It would be pretty cool if they could go old school and do these questionnaire with moral dilemmas like in Arena/Daggerfall. Then, theg ame will show you a movie of sorts of your backstory depending on your decisions.

hmmm...with detailing the background story...could someone emphasize the need for the prison-repetition...why not make it like your an orphan on the road found by Esbern...that way you grow up and you have the ability to detail the backstory...personally i always didn't care about background story because I think about character progression where YOU shape what its future is and who the person is...instead of having a past determining the persona and decisions...etc

why is it that every game starts you off in jail? Morrowind you came from a prison (on a boat) then Oblivion your in jail..starting off as a kid would be different then the same old "oh crab i'm in jail..again!" start

No.

I like to imagine the Elder Scrolls as one of the last great bastions of "traditional", DnD/Tolkeinesque fantasy. Heavily romanticized, you know? Everybody's a badass cutthroat adventurer or at least a respectable profession. Don't need any sentimental mushy time montages.

I would like it. I really enjoyed this aspect of Fable and FO3. As others have mentioned, though, that leaves the issue of BGS telling us our characters' back stories rather than letting us dream them up ourselves which is pretty integral to role playing - something I'm sure BGS want to preserve.

How about an optional sequence? Or origin stories like in DA:O? I loved that about DA:O. The origin stories were probably the highlight of the game for me because they fleshed out my character the way I chose.

Of course I would rather that Skyrim's origin stories were significantly shorter (probably a series of flashbacks rather than DA:O's long tutorial sequences) so that they could be more diverse. How about they're a compilation of choices you make at character creation in a way similar to Mount and Blade? Except replacing the text M&B gives you with short gameplay sequences.

For those who don't know, M&B lets you choose your

• Father's living
  
• How you spent your childhood (I would see this broadened out massively in TES compared to the options in M&B...)
  
• How you spent your early advlthood (again, more choice)
  
• Motivation for adventure

I would also like to see different spins on these per race and homeland. A "how you got to Skyrim" sequence would be cool as well.

This is how I would see childhood tutorials done in TES if they were definitely being implemented. If the decision rested with me, though, I'd rather they put all that diversity and effort into the ending of the game rather than the beginning.

Edit: but I still think that we should come back to the present in prison, whether we were imprisoned wrongly, are prisoners of war or are just thieves would be pretty clear from the background story you chose.

As I said, kind of a tradition. Arena and Daggerfall' starts were also set on prisons.

The jail start lets the player fill in their own story. Why are you in jail? What did you do before you got thrown in? Things like that.

It worked in Fallout 3, as the player character's backstory was intrinsic to the main plot, and the relationships that occured in that early time allowed the narrative to have it's emotional touches. HOWEVER, in TES games the PC's backstory is generally your own to make up, and I find it works better that way as TES is more RP friendly. Having an origin forced upon you in TES just doesn't work, especially since many of the RPers on here are very creative, and the backstory that would define their character wouldn't be one that the developers would necessarily think of.

Yeah, we're only the last person capable of saving the world because of our heritage.

Our back story isn't important at all

Considering that I want to continue the story of one of my characters who became the Nerevarine, I'd rather not have this forced on me.

Too long and drawn out.

In Fallout 1 you start out as a guy from the vault, if you die, you start out as the next guy from the vault, and the next, and the next as needed, in Fallout 3 you start out as an infant and have to go through all that hassle every time just to start the game. In Morrowind you get let out on the dock, and in Oblivion you go through all that hassle to escape instead of just having a skip-able opening cinimatic that leaves you at the tunnel door with your mission.

I would not be in favor of starting out as a kid (or in prison ~though it may well be the 'law' of this series :laugh:). So many options available to them, including alternate starts, I would hope the game starts you off at the door to the world, ready to begin... This time make the tutorial something that can be skipped the second time around.

It would be interesting if they used it as a clever way to flesh out our characters starting stats and establish different elements of their background or something. Sure, they already did a scenario where you start out as a kid in Fallout 3-but what if they took it in a more interesting and non-linear direction?

Elder Scrolls is the only RPG that continually starts you out in prison. Countless other open-world RPG's in existence have had you start as a child and I don't want the Elder Scrolls to become the other open-world RPG's.



The reason I still hate that is because it puts words in my mouth before I even have a feel for the game. When a characters background is subject to one's imagination it is open to change and flexibility. When we are forced to choose a background, it pidgeon-holes us into a character archetype that we aren't even sure that we want to play with in the very beginning. I don't know about everyone else here, but when I start a new character I very rarely know their background from the start and instead form their personality and such as I play. I have to ask. Why is it even necessary to have a background? It's not as if anyone you meet in the game will know you. The background feature's only purpose is to disrupt the welfare that the player enjoys while creating their character. If you are that anol about your character having a background then why not formulate one in your head? It's a single-player game, your the only that will know your characters background whether it is pre-chosen or imagined. I do not wish for my and everyone else' characters to be inhibited for a game mechanic that has no use.

Daggerfall didn't start you off in prison. Hah!
And no, I wouldn't want to start off as a kid. But having the option to do so would be great for those that do.

Or beating up three kids who asked for your sweet roll.

To anyone who played Daggerfall for the very first time, Privateers Hold practically was a prison.

No thanks. Best left to the imagination.

I sure hope not.

Start out as a kid? Hell no. Ya restricting how open the PC have in term of background. Having background like these usually comes with appearance of that ya parents or "mentors", already screwing up the "past". I did not like how this was done in Fallout 3 with a whole lot of "caring" ya stupid dad this and dad that.


I call bull on that. Oblivion is the only game that one start out in a Prison. Cut and paste and....




I play it and it does not felt like that. Hell, Daggerfall is arguably the most open intro of the series.

starting out in prison was one of my favorite things i liked about the elderscrolls so i dearly hope we'll start out in prison this time too, even if i was kid.
I love it that much.

But... This is what a role playing game is.
You play the role ~of the character; you play "In Character". The best RPG's that I've played were the ones that fashioned the best character origin and motivation (regardless of actual gameplay).

IMO Oblivion doesn't rank on the list when it comes to this, as the PC has no background at all. Lands of Lore 2 had the PC start in prison as well, but you knew his origins and motivations before you ever got to start playing the game. Characters recognized him, and his past mattered. In Planescape the PC is an amnesiac, but NPC's in the world still remember him, and he learns what kind of person he was, what he did, and decides who he is to become; His goals are clear cut ~a well defined role to play.

**Edit:
When the character has some solid past, it allows the developers to write to it, as a known constant, and IMO this can make the world far more believable and adds depth that you don't get in Gauntlet, or games where the actual personality of the PC doesn't matter.

I'd much rather play as a kid first and make my own history instead of wondering and just using your imagination for your past.

No, it would take too long to grow up so they'll have to split the game in two or more chapters and I don't like that.

It would be nice if Bethesda ever made a serious game where you play as a kid in the TES universe, I'll definitely buy that!
Playing from the perspective of a child is a completely different dynamic, because everything is more powerful than you and advlts never take you seriously or even try to abuse your nativity.

It's the whole vs-the world thing where you have to rely on stealth and trickery to survive that really appeals to me, but I guess a game like that is never going to happen.

I heard something about being " a lowly prisoner unaware of their destiny" from the GameInformer issue. So it sounds like we're a prisoner after all...my hopes are they make it an epic sequence this time.