Locked in prison!

[Doctor Meaticus]

WHAT? Beginning on a farm wouldn't work? Anyone ever played 'Dungeon Siege'? Not any of it's awful sequels or expansions but just plain ol' Dungeon Siege? A beginning like that would sit just fine with me - it would be put into Skyrim's context of course, but you get the idea.

Here's my idea - the game begins on your farm in a small rural community. You are taught the rudimentary controls by going about a regular day of farm life. Perhaps you wake up at the beginning of the tutorial, and it gives you the low down on the sleeping system. Then you head out to get yourself some breakfast and it tells you about ingredients and their alchemical properties when eaten. You find your food stores are mostly empty, so you are told to grab a knife, head outside and put one of your animals to the slaughter. Maybe the angry cow/pig/chicken isn't going down without a fight, and you are taught how to block and fight. After the fight, you are taught how to heal your wounds with basic magic or alchemy. Then some birds or other pests get into your crops and you've gotta scare 'em away by picking a few off with your bow.

So this kind of thing continues until your neighbor approaches you with some terrible news that forces you to leave the farm or something along those lines. OR, alternatively, you are given the option to skip the tutorial when you first wake up, and your neighbor approaches you as soon as you leave your house.

[KalleFlaxx]

I guess that would work... But I'd prefer a more action filled beginning. I want stuff to happen. Going through a day on a farm sounds a bit boring, I'd rather get thrown into the action at once, a bit like in Oblivion.

[DorostheConqueror]

WHAT? Beginning on a farm wouldn't work? Anyone ever played 'Dungeon Siege'? Not any of it's awful sequels or expansions but just plain ol' Dungeon Siege? A beginning like that would sit just fine with me - it would be put into Skyrim's context of course, but you get the idea.

But I'm no farmer! At least, not until my fourth or fifth playthrough as Hans Grumbleman the Twelfth.

Here's my idea - the game begins on your farm in a small rural community. You are taught the rudimentary controls by going about a regular day of farm life. Perhaps you wake up at the beginning of the tutorial, and it gives you the low down on the sleeping system. Then you head out to get yourself some breakfast and it tells you about ingredients and their alchemical properties when eaten. You find your food stores are mostly empty, so you are told to grab a knife, head outside and put one of your animals to the slaughter. Maybe the angry cow/pig/chicken isn't going down without a fight, and you are taught how to block and fight. After the fight, you are taught how to heal your wounds with basic magic or alchemy. Then some birds or other pests get into your crops and you've gotta scare 'em away by picking a few off with your bow.

So this kind of thing continues until your neighbor approaches you with some terrible news that forces you to leave the farm or something along those lines. OR, alternatively, you are given the option to skip the tutorial when you first wake up, and your neighbor approaches you as soon as you leave your house.

See, no, that still wouldn't work. What if I didn't want to use spells? The game forces me to learn? Or what if I want to use all spells? When did I have the time to become a studious git while working on a farm? What if I want to be a spoiled rich kid, a former page, a Black Horse Courier delivery boy, a Nordic sea raider, an itinerant skooma addict, a highly intelligent Slaughterfish disguised an elf? What if I want to be a sneaky character, where in my farm boy upbringing did I get the opportunity to hone my lockpicking, goods appraising, and assassination skills? What if I want to be a wild barbarian hunter, a born woodsman and axe wielding savage just now coming to civilization? What if I'm a dainty lady in waiting? Farmwork will ruin my soft hands! And as a Khajit hippie pacifist, oh, forget it. I'm not slaughtering ANY animal, that'd be, like, wrong, maaaan!

No, no, no, stick me in prison and leave the past to me. Nice, easy, and SO much better.

[KalleFlaxx]

I have to say I agree with Doros here. Not all characters can be fit into the role of a farmhand or something. Prison, on the other hand, is a place where anyone can go. Maybe you're a thief who deserves to be there, maybe you're an "intelligent Slaughterfish disguised as an elf" (that one made me laugh, BTW ), who was thrown there because he didn't know about the customs in the towns, maybe you're a nobleman who was wrongly accused of a crime.
Can be anything.

[The Dog Whisperer]

Prison isn't the only way to have a blank slate-past, though.
What I was talking about on the previous page (Or the one before it, I forget) was multiple starting points, all without set pasts.
That way I don't have to work in a reason for being in prison. (And yes, I could pretend I never went to prison, but the same can be said for any starting point)
If there's other options available I can make something more plausible for my goody two shoes character, who would never do anything to get thrown into jail, rather than inventing some kind of fraud/mistake.

You could really have anything, though.
Not making a story is a lot easier than making one.

[DorostheConqueror]

Prison isn't the only way to have a blank slate-past, though.
What I was talking about on the previous page (Or the one before it, I forget) was multiple starting points, all without set pasts.
That way I don't have to work in a reason for being in prison. (And yes, I could pretend I never went to prison, but the same can be said for any starting point)
If there's other options available I can make something more plausible for my goody two shoes character, who would never do anything to get thrown into jail, rather than inventing some kind of fraud/mistake.

You could really have anything, though.
Not making a story is a lot easier than making one.

Optional starting scenarios are a good idea, as long as none of them are strictly mandatory (wizard classes NEED to begin in Hogwarts!) and at least one of them leaves you with a totally blank slate. I had a shortlived Oblivion character, Goody No-Crimes, who couldn't commit crimes (duuurrr). Explaining why he was in prison in the first place was kind of awkward.

[Avron the S'wit]

How about this? You boot up the game, create your character, and the very first thing you see as it loads up is... a giant cloud of Skyrim Cliffracers. I mean, really, just an insane amount of Cliffracers, bearing down on you. And that's the intro, a huge, pointless battle against a squawking cloud of Cliffracers.

Yes. I mean, there truly is nothing to say to this other than yes. Maybe "hell yes" would suffice. How has no one yet applauded this bit of genius?

Ahem.

Optional starting scenarios are a good idea, as long as none of them are strictly mandatory (wizard classes NEED to begin in Hogwarts!) and at least one of them leaves you with a totally blank slate. I had a shortlived Oblivion character, Goody No-Crimes, who couldn't commit crimes (duuurrr). Explaining why he was in prison in the first place was kind of awkward.

This is why I dislike the prison scenario so much. Although, granted, with how crazy the Imperial guards are, it is believable that a good character could get thrown into prison for a mistake. But creating a good and believable backstory for a good-natured character? Now that takes some real creativity. It is possible, however. In fact, I'm sure there are dozens of great ones people here and everywhere have dreamt up.

Still, variety is the spice of life. I still think there are other options for beginnings that wouldn't impose a backstory on you (for which this series is rather good at avoiding) without having you escape or be released from the slammer. I always thought it was strange and sad that the Septims were always relying on seemingly quite shady or crazy folk to do their dirty work... Seriously, Uriel, your dreams and plans were a bit whack in that regard.

[Kestral]

Whatever it is make it short and sweet. Not long and drawn out like Fallout 3 or Oblivion. But quick and effective like New Vegas.

[DaKizmasta]

I don't care how it starts as long as it DOESN'T start at a damn Jail/dungeon. I hope they make it all new and exciting and not boring every time you start another playthrough

[DorostheConqueror]

How about this? You boot up the game, create your character, and the very first thing you see as it loads up is... a giant cloud of Skyrim Cliffracers. I mean, really, just an insane amount of Cliffracers, bearing down on you. And that's the intro, a huge, pointless battle against a squawking cloud of Cliffracers.

Yes. I mean, there truly is nothing to say to this other than yes. Maybe "hell yes" would suffice. How has no one yet applauded this bit of genius?

Ahem.

Optional starting scenarios are a good idea, as long as none of them are strictly mandatory (wizard classes NEED to begin in Hogwarts!) and at least one of them leaves you with a totally blank slate. I had a shortlived Oblivion character, Goody No-Crimes, who couldn't commit crimes (duuurrr). Explaining why he was in prison in the first place was kind of awkward.

This is why I dislike the prison scenario so much. Although, granted, with how crazy the Imperial guards are, it is believable that a good character could get thrown into prison for a mistake. But creating a good and believable backstory for a good-natured character? Now that takes some real creativity. It is possible, however. In fact, I'm sure there are dozens of great ones people here and everywhere have dreamt up.

Still, variety is the spice of life. I still think there are other options for beginnings that wouldn't impose a backstory on you (for which this series is rather good at avoiding) without having you escape or be released from the slammer. I always thought it was strange and sad that the Septims were always relying on seemingly quite shady or crazy folk to do their dirty work... Seriously, Uriel, your dreams and plans were a bit whack in that regard.

Most of my characters deserved to be there. Some of them were a bit of a stretch (Runs-Around-Naked was arrested for streaking, Konstantinos was arrested for being a child in Oblivion) and a couple were framed and/or wrongfully imprisoned (Goody went to prison for a crime he didn't commit, but he chose not to complain to the arresting officers since he was too much of a stickler for law and order).

And yes, Uriel was a crackpot, especially seeing how 90% of the time I simply ignored Martin and the amulet completely and spent the rest of the game accumulating money and murdering people. Great judge of character!

[azuarc]

* You discovered that a Dark Brotherhood operative was contracted to kill you.

Not possible. I quote:

Tenet 5: Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.

The intro has got to be fully open ended and vague to appease us roleplayers. Starting us on a farm wouldn't work, since that'd lock us in to a "farmer" background at least in the near past, and who wants that? Starting outside of Skyrim wouldn't work, either, because what if we want to be a native? My main characters in Morrowind and Oblivion were both Skyrim Nords, and I'll be damned if I'm forced to play a skraeling now that we're finally "coming home"!

You have to JOIN the Dark Brotherhood first. If the only whine that someone can come up with is that they couldn't have already been a DB member in their pre-Skyrim past, then I'm fine with that. And we can always change the assailant to something else. Yes, when you are level 1, a hired assassin should be able to get the better of you. Besides, maybe that character represents one of the primary antagonists in the main quest. Don't like that? Fine, then you broke the tenets yourself, and are fair game to the other members. Grats, now you're an ex-DB member.

Either way, my two ideas were that you would be on the edge of Skyrim. If you were an outsider, you just entered. If you were a Skyrim citizen, you're on the outskirts of it now.

[OblivionNewtonJohn]

Maybe you could wake up on the equivalent of a Nord operating table.

[Kestral]

Maybe you could wake up on the equivalent of a Nord operating table.

Also known as "dinner table."

[The Dog Whisperer]

I thought that was the Bosmer.

[Stendarr]

I'm with the others in that a cell is a must.
It's like, tradition!

This. What, starting an ES game without getting called by the Emperor from prison? Nonsense. Maybe not escaping prison, but at least coming from it or maybe getting caught by a gang of Nords who wants independence, and then getting rescued by a bunch of Nords from the other side of the civil war who works with the Emperor and need you for something important.

[Incarnal]

I'm betting it will be similar, but notably different from the other prison beginnings.

Maybe you'll be the jailer!

[Mattbott]

I don't care how it starts as long as it DOESN'T start at a damn Jail/dungeon. I hope they make it all new and exciting and not boring every time you start another playthrough

1 play tutorial

2 save just before the game lets you into the real world. They always allow you to totally remake your character at this point

3 start your character and have fun

4 when you want to start new character reload save from stage 2 and completely re change your character to the new one

5 enjoy having multiple characters having only had to go through the tutorial once

you could wake staked out on the rocks at night, waiting for the tide to drown you. That's different and nordic.. someone or something can then rescue you

[Hadrianus]

I want to arrive by ship, so I can continue on with my character in Oblivion

[Mattbott]

I want to arrive by ship, so I can continue on with my character in Oblivion

nice idea, that

[Playcircus]

Coming back from war after being drafted.

Leaving the hospital after a lengthy, undisclosed illness.

Attending a ritzy academy on a minority-scholarship.

Released from a spell that trapped you for hundreds of years.

Taken as a slave to work on a ship that crashes on the coast, allowing you to escape.

But, starting in prison again would be fine with me.

[KalleFlaxx]

Leaving the hospital after a lengthy, undisclosed illness.

Hmm... Why haven't I thought of that before? That could actually work.

Released from a spell that trapped you for hundreds of years.

Well, that doesn't work, however. That doesn't let you think up any background you want for your character.

[Avron the S'wit]

Maybe you'll be the jailer!

Now that would be something ironic and amusing! Not much room for a wide open background, though, but I like it!

[Hadrianus]

Well we can forget about the 'background' of our characters if we have to be the Dragon Born....

[PinballWizard]

I seem to remember being on a boat in the beginning of Morrowind. Yeah, and the emperor commissions your release. That's kinda backwards if you're a hardcore morag-tong ex-ashlander barbarian psychomaniac who just wants to bash skulls in with big hammers and the guards are smiling and waving goodbye as you run out into god knows where. But it makes sense since the emperor wants you to fulfill the prophecies. Then oblivion makes it so that your goody two-shoes paladin perfect prince charming that's bursting with good moral has committed a crime. I thought it was kinda funny that Morrowind's storyline is centered around you working for the emperor, but then oblivion you're just sitting in prison and the emperor walks in and is all "Oh! Hello, I saw you in my dreams. I know that I'm going to die by assassination and since you're just hangin' out and looking all menacing, why don't you tag along? You won't kill me!"
~ Joking aside though, Oblivion's beginning is well woven into the story. I genuinely enjoyed how it introduces your character, even if he is a expressionless mute that says edgy things only when in deep conversation. I like that anyone can fill the role of oblivion's main character, and that both a thief and a paladin could be seen saying the dialogue choices or killing the traitor, etc. but you aren't presented with many choices on how you want to develop your character (and I don't mean leveling blade to 100, I mean like personality, substance). Hopefully ESV will pick up on this. One of the big things in RPG games is choices. Do you sneak around the guards, slit his throat, or bash 'em with a hammer. Do you kill the widow that's drowning in her own grief or walk away. Be rude and angry to the shopkeeper or tip him and tell him you like his prices. You guys get what I'm saying? This is all it takes to turn an elder scrolls game into a full-fledged rpg instead of action rpg - Finding a cave, killing everything that moves (and not having any other choice), and taking home a few pieces of treasure doesn't help develop my character as much as slipping in and grabbing the treasure then popping out the back door. Don't get me wrong, I love oblivion, but this is the main flaw I've seen in the game. There isn't enough choices.

I'd like to see something really creative for ESV's beginning, especially considering the setting of Skyrim. Pinned down in the throat of the world, although that lends itself to be more of an action game and not really Bethesda's style. Granted, you'll probably visit the throat of the world in the storyline, but I suspect something a bit more subtle, like an event marking a new line of emperors with a crowning ceremony, then nords splitting open their stomachs and spilling their guts and releasing these crazy new beasts that the wiki talks about, in which case the blades rush in and you're somehow rushed into the same safety as the new emperor, and then become involved in their efforts, yadda yadda - similar storyline to oblivion really. I actually hope they don't use what I just said. From that poem on the front page of the wiki, ESV sounds similar to ESIV to be honest.

"Their defeat was merely delay" - Seriously...? Don't tell me that Daedra, clannfears, and deadroths are going to start popping up again. I've had more than enough of those things. A lot of characters I used to make when I played oblivion never delivered the amulet because those stupid oblivion gates would pop up ever other cell and get in the way. I hope that there's no daedra whatsoever in ESV to be honest. Or actually, I hope there's no massive army of demons. Something like morrowind's storyline. No constant killing things over and over again. No demon / daedric lord that wants to avenge Mehrunes Dagon, nothing like Mehrunes Dagon's plane of oblivion, something fresh and new and cutting edge. That's what I want from ESV.

[Dark Spark]

..."Their defeat was merely delay" - Seriously...? Don't tell me that Daedra, clannfears, and deadroths are going to start popping up again. I've had more than enough of those things. A lot of characters I used to make when I played oblivion never delivered the amulet because those stupid oblivion gates would pop up ever other cell and get in the way. I hope that there's no daedra whatsoever in ESV to be honest. Or actually, I hope there's no massive army of demons. Something like morrowind's storyline. No constant killing things over and over again. No demon / daedric lord that wants to avenge Mehrunes Dagon, nothing like Mehrunes Dagon's plane of oblivion, something fresh and new and cutting edge. That's what I want from ESV.

Bear in mind, the Daedra are not the only ones who have attempted an invasion.

I've always thought that crawling out from under a rock (a cave is simply a crack in a really big rock, no?) would be a sufficiently ambiguous start. If you're evil, you're there fleeing from justice. If you're innocent, you're there fleeing from injustice. If you're adventurous, it was a rest stop on a greater journey. If you're desperate, it was a temporary refuge. If you're wealthy, it was a fluke streak of bad luck. If you're poor, it's your daily routine.