Agreed.
There would be far more complaints if they DID give a backstory.

I like it this way. Clean slate, nothing in the game that tells you or any NPC what has happened in the past. As Todd put it (not an exact quote here, forgive me) "All the game cares about is what you are going to do next." And thats all that I care about. I don't want past story holding me back from making my character whatever the heck i want him to be.

I've wished for other intro possibilities. Reworking the behind-the-scenes of Daggerfall's intro would have been pretty cool, traveling to Skyrim by boat in a normal fashion only to be hit by massive storms, being the only survivor and barely drifting to shore.


But at the end of the day, if they've decided to do the prisoner intro, there are worse things and it's not that terrible. It's not my end-all-be-all preference, but I don't see it as something ripe for complaint.

Your traveling by boat idea I actually like quite a lot. I think the whole prison scene is just very easy, can't really go wrong with it.
There are definitely many other ways they could do it without giving the character a backstory, but why change it if it works right.

Ever use the teleporter into the Arch-Mage's tower?

You're not gonna win this one, "reasonable doubt" can always be produced until someone at Bethesda declares some precise escape route (prior to the tunnel from your cell) to be canon.

Then what would you suggest? I'm all for something else that works, but as of yet I've heard of nothing.

There's a question, why isn't his escape tunnel replaced by a teleporter? I think the emperor could afford one.


Alaisiagae's post on the last page would work for me.

Because then Oblivion would have never happened.

Starting in prison doesn't matter to me. But then again if they just started you out as a poor hired-hand farm that just got kicked out I woudl be fine as well. You need somewhat of a blank slate for RPG reasons, but how it starts matters less to me then how it ends.

All it takes is the emperor dying and giving you a necklace, which you give to people who lose it. I suppose instead they could have performed a sneak attack when the emperor was in public, and you chase the assassins who took the necklace. Or you don't if you're not too interested in the main quest.

You would be someone there to listen to the emperor's speech when he is attacked. Really make the most of that Patrick Stewart.

It's an open world game, your background story is open as well. It would be nice if you could actually type something onto a "character sheet" or something, but I doubt that will happen.

It's tradition.

And it keeps them from creating a backstory for you that just might not be a type of character you want to play. Being a noble born paladin type or a ruthless assassin might not fit into a backstory they created for you. At least a prisoner beginning allows you to fit your character into it. Maybe you are wrongly accused or you really deserved to be there.

That actually doesn't sound that bad, still, too late.

Post limit.