Like a few others have said (and the general tone of the replies), there are good, bad, and interesting things about every race. I have to say, I found the beast race's race abilities really, really fun. The Khajiit night vision is, without a doubt, my favourite racial ability. It completely changed my dungeon/night adventuring, especially when I was just playing on a console. If you're on PC you could just mod your character to have this. Their unhanded claw attack is pretty fun, too. And the Argonian underwater breathing can be really fun, if you happen to find anything interesting in the water depths... often you just find fish, though.
I only played as a Nord, never played other races. Wish I could but I don't have time to replay the game.
It depends on what your build will be. For magicians, the best would be altmer or breton, for archers - bosmer, etc. I think that optimal race is breton. Pretty overpowered by the way.
I'm not really sure which race could be better when we are talking in terms of gameplay, but I always play as a nord. I can't imagine dovahkiin nos being a nord, maybe the marketing of the trailers from bethesda has afected me a bit xD
Every race has its pros and cons and depending on how you build them can be incredibly strong or weak. One of the best things about Skyrim is the different ways to build your characters. I love to play archery based classes and the two best I enjoy is either Imperial or Wood Elves.
The best race to choose is a pretty straightforward thing, honestly - take the race whose starting attributes suit your role best, and whose looks suit your roleplay plans best. It shouldn't be too hard with that in mind. Skyrim is also very flexible stats wise, so nothing's stopping you from making a sneak archer Nord of mage Redguard if you're willing to sit through some more levelling of the relevant skills. At the end of the day, I think it's just important to play for fun. Although you can't deny the fun of taking Khajiit for the unarmed damage bonus and playing punchcat. That is a truly unique experience.
There isn't a best race for every situation (unless you count the Imperial, somewhat) but each race has its own benefits. For example, my favorite class is the Dark Elf, also known as the Dunmer. They get buffs to Alchemy, Illusion, Destruction, and Sneak. Because of this, they are one of the best races if you want a thief / mage hybrid character, which is the archetype I usually play as. The type of playstyle that you like will determine which race is the best for you.
Seems like we play similar builds! Definitely my favourite way, but it is annoying how hard it is to train destruction magic in Skyrim... But, to be fair I don't know if that was improved with the DLC because I've only played vanilla Skyrim on my Xbox. Sadly it won't run on my laptop... Also the Khajiit are excellent for a stealth/merchant sort of build, which is always fun for me.
The differences between each race are really tiny, so I pretty much always choose the Nords as they look the most human. All the other races are either elf-like or animal-y. I have also played an argonian once, but I feel like they don't offer you as much customization with the animal races.
There's no best race. If you'd like to be a warrior, go for the Nord. If you'd like to cast a few magic spells, go for the Elves. You choose what you want to be.
I've always heard that the Imperials are like the "Mario" of the Elder Scrolls series, which is to say that out of all of the races, they don't have any major buffs or nerfs that push them towards a particular playstyle. Really, it doesn't matter who you choose. Obviously some races are better for specific playstyles (Elves are better with magic, Khajit are better with stealth, etc.) There's not really any race that is above all of the others.
I am always a Nord in the Elder Scrolls games, and this one is no exception. In fact, in this one I was even more excited to play as a Nord, because it happens right in their home! Apart from Nords, I really like Khajit.
Elf's all day man, they are the best and I honestly choose them any opportunity I can, they make the best assassins and archers
I prefer Bretons myself since they have a nice magic buff that protects them but it's helpful when most enemies start using magic. However, it doesn't matter what you play as so long as you pick up skill to compensate for whatever you are lacking. Since my Breton is weak, I chose smiting and enchanting so I can tank and not get torn to shreds doing it.
There is none that will fullfil everyone needs and everyone has to find one his best that will fits its play style.
I don't think there is but I have to say, playing as a Breton and wearing enchanted armor than resists magic and having the Lord Stone activated can really be beneficial when you're fighting mages and magic users. Poor saps couldn't even inflict 10 points of damage.
That's how I set up my character, especially since the higher level you get, it seems you run into more spellcasters (or that could just be my game only). Nothing better than watching a mage cast some flashy spell to do jack all to you before you cleave their heads in with your favorite weapon of choice.
I know! Top it off with a suped up Daedric armor and you're pretty much invulnerable. Besides the powerful spellcasters, dragons also use magic so getting yourself magic proof is really a huge plus especially when nearing the end of the main quest.
There is actually no best race to choose in this game. You can go any race you like, because at the end, it does not matter much. Races only add slight bonuses to your character that you will never actually use once you get powerful enough. It is just a cosmetic choice at this point, really.
