There's tons of great ideas that...just didn't make it into the game. Five years sounds like a long time but really, when taking into account all the detail in this game, I'm surprised they were able to cram as much in as they did. This sounds like a good way to get people to create new characters as well, it's just a question of time and how much they'll have for the next installment.

Without prior knowledge of the game, most people are going to meet with the person for help and supplies not knowing it puts them on the fast track to saving the world. Morrowind was better because you're actually told to go out and gain more experience and resources by Caius before progressing. In Skyrim, once you talk to the Jarl, he for some reason decides to give this random messenger a dangerous mission into a mysterious dungeon. It's like the Jarl knows you're the main character already.

Amnesia is terrible - from an Open backstory, you get No backstory.

Want to know why the Tavern is such a popular start for adventure? Because it's the most believable. Taverns are places where people go to socialize and hear the news of the day. Occasionally, something provokes a group of patrons to take an action. In the U.S., "adventures" usually amount to egging cars in a parking lot, or having a party next door. However, in a dangerous Fantasy setting where laws don't regulate every hour of a person's life, you're able to spend an evening bashing skulls at a nearby ruin instead of roasting marshmallows.

Sorry, nah. They tried to "flesh out" the main characters back story in Dragon Age 2 and the results were terrible. Felt like I was on rails with a character I didn't care about/wasn't interested in.

Personally I thought it was a nice little tradition they have for elder scrolls games. I can see how it can ruin some RP though.

It's TES tradition. I think we should keep it. I like it. It's not like it's the exact same thing every time.

I rather like the prisoner intro although i also liked fallout where you "grew up" in the beginning of the game. The prisoner intro should stay though.

I hope I don't need to reference where I'm quoting this from, but Todd Howard stated multiple times that this is specifically a tradition that he and the other developers intend to keep. Indifinitely. Because it's a neat little tradition that grants flexibility of roleplaying in a roleplaying game. If they removed this specific feature, I'd be pretty sad, actually. I've already made six characters who are all completely different from each other in a roleplaying-sense. The cutt-throat greedy bosmer theif, the honorable nord berserker, the introverted and inquisitive Altmer mage, etc .. yet despite the fact the begining of the game was the exact same for all of them, I always had this idea in mind for what kind of person they were.

I would litereally make it up in my head on the spot as the wagon first started moving toward Helgen. A Nord interested in joining the Stormcloaks kills a squad of Imperial soldiers, a theif gets caught stealing from an imperial caravan, an Altmer mage stands accused of horribly burning some poor farmer dude with magic despite it being a dragon that did it. Then once I have that first bit of my mentality going, the roleplaying begins. A crazy dragon shows up and starts torching the town, and everything is music from that point forward.

All my characters have a fondness for mud Crabs though, mysteriously. Possibly because they are succulent and delicious.

There was no prisoner in Daggerfall, and Daggerfall's debut was great. (although I'll never understand how a shipwreck can lead you to wake up in the middle of a Daggerfall-esque dungeon... especially when said dungeon is still dry and inhabited)

Even if your main quest is already stated before the game starts in a video introduction featuring the Emperor and Ocata themselves, you can't do anything because you don't know anything.

You start the main quest with something as simple as receiving letters, both asking you to meet the sender.
The first one (who will contact you a short while after you resurface) is a fellow imperial agent who will give you nothing more than background on the main quest. The second one (who will only contact you once reached a certain level) knows your (secret) mission and proposes to help you in exchange for a favor...

I really liked that. It's only later that I got completely lost ...

Privateer Hold is on the coast. What happened is you washed into a cave, that collapsed behind you (apparently). The cave was inhabited with Pirates, Undead, Wild Animals, and [censored] IMPS!

I understand the roleplay problem if you start a revenge story but do you honestly play peaceful? How does one peacefully slay dragons?

I'm no writer or lore historian but they could tell a tale other then the destined hero. I want to choose whether to be the guy who saves the world or burns it. I also would love to rule a area for once and be able to take it by force if needed

But, if you're not a destined hero, your exploits would not be worthy of being recorded in the Elder Scrolls...

Probably cause it makes their sequel planning a nuisance (see the Daggerfall ending mess).

The issue with the Prisoner thing is a)You're probably an evil bastard that nobody in their right mind should trust with anything. and/or b)You'll want revenge on your captors and whoever put you there. and/or c)You've been falsely accused and will want oyur name cleared (or .

Its a background story element thats forced onto you, but never followed up on in any way. Skyrim coming the closest in letting you run off to fight the Empire if you want.

If they really wanted to keep it, they could have you captured by some unimportant third party (bandits or whatever) who're wrapped up in the tutorial effort and avoid the issue therein.

It's a trademark, and there are going to be plenty of alternate start mods.

I don't think you grasp what TES is really all about if you think the point is to "win".
The only TES game I ever "won" was Arena.

I played Oblivion or 5 years and closed 1 gate the entire time.
Go to the Oblivion forums right now. Many are still playing and have never completed, let alone statred, he main quest.

I have 3 characters in Skyrim that have not yet spoken to the jarl of Whiterun to activate he main quest. I doubt they ever will.

TES is not about maxing out your character and it's not about winning. It's about becoming a part of the world that Bethesda created.

The main quest in these games is just something to give you a goal. One of several.

Well, at least Oblivion was open enough that you might have just been in jail for a day or two for hitting the ale too hard one day...

If we didn't have prisoner to hero where would St. Jiub be today???

Sorry, but I think you're mistaken. Simply put, the POINT of the game is to complete the main quest and save the world. That was why it was created.

Yes, the main quest resides in a sandbox world, where the player can choose whether or not they complete the game. That doesn't make it the point of the game. Don't you wonder why they added sawmills, but you can't own one? You can 'invest' in a business, but can't run one yourself? There are farms and windmills and meadaries, but you can't operate them? Because everything in the game is designed to offer you progression towards completing the main quest. You can take 'jobs' if you choose to not dungeon dive and live a more mundane life...but the point of that is to give you money to progress in the game. You are offered 'work' by the Jarls in the towns...so you have money and gear to progress the main quest.

Everything offered to you in the game is there to give you an option, a playstyle, an immersive RP experience...to win the game.

I've got over 2000 hours in Morrowind and almost half that in Oblivion. I think I know how a TES game works.

You are in a cart with people who were 'rounded up' at the border of Skyrim. That doesn't make you a criminal. It makes you an unlucky person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You don't have to be a criminal, you don't have to be evil, and you don't have to be seeking revenge. I feel that the opening of Skyrim was one of the best introductions Bethesda has given us. Not only do we have a more open interpretation of the events, we are given a ton of backstory in just a few minutes of interaction- we learn that Ulfric killed the high king, that he's leading a rebellion, and that the townspeople are torn on who to support, judging on the conflicting shouts from the crowd as the wagon rolls in. It was handled beautifully.

It doesn't matter what you try to come up with, The Simpsons have already done it.

Exactly, Blackwyrm. Exactly.

Well, not MUCH shorter, if at all - but you could 'escape' out of most of the intro in Oblivion, and that seems not possible in Skyrim.

Oblivions intro was completely optional after the first time, and you could do a lot more in it (ie. not running around tied up for most of it.

That was because Daggerfall had multiple endings and Bethesda tried to cop out by saying everyone of them counts. Thus; mess.

A complex story doesn't need multiple endings to seem complex.

I have very ltitle bad to say about beth in general or TES in particular ! On this occasion though I happen to agree with you. If it isn't broke don't fix it - i.e. Change for the sake of change displeases me no end. Prisoner to hero is getting a little stale as are much other game openings.

Hope for the next in the series they think outside of the box and come up with a totally new concept.
What that would be ! I have no idea, But fresh ideas are almost always welcomed.

I am also a firm believer that beth do listen to the fans unlike some others.