After a couple hundred hours, I decided to do the main quest and at first I thought the story was very, very cool, but the ending felt rushed, incomplete, and underwhelming.

What did you guys think of it?

It svcks.

Straight to the point, eh? What don't you like about it specifically? I thought the idea was very good, personally, but the execution was lacking. It just felt like all of a sudden I was chasing Alduin into Sovngarde, expecting some very interesting story elements there, but after what felt like a grade four creative writing assignment, it was suddenly over, and the world feels no different at all.

what do you mean "rushed, incomplete and underwhelming"?

rushed=Move with urgent haste
incomplete=Not having all the necessary or appropriate parts
underwhelming=To fail to excite, stimulate, or impress

You are not the first person to wage this arguement or use the same words and I'm confused.

While I didn't get to frolic in the afterlife I'm not ready for with dead people and I didn't have 15 epic parts of a sword to collect from 16 different dungeons, I did have work to do and a couple of tough decisions to make, though my complaint is that one of them is essentially made for me... and there was a sense of urgency and the end did manage to collect all the necessary or appropriate threads of the story to be finished... I felt like I'd come to the end and taken care of that particular problem and it didn't feel wrapped too closely or too tightly to me.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm trying to understand. What precisely about the ending left you underwhelmed after feeling rushed and incomplete? Were you looking for more buildup? More struggle? What would have made it more enjoyable as an experience?

I didn't think you were trying to be a jerk at all, this is a discussion, and it would be a boring one if everyone had the same opinion.

I'll try to explain better. At first, I was very excited about the story. The Thalmor, the Blades, ancient and forgotten knowledge, etc, and I was reminded of Morrowind's main story line that was rich with lore. However, as Skyrim's story went on, I felt like things were either underdeveloped, or not developed at all. You basically find you you are dragonborn, find out the Thlmor have nothing to do with anything, find out there are a couple Blades left, learn the history of the shouts and all that, learna little about Alduin, then go kill him. No, now you have to go kill him again in Sovngarde, and just like that, it is all over. I guess I was really looking forward to something deeper in the way of lore, history, backstory, and things like that. I end up in Sovngarde, and it is just a country club with a handful of prominent Nords, I go outside, and kill Alduin.

Which brings me to my next fight. Bethesda's boss fights are pathetic. They should play some Castlevania games. I have zero enchantments, legendary ancient Nord armor, legendary Nord Hero Greatsword, and I smoked Alduin with ease on master. I was expecting him to raise the dead that he consumed and be overwhelmed by them while he spits fire at me. Nope, same old dragon fight as the rest.

Don't get me wring, I love the game, I just didn't like the main quest, or any of the guilds that I have done. I think that once Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning comes out in a couple weeks, Bethesda is going to get a few black eyes int he story department - and that is a good thing because it will force them to step up their game.

Judging from the way the mod Hungry Donner treated me the last time I brought up KoA on this board, I can only imagine that I am about to be banned, so if that is to be so, let me just say that I have no regrets except perhaps that I was never offered a fishy stick.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r105/Enoil/DarkFishyStick.jpg

I can totally understand your point of view. The chain does lack a certain level of depth that players of Morrowind and Oblivion have mentioned in 100's of other threads on more than just this board.

As someone accustomed to WoW and Rift and other games of that sort and who has not played other TES games, I have to say that I'm blown away by the depth of world story and exploration and find it overwhelming to digest and absorb at times and so instead am drawn to filling my map with places to go explore later and filling my inventory with herbs or ore for later crafting sessions and just enjoying the dynamism of the world itself.

From the "making of" videos and interviews it seems to me that we're being introduced to Skyrim and the ways that it fits or doesn't fit the lore already introduced. l was left with the impression that much of the content has already been explored or available previously and so more attention was paid to finally delivering the most dynamic and expansive overall gaming experience that the developers could provide.

I know it sounds dorky and I'mma dork who is also optimistic... so best and worst of all worlds depending on your view. I'd still like to highly recommend that because you've loved the game and because you're articulate and positive in the way you put things that you're precisely the sort of player who needs to send your commentary to Bethesda and the developers. It's folks like you who can drive the direction of the games you play by being able to say in a constructive and precise way "I loved [insert element] and was let down by [insert element]" and elaborate.

Thanks for being patient enough to give detail. I'm sorry it's kind of a mixed bag of goods for you and I hope you can still find many other things in the game to enjoy... it's really awesome!