Personally I'm hoping for something like the assassin's creed finishers, where you just get a different animation for the blow that actually kills your opponent, like a throat slice, head bash, or thrusting your blade into the guy's chest. Looks cool and it doesn't overdo it.

I guess it depends on how it works.
I don't want slow-down moves or cinematics for this.
and when would it happen? hopefully not for every single kill.

Overdoing it! That's what I was thinking of. I really hope they don't over do it

It can be good, as long as the finishing moves:

1) AREN'T in slow-motion.
2) DOESN'T force you to go into some kind of automatic V.A.T.S (like in third-person) while you do it.

If one of these above features are implemented, I probably won't buy the game until there's a mod that gets rid of it. I would hate it that much

Edit: What I would want is something like... hm. Something like, when the enemy is down on the ground, you can do this finishing move, and thrust the weapon deep into his/her chest, killing instantly. All done in 1st person (or 3rd person if you're using that) and in real-time.

No point in having finishing moves if the amount of different versions isn't large.

These finishing moves probably aren't as big as you think. I think stealth kills with daggers will be fun. But as for finishing moves dont expect fable or assassins creed that would be way out there and unnecessary. I'm guessing Ull be able to learn different moves such as spinning attacks or over head strikes but it will all be in context of the fight. That's at least what I'm hoping.

Yeah, like you swing the sword to the side in one big sweep as you would during combat and chop a guy's head off. He'd have fallen down on his knees at this point so he'd be right in line for it. Or jab him in the chest.

This brings up an alternative option though. If we beat our opponents into submission, then can we simply walk away without killing them? Now that would be an interesting finisher. Especially if you bumped into them limping around on the street days later in bandages. How awkward would that be?

you: Oh, uh, hey.
bandit: Oh, i uh didn't see you there.
you: yeah, well i had my cloaking spell on.
bandit: yeah... *cough*
...
you: so how's the sword gash?
bandit: i uh... lost a thumb.
you: ah...
...
you: well i better be off.

If it's like in Dark Messiah. But with a larger variety of finishing moves, I'll be very happy.
They used slow motion very well in that game, I think.

When they mentioned finishing moves I was physced about that.

I can guarantee you Skyrim will closely resemble Oblivion more than Dark Messiah. What will noticeably be different is the pace of combat, the brutality, and some improvements to the system (Finishing moves for melee, potential one hit kills for archers, manipulating elements differently with magic, shield bashing with more staggering (shaky camera), option to wield anything in both hands, etc). As the article put it well, Skyrim is an evolution for TES, not a revolution. There will be significant improvements to the overall game, but they won't be so significant that they are foreign to Oblivion gamers.

I know, I was just referring to the finishing moves.

They could learn something from dark messiah, when it comes to dagger assassinations. Those animations were awesome!

Just not interested in finishing moves one little bit. I want a great RPG, not street fighter.

Why don't they concentrate more on what the fans want?! I would rather they spent the time they are spending on this, on something like including Spears, remodelling fast travel or changing the compass so every mission isn't super easy.

I′d like these, yes, as many as possible,one for each weapon/enemy, but as an option, not an automatic feature.

Honestly I'm not really into the whoel finishing moves thing...I guess I'll have to try it to be able to judge it but right now I'm quite sceptic about this.