Well, it's all depending on who imprisoned you. You know, Skyrim isn't one unified province anymore, it's a province raged by civil war!

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@TES_Ronin: I totally agree, there are other ways that would and could work, but the thing is, we know prison works, and it works pretty damn good as well!
But I fully support the wondering of "What could have been?". (As long as there's no bashing of Devs for being lazy or lacking in imagination!^^)

Another issue along those lines: When I'm "released" in Oblivion, it's not through any official pardon - a door is open, and the Blades are too lazy to stop me from following them. Why, then, am I able to return immediately to the courtyard of the Prison after I'm released, prison garb and all, and traipse around the guards like a free man? Does no one recognize me? Do they not care? They seem to care an awful lot when you escape jail at any other point in the game, but not in the beginning, for some reason. It'd be more believable if you emerged from the sewers and had to dodge the law for a day or two. Just a thought.

It's a good way to start you off with a clean slate of a character and it's tradition. I'm fine with that.

You have just made history for the first reasonable argument against a prison start.

There are ways to deal with it, though. If I was playing a selfish or non-altruistic character, I could be convinced to do the right thing through a variety of methods, financial gain, promise of freedom (evil but honorable), etc. Also, saving the world is a good motivation for anybody if it means saving your own skin.

Doesn't the whole "being in prison" part pretty much work against the "clean slate" idea? :teehee:

In the end I don't really care, I'll just grab an alternative start mod (or do it myself), but it is rather lame to see it done again.

I like starting as a prisoner with nothing to their name at all. That whole idea of "you are a prisoner who was freed because it was written in the stones that you must play an important role in events to come" is really cool to me. This whole execution angle in Skyrim has me even more intrigued.

But because they never tell you your crime and someone always seems to pardon you it works.

Except in Oblivion, where you were just fortunate to be jailed next to the Emperor's escape tunnel - no one ever pardoned you, you just escape and never hear about it again.

Champion of Cyrodiil was probably a pedarest or something. Way to go, Uriel.

That requires you to have knowingly gotten on a boat or wanted to be camped out somewhere. Those are WORSE than the prison start because they imply that you were in Skyrim of your own volition so foreign characters have hindered RP. No matter what beginning you have, it will force a context. Prison is one of the least intrusive contexts because you could have been from anywhere and have ANY background and it still applies. The only other similar context I can think of is having been the victim of a teleportation spell gone awry, but that implies there ARE teleportation spells

Much as it was phrased a bit callously, squeekers does have a point. Although the counterpoints are also good. Either way though, see how our imaginative wheels are already turning! 'Specially you, panurgy. It's a smorgasboard of possibilities.

I don't see whats wrong with it. If you want to be a paladin/good guy, then you can just roleplay that you got convicted by mistake/misunderstanding.

Problem solved.

I diasagree, i rather enjoy the tradition. It makes perfect sense to me and i dont feel that they are being lazy or un-original. its TES and i hope that when TES 35 comes out( we will be long dead by then) Todd Howards great great great great grandson will be the project leader and keep the tradition going.

People seem to be stepping on themselves by saying that being in a prison means nothing about your character. It means you were in Skyrim. What if my character is extremely anti-Nordic and has never been in the Northern Hemisphere? I know that my character would not usually be by Skyrim, so why am I carried from wherever I am to Skyrim? There are other options people.

Who's to say you were in Skyrim before ending up in prison?
There might be someone who's after you (Since you're anti-Nordic, let's say, a gang of Nords), and have captured you and brought you to Skyrim.

EDIT: And besides, being in Skyrim doesn't say anything about your character, as any type of character could be in Skyrim. Even an extremely anti-Nordic person might be in Skyrim to kill some, to fetch something, to deliver a message, to meet a friend, or do a job that needs to be done, or any other reason!

No, it doesn't mean you were in Skyrim. Maybe someone powerful in your home country didn't like the way you looked at him and wanted you shipped somewhere cold and depressing. You can come up with thousands of reasons for being put in Skyrim even if you aren't from there

I think it's pretty well implied that Barius, the head of the Blades pardons you on the Emperor's behalf and then stays behind to guard the emperor's body. It's a safe assumption that the first ones to arrive on the scene after that are the prison guards looking for you who are then told by Barius that you are not to be pursued by order of the emperor. It's simple and just another example of how Bethesda doesn't spell everything out for the player.

But doesn't the whole your going to be executed in skyrim limit RP options because I can't RP for example a khajit who has been jailed for petty theft and im pretty sure they don't execute people for petty theft even in skyrim. Also don't quote me on this but I remember reading somewhere that your arrested on crossing the border into Skyrim which hinders RP further. Just for the record I like the prison opener but from the little I've hear of the possibe skyrim opening it's seems a little bit restrictive in RP terms.

i will be a redguard - in jail for stealing tvs and stereos apples because i am hungry

lol... :mellow:

I remember making a comment about this in a topic a while ago, I got majorly attacked for it! haha. But I didn't know the traditions of the elder scrolls, and I found out that in every elder scrolls game you get put in prison, sooooo i actually agree with keeping it that way. I am satisfied that they are making it more exciting and taking it to the next level with the planned execution.

I also like how Todd said they are making you come up with your own story by not telling us how we got in prison. I am already thinking up a story on why I was being executed. heh heh..... :shifty:

They re-use the traditional start in a prison not because they are lazy. Its because it is the most ideal starting point based on the type of game that it is... Why change it?

Look at it this way.. the game takes place in Skyrim..you're coming from somewhere outside of Skyrim (opens up tons of backstory for other races and even if you're a nord, or have previously "lived" in Skyrim, coming back doesn't necessarily hinder that.)..you're put in jail for coming over to Skyrim. Either they have closed down borders, in which case the reason you're in jail is apparent, or they don't, In which case it's anything you want to RP at all.

I see where you're coming from, but I think they've done a good job of mixing it up. In DF and OB, you start off in specifically a dungeon complex, although the way you get out is quite different. In MW you are on a prison ship, which makes sense because it is an island, and let's us know that we are really visiting someplace unfamiliar, or at least someplace we are returning to after an absence.

Skyrim also seems to do it's own variation, as we start not just a prisoner, but on our way to the execution block. It would be nice if we got slightly different starts for different characters, as it prevents "sameness," and I certainly do prefer MW's beginning which introduces you to the main quest in a very subtle way, rather than DF or OB where it's thrown in your face dramatically. But once again, I see the value in using both approaches alternatively. By now it's just tradition, and I don't ever think they'll break it, and if they do it will be for a very specific reason.

Doesn't the fact that the story occurs within TES lore kind of limit the RP options? I'm trying to play a stout Italian plumber who's girlfriend has been kidnapped by a dragon-turtle....

Hahahah no