Recently a friend of mine and I were discussing what to expect in Skyrim as we often do and it sparked a debate. We were toying with the idea that perhaps the Skyrim civil war hinted at in the trailer was between a Pro dragon Nordic clan that supports them for promised power and Anti dragon Nordic clans that defend their country from the invading dragons. I doubt the actual story will be very similar to that but in our ramblings my friend mentioned that he would want the option to choose which side to support and have alternate storylines for each side. With his idea effectively the player would have the option to lead the armies of the dragons in their conquest of Skyrim and become the evil Dragon High lord type thing, or Save Skyrim from such a fate by leading a resistance. I said it was a bad idea feeling that it goes against the style of The Elder Scrolls and it would result in a cheapening of the story if they had to create two storylines with such vastly different consequences. But he continued in support of his idea claiming it was possible to keep the series going like that by importing saves to future games and that this kind of alternate ending practice was being employed in other Bethesda games like fallout.

I think it would be a bad idea and out of style for The Elder Scrolls to do something like that, but he makes a good point in saying that it is possible to do and Bethesda has done it in the past. So my question to you is: Would you like having alternate endings in the main quest that would be so diverse that they would require importing saves to future games and have the potential to change the face of Tamerial?

Clearly I'm biased here but I want to here the forum's veiw on this.

If Bethesda can do the continuity in the next games tastefully and artfully, yes. Daggerfall had six or seven possible endings, most of which were mutually exclusive, and they had a hell of a time getting the next games to reference them correctly (that's where the entire idea of a Dragon Break came from, where six mutually exclusive events all become true at the same time, but only partly).

I'm not sure if they can pull off a warp in the north.

Yeah except this time only one ending becomes canon.

I wouldnt mind it if it was just done for my replayability, but not a deterrent from what is to become cannon.

No warp in the North !

I dunno. A lot of games seem to have multiple endings lately, and I'm not enjoying it as much I thought I would. While it does add a lot to replayability, I like being able to accomplish everything in a game, if you know what I mean. Fallout: New Vegas (for example) has a lot of replayability, but the many different paths was a bit too much in my opinion. I really don't want to play through the game six or seven times, just to see each basic ending. There is such a thing as too much choice, in my opinion.

So perhaps... I'd like to see a single ending, but with certain smaller aspects that differ based on your choices throughout the main quest. The fate of individual characters, and perhaps locations, artifacts and factions; but a consistent plot resolution. That would have the benefit of making establishing continuity a heck of a lot easier too.

You know that there is an option to where you could save before the decision of which path to take in New Vegas and save and reload to see each decision play out? After all the decision isn't that far from the endgame.

If they had alternative endings it could affect the outcome of TES: VI

If would be nice to have more than one ending. A civil war gives the opportunity for a fork in the road.

Multiple ends only work when there is no sequel to follow, like Heavy Rain, that worked because there will no sequel. But I remember playing Resident Evil, the multiple ends confused me and the ends I got never coincided with the official story. So A single ending would be the best for the game. I just hope they make it so that you can continue playing after the main quest, because that annoyed me in Fallout 3.

I'd love a faction that lets you set up a new ruling monarch or something with you or another as the king maybe. Break away from Imperial rule and worship and all that.

I think Factions should have alternate endings, but not the Main Story line. Maybe at best different paths to approach the Main Story line.

Yes, but not to a huge extent so they can continue the story in the future.
Perhaps just different rewards from finishing the main quest. also the main quest not being as linear

(p.s. does all these threads about what we want in the game going to have any effect? seeing that the game's development is this far along...)

This is pretty good. The MQ is likely to be epic enough to keep you interested regardless of the path. I highly doubt alternate endings, including warp in the north.