Anyone know or heard if we will be starting out from a prison cell again?
With the exception of Battlespire, I believe every ES game started us off in a prison cell/prison ship. Is this still going to be the case? If not, I would really love to see some kind of pre-story "options". Maybe you were an argonian/khajit slave escaping across the border into Skyrim from Morrowind...

Of course, all of these would be based on race, or just a choice you could select before you start. I wouldn't mind a little variation in starting. I really enjoyed the "origin" stories in Dragon Age that let you define yourself a bit when you weren't the glory-seeking adventurer yet.

i like the prisoner thing its tradition.. and morroind wasn't in a cell, but a boat

The whole pre-story thing in Dragon Age really made me get bored of the game faster. I am happy to keep the prison thing its something that every TES game has had I'm pretty sure.

Imperial policy I'm afraid. Being a hero is against the law until they need you.

I mean what would've happened if the Nerevarine was a free man and on holiday to Summerset Isle?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUUY8J7-NJg

It is a tradition and will stay as so :mohawk:

I loved the prison thing...but I kinda liked (one of only a few things) how NV did it, to where the tutorial was open-ended, and the player-every motherloving time you played through-had to go about it the same way. Im definitely up for a tutorial level that is more open-ened to where there is a certain bit that you get, but it is up to you what order. I hope the devs can do something like that but also mix in the prison theme that we have all come to know and love! :tops:

@ Alois Hammer

Source of the spoiler? I'm not disputing the information I just want to read up on it

We will be a prisoner. In a cell or some other place, but a prisoner.

I doubt our crime will be known, maybe it will mayhaps it won't.
If it is then it may force some to take sides from the start, especially if ( I mean if ) the games MQ is more linear.
If the are just two GEN sides to pick from, knowing why and who is trying to execute you will be the same as above.

If it just leaves events up to it completely blank, I see more gamers being happy in the long run.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1163115-skyrim-italian-coverage/

I'll be willing to bet my left.... *ahem* toe. Prision/Imprisoned start! =P

Could have sworn I read somewhere we will be a prisoner about to be executed..maybe I'm just imagining it.

I'm the opposite. I utterly cannot stand the prison thing and I loved the pre-story in Dragon Age because they were different depending on your class. That's how I wish TESV would start; giving you different beginnings depending on your character. But to each his/her own.

Not all ES games start you as a prisoner. Besides Battlespire, in the main series Daggerfall started you as a personal friend of the emperor and his envoy to Daggerfall who gets shipwrecked.

Or maybe you're not:

I sure hope so...it's tradition now and I'm working on a backstory about why my character is imprisoned.

Todd Howard said that you would in a Podcast. He called it a tradition.

Personally, I don't mind, but I kinda wish they gave you the option to say something that gave everyone in the game an idea about what you did. Like say you were transferred to Skyrim, it would explain your unfamiliarity with it ( unless you play through again and they give you the option ), and you had a cellmate that asked you what your crime was. Maybe something specific, or specific with a vague quality to it. You could even have the option to be like, "None of your business." if you didn't want to get into it. But if you did you'd be reward with hearing rumors from people in game from places you've visited. Especially if you escaped and your cellmate was out there blabbing.

I think that would be pretty neat.

Ahem, so yes. Yes, you start as a prisoner.

It would've been nice though to have something different. Like you go through the border on a Caravan, where you say you're a guard/traveler/etc and establish yourself there. Maybe even get attacked by a Dragon during the entrance of the game (not necessarily fight it, just getting things sorted there).

I actually like the prisoner thing.

Like Todd said, it fuels the imagination and you begin to create the story of why your character ended up in prison in the first place. What did he or she do to make it worthy of being beheaded? If he or she did anything at all that is.

I'm already trying to create some lore behind my character(s).

If you didn't listen to the podcast yet (or read the other cool things about Skyrim) then check this page: http://www.gameinformer.com/p/esv.aspx.

nah we skip the cell we start with the looming threat of the executioners axe