Cant' say I have any problem starting out as a prisoner again. It sets things up for a good, blank slate beginning. Possibilities are endless.

Maybe you are wrongly accused,or perhaps you are there for actually committing a serious crime( or a petty one), or you took the fall for something that a dear friend or lover did inadvertently so they would be spared.

That people seem offended down to the very core of their being over the starting of the game is perhaps one of the most mysterious and overreactive things I've witnessed in relation to any game.

How about starting out as nobody that require no part in being a prisoner as part of a Resume? What if I am one of those law abiding citizen or those street smart players that know how to not get caught? In all argument, having a history that one was in a prison thank to the intro does not mean the PC is in "clean" slate. If anything, being a random adventurer or having a lowly job like that of the Courier in New Vegas can make a start that one can have as a "clean" state.

If one really wanted to have a "Prison" intro if there is no "Prison" intro, just go to the nearest Guard and punch him in the face.

Yes, you were still a prisoner in Arena though. Just because you weren't in prison for picking up a zero value spoon doesn't mean your any less of a prisoner. Also, Morrowind your a prisoner but are released right off the bat. As for Battlespire and Redguard, you weren't a prisoner but they were also not the "main" elderscrolls.



It never says that you have a criminal background, that's the great thing about it. TES found a formula for the perfect beginning, the second formula for the perfect beginning that makes it where you can do anything you want without people saying "But that doesn't make sense". The original formula is "A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." allowed for complete freedom and the fact that you start as a prisoner and know one knows why your in prison, even you means that you can start from scratch without being evil or good. For all you know they put you in prison after finding you passed out on the street thinking you were drunk and all that had happened is you had passed out from some unknown trauma and you got amnesia!

That, and the people offended/over-reacting are doing so on the mere basis of an assumption of which has no proof, as we know not how Skyrim ACTUALLY starts.

If we had actual information, then, you know, they would have a logical greivance if the assumptions were true. But what ever. :shrug:

But you were sent there by the Emperor if I remember correctly and you had been established as a trusted friend of his. Do you not think that is a fairly well defined past? Or do you feel that the video and whatnot was short enough to ignore for the sake of RPing? If that is the case you could do that in Oblivion as well by saving at the sewer exit and then as far as I am concerned, I was never in jail.

None of us know how Skyrim starts and I do not see any reason we should not be in jail because the fact is no matter how the game begins it is forcing your story in some manner.

Pretty much this. In the end, it's not the beginning that matters anyway...

Seriously, I find it silly to get aggressive and angry just because we are going to start off as a prisoner again. Come on, it is only a very minor aspect of the game and only serves as a way to throw the character into the world (as in Morrowind) or help the player get started (Oblivion). After leaving your jail, you are free to do whatever you want. Honestly, how is Daggerfall's starting much different? You still have to go through Privateer's Hold as a dungeon and fight rats and other generally weak creatures. For people who complain it already sets up a past of the character, so does Morrowind, Daggerfall (despite having a different begining), and Arena (even if you consider it's prison setting different). Arena and Daggerfall were even worse offenders as they establish your character's exact profession and recent past prior to the start of the game. Also, so what if your character was a prisoner? Does that automatically ruin your ability to roleplay? The only logical complaint I understand and agree with about the prison start is in Oblivion how you were forced to go through the prison dungeon with each start of a new file.

Honestly, some of the suggestions of a new start I seen on these forums (not this thread) are far worse in both setting and already establishing a background for your character. The only better alternative start for an Elder Scrolls game I can think of is that you are literally just dropped in the middle of the wilderness with no prior explanation or help.

Also, I actually like the prison setting. It serves as a good way to introduce your character, and I felt it didn't intrude too much of my own formation of my character's past. However, I hope the prison is more on the lines of Morrowind, as it is far easier to go through. I wouldn't mind an Oblivon-esque start just as long as you can skip it, though I wouldn't even be too annoyed if you didn't have an option. You can always just use a base save of your own or find one online for you to use anyways.

It does not matter where you start the game, and you can always assume that you were put there by mistake.

Gives a valid reason why you are starting from zero.

I'm still holding out some hope that we escape from some setting other than the sewers, though.

I just caught this from the wall and saw this thread, when i read it i was like "YESSSS PRISON!!" :turned:

I play the game for a month and I can tell ya the intro isn't a prison at all for Arena. As rabish12 said, the PC was put in the dungeon full of treasure and goblins just because the Last boss does not like ya, not to mention it is not really a prison in a sense as there is no other "prisoner" or "guards" or and jail system like that. The PC was left there to die.


Being in a Prison Cell is more than enough to screw up the mind of "not" being convect to begin with. Even with no "crime" history, one have to make up crap why ya there, which in my opinion, is horribad and that the intro could been done better with a much higher dignity. Oh, and I am not a drinker.


Daggerfall's movie intro is definitely more open compare to all the TES so far and what lead to that point can go as far as ya being an honor guest or ya were partying with him earlier that day (these are from the preseted intro given). The "saving at the sewer exit" is such a horrible way of siding with the "prison intro.

I think what's between the start and the end is of much more importance than the start and the end itself.

We've only started out in the sewers one time out of four major games, so I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Being in prison is a clean slate if you roleplay it as such. You can make up ANY story for why you are in prison, any story. You don't have to be a criminal (wrongly accused), or maybe you are so street smart that you got into prison on purpose for some reason (kill the warden). It's no more hard to make a up a "clean" slate start from prison than as a courier or a random adventurer. If you don't have that good of an imagination to do so, I feel sorry for you.

To those picking on Todd Howard over this being considered a decision, I don't see you with nearly 17 years of experience at Bethesda Game Studios, being a part of all four main Elder Scrolls games' development in some way, and actually having been able to talk to the people who originally developed the game as a custom DnD world. Do you know what they would joke about at lunch, declaring which things tradition or something they wanted to keep in the series? Are you a professional game developer who's been leading the series to financial success for over a decade now? No? I'll leave the anolyzing of that to you. Criticize his decisions if you want, of course, but don't pretend he's some new kid who doesn't know squat about the series, Bethesda, or the original intent of the series.

I'm really glad they're sticking to Elder Scrolls tradition. It gives a good start to roleplaying as wel, assuming they don't tell you why you're there.

since the game takes place during a civil war i think it would be cool to be a prisoner of war

So people are not allowed to have opinions because they're not as successful as Todd Howard? Fantastic logic there.

it's a constant trend with declared significance
gratz, you learned what a tradition is

I finished clearing up what I was trying to state by editing my post as you were typing a response. By that, I was only referring to those stating something along the lines of "it wasn't a tradition until Todd Howard said so", as if he was some new kid playing with the train set improperly, or something such as that. He knows more about the Elder Scrolls series than any of the fans here. Criticize his decisions if you wish, but don't pretend he doesn't know anything about this series or the people that made it what it is... him being one, of course.

And I can argue that one can have a clean slate intro with out bull crapping my way out to say, the prison intro. Yes, one "could" make up any story for the prison intro, but then ya were in a prison to begin with, thus already "screwing up" the clean slate intro already. Being a courier or a random adventurer is much more clean namely because one does not start in a prison to begin with; this create a much wider range of imagination for the toon background and his/her past rather than being stuck using "imagination" to make stupid excuses as to why one is in a prison cell to begin with.

I wonder if it's the last blade that breaks you out.

Wow this terned into a heated debate real quick. Its an opening so what just try to shape your character in your minds come up with why they are in the land of your own free will reguardless of what you see on a TV or computer screen... :banghead:

Why can't we ever start out in a church, or like, at a charity bake sale?

Damn BeThes painting us out to be criminal scum from the get-go.