How about if we could choose one basic opening for a character prison if we choose something else like, for example you being alone stranded in the wilderness, or you live in tiny village or something something vanilla and plain that would not affect anything but how the game opens, that is if you must visually see your character onscreen.

But then do you not have to make up the same kind of story to explain why your character is working at a messenger, or in the middle of the forest or whatever it is that begins the game. What if I want to believe that my character starts of in prison but instead I start off delivering the mail? Or I want too role play a char who has never left my home town beyond a few hundred feet but I start the game out Working at a bar across the map. No matter how you start the game you are inherently going to force some sort of past upon the character and I do not see why a prison is any worse than the rest or any harder to ignore.

Gotta love how so many don't grasp that the term 'prisoner' is a rather broad term. GI uses it, then people complain about jail... jump to concusions... and make assumptions... :shrug:

All the while, there is no concrete evidence to support that the PC is a criminal "prisoner by law" type character. I guess people just really like to argue.

Given how many role-player there are, one would think there would be more immagination as to the possible types of prisoners, rather than jumping on the assumption bandwagon.

Very good point this game to me is all about immagination its amusing for me how upset people are getting over this, lets come up with our own explanations instead of complaining when we can just stop and think about the character and who we are, and if you have no desire to not be a prisoner of any kind then you can just pretend this whole game opening sequence never happend in the first place. :goodjob:

I would be happy if the game does not start out in a Prison Cell or not mention of was a prisoner in the past; I don't care if the case where Dev gave us many intro to pick than just a Prison Cell.


Messenger is an example but anyways, if one is place in the middle of a forest or wake up in an inn, its more open for an intro for those who follow the rule or knows how to avoid being caught and stuck oneself in jail. Being in an atmosphere of a Prison Cell screw that part up and make the PC less "dignified" to the whole game and to the player. In any case, there is really nothing that is set in stone that given alot of Background, if any to the PC because namely, thats how the Series was base. The Prison intro in Oblivion make one already a convect and that alone screw up the open background business.


I assume the prisoner of destiny to the Main Quest than prisoner in a Jail Cell. Problem tend to think that many people would assume the Jail Cell automatically. All in time, I wanna see what the intro really is.

Given the average number of atrocities a player commits throughout the course of a game like this (guard slaying, peasant slaying, grand theft, B and E, etc. etc. etc) I feel that starting off in prison is only fitting.

Quite a few jumped on the whole 'Jail Cell' intro (which this thread suggests). Given how broad of a category the term 'prisoner' is, there are numerous, and seemingly more likely (and interesting :teehee: ) intros, than a jail one.

One can only hope that Bethesda takes advantage of this. If Skyrim starts out in a Jail Cell (or other similar area) then, like many others, I would be rather dissapointed. :sadvaultboy:

Hey, maybe your characters do those things but (most) of mine don't.

You can't do the time, don't do the Elder Scroll

[quote name='Qawsed Asap' timestamp='1294894973' post='16976057']
I would be happy if the game does not start out in a Prison Cell or not mention of was a prisoner in the past; I don't care if the case where Dev gave us many intro to pick than just a Prison Cell.


I would like a choice at the beginning too, a vauge choice so I can summarize my creation myself, but we will be forced to wait and can only speculate on how it will open...

I HATE BEING A [censored] CONVICT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Cries loudly and completely obnoxiously, disrupting the thread into the deepest pits of the void...-

Okay, so now that my moment is over. I really do hate having to be a prisoner, I don't give a flying [censored]-cake if it's tradition, I want to be a normal person thrust into crazy circumstances.

Plain and simple, while starting off in jail isn't terribly original, the devs chose it because its less cliche than, say, having amnesia or, I WAS living a vanilla life but then something changed all that, or I was a noble person and lost everything, or i was a street urchin, or whatever. All those ideas 1) have been beaten to death, then followed into the afterlife and beaten into non-existance, only to somehow return and be beaten some more, and 2) the prison idea allows ANY of those ideas to be true, in spite of how broad they already are, and yet it tells you nothing about yourself. The idea is to not limit who you were, and ANYone can end up in jail. Yes, a messenger is pretty open to interpretation, but no one noble is going to be a messenger, so that limits your social status to poor or middle class at best. Vanilla life farmer does the same. Using amnesia is almost a sin in RPGs at this point. Street urchin just makes people think of Aladdin, and again, forces your social class.

Anyways, thats how jail got picked in the first place. Now its just tradition. And I think games should have traditions. Even if they don't make sense. Hell, illogicality is part of what makes tradition tradition!

But seriously, think of 1 other circumstance to start from that doesn't, in some way, limit an aspect of your backstory? Go ahead.

Umm. Not to be obnoxious, but don't you think part of the crazy circumstances you were thrust into includes you being in prison? Just a thought... juuussstt a thought.

(Insert facepalm image here.)

Oh well. There are worse traditions I guess.

Starting off in prison is cliche when it has been used in like ... what ... every game in the series.

Why is that the piece that is held onto sentimentally?

What is it with this prison fetish?

so BE A NORMAL PERSON. Prison IS you getting thrust into crazy ass circumstances.

The point of prison isn't even to give a 'general' background or 'vanilla' opening, its to make sure you have NO background. You aren't necessarily nobody, you aren't necessarily somebody, the point is that, whatever you were up to that point, it doesn't matter. If the game started in ANY other circumstance they'd always have to be referencing it in game, or even if not you'd always know, "i came from such and such town and did such and such". You AREN'T nobody, but whatever you were, it means NOTHING now.

Its the closest think Beth can get to Amnesia, without committing that most heinous sin.

The point is, however many of you are pissed off about this, there would be a much larger group feeling disenfranchised if the beginning were even SLIGHTLY defining.

I wish I knew, and I wonder how the pro-prison reaction would be if the PC started off not in prison. I would assume people are being too short sighted on other ways the game could start that is not so intrusive as being tossed in jail, but...I'm just not so sure.

you can say its cliche, thats a matter of opinion, i'll admit, but there are just as many people who call it 'tradition', and there is a difference.

As for originality, screw originality. First thing any english professor worth their salt will tell you is that nothing you do is original.

The goal isn't originality (even though, think of another game that starts you in jail that doesn't explain why your there...?) but originality isn't the goal, its interpretability.

I think the main reason they use the prisoner backstory is because it isn't limiting in terms of RP - it realistically allows for a very diverse range of starting options, keeping it immersive.

You know what would really be a bad tradition to break? Not having a creepy old guy choosing you to be the hero would just be very bad. Bethesda would never do that to us, right? Uriel's still alive, I say. He' still alive!

Subjective. I did not do most of the stuff ya mention because I follow the rule and have some basic morals to live with.


It have nothing to do with cliche but more of where to start. Amnesia? Right. I see this more that the Player can create their own story without being told about their past by the Dev. This is basically the Series' Intro due to the HIGH customization the game offer with race and stats.


Not really. Being place in a prison cell automatically mean ya a convect, "frame" or not. That not broading things of how one can create the toon's background without making some stupid excuse why one is in the prison in the first place. "ANYone" can end up in jail but it does not have to start out that way nor the fact there are many way to avoid being in prison to begin with.


It is not really "official" that the Prison Cell is the intro or not. Like Blackgult mention, its can very well be that the "prisoner" is vague to a point that it can be anything. There is no tradition, just a follow up the assumption that Oblivion did it.


I can think of 4 right now. Getting off the traveling boat. Waking up in an inn. Traveling with a Caravan. Camping out in the wilderness. This all fit to any backstory to anyone without placing shame of once being a "prisoner" of a Jail Cell.

It's not. It's a blank slate, you're a felon, not matter how you twist it. You're in prison, for committing a crime one may or may not have committed, but you are still a felon! To make things worse, not only is the PC a felon from the start, but now they're an escaped felon! And yet, you are greeted with smiles, despite escaping prison!

Hell, I'll make up how the game should start on the spot that is much more open ended. You receive a letter telling you to go to Skyrim, and you go there by boat. On your way, there's a bad storm one night, the ship capsizes, and you swim to the nearest piece of land you can see, and it ends up being a cave. You go through the tutorial and you end up in Skyrim. This accomplishes an exciting start as you try to escape the sinking ship, teaches you how various stuff in cave tutorial, and you really have a blank slate on your past. Also, you could just ignore the letter and drop it, as it's a non-intrusive item if one wish to peruse the MQ or not.

EDIT: Or hell, I'll make up another scenario. You wake up in the middle of no-where and find out bandits had kidnapped you while you were traveling to Skryim. You try to bust out with a bunch of other prisoners, either going through a violent, diplomatic, or sneaky route. This accomplishes the following things. One, it's still mostly open ended, as your background could be anything, instead of instantly a convict. Two, this intro can still provide a way to create a tutorial. Three, being captured in the first place requires a helluva lot less finagling of how the PC got captured in the first place.

Nobles wouldn't camp in the wilderness, and what the inn room looks like would also determine social status. Traveling, boat or caravan, would also depend on what you have on you to determine background. In prison, everyone's surroundings are the same

The prison start is fine with me; if I'm playing a good character I usually assume the system is corrupt and some higher-up got pissed at my character for some reason, invented some bogus charge and slapped him/her with it. :B Tamriel isn't America; it's easy for me to think they really could do something like that.

And yes, amnesia is an RPG sin. Just a short list of games that start with amnesia to justify no backstory

Arx Fatalis
The Witcher
Aquaria
Manhunt 2
Lost Odyssey
Alone in the Dark (multiple titles)
Lost
Prototype