Daggerfall was the only main TES game that didn't start with you being the prisoner. It kind of became a tradition after Oblivion.

Sad, but true.

After several games it begins to feel that way huh?

It's good. You can make up your childhood, instead of having a read-made version. Useful for RPing.

EDIT: And to Otheral above, yes it does. To me anyway...

well my character will be in prison... for having murdered the high king and having been caught lol. kinda fits

I'd rather that it was like Daggerfall, where you start out trapped in a cave, or that you just happen to be stuck in a prison, not necessarily a prisoner

I wonder if you're straight away told its your duty blah blah blah at the end of the turorial/prison sequence like in Oblivion, or it takes a bit more work like Morrwind. I liked how Morrowinds slowly built up and you had fun exploring the game world for a bit first(I think you were told to by the Blades guy Casius), and he would tell you to come back later after some quests before your next one.

I wouldn't be surprised if you escape because the facility is attacked by a dragon or multiple dragons. That's just a guess though.

I'm perfectly happy with that, because then we pretty much know the start won't be crappy. I just love starting off in old prison clothes, and then being released and able to do whatever you want. It's fun patching together your first pieces of armour and weaponry, trying to get the basics of what you will need to survive in the world.

I guess when you put it that way, i don't have a grudge with it. I mean it's a *tradition* after all..

I don't know why people get mad at things like this. Your character's backstory is your own. It's just a useful way for them to stick in a tutorial somehow. On some characters in Fallout, I just disregarded the fact I came from a vault. I'm fine with the jail setting.

So.... how do we get out? yeah probably dragons. I hope a tutorial is optional. I want to be thrown into the world clueless.

I agree. Oblivion was kind of silly. I completed the main quest at something like level 5. With all the bad stuff happening, you just can't put off helping to save the world while you go leveling.

I like it. Part of that is my amusemant at the expense of some who didn't want to start in jail again...but I like it anyway.

Arena started you in the Imperial dungeon, but while you were technically imprisoned there you were a very different kind of "prisoner" (you were in the abandoned and unguarded dungeons beneath the Imperial palace, not in a proper jail, and you were there because the villain had sent you there, not because you had been accused of breaking the law). Also, as far as I know none of the spin-offs really start you off as any kind of prisoner, and I don't think they can be excluded from the history of the overall series.

I'm not denying that it became a tradition after Oblivion. What I'm saying is that it became a tradition after Oblivion because Todd himself decided it should be a tradition while making Oblivion. It's definitely not something that's going to ruin any of the games going forward, but it does necessarily mean less diversity in the openings (where you will, in all cases, start as a prisoner from here on out) and it does mean that every character we make in every game in the series that we play is made with the base assumption that they've done something to at least warrant being mistaken for a criminal.

I think there is a gameplay video that explains that on youtube somewhere. Not really sure though...

I know at least one of the backgrounds in Daggerfall starts with you as a prisoner.

Just for the record, we already knew we'd be starting off in jail. That was in the GI article. First page, I believe.

"...a lowly prisoner, unaware of his destiny, the one the resurgent dragons..."

yeah no gameplay ids yet, at least no official vids

Likewise I do like to spell out my characters past also its more fun that way at least it is for me anyway...

Your in a cave you hid in after your boat crashed, you were in a ruin, not a prison if I recall correctly

There is no starting as a prisoner in Daggerfall. You start as a personal friend of the Emperor, sent by him into the region on a personal errand, and on the way there your ship crashes and you somehow (inexplicably) end up at the bottom of an extremely deep ruin. That's how that game starts no matter who or what your character is.

It's a running gag. I like it, you can imagine if you've been imprisoned for a good reason or falsly accused... or a political prisoner, or a terrible petty thief that just went to school to better him/herself, or a naive character that didn't know you can't take that spoon and not pay with you blood! Or... etc.

This is fine as long as you don't have to escape using some secret passage. Maybe Esbern bails you out.

Tradition, nothing. It's just a great way to start a character out. I don't want to see my child-self, I don't want to pick apples. I want to be a prisoner of war or whatever.