Should there be alternate endings to the game determined by how you did the main quest line? For example if you were an evil character then it would end bad, and vice versa. Leave a comment on how you think it should work. Vote also <3

It's only the main quest. I am not being flippant, it's just I assume the guild/faction quests will be more interesting, and would prefer your actions in these to alter the nature of the guilds, whereas the main quest is usually save the world, or die trying.

Alternate endings would be good if they were all done well. Mostly I'd like to see the ending have an effect in other areas (guilds/factions).

Im pretty sure i heard a while back that this wont happen. I would have no idea wear to source that, but it just seems to be sitting in the back of my head as something Todd has said. Personally, the main quest itself seems to be too much Do or Die to have an alternate ending. Your meant to play the game forever after the main quest, so if Alduin ends up consuming the world, doesnt sounds like there will be much of Skyrim left to play on.

Considering you either support the rebels or the empire (NCR or Legion), there will likely be an alternate ending like Fallout: NV.

I don't know what to think about the main quest to be honest,as regards mulitple endings. I'd probably say no to mulitple endings,but i'm not fully closed to the idea.
I agree with zen though,the faction quests do hold alot of interest.I can't wait to see what they are doing regarding this in skyrim. And who knows,maybe one of/or more of the factions could play a part in the main quest.

The problem with alternate endings is, which one do you assume is canonical for the next game? With the case of Daggerfall, they had to assume all of them were canon, so they had a Dragon Break where all of them happened at once. That causes a lot of confusion and is something that should be avoided unless they have to have one to explain something.

I say no, stick with one ending.

They would have to include the book 'The Warp in the North' in Elder Scrolls VI.

Alternate endings, no. There's no distinction between good or bad in the main quest's ending. Either you beat off Alduin and become a hero or you let him eat the world and everything (including you) disappears. Unless your character is a complete psychopath (which isn't true evil) then you bet you'll be saving the world. It's up to you to roleplay that as being a heroic or selfish act.

If they wanted to add the chance of failure and have it be an actual permanent decision rather than "You Lose, Reload", they could always claim that Alduin eats the world, the world is reborn, and as luck would have it everything leading up to Alduin's return happens the same way, except this time around the hero beats Alduin. Too messy though.

Within the main quest, there better be some variety. And no "Fetch me some Aedra blood" quests either.

Yes, alternate endings can work in this case. The obvious one would be that after you defeat the dragons, either the Empire or the Nords take control of Skyrim depending on your actions throughout the main quests.

Long as they can work it into lore for future games, and not in some weird way like daggerfall

I vote yes.



Not really. If the alternate endings were something behind the scenes and not recorded in history it wouldn't be a problem.

For the main quest to have alternative endings we would probably need another dragon break to make it fit with the next installment.
That is probably not going to happen.

But I would love different possible endings for guild quest lines. Morrowind had that. You could side with the thieves guild, the fighters guild, or you could eradicate the Camonna Tong influence and reconcile the two.
Depending on wich Great House you chose, that house got more powerful compared to its rivals.
And there was the Mages guild/ House Telvanni rivalry.

Skyrim is going to be set in a world on the verge of a civil war, the old empire is gone. I think there will likely be opposing factions to choose, and that allows for choices on who gets to win.

How could that happen though? The main quest is stopping Alduin from eating the world. How many alternate endings could there really be? I can't even think of one way to do that, let alone multiple ones. I think if they did come up with more than one, it would cheapen the feat of stopping him if it could have been done in so many different ways.

Nay, thy idea be confusing and annoying.

Try reading my post?

Hmmm, this is a tricky one. I don't really think there should be "Multiple Endings" if the ending is the end of the world. I'd be more receptive to a branching path to the same conclusion, sort of like Mass Effect. At the end of the game(s) you're still saving the galaxy, just how that comes about is vastly different.

Alternate endings can't work, because of a canon storyline for the next game, as Velorien has already said. It simply wouldn't work.

Exactly thats the the main thing about this, i doubt the player will have a major roll in the civil war, i have a feeling we unite the Nords to support the Empire, so no alternate endings it conflicts with the lore extremely, also this is not Fallout.

I read your post, and that idea would dramatically change history based on the outcome. What do they do in the next game for who took control of Skyrim?

I did. I don't consider the civil war to really be that big of a deal in comparison to a giant dragon god of time eating the world. I imagine that's the time when people put their differences aside and team up against the "greater evil." It certainly isn't what I think about when I think of the ending of the main quest.

And still, the Empire or the Nords being in control of Skyrim at the end is important enough to require justification in later games. Skyrim is an important place, it's where Man originated, the Empire should thrive being in control of Skyrim, whereas it would most likely fall apart completely if it lost all power there.

Exactly this. It doesn't matter how "small" the change would be, in the next game, history would be different depending on how you came out on top or bottom, etc.
It wont work. Sorry.

And that's what separates a boring, hacky storyline from a brilliant one. The best stories aren't good vs. evil fairytales. They have entirely different dimensions of plot.

To avoid the whole "Warp in the West" dealio again, I'd say stick to the same ending. Let it be interpreted differently; perhaps the main enemy is killed for different reasons, but in the end, the main enemy still dies.

Go to the Fallout Threads the idea doesnt work, Oblivion, Morrowind, and Fallout 3 had great plots, New Vegas it screwed things up having at least 4 endings and the lore comes to a halt.