My choice is Whiterun, I'm really excited for the views in this place, I love green plains with no trees and I want to see some imperial influence, this place seems to be the most related to the Empire.
I also like places in the center of the map, I don't like to feel walled and have few directions to go, Whiterun will be at the heart of Skyrim.

Whiterun:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/skyrim/media/conceptart/whiterun/

Of course I don't know if these will be the main cities, but based on the map of skyrim showed in the GI video, I think they will.
Please tell us what city you think will be your favorite and tell us why! I really wanna know some exciting new things or different views about the cities.

More info about the cities in Dragonbone's thread:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1165975-information-on-game-locations/page__p__17152464__fromsearch__1#entry17152464

Windhelm. It will be pretty cool to see a Dunmer influenced city in Skyrim, especially since i'm going to play a Dunmer.

I'll be honest - being that I plan to play a Dunmer (and one from before the fall of Vvardenfell, at that!) I'm looking forward to seeing how Dunmer culture has changed and adapted to losing their gods and being evicted from Morrowind. It helps that I've only recently set down and -really- dug into the lore from Morrowind (in the past I'd just run around exploring kwama mines and gotten myself killed, which I blame partly on how easy it is to get lost on the Xbox with that 20-foot-out white mist), so it'd have a sense of immediate continuity to me. So Windhelm gets my vote, though I'm eager to see all of Skyrim period.

Solitude sounds very interesting to me =)

I think the real question is which city is most likely to be a burning ruin at the start of the game.

Solitude. Skyrim's northern coast should be a pretty striking place visually, and anything involving the Wolf Queen will be interesting. I also like the name.

http://www.thedragonborn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/concept1.png

I've never seen this concept art before, it looks that city with the windmill in the gameplay trailer, maybe Solitude? It looks so dark and fantastic.

Well, Markarth is confirmed to be the 5th big city (Those you've listed alone are correct) so you should give it it's own choice.

Can you give me the source? I'll change it as soon as I'm sure. I didn't know about it.

Unless that is a very early and redundant design which turned into Solitude, I think that will be Dawnstar or Winterhold. It is odd that they're both on a coastal rock arch, but besides that, they're very different. The city in the video is aroundpine forest and what appears to be Marsh (like Solitude is) that one is clearly in a snowy environment. It also looks to bemuch smaller, and different architectural style. The style actually reminds me a bit of Hlaalu in Morrowind (well, it's loose, but that's the closest I can think of, doesn't look Nordic or Imperial) so it may be the Dunmer city.

EDIT: nah, on second inspection, doesn't look very Hlaalu, but then again, Dwemer is quite different in Skyrim, so who knows what it is?

Solitude, specially I think, although I am also very interest about Whiterun for the same motiffs as the OP.


I read recently the Biography of the Wolf Queen, and when I realized Solitude was one of the main citys in Skyrim.... :biggrin:

I hope they do some references to Potema, maybe even an hidden area or a whole quest!

And I am really curious how they will handle the sea this time. I want storms (requesting a maelstrom would be too much I guess eheh), high cliffs, unique features!

http://skyrimguild.com/wp-content/forum-image-uploads/ajifoster3/signature/Skyrim.JPG

I couldn't find a higher res image (there's one somewhere) but in the canyon you can see writing, it says Markarth, and it's only the 5 major cities marked.

No-Idea-What-So-Ever, add that option to the poll, please. I'll know sometimes in december.

do you think it might be the city that appears at 1:16 in the trailer? Maybe there are two cities in rock archs

That city, if it is a city rather than a town, seems perfectly situated tobe Windhelm. It is in a snowy region right at the edge of a mountain.

http://www.thedragonborn.com/
at the end of this page, the poster reasons why he thinks Markath will be a main city, but he's not sure, i can't see the odd market nor markarth written, i must be somewhat blind lol
anyway, it not really confirms anything, but I'll add Markarth because its concept art and screenshots are so amazing that even if it's not a main city, it deserves it choice

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mfRHW3_0t1o/TUHs4l_oiyI/AAAAAAAAAGM/qgOO9CfkYUw/s1600/skyrim+map.jpg
This image is slightly better but still not the highest quality.

look, its written Rebel below Windhelm, maybe it will have a great part in the civil war?

Yeah, it also says Empire near Solitude, so I guess they're opposing capitals. Though it's odd because one of the foreign mags said Windhelm was a hangout for Imperial guards.

If you're interested in that stuff, I have compiled a page of info on all the game locations we know about.
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1165975-information-on-game-locations/page__p__17152464__fromsearch__1#entry17152464
It's a bit old though, so sorry if any of the speculation has been since disproven.

Probably the first city I get to. It was Balmora in Morrowind and Chorrol in Oblivion.
Something comforting about the familiarity you get from the first city you get to.

Markarth side, from what we have seen it looks to be a very unique city, I really like how it's integrated in the mountains. Also, it's built on top of dwemer ruins so I'm expecting a nice dungeon near or maybe simply under this city.

How in the world could we possibly know which one is going to be our favorite?

We can't! But we can guess by pictures, backgrounds and etc and expect something. Like you can expect Skyrim will be your favorite game of 2011 instead of some Need for Speed: Whatever.

Markarth Side and for one reason its unique, all the waterfalls around the area only add to the flavor of this city the main thing is that its it a canyon and i havent seen that yet in an ES game

Pretty sad and materialistic, but it will eventually be the one with the house for sale that I like the most.