It's a possibility. But I am more willing to believe that Bethesda simply failed at presenting it properly. Aside from the dragons returning, it was one of the first things we learned about the game, and it was even a part of the prophecy surrounding it, and important enough to be carved into Alduin's wall, alongside the major events in the previous Elder Scrolls games.

Hey, I can accept that. Bethesda isn't very good at implementing most things, but for me not to get bummed out about the game, I use my imagination to reason with why some things aren't so. I just think Ulfric rose up as a demigod for some who didn't like the Imperials, but those who don't agree with him just don't take his resistance seriously and that's why there's so little physical conflict.

The problem I have with that is that supposedly the civil war has been going on for several months already. So, what? That whole time they were just picking teams and setting up camps around Skyrim? And then it doesn't REALLY start until you pick a side? That just really breaks the whole feel of the war for me.

I can just imagine the screaming that would go on if the war went on with or without the player.

• This is supposed to be an open sandbox game, go wherever you want, do whatever you want, pah! How dare the war proceed without me!
  
• I hadn't decided yet! How dare Beth force the war storyline upon me before I'm ready!
  
• Etc. etc.

Personally, I wouldn't care. It'd be sort of neat to have the war going on with or without me. So far, it'd be without me because I'm a fence post sitter. But I can certainly understand why it waits for the player.

Meh, Ill wait for mod I'm sure there will be one one with the war raging on without me.

Is that from a game? The animation style and textures remind me of something but I'm not sure.

+1

Smaller scale story more insynch with the constrain the game have would be a big improvement.

Heresy!

"War, War never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk."

Majora's Mask had that element of constant evolution and it worked within the elements of the game. The illusion of progression was easy to work in because you were traveling back in time so the scripted events were validated within the context of the game. In a game like Skyrim this wouldn't work, and if it did you'd run into problems of a lack of true progression, or you'd miss your chance to actually join the war if you waited too long.

If they can only fit 20 characters on screen at once then the story should be built around that. The game seems to make a lot more sense when the quests are smaller scale, like when you first get to Morthal and helping out those villagers. As soon as the game starts trying to tell you that you are in a "city" and there is something "epic" coming it loses much believability.

People wanna be the big bad super hero though (and it is fun but I want ther game to properly support the scale with the gameplay). I don't think lore/story/scale and gameplay shoul ever be detached from other for any reason. Gamplay !> Lore (This is, just like, my opinion man)

The quests are basically the same except for the last quest.

Yeah the civil war is basically a mirror of itself from the flipside. You know, to make it easier to develop, so like the same scripts and stuff could be reused.

1. As posted already, I don't mind that the war doesn't start without you. That is an essential mechanic of the series.
2. I do wish they had done a bit better of a job of convincing you a war was actually fought.
3. More importantly, I wish the whole civil war was handled better. I thought the quest writing (or lack thereof) was really disappointing. Political conflict has a lot of potential, and yet there was barely any story. All we did was fight for a couple of forts with horrible enemy spawns (really immersion breaking). There was no feeling of assaulting a fort, it was just a free for all with a timer. To a certain degree I understand, Bethesda's gameworld isn't conducive to big battles. However, that is where good writing comes in to play, to create the illusion of bigger battles or more important events. My problems with the quest line are as follows...

Thesis: A political conflict should be political.
-The fights (and their consequences) should have some meaning, and motives should be questionable.
- The story focuses purely on the military conquests themselves (over story/politics), but doesn't execute this well.
-we are never forced to consider whether our means justify the ends. It would be nice to see the imperials show some real signs of being an dictatorial empire. Tullius does seem "out of touch" with Nord customs, but we are never forced to perform morally questionable acts. Quest Idea: we are told that a specific inn (in Imperial controlled territory) is suspected of housing stormcloak troops en route to a high priority fort. We would be tasked with investigating the inn and surrounding area in order to diagnose whether or not they were hiding Stormcloaks and told to report back to our superiors. By talking with inkeepers, guests, traders, etc, and investigating the premises, you conclude either that Stormcloaks are/are not there, and returning to your superior, overhear him state that should he learn that Stormcloaks ARE hiding in the inn, he will burn the place down (with its owners and other guests still present), sparing his own troops in the process. This type of quest wouldn't require much in the way of large scale battles, but would allow a wide variety of choices (you could choose whether or not you think the place is hiding stormcloaks, whether or or not you tell this to your commander, whether you try to save the innkeeper, etc).
-The same problem exists for the Stormcloaks. From what I've seen of their questline, it is nearly identical to that of the Imperials. Why not give them a quest where you discover evidence that Ulfric has been exploiting the non-Nord residents, or has significant delusions of grandeur. The backstory is interesting, but Beth failed in integrating the backstory into the gameplay of the questline.
-Why are there seemingly no traitors? This could progress over the course of the questline, as you begin to suspect allies of treachery after your faction's troops are legions and certain plans backfire. A routine battle for a fort could go haywire when your stealthy approach leads you right into an ambush.
-Why are the Thalmor basically non-factors? It would be nice to have a quest where you have to question whether the Empire is just a puppet of the Thalmor. Would your commander save a group of Talos-worshipping Nords from a Thalmor patrol in hopes they would aid the Empire, or let them perish in favour of pursuing the Empire's immediate goal?
-Why is there no option to change your allegiance? This would work really well with the above suggestion, and add a ton of interest the quest line. Would you stick through the questionable actions and motives, hoping that your faction is ultimately the lesser of two evils, or desert after learning what your superiors are capable of? As you progress through the ranks, your desertion could swing the tide. You could betray your faction after a personal revelation, or have planned to do so all along after learning important secrets. This would take some effort to work out, and would be difficult to include in its entirety, but the fact that NONE of this was included I found disappointing. A lot of these suggestions could be done without a ton of voice acting or large amounts of technical work. You could learn about your faction's secrets through written notes, or other means.

What I found most disappointing was that I saw little originality in what looked to be a very promising narrative. My ideas have flaws, but I came up with them in a couple of minutes. Some could definitely have been massaged into the storyline with a little effort. Battles for forts would still have a place in the game, but they were basically radiant story quests anyway. The quests were given to you with a line of canned dialogue and were all identical.

There are already some early mods for faction battles....once the CK is released I wager someone will expand the civil war conflict

Poor console gamers

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6176

Want more immersion in Skyrim? Want to see a village of farmers who are preparing to fight a troll ? Or be surrounded by 4 bandits, then be saved by a furious mammoths? This mod adds the possibility of encountering Bandits, Vampires, Thalmor, Necromancer, Atronach, Werewolf, Mammuth, Dragonpriest, Dremora, Boss and Giant Monsters and other, with a small chance of them meet together or 2 factions in one time: this creating faction battles and make the game more difficult.