Providing a back-story would just force me to come up with explanations for ignoring it. It was bad enough in Oblivion having to come up with a reason not to carry the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre until I had adventured my way up to about 20th level first.

Still, the fact remains that you were in prison. Realistically, people should treat you like you were a prisoner, and they don't.

Yeah, that's true. In Daggerfall, it was even worse. The game would write out an entire backstory for your character, not leaving much to the imagination at all. It was way better in the following games.

And it's Bethesda's fault "I was framed" is the best you can do?

My character is in jail because:

I was framed.

I was being chased by Camonna Tong thugs and svcker-punched a guard to escape them by being hauled off to jail, knowing ultimately dealing with a couple days in jail would be easier than dealing with the thugs.

I was working with the Blades to capture a bandit lord who is running his empire from inside the Imperial Prison, but then the only officer who knew it was murdered- which sort of left me hanging.

I was taking shelter from the rain in a barn near town when the most amazing young lass joined me. Then, while we were...ah..."getting to know each other," a burly Nord farmer with a pitchfork appeared saying something about his daughter and that I could deal with him, or with the guards.

Those took a whopping two minutes to come up with...

Uh, what? No one "wipes your characters memory" lol. You create the RP. You decide who he is. That's the entire point. :rolleyes:

Realistically very few people should even know who the hell you are let alone give a rats ass about you.

The prison thing is almost tradition now. I have no problem with it and in fact kind of like it. If they get rid of it, I won't cry, but I know many probably would.


I don't think growing up with mom and pop on a farm and watching them die as you transition past the tutorial would be fitting for a TES title.

It is now tradition and should not be changed. It leaves the backstory open to the user to fill in gaps at will. Sorry to those that have no imagination and need to be held by the hand the entire plotline.

To some degree, but I'd say the true tradition is your character beginning in the Imperial City. The backstory of Morrowind said you were sent from the Imperial City, in Oblivion and Arena you obviously start there, and in Daggerfall you meet the emperor there and he sends you on your mission.

Not exactly, you were a palace guard or something and he put all the guards in the cells to get them out of the way, and expected they would all starve.

That's it. After the coup, he was cleaning out the loyal staff.

Guess I agree and disagree. I like the "we want you to make your own back story", I don't want Beth defining that for me. I could care less about starting as a prisoner being "tradition". Just start me off on a dock having just stepped off a boat and I'm fine. I can take it from there.



That does get old after a while though. How many interesting variations of that can you really come up with each game?

How is it lame? It allows you to start your character with absolutely no backstory so you can decide for yourself. Any way else short of amnesia (which would be the most cliched beginning ever) would require your character to have some kind of pre-made back story or else it wouldn't make sense. Plus it's a tradition and it works well. It also allows for an action oriented beginning to get you used to the controls and give a feel for the game.

One game I have always hated the starting of is Never Winter Nights 2, I mean seriously no matter what you are always the adopted son of some elven farmer and must participate in the "Harvest Festival". Imagine how stupid that looks if you pick a Drow as your race. So I hope TES never ever does anything like that.

If you do not like the open approach to starting that is starting in Prison you must not be a very creative person, I know every character I make in a TES game has a whole back story that I form while creating the character and going through the game.

/thread

of course the member who started a thread wanting the writers to create OUR back story is a member named "Fallout 4 Ever".... This is elder scrolls dammit.

Go play Dragon Age Origins then. TES has started in a prison with no scripted backstory since the start, and I've come to like it that way. Get imaginative with your character.

PC: "Why am I in prison?"
Uriel: "Perhaps the gods have placed you here so that we may meet. As for what you have done, it does not matter. That is not what you will be remembered for."

Maybe this will help. For good characters just try and roleplay that some corrupt guards threw you in. Or maybe you were helping a beggar who was being beaten by a guard. Something along those lines. Something where you were a good guy and being a good guy got you thrown in jail. There's lots of backstories .

Yes, because having every game start under the same pretense is very creative. :whistling:

I'd still prefer being dropped off a boat somewhere, that way every back story I come up with doesn't have to have the same ending ".....and I ended up in jail."

That said I'm not too worried about it, I'm sure one of the early mods will be an Alternative Start mod.

Hey! That is how Morrowind started! Good idea!

I love this actually

I don't mind it. ..and I like making my own back story.
that said, after doing this for awhile in oblivion, I started using the Alternate Start mod, and started out on a ship in port. Not a prison ship though.

no do you find starting in an atomic wasteland lame? point being it kinda sticks to the story and makes a bit more sense then saying oh hey im a noble person that has absolutely no clam to fame. to get the point across the prison thing makes sense because you build your character from the ground up. the spoiled rich thing hell even starting out as a free man would make little sense being you have something to work with then as opposed to being in jail all you have is cloths and nothing else

I hope the executioner will ask "Any last words?", at which point you can reply to reflect your chosen backstory.

"I'm innocent!"
"My crime does not warrant this punishment!"
"I deserve this sentence. Let justice be done."
"Down with the Empire!"
"You're all scum! I deserve better!"
"What a fool you are. I'm a god! How can you kill a god?"

It's a staple of the franchise and how every Elder Scrolls game I've played has started.

"Look, a dragon!" *bails*


... actually considering you're supposed to encounter a dragon fairly early on, I think I might have just figured out part of the intro :toughninja: