If Obsidian made Skyrim:

* You would not be a prisoner waiting for execution. Instead, you wake up in the tent of a Mara healer who tells you that they revived you. You have no memory of this, but a note in your belongings tells you that you were trying to deliver some focusing crystal somewhere for some reason. Your quest is to unravel this mystery and you are told that you cannot go North because there are dragons that will kill you. Instead, you must go South and around the long way. This is called 'choice' in that you really have none.

* In the same way that caesar's legion is a goon tribe of clowns in anachronistic Halloween costumes, ulfric's stormcloaks are idiots that wear white sheets and hoods. Ulfric speaks of a new world order where he will be grand dragon. He makes a point about how he does not abide disloyalty, yet sends you on a task unassisted by any stormcloak who can report you when you complete the task in such a way that it goes against his plans. When you do betray him, as you should, he really has no idea and no dialogue or voice acting exists for this purpose. Btw, did I mention that the place he sends you to is inside Windhelm, the very place where he rules? So you go down and see a door that will not open until you sound the horn of Juurgen. Did I mention that ulfric had already taken it from you? And given it back? This is the kind of moron that obsidian will have as the brains behind the stormcloaks.

* Inside the dungeon behind the door you see a massive Dwemer stronghold that was built to store an army of Dwemer sphere warriors and Dwemer centurions. What an advantage they would be to ulfric! Unfortunately, the Dwemer had, for some strange... no... idiotic reason made all the robots in such a way that they can't use their secondary weapons without a focus crystal from Bthardmz or Mzulft. Fortunately, this is the item that you were delivering ( you had taken this device from some jerk seventh day adventists called Delphine and Esbern ). You insert the focusing crystal into the warp engine core slot and abracadabra, all Dwemer robots are upgraded to full power. This creates a loud bang and activates a cacophonic uproar of noise that ulfric surely should know what you have done. He doesn't.

* The final battle takes place in Windhelm. General Tullius doesn't bother to lead his troops as he should. Instead, he sends a few troops to occupy the stormcloaks while you infiltrate to take down ulfric, who is cowardly hiding in the safety of his keep. You look up and see Paartharnax fly by and destroy a gate with one fire projectile. That's all that he was good for. Inside the keep ulfric is waiting for you standing on top of his throne. You see that he is wearing Otar the Mad's mask. It gives him the power to lift his ridiculously overcompensating sword. The battle starts and from out of nowhere ulfric's elite guards ambush you. Unfortunately, they are wearing sunglasses over their hoods and have a hard time targeting you. You kill them while ulfric tosses bombs at you. Finally, ulfric is dead and you have won. Then general Tullius arrives and takes credit for everything.

* But what about Alduin? You find out that the world eater is a metaphor, for the power of evil is in all of us.

Oooooh..... but we can, well at least on pc. All it takes is a few console commands and you could be level 81 in the beginning dungeon itself.

Companions would have a thick, interesting story, and magic would be more varied and awesome while remaining greatly balanced.

The game was already a bugged mess upon release, so I don't see much of a difference else that it would be better in many respects (because, personally, FO3 (the thought that Obsidian could have made a generally better game, I mean).

answers bold and underlined

If Obsidian had developed Skyrim...

Well, it would've been much better. Especially in terms of the characters and story.

I'm going to be honest, The if Obsidian made it, it would be better in every way would be BS. It would be a vastly different game, one more focussed on Story and for the most part, lacking in exploration. It wouldn't be Elderscrolls, not necisarly bad if Obsidian gets out of their Rut for it, they got out of it a bit for FO:NV but they don't make Elder Scrolls styled games and it's never been too much of a strength. I prefer the exploration that Skyrim gives, not many companies even try to do that, NV failed to do that but then it succeeded on Obsidian strengths, if you go with the way they want you to go, you do get an interesting story and a cool faction choice. It's not my cup of tea story since I didn't like the factions or characters but for those that like it, it's good.

I like being able to explore, I like simple characters,if I hate them their easier to ignore. I don't use companions, I like to play a lone wanderer. Skyrim has a great world, one of the best fantasy worlds in video games to me. If obsidian made it, we probably would get Dragon Age Origins with more moral ambiguity at best. (a good outcome) but it's more likely that we'd just get another NWN 2 (one of the worst RPGs I've ever played.)

I would jam needles right in my eyes while lighting myself on fire as i ram Semi truck into obsidian's hq. What i mean to say is the story would tease me to no end making me look in every pixel of the dang game as I try to find the story they promised me and copy pasta every quest line into one branch. Now I do not mean to say that Bethesda does not copy pasta and yes Obsidian did work on the companions more and the guns in FNV but sweet God did everything else svck. Combat was a joke because when i can get a companion that makes every enemy in the game light up like a Christmas tree that headshots everything in the second town and the best enemies are hidden in the most back end cave while the factions you tell me are having a "war that has never been seen since the Great War" is just sitting around [censored]ing or just trolling the other side no that is not a great war (yes i know that soldiers sit on their ass most of the time but I needed a pay off and the Dam svcked.)
tl;dr Obsidian should not develop

Even buggier (hard to fathom - I know), almost linear and a much smaller, more boring game world. You'll have some celebrity voice actor (like Kris Kristofferson) playing a character that gives you his life story and a complete rundown of all the comings and goings of Skryim the last 200 years (in about 20 minutes of clicking on dialog options) just to complete a fairly simple quest. And all the Oblsidian fans in gaming forums will praise it as deep, immersive writing. Almost forgot, weapons would break after three swings and finding a workbench to fix them on and components to do it with would be next to impossible and perks would only be available every other level. By all means we don't want to get "overpowered" and things must stay balanced - never mind its a single player game.

Basically, keep those cretins away from my Bethesda games.

... I wouldn't have played it; simple as that.

I only bother playing games made by a developer who's name starts with the letter "B". Hehe. I don't make a conscious effort, but it does turn out to be that way.

With that said, I'd say that if Obsidian were to make Skyrim instead of Bethesda, the game would be more like a first-person Dragon Age than an Elder Scrolls. For some that wouldn't be much of a problem, as Dragon Age (origins) was pretty damn good. To me, though (compared to the Elder Scrolls), it'd be like gutting a fish. Fewer features and yet even more buggy.

I don't have anything against Obsidian personally, but I wasn't really happy with Dungeon Siege III. There were a few pleasant surprises (like the combat), I admit, but the interface is [censored] and multiplayer was even worse. Not to mention they took everything Dungeon Siege and threw it out the window.

My 2 Cent.

what's the deal with this "games would be even buggier" rationale.

i'm on the 360 and my newvegas, bought after a few months, has been almost bug-free.

and, kotor2 was absolutely fine, as well.

are you people talking about pc games, as well? because gamesas gameS with a plural are all STILL buggy and newvegas, after updates, runs almost glitch-free.

we're talking one game here.

and, btw, nothing will ever compare to the ridiculousness that ps3 owners have had to go through.

next argument.

Now you reminded me of KOTOR 2., I don't want Obsidian anywhere near TES ever. KOTOR is one of my favorite games but KOTOR 2 just lost the magic for me.

I say the best thing would be a joint effort by Bethesda AND some members from Obsidian to help flesh out the Story and Characters of Skyrim. However given the choice of the two devs. Bethesda hands down for many reasons. Look through this thread and you will see them.

Obsidion should only do the story and dialogue, maybe give a few ideas but they should not touch anyother part of the game.
Simple as that they are good story writers but Fallout 3 had a much better feel to its world and I liked how it was actually open.

i've never used the term nostalgia in ANY of my arguments on any forum ever.

but, i will never stop using it for kotor1. it's the only game i feel the term is undeniably justified.

kotor1, when i go back and try to play it is an absolute simple, boring, generic and linear game. the writing is at a level my 6 year old daughter understands.

it's a pure product of its time, unlike, morrowind.