Sorry but i just had to ask this why in the world do we start the game in a jail, we know nothing about ourselves and nobody can tell us, i know that you start in jail to go with the emperor which leads to getting the amulet, but why did the game start with you knowing nothing about your position, i mean wouldn't it make more sense to start in a farm or something where you have some background then lead up to the emperor and amulet?

It's up to you to come up with your characters backstory. Heck, there are even mods that allow for different starting locations. But what it comes down to is role-playing.

Of course you know nothing about the pc's background.

That's kind of..the point..of role playing. You fill in the blanks.

Exactly. It's an RPG. You create your own backstory. Also, it's something of a Bethesda tradition...

Its just become a thing with bad asses of destiny to begin in bondage. There's no lore to say why, but psychology tells us...

It is kind of suiting that you awake with seeming amnesia and no prior memories in a dark dank place, too.

It has kind of a Terminator feel to it. You're unarmed and barely clothed... "living another life in another world."

That, and it's tradition. Arena began with the character, a low-level but loyal member of the Emperor's court, having been imprisoned for that loyalty when Jagar Tharn assumed Uriel VII's throne... and was soon contacted with a quest by another supporter who was imprisoned by considerably more esoteric means.

Daggerfall began with a shipwreck that dumps you into a dungeon. Morrowind began with you on a prison ship, being released into service. Oblivion simply continues the tradition, with a starter dungeon (Morrowind broke that tradition).

It's kind of like, you're starting out at the absolute lowest point of society, but working your way up to the top, the ultimate "rags to riches" hero story.

In Oblivion you are created at exactly that specific moment. Why did you think nobody knew who the heck you were, besides some emperor getting dreams from a god that you'll be there. No one in the entire game recognizes you. Not even one. All the champions are created specifically for one moment, used and then abandoned. [/wild speculation]

That's why Morrowind's made more sense. If you are in the Imperial Jail, it seems more likely that you are at least got caught/arrested in Cyrodiil. In Morrowind, though, you are dumped in a land where no one would know you in the first place. Unless you RPed that you came from Vvardenfell, got imprisoned, and then are released back to Vvardenfell. :wacko:

hmm... now that i see this entire point of role-playing and tradition i see why they did that, thanks everybody, guess i'm just the kind of guy who hates being in the dark

See thats what made it confusing for me. In Arena, you were a guard for the emperor, people actually knew this(including the person that helps you escape). People KNEW you existed before. In Daggerfall the emperor and Ocato both speak to you and have known you as a close friend, before they send you off. Morrowind, you have evidence that you were sent there by the emperor with the directions and package for Caius.

In Oblivion, you're in a cell that the guards are supposed to keep empty at all times. Valen Dreth acts like it's the first time he's seen you. He makes a point of harassing anyone that goes through his end of the prison, and he hasn't done so to you before? I swear you were suddenly crafted into being by something and then placed in the cell.

But I like the fact that in Morrowind I don't have to automatically be a friend of the Empire. I can join a Great House, RP my own loyalties. While the Empire might have an interest in seeing the Tribunal one-upped by the Nerevarine, there's no guarantee that their occupation in Vvardenfell is going to suddenly be a lot easier. The Nerevarine is a wild-card.

has anyone here actually played daggerfall? in daggerfall you get pretty much your entire life story told to you at the begining. its different depending on what class, race, and how you create your character. its the only game that your told pretty much who you are. except arena gives you a little story being part of the guard.

I like to pretend that my character was the Empires best general who was convicted of treason.

I've played it. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if half the guys that played it never actually found the origin stories for their character. It certainly took me some time before I discovered that. Pretty neat, but I hardly ever actually read it.

Maybe that's destiny, like they say, from humble beginnings...

Hehe oops made it sound like I thought MW's was confusing. I was referring to Obliv, not MW.

Well we'll probably start off in a dungeon or prison of some sort in TESV just like the others...
It really just gives you the chance to come up with an interesting back-story like if your character was a thief or a do-good er that was wrongly imprisoned...

Morrowind pretty much had a starter town with its own dungeon. I'd quite like this to return, it helps you adjust into your new world, and feel a part of it. In oblivion I came out of the sewers and thought "crap. What do I do now?" Seyda Neen at least taught you the rudiments of game mechanics, while oblivion only really teaches you combat and a bit of alchemy. It wouldn't bother me now, but as a newcomer to these types of Western RPG, it was a bit confusing in Oblivion.


Maybe he was asleep when you were brought in?


I like oblivion's opening sequence, it sort of feels like I'm entering media res, with little explanation beyond some general remarks about Tamriel from Uriel, but nothing about you. In Morowind, Azura cacks up my roleplaying by telling me I'm from the imperial city, an immigrant who's being exiled here, which ultimately leads to everyone, even fellow Imperials, calling me outlander, even if I happen to be a Dunmer from half a mile outside Suran.

I think the opening post touches on the point. Bethesda intentionally leaves players without knowledge of their position, the game doesn't tell you who you are, why you're in prison, what you did before being arrested and all that. By leaving the character's identity vague, players are free to decide for themselves who their characters are.



The thing is, your character ISN'T from half an hour outside Suran. The game needs to presume one aspect about your character, the idea that you are an Outlander, due to the plot. As the Nerevarine Prophecies say that the Neravarine will be an Outlander. If the player was given the choice to not be an Outlander, two versions of the Prophecies would need to exist, not to mention that this would get a very different response from the local population.

I roleplayed my crusader having amnesia and after he became a full fledged crusader he remembered that he murdered his captain for not going back to save his best friend life.