I've some questions and an observation about the negotiations.

First it seems that the dialogue trees are rather FUBAR. That's my observation - eg. I make Ulfric pay compensation in both cases, in one case I give the Imperials Riften and they act like I'm being a total Ulfric lover, the general whines, etc. while Ulfric and his buddy congratulate me. In the other case I initially say that I'll give them Dawnstar and Tullius argues that I should give them Riften instead... if I hold firm and pursuade him to take Dawnstar by the end he's thanking me for it and Ulfric is whining.

My questions really are along the lines of what other ways can this go? Will me relenting and letting Tullius have his way and get Riften lead to some different dialogue with that? Is what they say affected at all by whether or not I kick Elenwen's evil Thalmor ass out of the negotiations?

Finally is there any way that I can get the blades excluded and/or does it go a different way if I already had the Paarthurnax quest (I get given it at the end of the negotiation, but I know I could've gotten it earlier) or had already completed it, not that I ever would kill him, stupid psychotic blades. I remember that when I'd won the civil war beforehand on a different character Paarthurnax was the one who gave me Odahviing's name and some extra dialogue too... *sigh* This quest seems like such a mess of different options and stuff.

Thanks all.

I had this, too. I did exactly what Tullius requested and he's winging at me. They clearly half-mooned this.

There's not really any way to make both sides--or even one side--happy. Tullius and Ulfric are whiny pretty much no matter what, because they want all of Skyrim and you can't offer either of them that. It's pretty much a negotiation tactic.

Also, are we complaining now that there are too many options? Am I correct in that?

No. I'm complaining that their reactions make no sense and in fact if I had to guess I'd say that the script is just playing the wrong reactions. And I'm asking about the different ways this quest can play out. Obviously.