Oh yeah I see what you mean lol, though they would still be generally accepted in places like Whiterun.

And yeah that's what I kind of had in mind with the whole war thing and with the alternate scenario it would send the empire running out since there's no heir. I hope the next game has some political intrigue similiar to what's described above

You're imprisoned and have your wealth confiscated for X reason and are really guilty/innocent (you choose). You escape, or a prison riot forces you to escape or die (you choose). The main quest is to try to get your stuff back, but you stumble on a bunch of political intrigue and conspiracy stuff that forces you to make hard decisions that are morally ambiguous.

Bam! You got an outline! Now fill in the the blanks...

EDIT: The main problem with Oblivion's and Morrowind's stories is that they force you to be the good guy. This one just forces you to do whats good for yourself.

Oblivion's story was for Bethesda to make a point. They are no longer going to be focusing on the Septims. I couldn't care about the main quest anyway. I've never once completed Oblivion's main quest, and that is why an Elder Scrolls game is great. The main story means nothing. I can do whatever I want, and the main quest makes up very little of the game. I don't like the sense of urgency in Oblivion's main quest though. My character is a holy knight, and Baurus is still waiting at Luther Broad's Boarding House, after an ingame month. I'm just going to role-play that my character is training in order to be strong enough to save the world though.

Theres no reason why you cant be an imperial, theres no reason why you have to be a loyal imperial, theres no reason why you just cant make up ur own reason for being there. After all, the emporers dead and the empire is crumbling. Plus They never told us why we were in jail anyway.

"Id like to think I was sent to jail for shagging the emporers wife and daughter, at the same time, while doing a rock guitar solo, on the desecrated corpse of god." - Yahtzee.

But good ideas so far guys, keep em coming.

Emperor Uriel Septim VII gave a good reason for the player character being in jail, especially if the player character follows the law.

"Perhaps the gods have placed you here so that we may meet."-Emperor Uriel Septim VII

The reason why this quote is in the game and the reason why the player isn't told why they are in jail is so being in jail can make sense for all character types and so the player can be creative with their character's background.

Um...no offense...but all these stories are just as generic as that of Oblivions, just with some random names thrown in.

Can you come up with a better story in 10 minutes?



I've never played fable. I want to. But Im not buying an Xbox.

I personally believe that Bethesda shouldn't even focus on the story too much. Most of an Elder Scrolls game has nothing to do with the story, which isn't really the story at all. It is a quest line that barely makes up much of an Elder Scrolls game. The story in an Elder Scrolls game is the story that players create for themselves. TES games have open worlds and allow a person to play whoever they want however they want. The story is the character's personal story, not the main quest alone. The main quest is only what is put into books in future games.

I never really said the character had to be an imperial if you were referring to my rebuttals and the new empire is alive and doing well.

The only person I made up was Ramus in defense of my story. Colin and Penitus Oculatus do exists, as for the fate of Skyrim, the book never gave much detail except for the new imperials thinking of them as being barbarians. Though if you think mine is generic I would like to hear less generic version.

In responce to kdelduffs post.

ah okay

Oh no, I'm not in anyway suggesting I could do better. I just feel that all of the stories in this thread I've heard before, just done over with TES names. I'm just one of those people who think doing a story that's already been done before in a different setting, doesn't make it much different. Unless it's done extremely well. In which case I applaud it, as doing something familiar very well is much better than doing something new mediocre.

(I haven't read The Infernal City yet, so what I say here may not be up-to-date. Please don't correct me if it is wrong, I'm trying to stay spoiler free until I pick up a copy of the book.)

Anyway, the Empire lies in shambles, and Skyrim (where the game takes place) has more or less descended into chaos from bickering warlords who now divide Skyrim into almost a dozen minor kingdoms. TESV takes place 60 years after the end of TESIV, and the third generation of post-Imperial people are now starting to become advlts.

The PC is the aid to the prince of one of the petty kingdoms, who is finally coming of age. His father thinks its finally time to take his son to war, and so the opening of the game has your PC training with the prince to prepare for a battle (since neither one of them have been in combat before). During this part of the game you decide your character, his race and skills, etc. Once you are done with training, you return to the king's dining hall, who is throwing a pre-battle feast. The King gets up and is making a rousing speech when suddenly an emissary bursts into the dining hall halfway through the speech yelling that the neighboring kingdom who everyone was preparing to do battle with has launched a surprise assault on the capital, and have just torn infiltrated the city gates. The king, baffled at how this could possibly happen and frightened, immediately starts issuing orders to rouse the barracks. The king, fearing the worst, orders you and the Prince and a small group of bodyguards to run through a secret escape tunnel to flee the city. As you run to the escape tunnel, you take a look outside a window and see the city overrun with soldiers and see that it is burning to the ground. Shortly thereafter, you are whisked away underground.

Halfway through the escape tunnel, your group stops. One of the bodyguards launches a surprise attack on the other two, killing them before they have a chance to pull out their weapons. The bodyguard then takes off his helm and introduces himself as Roliand, who is the captain of the guard. After a brief altercation in which he knocks you and the prince to the ground and paralyzes you both, he begins a speech. He talks about how this whole scenario was planned by him and several other of the military leaders who plotted to allow this kingdom to be taken for promises of being installed as the royal governors of the newly conquered province. He makes a comment about how the king is "probably already dead", having been already stabbed by one of the other conspirators. This sends the prince into a rage who reveals a hidden dagger and jumps on a surprised Roliand, stabbing him multiple times until Roliand is dead. The prince than helps you up, and sobs about the destruction of his homeland and the death of his family. He tells you to go on without him, as he intends to go back and try to save his father if he can. Before he goes, he gives you a key, which he says unlocks a hidden safe to the royal heirloom, and says that you should have it in case he doesn't survive his rescue attempt.

From here you exit the tunnel and begin your game. The rest of the main quest can be initiated whenever you wish by returning to the charred ruins of the capital city. There is a small settlement on top of it, mostly of survivors who are unwilling to move on, scavengers looking for goods in the ruined city, and several other people, mostly outlaws. The capital of the newly-conquered province is moved to a neighboring town, so the city itself is largely a lawless ruin.

One of the residents of the charred capital is the unfortunate prince, who spends his days living in the tavern of a sympathetic barkeeper who remains loyal to the destroyed dynasty. Throughout the game you get tips via rumour that the prince may still be alive, and pretty much everyone who resides in the broken capital knows about the prince and will more or less tell you upfront where he is. The barkeeper, initially wary that you may be an assassain, refuses to let you see the prince and denies all knowledge of his existence. He demands proof that you are truly the prince's aid. As such you have to go into the king's treasury which is riddled with thieves and unlock the hidden safe to get the royal heirloom and bring this back to the barkeeper, who know realizes you truly are the prince's aid and lets you visit him. After a reunion, the prince recounts sadly how he never managed to save the king, who was indeed dead with a large amount of stabwounds, indicating that he had been assassinated in the manner that Roliand had predicted. The prince, distraught and not sure what to do with himself, has spent most of his days wasting away in the tavern, and figures that he might soon head south to Cyrodiil to become a mercenary and spend the rest of his life in exile. You then give the prince the heirloom as a keepsake. Upon seeing the heirloom, however, the prince is struck with a pang of anguish and decides that he can't flee his country when it needs him the most, and decides to do what his father would have done and take back what is his.

From here, you go about doing a variety of missions gathering an underground rebellion movement, which does various guerilla attacks against the kingdom which has conquered the land. Initially the guerilla movement is small however, but soon the invaders realize that this is no seditious guerilla group but in fact a group led by the prince, who they had suspected is alive. You, as the second-in-command of the infamous group, gain a huge bounty, and so within this particular kingdom of Skyrim (remember there are almost a dozen of petty kingdoms now, although one less at this point) you are constantly being hunted by the city guard and those loyal to the invaders. However, the resistance grows larger the more quests you do, and more and more people are willing to harbour you and some of the city guards start to turn a blind eye to you.

One of the missions you do during this phase of guerilla assault is an assassination mission of one of the military leaders who led the coup d'etat. However, when you arrive in the room of your target, it turns out to be a trap and you are captured. The usurper says that you are blinded by your loyalty to the prince, and that the prince has made himself into a terrorist who destroys rather than helps build the nation. The usurper said that you didn't know the king, and therefore were unable to gauge his personality; the usurper says that the king was wild, power-hungry, and corrupt, and that your closeness to the prince has shielded you from knowing the true evil that was the king, and so what the usurper did in assassinating the king and allowing the kingdom to be conquered was a necessary act to bring prosperity to the kingdom. He says that by merging the two kingdoms they have built a safer, more economically-secure nation that is free from corruption (as he asserts that the invaders' king is a good, honest, moral man), and that the country is better off as it is now. He apologizes for Roliand (saying "His heart was in the right place, but he has always been a bit rough with how he does things. Still, I suppose, there is no polite way to murder somebody.") and then says that until your group of guerilla warriors began their terrorist activities the nation had begun to seem like it would be able to finally prosper away from the king's tyrannical rule. He then extends an offer to do what is, he says, right, and help the state destroy the insurgent group and let the world move on to a brighter future, and says he will even install you as a town governor should you side with him. As a token of his goodwill, he lets you free, saying that he will go into hiding and spread rumours of his death so the guerilla group will not expect anything wrong. He pleads with you to do what is right (saying "I am taking a huge chance by letting you go, but you seem like a sensible enough person. I trust you will do what is right for this nation, and place the good of humanity over this petty vengeance.") and then leaves.

The prince and the guerilla group welcome you back as a hero, believing the usurper to be dead. The prince, taking this opportunity to capitalize morale, stands up to make a speech. He begins with a tearful account of his father and family, recounting all the good things they did for the nation, saying what a wise and caring ruler the king was. He then says that it is the inalienable right of every citizen to be independent of some foreign ruler hundreds of miles away from their homes, and appeals to the patriotism of the rebels, saying that they owe it to their children to be free rather than be in chains. He declares that he will fight for the nation's independence until he dies, saying that "I will be free, or I will be damned." At the end of his speech, he honors you, saying you are the greatest friend he has now, and the only relationship that he has managed to keep after the disaster at the capital. He says you are like a brother to him, and intends to legally adopt you into his royal family when they finally drive the invaders away.

The prince also now believes with the usurper "dead", now is the time to strike on a bewildered and leaderless force and take back their homeland. He plans a surprise assault on the new capital of the conquered province, to once and finally drive the invaders back to their homes. He appoints you as the military leader in charge of this attack, placing you in charge of a vital reinforcement chain that will help the prince win the battle.

At this point, you have a choice. When you activate the battle by talking to the prince and accepting the quest, you are placed in the command of the vital reinforcements. When a signal flair comes up showing that the reinforcements are needed, a messenger asks for your orders. Either you can forsake the usurper and help the prince, or forsake the prince and help the usurper by either providing the necessary troops to the prince's cause or withholding them. After you make your decision, the main quest ends.

If you help the prince and do your job, the city falls and the invaders are driven off. The prince becomes king and, in a coronation ceremony, declares you to be now his legal brother and makes you the second most powerful man in the kingdom. This gives you the ability to do some governing of the kingdom, which is a good way to make money and access new quests. The invaders are driven back to their homeland, and mostly everyone there is bitter towards you. The usurper can be found in a tavern drinking away, and if you talk to him he curses you for being so foolish and destroying the paradise that he had created. He then challenges you to a duel, which offers you the chance to get a second powerful item (depending on which one you choose, as each one of the items tailors to a different playtype), and personal revenge for the death of the king.

If you help the usurper, the prince and all his soldiers die in battle and the status quo is saved. The usurper greets you later on, lauding your wise decision, saying that you have destroyed the final loose end and allowed the kingdom to finally enter a new era of prosperity. As a token of his appreciation, he gives you the powerful item of your choice (like in the other ending if you kill the usurper) and names you the governor of a town, which silmarily lets you earn money and access new quests. However, all of the loyalists of the nation (which is roughly 50% of the population) now hate you, much like the invaders in the other ending.

It depends.

If the story is optional, then fine. If the story is the game, like it is in Dragon Age, for example, then the game is no longer sandbox. The story in a sandbox game simpley adds structure for folks who need it. IMO the story in Oblivion was strong enough that it could be followed, but not so encompassing that there wasn't anything else to do but to follow it, and there were many more locatons than locations for the story.

All I hope it wouldn't be another "save the world" type of story.

What fun would a not "save the world" type story be?

Should the story drive the game, or should the game drive the story?

If by story, you mean the main quest, than the main quest should be a small part of the game as it always has been in TES series. The real fun is doing whatever you want whenever you want, not having one story(quesline) be the central point of the game.

By Story I mean story. Should the story of the main quest change depending on what you do and how you play? Or would you like the story to tell you what to do and how to play?

I thought you were referring to the main quest's storyline as the story of the entire Elder Scrolls game, because it isn't. The entire story of TES game is made up by role-playing and imagination. The main quest's story should revolve around the game, not the other way around. I, like many people, have never once completed Oblivion's main quest, but we have done plenty and still enjoy the game.

That sounds like the most overused clich? background story in fantasy RPGs ever.

No no, not the way you're thinking. I become a mercenary, not a hero, or a god. Im stilll just a farmer, whos gone on a journey to avenge his family, I dont become the great saviour of mankind, or even to be someone to rely on. Im jsut a guy trying to find the killer and bring him to justice. I do not become the hero of kvatch or the champion of cirodil, I couldnt give a crap about savign the world. I just want my family back. Along the way I do a few tasks for people so I have enough coin to eat and rest and have a beer, while im bribing or interorgating people and trying to find out the mystery of why they have been taken or killed. Then to find out the people who have taken my family have done so for a dark ritual or some such [censored], so that they can bring back thier queen to the realm of men. But I fail, only to have her come through the portal and slay me, and then as my corpse drifts through the warp, I am pittied by .. say.. Mephala, who brings me back to life and returns me to the world, so I have to start my journey again, to find out where the evil queen lives and aproach the nearby Counts for their aid in fighting the evil witch queen who I convince them is gonig to kill the population next, so I march as one of the militiia and fight the unded hordes that now stand between our armies and the witch queen, so we fight, and we win, say another hero who fights for the city leads the fight and kills the big undead giant and wins the day for us, so we finally get to the undead queen and realise that its just the oblivion story again...

I suppose the Oblivion story wasnt too bad, but its written poorly and far too short and easy. Just another game made for the casual gamer. They could have made Oblivions main quest alot better if they actually made you care about what you were doing, rather than just rush through it. They could have dragged on parts of the story alot longer like joining the Mythic Dawn are lengthy process rather than just run in and kill them all, and made important characters hang around longer before they died, like Baurus, you got maybe 1 of 2 quests with him and never saw him of needed to converse with him for the rest of the game. They could have made his role to play alot stronger in the story, Like for instance the battle of Bruma, the only characters there were martin and juafry, The blades (whos job it is to protect the emporer) were nowhere in sight.

Ok, so, you call Oblivion's story generic (ok, I agree with you on that one) and then follow up by presenting one of the most done-to-death premises in fantasy as an example of how 'it's easy to write a good story'? Nice.

You just woke up in prison, another long day was ahead. For years you've been rotting for . Suddenly your released and the Emperor starts to talk to you, "Listen to me, I have seen your fate, you're destined to do great things. Go to Anvil and talk to So-and-So."

Basically in this long questline you're playing politics with the counts. Eventually the Oblivion Crisis starts, and you must unite the counts under your leadership to fight off the daedra. You've closed plenty of Oblivion Gates, but now it is time to kill the one with the amulet. Mankar Cameron. He sits at the top of a tower in the Grand Oblivion Gate. Surrounded by Dremora Valkynaz, Xivilai, Spider Daedra, and Daedroth. You must fight to get up there and kill him. Once he's dead and you have the amulet, you go home for the war party. For whatever reason you have a feeling you should try the amulet on, and it doesn't snap away.

You go to Ocato is baffled by this and then names you, "Emperor(ess) ." Because Uriel perished. Now that you're an emperor, it's not all fun and games. The Oblivion Crisis may be over, but political warfare is on the horizon. However now you have access to the Dark Brotherhood, Thieves' Guild, Fighters' Guild, Mages' Guild, and Blades for assistance. As the Emperor you will recieve randomly generated quests (from Ocato) that Count So-and-So is fighting with Countess So-and-So, and you must fight it otherwise there will be a civil war. Blackmail, assassination, threats, or just a silver tongue all work.

Edit: Oblivion's story is generic, please don't argue that point, however if you're going to call it generic, don't make up the second most cliche thing in fantasy games...