live up to the armor in terms of quality. As noted, they're inferior to Dwemer weapons, but also to elven and glass weapons. Lorewise I can see the reasoning behind this, Orcish heavy armor but not arms are mentioned in flavor text, and they seem to be endurance fighters generally, so a focus on armor quality does make a certain amount of sense, relying on innate strength and their rage to compensate for less powerful weapons.
Still, their arms are superior to common ones, and their armor is better than elven armor, even accounting for the heavy/light dichotomy, meaning that the relationship is much like the one between Orcish and Dwemer, one has better arms, the other better armor. That all of these are of merish make, is interesting to me. That leaves glass.
Glass and Orcish armor are the fourth best light and heavy armor respectively, but glass weapons are obviously superior, and by a wide margin. As, so far as I can tell, glass is made of mundane materials, this does make it the only set that is better than Orcish without being made of something magical or divine. Even so, it does seem glass is to elven what steel plate is to steel, a more expensive and rarer version.
So, in all likelihood, especially in human dominated areas, Orcish arms and armor are the best you're going to commonly find, and require relatively easier to acquire materials, and relatively less skill to craft than do superior or, in the case of Dwemer and arguably Elvish, equal sets.
As for the aesthetics, I enjoy look of Orcish weapons and armor, but I understand why you might not. That "primitive" look is certainly intended, orcs are skilled craftsman, but they don't much weight on "beauty" and such.