Originally Posted by BuckettMonkey

Originally Posted by ash elemental
differences that are similar to what you can find among human cultures as such. Consider the drow: in BG2 you get to visit a drow city. And what do you see: a city market, a temple, a tavern and houses in-between. Same for the elven city you get to visit. How does it really differ from human cities except for the architectural style?

Life, activities, matriarchy, religion and the presence of a huge number of slaves.
Originally Posted by ash elemental
same as the elven bodies are based on the human body

Abd what's the problem here? Do you think that in order to be different from a person you need to be like the Old Ones from the Lovecraft books?
If a fantasy species is supposed to be "alien" and not just another human copycat with few cosmetic design differences? Yes. Matriarchy, religion, slavery are all human inventions, and so are cities, so I fail to see the difference in what you have listed here, especially since the drow and elf life activities consist of human behaviors like haggling in markets, drinking in taverns and worshipping at temples. Even the elven faces (not in-game, but the examples posted here) just look like caricatures to me, where you simply use a human as a model, but exaggerate some face features on purpose.