These last couple games they've got a weird idea going that you pay the cop for your crime instead of calling it a bribe. Who are we kidding here? There's not a courthouse or anything like that in Oblivion or Morrowind. Not that you see it in the town of Daggerfall, but you sure as hell see it when you break the law and are caught. This is no kangaroo government they're running in this Elder Scrolls series, they have to bring the judges and courthouse back.

I don't quite get your point. What are you trying to say, bring courthouses back?

100% agree

at the higher levels in Oblivion you were so rich the amount to pay off your 'fine' was pocket money really

bring back the courts so speechcraft can play a better role, and let the Thieves Guild and dark brotherhood work their magic if you are one of them.

I hope that they have gallows in Skyrim, even if they're just there for effect. Nordic society strikes me as more brutal and unforgiving than Cyrodiil.

Get put in the gallows and be saved Pirates of the Caribbean style by the Adoring Fan.

That and make the law mean something. They kinda walk up to you and demand payment like they aren't corrupt. Does that make any sense?

Skyrim seems like a pretty lawless state to be honest and nords don't care for law and order. Thats a fact

They really should just get rid of the "bribe" in Skyrim for all but petty crime.

Commit murder? Either take your chance at court, or prison.

Or continued life as a outlaw. :ph34r:

I hope that for once you can be sentenced to death and if you don't escape within a time period in jail you die by getting hanged or something in front of a crowd and if you escape bounty hunters will be sent after you or something.

Tribals still have law systems, and are actually even less inclined to accept a bribe than a guard

That's no fact, and it's barely an assertion. The nords care deeply about their property rights, and are only lawless in the sense of the current dribblings of the civil war. Magistrates would still hold command over criminal wrongdoing.

It would be pretty cool to be sentenced to death or something.

But knowing gamers, they'd complain about that unique feature. :shakehead:

Nords are drunk fools. There i said it :tongue:

I don't disagree. :mohawk:

I'd like that, and then you'd have to talk your way out, or prove that your worthy to go back into society.
Maybe you could see someone else get sentenced to death, as well. I think that would be pretty rad.


They may be, but they still have laws. And if Skyrim is still part of the Empire, there will most likely be Imperial Guards there too.

And Shades, I understand your idea now, and agree. Paying a fine in Oblivion just seemed a bit weird, I mean, the guard could lie to the count about the bounty and steal some drakes for himself. Or, maybe, if you pay a fine, you have to fill out some forms or something.

The Elder Scrolls V: Accountant

Wait i thought the empire doesn't exist anymore?

Sounds like an overly complicated system that would require lots of work and lots of time to make convincing and realistic. I'm all for realism in games, but there's a point at which you need to step back and think "Isn't this slightly excessive?".

Not really, it was in Daggerfall. You weren't given the choice of paying a fine/bribe, it was either go with the guards where then you could plead guilty or not guilty, if you pleaded Not guilty you would go on trial and depending on your speechcraft (Or it might have been ettiqutte or streetwise) check you were either given a sentence or set free and if you were a part of the thieves guild or DB they would pull a few strings making things slightly easier.

I have no thought of that. It was one easy screen in Daggerfall that let you explain your case according to your methods. I don't think it's a burden to include a courthouse in the major cities.

Right, but that's Daggerfall, if they did it in Skyrim people would be expecting some kind of big courtroom scene with npcs present. Then there's all the choices you have to make to explain yourself, and I don't know it just seems pointless work, because one is always going to land you in prison and the other wont.

I'd much rather just pay the fine, and be done with it. XD

Oblivion was ruled as an empire. An Empire doesn't work the same way our laws work. There is no judge and no jury , if a Guard or "Protector of Empire" Thinks you Broke the law , then you Broke the law. You are a servant to the empire, It isn't democracy ! lol The Emperor could say that eating bread on sundays is illegal and if you got caught then you go to jail or pay a fine for breaking the law. No court system , Unless of course it was a free empire.

That is a good point. XD

And even though there's a council I think the Empire is far from free, Cyrodiil has been doing its best to keep the other provinces under its thumb for quite some time, whether it be Reman, Septim, or whoever else comes after.

I want to see the 'Death Sentence' thing brought back from Morrowind. Get 20-50K on your head and you're wanted for life. The limit in Morrowind was too easy to accidentally reach, but being able to spend 30 seconds going to jail for 90K worth of murders.. Yeah.. No.

There's more types of punishment than prison. Community service, fines, parole, expulsion from town, being branded an outlaw. It's not pointless work to do this, it's really easy work that adds a lot to the gameworld.

So you'd be alright with the guards in the game charging you with murder because they want beer money? We already know there are courts and law, we've had them in the games.

Even if the empire isn't free (how does that matter at all to this conversation?) there has never been a society that had laws without courts. Not even in Tamriel, they just didn't show the court in the latest couple games.

They definitely need a death sentence, and not just guards coming at you with swords for stealing a spoon.