Anyone else find the starting in prison plot... again lame? : V

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:05 am

I was wondering was I alone in my feelings about the start of Skyrim.A execution in the beginning of the game is great,but why not give our character a back story.The reason behind it really svcks "we want you to make your own back story" how lame is that. I love Bethesda games to death,I just would love better plots & writing. How do you guys feel about it?

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:42 am

It was lame the moment they decided to start the second game as a prisoner.

Seriously, you did it once, move on. How about a bit of creativity instead of wiping our characters memory and throwing them in prison. It's lazy.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:12 pm

I like that I get to make my own backstory, it would be disappointing if it was all already decided for me

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:39 am

Isn't that the point of the game, to not have a backstory so that you can roleplay it however you want.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 9:05 am

I like it, its a tradition.
Besides each one is different.
Its also great for roleplaying, because they wont tell you why youre locked up so you could be anything from innocent to a mass murderer.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:36 am

If it's not broken don't fix it.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:14 am

I still like it. Usually I play as a thief anyway so it fits me perfect. Also it's kind of a tradition with TES games.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:04 am

Theirs nothing wrong with it, it just gets repetitive.

If they did something along the lines of Dragon Age:Origins, where every race had their own backstory, though, I wouldn't mind it.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:10 am

your probably not alone, but I am not with you. It doesn't really have any affect on the rest of the game so it can't be said it ruins the story or whatever. and it leaves a pretty clean slate for role players. todd explains in several occasions why they start the game like this.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:34 pm

What I'm getting at here is that you don't have enough imagination to come up with your own back story that you need Bethesda to hold your hand and make it for you?

I don't mean to be rude, but people want their own back story, not some generic "He was an orphan. As a child, he lived of the streets.. Bla bla bla."

And the whole prison thing is tradition. And every beginning of the game is different, I don't get why some poeple think "OMG, you start in prisonz agaaiiin! Boooringz lulz" Think for a moment; Was the MW beginning similar to Oblivion's?No. Yes, it's the same GENERAL (key word) idea, but the EXPERIENCE (another key word) is different for each game.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:01 am

The choice to spend less time on meaningless back story and spend more on the story ill actually be playing in participating in? Yes please :biggrin:

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:34 am

You don't get to make your own backstory though, that's the thing. At least not anything that gets recognized in game. Unless you're on of those people that just creates on in their heads, in which case nobody knows anything about it except for you.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:58 am

I'm happy with making my own backstory
I would've liked something other than a prison start though, perhaps a shipwreck like Daggerfall had, perhaps something new

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:15 am

Starting in a prison is kind of like their trademark. Kind of like how all characters in gears are huge bulky men in bulky armor. It's just part of their way of making the product their own.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:31 am

I like it, cause I can make my own.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:27 am

Theirs nothing wrong with it, it just gets repetitive.

If they did something along the lines of Dragon Age:Origins, where every race had their own backstory, though, I wouldn't mind it.

they kind of did in OB, if you count that guy who insults you based on your race.

but other wise, I would prefer they don't do DA:O style back stories because they would probably have the same problem that game had, which was the only varying gameplay would be in the origin part and the rest of the game would feel almost completly the same every play through.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:49 am

No

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:00 am

It has become tradition, and I stand by it.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:44 am

You don't get to make your own backstory though, that's the thing. At least not anything that gets recognized in game. Unless you're on of those people that just creates on in their heads, in which case nobody knows anything about it except for you.

Your backstory isn't just in the background. When you come up with a backstory it should affect the decisions you make in the game, otherwise there's no point of course. In that way other characters know about you.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:45 am

You don't get to make your own backstory though, that's the thing. At least not anything that gets recognized in game. Unless you're on of those people that just creates on in their heads, in which case nobody knows anything about it except for you.

the problem of making a defined back story is that only a finite number of people are going to like it, the rest are forced to have every character have the same back story no matter what. TES is very role play oriented, and thats what its called when people do the stuff in their head. it would very well dimish the quality of the game for probably 75% of TES fans.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:25 am

You don't get to make your own backstory though, that's the thing. At least not anything that gets recognized in game. Unless you're on of those people that just creates on in their heads, in which case nobody knows anything about it except for you.

Backstories that get recognised in game are pretty rare though. Even a linear game like NWN1 went for the generic call for heroes. DAO is about the only game I can think of that went for detailed background and actually gave you a choice of character and even then the background didn't have much ingame effect

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:09 pm

I was wondering was alone in my feelings about the start of Skyrim.A execution in the beginning of the game is great,but why not give our character a back story.The reason behind it really svcks "we want you to make your own back story" how lame is that. I love Bethesda games to death,I just would love better plots & writing. How do you guys feel about it?

I don't think you understand the concept of the "Role Play" in a "Role Playing Game".

Make up your own story!!!!!

Tabula Rasa.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:02 am

It's fine with me. Plus, it's worked so far, hasn't it?

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:25 am

No, its not lame. Its a tradition and a good one at that. It doesn't decide to start your character in a specific town, or have you know anybody in the world, or anything like that. Literally everything except how you got in jail is able to be decided by the player.

» Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:44 am

Your backstory isn't just in the background. When you come up with a backstory it should affect the decisions you make in the game, otherwise there's no point of course. In that way other characters know about you.

Then it's a matter of preference. I want to start off at a clean state and make enemies/friends as I go through the game, not already have them at the very start, that seems like poor game design in my eyes; Where you have to rely on a backstory to build your character, why not just have the game itself do that?