That should be every reason TO keep it.

LOL...you are so wrong buddy,I'm so excited for this game!

The starting as a prisoner concept is only lame to those who wish to consider it as such.

Arena - Prisoner
Daggerfall - Shipwrecked
Morrowind - Prisoner
Oblivion - Prisoner
Skyrim - Prisoner

....I know it's Skyrim...I don't even understand why you felt the need to make that comment.

I DO NOT want my character to be a prisoner so therefore I don't want to come up with a backstory for why he's there because I've already done that before, in 2 previous games and I'm tired of it.

I get it, there's nothing I can do about it other than voice my annoyance with it. It has nothing to do with me "not being creative" or "not wanting to come up with a backstory." I simply just do not want to continue coming up with backstories as to why my character is in prison, I don't want him there.

You aren't a prisoner of the law in Arena. You were merely captured by a villain, and that makes all the difference. Not to say that I really care about starting in prison or not, but it really wasn't a tradition until Skyrim did it.

Are you sure you are a fan of BGS and have played previous titles? Starting out in prison is a tradition, and the reason we don't have a back story is to allow the player to make it for themselves. In TES games, it's about the player, not who the player is watching. I would argue the fact that we will be Dragonborn and have to face off against Alduin to save the world is probably one of the best plots BGS has written to date. Take a step back and enjoy why this aspect has always made TES unique and enjoyable.

No, I sure don't. I like tradition and if I didn't start from prison something would be missing. I can imagine my own backstory.

My character saw something she shouldn't have seen so the people she saw reported her to the powers that be as a traitor. With all the turmoil and the civil war in Skyrim, the wheels of justice stopped turning and she didn't get a fair trial...and is scheduled to be executed.

:tes:

There's no need to start in prison, it isn't a tradition.

Sorry Man....reallly......It's just annoying to have people on a TES: Skyrim Forum say that the game's lame when we are lucky to have such great people working their A$$es off trying to make this the best game out there. FOR US and all we can do is complain, ask for more and demand for more in the story ........
but sorry man that was alittle uncalled for......

This thread is making me hate the word tradition almost as much as I hate the word immersion.

I like having at least one aspect of your character's past be definite. Daggerfall went a bit overboard, but Morrowind was too open. "Certain day.... Uncertain parents" that's some lazy stuff right there. Oblivion I actually thought was better in this regard, but I feel they really need to separate this time from the other two to make it exciting. I came up with a way that could later morph into an optional quest, but I know Bethesda really isn't good at tight writing.

I like that Bethesda actually encourages people to use their imaginations from time to time.

Of course, some people don't have imaginations, in which case a fantasy game probably isn't the best thing for them.

It...is?

I don't understand.

We already did Easter, why ever do it again?

Yes?

Anyway, it really isn't. You weren't a prisoner in Arena or Daggerfall.

Where is all of this even coming from? All I'm suggesting is a little bit more creativity when it comes to throwing us into the environment. The prison thing is over done and annoying, IN MY OPINION. I'm obviously in the extreme minority, so it will likely remain the same for all future games and it will never keep me from buying a single one of them.

I just get very annoyed with repetition. Whether it's videogames, movies, my job, taking vacations to the same place every year, I can't stand it in any aspect of my life, so I work incredibly hard to make repetition a rare occurrence in my life. That is COMPLETELY on me though, and Bethesda can do whatever the hell they want to with their games, I'm just voicing opinions here, which is what message boards are for.

Bethesda has always been pretty heavy on not telling you the story of your character, but rather let you do it yourself. If you start in prison or some other unsavory situation, players will feel more inclined to create that story than if they just started somewhere without any roots whatsoever to the pregame.

Besides, why does it even matter so much? Aren't you telling the story of your character as you're playing, anyways? If you're not a criminal, then they obviously must have the wrong guy, so you get to imagine why you were wrongfully incarcerated.

Also, have you ever played any Final Fantasy or Legend of Zelda games? Both series do a socalled "reboot" for each new game (with a few obvious exceptions, such as FFX-2 etc). This means that there's gonna be the same core content all over again, and yet nobody seems to complain about that.

You were in Arena, though I agree it doesn't have to be the case.

Wow, Shesh.....I said sorry......man no need to be deffecive AFTER i said sorry.....Ok, I get it You NEVER want to be a prisoner,and yes it might be neat to have diffrent options at the start but we arnt given that option...the most you can do is make the best story you can think of......that's all anyone wants to do.

For one, it is not "lame".. it is a signature, kind of like Mod Squad always started with the guess star being a murder victim, or GI Joe's thumbnail, or the message auto-destroying is 5 seconds...

.. and this business with the back story.. the back story is that there is no back story. The main character goes from zero to hero. So you start as a zero, as in no one cares where are you going or where have you been, until it is discovered that you are Neo...

Waking up in a bed at an inn doesn't quite get you involved in creating a backstory for yourself. It's boring.

Being in a slave ship and all that is pretty much the beginning of Morrowind.

I can agree that waking up on the shore would be the same as prison in the sense of getting the player involved without making assumptions, but it's also a huge cliche.

I do agree that in the next game, they should have a different start to it. There are only so many explanations as to why your character is in prison before you start to run out. I have no problem with it being in Skyrim though, and honestly, I'd never consider it to be "lame" or anything like that.


The tradition is starting in a prison, not being a prisoner. The beginning of Arena starts you off in the Imperial City Prison.

It's tradition. And it promotes role playing and creating your own backstory and reason. It doesn't even mean that your character broke the law, maybe they were framed. Because unlike Fallout, you don't have to follow a specific path. The prison is a nice tradition, there are plenty of alternate start mods out there if your that angry about it.

Weren't you a captive of Jagar Tharn?

Not having a back story leaves a little mystery to your character which imo is good.. I really wouldn't want a back story because it ruins the game and the story is laid out for you.. Plus the more time Bethesda would take to create a back story to characters, the less time they would have to make an immerse game playing world.. To tell you the truth I don't care what my Character did to get in prison nor do I mind starting out their either ( I do make up a story sometimes ).. I just care about the game play / Sandbox world that the Elder Scrolls game has given me all these years...

I feel a back story is too repetitive for a RPG games.. That is one of the things that I hated about Dragon age origins ( and I played all 6 of the classes ).. It was the same fighting, locations, plot over and over with just a new class that's all.. With nothing changing or new creatures to kill, No ruins, camps, side quests, etc.. I Just don't like Rpg games that has your story laid out for you and you only can do certain things... The Elder scroll series lets you do what ever you want when ever you want and you can use your imagination... Your the one that has full control over your character on what he / she does not the developers..

I would hope Bethesda never changes the Formula in that way because I feel It would take away from that open world experience to do as you please when you please..

Tabula Rasa

It's been said; it's the whole principle of TES games. Having a blank slate and doing with it what you will. So no, I don't think that TES should ever adopt a backstory system. As far as the prisoner thing; it's just a tradition. It's still different in every game, and it works well for the whole idea of a blank slate; being a prisoner given a chance to start over from scratch.