I was satisfied with the ending, the whole idea of going to Sovngarde itself was pretty awesome in my opinion. I actually heard a rumor that there is a dragon priest there, I would really be sad if I missed one of the Dragon Priest Masks. I also couldn't find it in my heart to kill Paarthurnax, maybe in another playthrough...
Crappy ending, I play on expert difficulty and I killed Alduin in like 30 seconds. To me the ending was dissapointing and the end-boss wasn't even a challenge. It felt to me that any npc with a weapon and above lvl 20 could achieve the same thing that I quested to hard for.
I too recently ended the main quest. After the main quest I just had the Thieves Guild quest to finish and I did enjoy that one...but now I'm kind of lost and in limbo at level 48 walking or horseback-riding around Skyrim finishing small errands quests or happening upon enemies to fight here and there. I feel like I've done all I can at this point (event thought there's still quite a bit of little quests left) and I'm not disappointed in the game or the game makers, I'm just disappointed that the main quests have come to an end because it was such a thrill-ride. But alas all good things must end, and I wont stop playing it... maybe I'll fire up a new character and start over and role-play (not power-play) as many here suggest doing. But it's been definitely worth every penny I paid for the game on sheer entertainment value and time spent playing. Sad it's pretty much over but not disappointed in the game at all.
You do get a dragon companion, but I know what you mean about not being able to loot Alduin's body. It seems like he should have left behind something mystical or powerful, like a magical suit of black dragonbone armor or something.
I guess they could've flushed out Alduin's character a bit more. He could speak the dragon tongue, but he still came off as just a dumb, wild beast that liked to fly around a lot and occationally raise a dragon from the dead. Alduin needed more dialogue - he needed to be an overly-intelligent demigod villain with a complex plan to defeat the world. Maybe it would have been cool to have Alduin collecting pieces to an ultimate weapon and you had to somehow throw a wrench in the works. There could have been scenes/ moments in the game where you'd come face-to-face with him and all you could do was run your ass off and dive into safety while everything crumbled around you. They could have made Alduin so much more interesting. In the end I simply shot him with some arrows just like any other dragon. Kinda boring.
I agree with this wholeheartedly! I enjoyed the feel of having at least some interaction with Mankar Camoran. If I had to choose a main quest that I would play over and over again, however, I would choose Skyrim. There was just so much besides the main villain in this game.You had the Aldmeri Dominion, the Civil War woven into the main quest, and every little detail was perfect!