So let me guess... PC starts in prison again : V

» Fri May 27, 2011 6:38 pm

Part of me loves starting in prison because it's pretty hilarious that the jails of the empire always produce such fine heroes. On the other hand, its getting old.

What would you like the origins of your character to be?

» Sat May 28, 2011 1:59 am

I think I might actually be disappointed if I don't start out in prison...

» Fri May 27, 2011 12:54 pm

Well, I doubt they'll do the same thing twice, but I don't see much else. It's not like you can step off of a boat, or walk out of a Vault.. Maybe be shot down with a bow in a ditch and left to die, but unlikely..

It's probably gonna be something completely different.

» Sat May 28, 2011 12:55 am

No one knows man. Game just got announced yesterday.

» Fri May 27, 2011 5:36 pm

hell freakin no. I am fed to the teeth with the cliche prison chargen sequence thing.

» Fri May 27, 2011 10:01 pm

as far as i know the character starting off in prison is part of the TES series. its hallmark. as i understand it its purpose is that it means that there is no 'backstory' to the player character except that which the player makes themselves

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:54 pm

Well, he/she has to have a blank state past, right. Maybe not prison, but at the very least something of the like - something that gives you a fresh beginning, allowing to build from scratch.

Personally, I'm very fond of the idea still. I would be disappointed.

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:16 pm

Well, I doubt they'll do the same thing twice, but I don't see much else. It's not like you can step off of a boat, or walk out of a Vault.. Maybe be shot down with a bow in a ditch and left to die, but unlikely..

It's probably gonna be something completely different.

You're right, they'll do it 5 times.

» Sat May 28, 2011 1:48 am

Well, I doubt they'll do the same thing twice, but I don't see much else. It's not like you can step off of a boat, or walk out of a Vault.. Maybe be shot down with a bow in a ditch and left to die, but unlikely..

It's probably gonna be something completely different.

Twice?

all four TES games you have started as a prisoner. That is how you start your adventure, and I like it.
I take prisoner start any day rather than suffer some mysterious memory loss or similar cliche...

» Fri May 27, 2011 6:47 pm

For roleplaying sakes I enjoy starting in prison and thinking up a story for myself as to why I was in prison in the first place, and from that choose how I want to play my character.

» Fri May 27, 2011 9:04 pm

I agree, starting out in prison is a vital part of the TES experience. If they didn't make you start out in prison, we'd probably get something like Dragon Age's backgrounds. They're OK but they'd really put a limit on the imagination. If you started out in a dank cell with no light and a headache however, it'd be up to you to decide how you got there. That's the freedom I expect from TES.

» Fri May 27, 2011 5:02 pm

I think the devs could have much more freedom to create motivation for the player if they didnt start you in prison. Take Daggerfall for example, you start as an aid for the emperor, and the ship you are on crashes. With this simple set up your character has a reason to be going out attempting to save the world.

Starting in a prison could work, maybe you are a spy who has been cought. But a completely blank nobody in a prison dosent allow the devs much room to set up the game.

» Fri May 27, 2011 6:43 pm

I think the devs could have much more freedom to create motivation for the player if they didnt start you in prison. Take Daggerfall for example, you start as an aid for the emperor, and the ship you are on crashes. With this simple set up your character has a reason to be going out attempting to save the world.

Starting in a prison could work, maybe you are a spy who has been cought. But a completely blank nobody in a prison dosent allow the devs much room to set up the game.

You make a valid point. Well, we'll see, won't we. As for I, purely out of preference, I stick with the nobody idea. I like the notion to be a complete stranger caught in something I simply don't get, annoying important persons - rather than having the more usual "you're already written in the fantasy story" thing. Still a n'wah.

» Fri May 27, 2011 6:54 pm

Well, I doubt they'll do the same thing twice, but I don't see much else. It's not like you can step off of a boat, or walk out of a Vault..

Yeah, I'm really glad they didn't start Morrowind by having you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4fNj-9AXPA. That would just have been stupid.

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:27 pm

As long as they keep the idea the same; starting off after some event that leaves you on your own and confused.

Personally I much prefer the idea of just arriving at the place, like in Morrowind, stepping off the boat was a great moment in gaming for me. Doesn't have to be a prison boat, could be any reason that I'm on that boat.

I think half the trouble with the Oblivion beginning is that the PC starts off in prison which suggests he was already living in the area or at one of the towns. I prefer the idea that I've just arrived, because I have, as I have just loaded up the game

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:59 am

What if you start out in prison.... AS THE WARDEN.

Nobody would expect that. Nobody. Well, except everybody reading this thread now, but *cough*.

» Fri May 27, 2011 1:34 pm

While sticking with the normal idea of "no real background" I think there could be some variety. Perhaps based off some choices you make in designing your character initially. So say... If playing a Dunmer you are a survivor of the destruction of Morrowind (I have forgotten how much time-gap there is between that event and Oblivion/Skyrim), to give one example. Or simply you are given a list and choose one. They could all have you ending up in the same place or have the main plot trigger event being moved to a location. It simply gives a bit of customizable flavour.

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:39 pm

Personally I much prefer the idea of just arriving at the place, like in Morrowind, stepping off the boat was a great moment in gaming for me. Doesn't have to be a prison boat, could be any reason that I'm on that boat.

I think half the trouble with the Oblivion beginning is that the PC starts off in prison which suggests he was already living in the area or at one of the towns. I prefer the idea that I've just arrived, because I have, as I have just loaded up the game

Good thinking. Agreed wholeheartedly. No wonder Jiub is a favorite, short lived as his appearance was. First and last one to be nice to you in a good long while.

» Fri May 27, 2011 3:03 pm

In the beginning:

How about it's raining. The player character's in the gutter, drunk and naked. He vomits, sees his reflection in the vomit, thus character generation begins!

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:35 pm

In the beginning:

How about it's raining. The player character's in the gutter, drunk and naked. He vomits, sees his reflection in the vomit, thus character generation begins!

*Looks in the puddle* Race ? Ork. Orc. I fink.

» Fri May 27, 2011 7:11 pm

In the beginning:

How about it's raining. The player character's in the gutter, drunk and naked. He vomits, sees his reflection in the vomit, thus character generation begins!

:laugh:

The reflection becomes clearer as you select race/gender/etc? I like! :laugh:

» Fri May 27, 2011 2:38 pm

I like starting in prison.. but I would like a bit more of backstory than Oblivion had. Morrowind made some sense.. I was brought on a ship to a new place. So I didn't know anything. Oblivion it didn't seem like I had been brought from anywhere.. they never stated I had a case of amnesia or anything. So in all reality I should have been from around there.. known the area and had some friends who knew me.

» Fri May 27, 2011 9:34 pm

Just to clarify for those people who don't already know;

Morrowind starts with your release from prison. You just don't play as yourself until you have arrived on Vvardenfell, but you are stepping off a prison boat and being released. The game does not immediately tell you why you have been released, it only tells you who you have to talk too.

Also, don't bring up Fallout's game set ups (Vault, Shot in the head). Those ideas exist to serve those games, but The ES series uses Prison as a starting point for the character, and purposely does not tell you the reason for your imprisonment.

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:56 pm

In the beginning:

How about it's raining. The player character's in the gutter, drunk and naked. He vomits, sees his reflection in the vomit, thus character generation begins!

Rashe... Venishon... oh! Whoopsh, 'atz mah mishtake.

» Fri May 27, 2011 7:25 pm

For some reason I think we will start in a prison and a battle (civil war?) will cause the wall of the prison to be destroyed.