Hay Bethesda bring on the prison! I get in that prison and I'm starting a new TES game... ya bring on the prison. I'll be out of there in a flash and be on way to explore the world. :hubbahubba:

What are we gonna complain about next... there's no decent food in prison?

I love starting in prison, honestly, TES has the best game beginnings out there. It allows my character to be anybody I want. It also explains why I know nothing about the world, and nobody knows me. It also fits the underdog rising to the occasion cliche everybody loves. Basically, I love it because it allows me to truly be who I want.

Yep!

Prison gives a good excuse for the players abilities. He knows his blades? Boom. Reason for arrest. lockpick? Boom

All the more reason to make that "quickstart" save, just before you step out of the sewers. Load that, activate sewer exit, use "Wanna change anything before you enter the world?" options to make whatever new character you want. Total time in prison zero, total time in tutorial however long it takes to create the character, boom- you're off and running.

There needs to be an 'indifferent' option for question #1.

While its boring, and a bit overused, the prison start serves the purpose well, and can't really be faulted IMO.

Yes to the prison, it is a tradition with TES and I don't want traditions to be broken. We have hashed over this 100 times guys give it a rest. What RPG with any good story telling elements just has you start out the way you want? Even the Witcher forces the story upon you. If you want the game to be lifeless and no story at all then good luck enjoying it.

Id like to start out in the game being walked to your execution. If you ever played call of duty modern warfare (im not starting a cod topic so stop i just like 1 part of the campaign) story mode, you play for a short mission as the president of some middle eastern country and your bound, being beaten, and forceful dragged to a location where your executed. I want something like this except of course you manage to escape. Would be cool if your forced to the gallows and you escape on the platform or if your being led to an axeman to loose your head and you escape. just my opinion though.

Well then have I got some great news for you...

What's wrong with being able to choose where you start? I really liked the origin stories in DA:O, but some people might not be too fond of them. So, I suggest a simpler method. How about just choosing from a list of places where to start? This could include a guild, a small town, or even a prison if you'd like to roleplay such a character. From there, you could choose to explore the world, and the main quest would start from a certain location, which you could visit anytime you wanted, or not at all if you felt so inclined.

This would solve many problems, including the one where people feel like they want to make a character that doesn't want to complete the game, but are compelled to do it for story reasons. To be honest, it felt weird not doing the main quest in Oblivion, since there was such an emphasis on the end of the world about to happen any moment. This would actually give players much more freedom, IMO.

I think it'll run like this:

> You're in jail.

> Guard appears and says "Time for your execution, runt! Thought you could cross over into our land unnoticed?"

> Leads you through a dense crowd of jeering people. You see a platform with the execution block. Standing beside it is the burly executioner with his bigass axe. (I hope we can use something like that as a weapon...)

> Your head is placed on pillar.

> Esbern rescues you somehow.

> Initiate combat tutorial.

> ???

Now you have two choices:

(a) Do what Esbern says and continue with MQ.

(B) Abandon Esbern, forget his plight and do whatever the crap you want.

Looks like I got pretty outvoted here. REALLY you guys want to start in a prison AGAIN? Why, it's bad story telling and pretty boring.

If I were to choose, I would start the game being chased out of a town and up a shallow river to the edge of a waterfall. You have a choice to stand and fight
your pursuer or jump off the edge of the waterfall. After you choose an option Esbern could rescue you (waterfall option) or after you have won the fight, appear and
tell you how impressed he is with your fighting skills.

That's my thoughts on this anyway.

What if there's a glitch and some people get stuck in jail. haha

Really don't see how starting in jail is considered so bad. It's better than starting in a sewer. :hubbahubba:

I think a nifty start to the game would be your siting in a small cell with the infamous Adoring Fan, you have the choice to escape after hearing him say Azura a million times or a guard walks by and hands you a dagger and points to your wrist, (optional if you want to take the easy way out) you can either kill yourself, or out of know where Esbern walks in and smashes the fans head against the wall (OVERKILL) 30 times then rescuing you.

i think people are confusing "starting in prison" with "starting in Oblivion's tutorial". Oblivion's tutorial was the way it was for a very specific reason which i'm surprised so few people seem to understand. in both Arena and Daggerfall you could be out of the starting dungeons in like five minutes flat, and in Morrowind there was no starting dungeon.

Skyrim has no class system or starting skill specialization. you start as a blank slate. you are literally nobody. there's no need to test out your skills, no need to run through a tutorial specifically geared towards finding out what kind of character you want to play.

if the opening lasts longer than Morrowind's i will be genuinely surprised.

Who says we're actually inside a prison cell? Todd only said that we are about to be executed.

Unless you're talking about the general idea of being a prisoner, in which I think it's the best way to start out in order to make your own back story. I honestly can't wait for the beginning of this game

I agree with you, but Oblivion's tutorial story was just cheesy as hell (by chance I am free because the only escape route is in my cell... right). It could have been more action orientated instead of killing a few rats and goblins *yawn*. Morrowind's opening was even more dull and it doesn't really tell you what you can do, while Oblivion's was too long and generic. They need to get it in the middle somewhere. I would love some real action to kick off the game, while still being able to understand and get a feel for the controls/mechanics in a short period of time.

I really don't mind starting in prison, but I think in an ideal TES you should be able to choose where you start from. taking some dev-time to make a couple different openings would be great IMO, although I know it's too late for Skyrim. Even as an unlockable after finishing the original opening would be cool.

examples of the choices...

-Start off in prison (very ambiguous. gives you freedom to make your own backstory) (perhaps make this the "original opening")
-Start off washed up on shore (very ambiguous and you skip any tutorial, main story still finds you however.)
-Start off as a regular citizen (maybe your family is killed by a dragon or something)
-Start off as a begger (humble beginnings)
-Start off waking up in a healers den. (you were found unconscious)

I would mostly like the first two (prison and washed up on shore). prison should be more hand-holding, and washing up should just put you in the world.

It's a waste of dev time. Starting out in prison is fairly unique, and works very well from a story telling stand point. Giving a variety of starts and working those all into the story is just a lot of wasted time.

I loved Morrowind's beginning -- you made your character and then you were let loose upon the world to wreak havoc and destruction! Erm, I mean, to become the Neravarine . . . For me it gave Morrowind that extremely open feel. You were told to go find Caius Cosades and start the main quest, but it didn't seem like it wasn't given the immediacy of Oblivion's main quest. Morrowind was the first time I'd picked up an Elder Scrolls game, and I picked up on things fairly quickly without the tortuous dungeon. I knew everything I needed to know as I walked out of the Census and Excise Office and into the world of Morrowind.

Oblivion's tutorial dungeon was just flat-out obnoxious.