In Skyrim, we're given the Shouts. This instantly makes us vastly more powerful than almost any NPC, just by default. In Morrowind and Oblivion however, there was no obvious line between the PC and the NPCs, at least in terms of what they could theoretically do. Of course in all these games you are the hero of legend, and will obviously start to become very powerful.

But the question is, do you want the undeniable hero status there from the start, or earned from humble beginnings? Which path would be best for the series, in your opinion?

I'd much prefer to start from humble beginnings and work towards super hero status than just being told that my character is the chosen one at the beginning of the game.

I never want to see Shouts ever again. I also loathe all forms of the "Chosen One" trope and I never want to see that again either. I want to start out as a normal person.

I love the mechanics of the Thu'um but being the only one who could use it aside from draugr was pretty lame. If they're going to make something like that available, it needs to be available to NPCs as well.

I liked not being the chosen one in Oblivion. In some sense you were with the dream, but the main quest didn't hammer that into you. In Skyrim they constantly tell you that you are a special snowflake and that you are the last of the special snowflakes and only you can defeat Alduin. In Morrowind, they tell you that you could be the Nerevarine pretty early on and from that point it's fairly clear that you are Nerevar incarnate. In Oblivion you hear this dream thing and then forget about it and are not reminded about it. You finish the main quest and you are known as "Martin's Friend". I liked that. I liked just being a lucky guy who managed to save Tamriel and not some special snowflake chosen one.

I don't mind my character becoming a god, but I want the sense of achievement that comes with getting there.

Shivering Isles was great in this regard, although a bit short, which is understandable as it is an expansion and not the main game. Morrowind did it as well, with the trials of becoming the neravarine, and the 'godslaying' that goes on at the end of the game and it's expansions along with the power and artifacts you gain along the way.

In Skyrim, I liked shouting as a mechanic, in a way it acted as spells in Oblivion where you could cast one while still holding your weapons, and collecting and unlocking them was reasonably fun. However having or discovering the 'dragonborn' status of the PC from the start did take away the sense of accomplishment you could gain compared to the previous games. Some other aspects of the game such as the simplistic magic and weak artifacts only enforced how 'special' the thu'um is, since it remained an unmatched bonus from the start to the end of the game.

But, that's basically what TES is. It's all 'Chosen One' characters. In Arena you're the 'Only one' who can stop Tharn. In Daggerfall, you're the 'Only one' who the Emperor trusts.

The problem doesn't lie with being chosen... though admittedly you're picked out rather early in both Arena and Daggerfall. The problem is how it is delivered, and how early.

This is where Morrowind excels. You get a hint at the very beginning, but for a third of the main quest, you don't even know who was talking to you in the intro-dream. Still, you are a good deal into the main quest before you learn your chosen, and even further before you know what that means.

In this regard, Skyrim was better than Oblivion... At least you have to wait 2 quests before you find out you're Dragon-Jesus, and your half way through before you're filled in on the whole Alduin thing. Of course, Todd Howard ruined the entire plot almost a year before the game came out, which didn't help things.

Anyway... The point is that handing you your chosen status from square one is the problem. And that's where i hated Shouts. They would have been useless if you only gained them half way through the main questline, so they handed your status to you on a platter.

Theres nothing wrong with being better than everyone else. So long as it takes time for you to discover that you are.