Best/favorite original non-human races and cultures in gaming?

[texhnolyze]

It doesn't have to be playable, but it has to have actual racial lore, community and culture. We're looking for original races here, so generic fantasy races like the Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, Orc, etc are definitely not to be brought out here. Prime examples of this can be found in Final Fantasy games, including the Burmecian, Qu, Ronso, Galka, Viera, Bangaa, Moggles, Miqo'te, and many others.

Alien races would be fine too, such as my favorite Quarians who were so advanced and managed to create AI-powered slave robots, which would later rebel against their creators and expel them from their homeworld to the outer space in a huge group of starships. Their community-driven culture and how sustainable they are is quite fascinating too.

What's your favorite, Era?

 

[Deleted member 36578]

I've played hundreds of hours with them, I don't where they came from, their lore, what the heck they even technically are, but I love me some Palicos!

 

[Shark]

Asari

Mono gendered with a lifespan of a millennia.

 

[The Unsent]

The black mages, especially FF IX, Vivi's existential crisis is compelling, I like their music, how twisted the black waltz look and scenes like when they invade Lindblum and all their yellow eyes light in the dark.

 

[Hanbei]

Asari

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That is precisely what I was going to reply.

 

[Takyon]

The piggies from "Speaker for the Dead" were pretty cool. Their life cycle is incredibly inhuman and strange.

 

[elenarie]

Elves, or well technically Trolls, from Warcraft.

 

[Yossarian]

I don't really want to spoil anything about what they actually are because it's fucking mad, but Fallen London/Sunless Sea has a particularly odd take on Devils that I really like.

Better to play through it, but if you're really curious:

Spoiler

They're inter-dimensional bees. Sort of.

Actually, I like everything about Fallen London's universe. For instance, the lifecycle of Tomb Colonists is strange, disgusting, eerie and, in a way, quite beautiful.

 

[Gakidou]

I LOVE NOPONS AND I AM N O T S O R R Y

Also the Zaruboggan from XBCX, extremely good.

My favourite original race in any game ever is probably... Pikmin??
They are all about teamwork and utilising their own biodiversity to survive. They are seemingly maladapted for survival but actually perhaps they are adapted to be the ultimate selfless creature? Their onion ships are neat. They are beautiful. They sing luigis mansion theme song sometimes (no really) and the purple ones are CHONKY

 

[Deleted member 8861]

Not a race so might not be what you're looking for but the Machines from Nier Automata are just amazing.

 

[EarthPainting]

A thread after my own heart. I adore it when games feature original, non-human, intelligent species that display a sense of culture. I do expect a baseline level of effort though. Don't wanna see any elves, orcs, dwarves, or Star Trek body-painted humans.

I love seeing their unique architectures and where and how they live. I love it when they have speech gimmicks. I love seeing what unique abilities they bring to the table in gameplay. I love seeing diversity within their species.

Since the that came to mind immediately have already been brought up, I'll name some of the other classics. The Paper Mario games do such an excellent job at representing the species of its world. You have goomba towns, koopa towns, boo mansions, yoshi villages, etc. It really elevates those species beyond generic, homogeneous baddies. They're complex communities with their own political affiliations. Like who would have guessed Goombas were so learned if we were just going by the mainline games?

I LOVE NOPONS AND I AM N O T S O R R Y

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.

 

[pochi]

Not a race so might not be what you're looking for but the Machines from Nier Automata are just amazing.

Click to shrink...

 

[Hilarious_Bearious]

The piggies from "Speaker for the Dead" were pretty cool. Their life cycle is incredibly inhuman and strange.

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That was great. On a slightly related note, have you read "The Sparrow"? I just finished it last week and need to know somebody has feeled the feels I'm feeling.

I always loved Nightelves from the WoW universe. I identified with their Druidic ways.

 

[Iztok]

I think the vast majority of original non-human characters in videogames (and movies) are cringy AF. Usually have some name with arbitrarily placed apostrophes in them (you even cite an example in OP) and have a "language" that's had zero thought put into it.

So my pick is one that doesn't try and take itself super seriously (standard for the franchise):

Tauren. Giant bulls/cows that look tough but are soft & cuddly and all about nature and preservation.

 

[Takyon]

That was great. On a slightly related note, have you read "The Sparrow"? I just finished it last week and need to know somebody has feeled the feels I'm feeling.

I always loved Nightelves from the WoW universe. I identified with their Druidic ways.

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I'm sorry to say I have not.

 

[mclem]

I LOVE NOPONS AND I AM N O T S O R R Y

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I'm with you. Individual Nopons can be irritants, but when you actually get a grasp on their culture and realise that they're often borderline Ferengi in their cutthroat business dealings, you see them in a rather fresh light!

 

[Asbsand]

Turians. "Humanity's best friend /s".

Seriously, I instantly found a sense of humanity in them, I think we all did, when you saw Nihlus's reaction to the disturbing video feed at the start of ME1 when his mandibles bounce, and somehow it just communicates perfeclty the sense that "This is this species' way to express shock." and then on top of that, granted they're very militaristic and have a very strict meritocracy in their most common societies but they're very chill to talk to and then we have Garrus who's just the best friend or lover you could ask for.

I instantly connected with them both through Garrus, the C-Sec officers and the antagonist Saren in the original game, and I wouldn't venture into space without my space-bro Turian, personally speaking.

 

[Timppis]

Shofixti are marsupials with extreme honor culture.

There are none greater.

Honorary mentions:
Pkunk, bird-like mystics that gain actual energy from swearing
Liontaurs, centaurs but Lions, and also paladins.

 

[Hilarious_Bearious]

I'm sorry to say I have not.

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Damn! Well if you're into 'Speaker for the Dead', I'd strongly recommend 'The Sparrow'. It's a first contact story with themes of isolation, religion, and cultural misunderstanding. It takes a while to warm up, but then it really delivers in the end.

 

[JahIthBer]

Warcraft Orc's (& Trolls somewhat) are the only video game race i feel like is fleshed out enough to be an actual race, they have so many different cultures & differences, while a lot of fictional races in games are all exactly the same with maybe that one generic bad faction that comes with them, also their native planets also seem to have one race only, while the Orcs homeworld has multiple races, many at war with each other (also sadly realistic) & one Orc clan is even named after the Ogres enslaving them.

I simply haven't seen this depth in any other video game, Mass Effect comes close i think.

 

[ClickyCal']

The chozo, the reason we have Samus

 

[Dyle]

Definitely the insect people from Xenoblade X. Their storyline is really well done and fascinating and they end up feeling like the most truly alien species in a game full of aliens

 

[Syril]

I don't really have any interest in Sword of the Stars as a game but the Liir are pretty cool.

http://wiki.swordofthestars.com/sots2/Liir

http://wiki.swordofthestars.com/sots2/Liir_-_Prester_Zuul_Alliance

The Morrigi are pretty cool too.

http://wiki.swordofthestars.com/sots2/Morrigi

http://wiki.swordofthestars.com/sots2/Morrigi_Confederation

 

[Kard8p3]

My ffxiv au ra is the only mmo character I've ever cared about, so I definitely am a fan of that race, not sure if it's been in other ff games. They're basically dragon people.

 

[Deleted member 57019]

Turians. "Humanity's best friend /s".

Seriously, I instantly found a sense of humanity in them, I think we all did, when you saw Nihlus's reaction to the disturbing video feed at the start of ME1 when his mandibles bounce, and somehow it just communicates perfeclty the sense that "This is this species' way to express shock." and then on top of that, granted they're very militaristic and have a very strict meritocracy in their most common societies but they're very chill to talk to and then we have Garrus who's just the best friend or lover you could ask for.

I instantly connected with them both through Garrus, the C-Sec officers and the antagonist Saren in the original game, and I wouldn't venture into space without my space-bro Turian, personally speaking.

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Yeah, love me some Turians. Wish we could've seen Palaven instead of just its moon. Give me a First Contact War prequel or a side story about the Turian fleet during the Reaper war

 

[Wood Man]

I loved the Elcor in Mass Effect. Those guys are cool.

 

[timedesk]

Turians are my favorite alien race in gaming by far. They manage to look alien but feel very relatable.

 

[capitalCORN]

The Orz.

 

[Asbsand]

Yeah, love me some Turians. Wish we could've seen Palaven instead of just its moon. Give me a First Contact War prequel or a side story about the Turian fleet during the Reaper war

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Every time someone mentions that First Contact War pitch I remind myself internally and in a text-blurb so people can remember too, that the First Contact War - the first contact between humans and turians which led to a conflict of war - lasted 24 hours. In fact, it's kind of a stretch for a premise.

I would totally like to see some post-Reaper War conflict with humans and turians though which harkens back to the old seed of tension founded in the First Contact War.

 

[Deleted member 3924]

Semi-anthropomorphic animal like races ie: Pooka (odin sphere), Palico (MH), Mimiga (cave story)
Alien races are interesting too, but I feel like they often just look like weird humans.

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Weirdly enough, both of the rabbit-like races had stories in the games involving trying to turn back into humans but like, why would you want to :)

 

[Deleted member 16908]

i like the zora from the legend of zelda

 

[Sento]

The Shokan

 

[Vault]

The fact that the entire cast of FF12 was 5 Humans and a sex bunny was criminal.

A Bangaa and Garif should have joined

 

[Deleted member 57019]

Every time someone mentions that First Contact War pitch I remind myself internally and in a text-blurb so people can remember too, that the First Contact War - the first contact between humans and turians which led to a conflict of war - lasted 24 hours. In fact, it's kind of a stretch for a premise.

I would totally like to see some post-Reaper War conflict with humans and turians though which harkens back to the old seed of tension founded in the First Contact War.

Click to shrink...

It's a short war but there's plenty you can do in the leadup to it with the activation of the relays and the first humans exploring beyond the solar system. You can either build it similar to Halo 2 with alternating between a human and Turian playable character for parts of the story.

I'd also steal inspiration from Halo Reach on how to build a game around a fairly short piece of conflict.

 

[Deleted member 3924]

The fact that the entire cast of FF12 was 5 Humans and a sex bunny was criminal.

A Bangaa and Garif should have joined

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Ivalice is such a wasted setting in that way. FFXIV isn't much better with two of its races basically being sexy-cosplay cats and rabbits.

 

[texhnolyze]

There are quite a number of interesting races mentioned here. I even had to google some of their origin.

Can you also state the game where they came from in your post?

The fact that the entire cast of FF12 was 5 Humans and a sex bunny was criminal.

A Bangaa and Garif should have joined

Click to shrink...

Indeed lol.

 

[roguebubble]

Qunari in DA:O and DA:2 (Didn't get deep into DA:I so I don't know if there are any revelations that ruin them). A race that prioritizes efficiency above all else in a fantasy setting is quite unique and seeing them interact with the more traditional fantasy races was very interesting

 

[BanetteAndBaguette]

Zoras.

 

[Blade Wolf]

Turians for sure

 

[Spaceroast]

Dwarf Fortress has some pretty interesting uh... Clowns.

Just don't try to take their cotton candy.

 

[Corralx]

Definitely Zerg and Protoss from Starcraft.

 

[Dennis8K]

Mass Effect had a lot of pretty good alien species.

 

[InspectaDekka]

The Lombax

 

[Pegasus Actual]

I don't know if I have a favorite off the top of my head, but having just finally limped over the finish line with Legacy of the Void not that long ago... I really don't care for Zerg or Protoss in the context of a playable story faction. Just too cheesy and lame. Should have just had had 3 human campaigns tbh...

TV generally fails at alien cultures as well... like... 'good' examples like say Star Trek Klingons still basically just have one fucking hairstyle, one set of clothes, and end up pretty much all doing the same fucking shit.

Generally things like alien/fantasy races only seem to get fleshed out decently in book form, though they'll still suffer from a bit of same-shit-itis.

I guess I'll go with Mass Effect's Reapers. Though they didn't exactly improve as the series went on. Mass Effect had a pretty serviceable roster of sci-fi ripoff aliens. Some better than others.

 

[BourbonJungle]

So happy to see some Star Control II love in this thread. All of their alien races were quite fantastic.

I still fear the Ur Quan

The sultry Syreen

the mysterious Melnorme

The evil Dynarri

The cowardly Spathi

The badass Thraddash

The bigoted Vuxx

The prank-loving Umgah

And those weird hippies the Pkunk

 

[Leviathan]

Sylvari in Guild Wars 2.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

I love me a good Orc. Play as one every chance I get.
My top 3

Warhammer

Warcraft

Elder Scrolls.

 

[zombieshavebrains]

We're looking for original races here, so generic fantasy races like the Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, Orc, etc are definitely not to be brought out here.

Click to shrink...

Some people in this thread can't read.

 

[Bedameister]

Asari

Mono gendered with a lifespan of a millennia.

Click to shrink...

My man

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Mass Effect and Final Fantasy 12 both came to mind when reading the title. Star Wars if it counts because it's not rooted in a videogame. I also like humanoid cats. So Char from GW2, Kilrathi from Wing Commander and that new race in FF14.