http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ne1fVhvL00

Some features like the dynamic economy weren't in the game, but its not as bad as Peter Molyneux hype. I think if Bethesda had took its time and haden't ditched ideas halfway through (looking at the factions/radient story), Skyrim would of had a better shot at the title.

What was lied about?

Now be specific and feel free to link sources.

IIRC, the Civil War was going to be much grander. For instance, being able to lay siege to all cities, instead of just Whiterun (the game data files still include unused debris and object markers for that purpose). I believe it was intended that you could gain and lose holds over time. There's also unused data and script comments about other incomplete quests, including one for getting a giant to help by befriending it with a painted cow (oh, the fun that could be had by seeing a giant stomp into battle and send Stormcloaks into the stratosphere..). For some reason, I think the Civil War wasn't even going to be completable and instead was just going to be a constant back'n'forth with losing holds over time and doing quests to retake them, but I'm not sure if that was actually going to be the case, or if it's just something I heard somewhere else.

The biggest problem with the guild quests was that they were short, and the story was rushed and/or anticlimactic. The College, for instance, ends when it felt like it was just getting started, the Companions don't have you do much except kill some "special" bandits and some Hagravens. They're short even by Oblivion standards, and Oblivion already felt like it was rushing things at times. Also the railroading: you must become a werewolf to continue the Companions (can't tattle on Aela and Skjor for an alternate path siding with Kodlak, and can't even continue doing Radiant Quests once the non-choice is presented)... you must serve Nocturnal to continue the Thieves Guild... you must join the College for the main quest*, etc.

It definitely feels to me like the Radiant Story system was supposed to play a much larger role with the guilds -- not only in extending the quest lines, but also in providing alternative paths and keeping guilds going after the "main" conflict -- and they had to scramble to get something hand-done when they realized they couldn't get it working in time.

One of the bigger features of the Radiant Quests is to be able to psuedo-randomly select actors, locations, and items for a given quest (where a quest can be something as small as a guard trying to talk to you, or a barmaid/store-clerk tending their station), which could even be weighted or modified based on any of the innumerable stats the game keeps track of ("Bunnies slaughtered" is just the tip of the iceberg). Such a system could've been absolutely stellar for emergent storytelling and gameplay, if they had the time to get it working.

Yeah, there is no question that the factions are the black mark on Skyrim. Damn you November 11th.

Personally how the person described how the Civil War could of been is a lot better than the Civil War, we got. It would of allowed Bethesda to do a DLC where the Stormcloaks and Empire team up to deal with the Thalmor threat.

Personally how the person described how the Civil War could of been is a lot better than the Civil War, we got. It would of allowed Bethesda to do a DLC where the Stormcloaks and Empire team up to deal with the Thalmor threat.

With the way the combat system works in Skyrim more big battles would only have made the Civil War so much more annoying. "Take fort...now the city and do it 3 or 4 times"

With the way the combat system works in Skyrim more big battles would only have made the Civil War so much more annoying. "Take fort...now the city and do it 3 or 4 times"

Though it would of made it an actual war instead of you just capturing a fort or city, and they just lay down not even trying to take it back.

There would have been more things like intercepting couriers and enlisting the aid of giants though.. they could have at least kept that stuff.

Enlisting the aid of giants sounds cools but hunting down couriers over and over would get very old for many players.

Over and over?