Way to make a [censored] generalization. A lot of us who do not want it did not only play 1 TES title. Hell, I've played all of them, save for the spinoffs, and I'm quite sick of it. Morrowind only gets a free pass because you are coming off a boat, without any prison cells or bars, and you sign yourself up in the census, as though you were a citizen. Arena has an excuse, in that Jagar Tharn imprisoned you because he knew you'd screw things up, and in Daggerfall you were on a ship (that wasn't a prison ship) that was wrecked and you ended up in a cave. Oblivion has no real excuse other than some silly ass pull.

The only title in this series that truly allows one to make up their past is Daggerfall and somewhat with Morrowind. Oblivion has you as a [censored] convict from the get go and reinforces that, and Arena was a pretty linear game anyway. There is only so many times I have to ass pull "I was caught doing a silly crime," or "I was framed!"

I'm happy to start as a prisoner, but personally, I don't want it to be a traditional one, I rather be a prisoner of war, after all, a civil war is occurring

Well said and good point...the PC can immediately be given a choice on which faction they belong to and in turn they are initially imprisioned by the other. It makes sense for replayability.

I play the Numbered TES (and watch walkthough of the spinoffs) to know that Prison intro is not a "Tradition". Cut and paste again:

Arena

Yeah, because Jagar Tharn knew you would be screwing up his plans, so he imprisoned you. In Daggerfall, you were on a ship (not a prisoner ship nor were you in jail before) and it got wrecked. In fact, that intro was pretty much you were sent to Illiac Bay, your boat got owned, and you managed to swim to a cave, which is extremely open. In Redguard, Cyrus is on a boat, is attacked by pirates, kicks their asses, and gets to port. Battlespire had your PC walking into the Battlespire, only to see that it was razed by daedra. All three of those games came before Morrowind, so by that point, being in prison was not a tradition. If anything, one could say getting off a boat was. Morrowind, while you technically were one, had the grace of making it extremely overlooked, allowing one to easily just say they went to Vvardenfell or were an agent of the Blades. It was Oblivion that made it extremely explicit and constantly reinforced that you are a prisoner, and therefore you did something illegal.

If one wanna get technical with Arena, the PC was place in a cell in a monster-infected dungeon left there to died because what Hellmouth said. Its not a prison intro in a sense seeing that there is no other form of what make a "prison" as there is treasure and goblins running all over the place.

I like the way you think.


Me too, but it shouldn't be 'You are a prisoner of war because you wandered into enemy territory on accident and now this guy called Esbern bailed you out and now you have to find him.' It should be more like 'Prisoner of War, you've served your time, get out... scum'

I like that there sticking with the prisoner begining.It might be alittle cliché but meh sice i play a rogue type char anyway it fits my play style.Ive always have been a fan of anti-heros,but i know for some thats not how they like to start off.

You say cliche, I say tradition! It's just a fun way to start off a game while remembering all past ones with a little chuckle imo.

Read what I wrote, as you are wrong!

I want a prison break...where you get busted out with fellow prison mates that you work with for a while. I think that would be epic.

man I'm just sick, cause I thought shanking device meant something dirty, I need help :sadvaultboy:

I'm still in favor of your prisoner status as being a "war prisoner" or "captive"

Some good points about this idea:
1) You're captured by a mercenary group, who sell prisoners to the side most willing to pay for them (this sets your status to neutral between factions.)
2) Your personal history/home/close relatives are obliterated in the attack where you were captured, giving you a blank slate from which to roleplay.
3) Character customization could be initiated when the prisoner hood is taken off.
4) A thematic starting scene with some sort of chaos (dragon attack?) would be a great way to throw the player into the world, as well as give the player a method of escape (all prisoners are released and armed to fight off the attack)
5) You haven't committed a crime (or been accused of committing one)

I think the prisoner detractors should hold off a bit until we know more. If it turns out you're actually just in jail again and have to escape through a secret passage, then you (and me) can flame away.

/sigh, alright.

Overall whether you like or not who gives a rats ass. It's less than 1% of the entire gameplay. Get out and then make up your own history, choosing to ignore the prison part?
I really don't care either way.

I also like the getting caught by bandits or mercenaries or some other group. Yes, you're again a prisoner, but hey, at least now we can easily say oh well I was hunting and they caught me or indeed, that I was on the run from the law and they caught me.

All it really depends on is that your captors stay relatively grey as to why they wanted to capture you. If they just passively say they'll get a bounty then that can mean many things. But if they say their bounty hunters going after a specific group of people, then its hard for you to work around that.

I can accept that, more open ended than being a felon from the get go.

Daggerfall sets your background for you. Look at your history. There are also many reasons why a person may be in jail. You can come up with your reasons. That you weren't supposed to be in that cell is a little bit of a nudge towards the "maybe you weren't a prisoner, after all" side.

I like the prisoner-of-war thing. It doesn't really imply you've done anything, I still like the prison ending, and we might get to stage a large-scale breakout of some sort.

I rather see my character stealing a fork and having a bunch of guards chase and tackle my character while http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISyPz5XRyI plays.

Wait... he's wrong because he has a different opinion than you? I read your posts, and they are all opinion (and the same ol' Oblivion bashing) and not fact. He's entitled to his opinion of it being a good tradition, just as you are entitled to your opinion of the contrary.

Quite aware of the preseted "background" that the game give ya and they are pretty good, but its not really set in stone that its really the PC's background, since there so many of them. Could help those who cannot come up with one of their own background but in the end, its meeting the king and being ship wreak. As for the prison, I prefer not ass pulling an "excuse" as to why I am there just to cover up the bad intro the game presented. I rather mod the crap out of it rather than having to force myself that I been to prison in the first place.


Heh, Oblivion bashing. Anyways, the problem here is that opinion that this is the "tradition" is the fact that it is not a "tradition" at all, being Oblivion is the only game with the Prison Intro.

Arena and Morrowind had prison intros. You WERE, and this is not arguable, WERE in the position of a prisoner in both of those games, and while it isn't set in stone, that background in Daggerfall is set in text, as in you cannot change or edit it. Oblivion's was the only one of the four games that didn't tell why you were where you were, and that doesn't mean you have to pull an excuse out of your ass. It only means you get to actually choose your background, for once. You like customization, yes? Personally, being forced to be a member of the royal court or being forced to start off as the Emperor's friend with a childhood weapon proficieny and background I don't want seem far worse to me than being in jail and not knowing why.