I like the idea of the dragons returning but the Civil War should've been more tightly interwoven with the Dragonborn thing. Make the Civil War the main portion of the Dragonborn quest line. The Summit was a great idea but there's no way to piss someone off so much that they simply walk out and you have to do the Civil War quest line. I tried, it didn't work.

Bethesda touted the fact that the sons of Skyrim will spill their own blood so much prior to release that they should've just ran with it instead of making it a side quest that didn't feel fleshed out in the slightest. it could've worked just fine without having a fantasy plot like the dragons are. I mean seriously, dragons have been done to death ovcer the years, try something a little more original...or here's a novel idea; hire some competent writers. Surely they've grown enough as a company by now to be able to afford decent writers, haven't they?

It doesn't feel out of place to me. The world may be "gritty" or "realistic" but it's still a fantasy world of wizards and warriors and the dragons nor the Dragonborn feel out of place in the least bit to me.

I loved being the Dragonborn, loved the addition of shouts, liked the addition of dragons (the way they empty a world of NPC's is pretty irritating at times), love the dragon priests and the lore behind them. I think Bethesda done a great job with the Main Quest in Skyrim. Really liked High Hrothgar and the Greybeards, enjoyed the Blades (although they pissed me off by trying to get me to kill Paarthurnax, then refusing to help me if I didn't).

I also really enjoyed the Diplomatic Immunity quest.

i think the main quest fit personally. skyrim is about the dragons returning and Alduin the world eater wanting to destroy everything, your meant to stop them and to do so you need to complete tests and trials as well as come up with a way to find him imo the mq made perfect sense to me. in any case a game like this isn't completely about the mainquest any how its about the adventure, its about the RP, its about the choices you make. i have seen so many people complain about the mainquest and i don't even fully understand why. the main quest is the least that needs to be complained about with all the necessary things they took such as attributes and the depth of the faction quest lines.

Maybe they should fire their writers and hire some new ones.

More realistic like saving the world from an otherwordly invasion, or defeating an ancient powerful overlord in the middle of a magical vulcano, or the political intrigue between several city states... that is based on a giant god-like robot powered by the lost soul of a wizard...