Is there different storylines?

[Derethil]

Sorry if I'm being stupid. But this is my first time playing Skyrim and I was just wondering if the choices you make change the story at all.



On a side note, what's the point of crime? Does it do anything?

[A Rock Seller]

No, your choices actually don't matter that much. There are some minor things that will change but mostly just some NPC gets replaced with another and that's it.

What exactly do you mean by crime? You mean your bounty? Your bounty has to be paid off and will increase depending on what you do. There are (surprisingly) different bounty levels and with each level the guards will react to you differently. There are 3 levels each of which start at a certain bounty price. 1st level - guards will recognize you as a criminal ONLY if you talk to them. 2nd level - guards will run up to you and attempt to put you behind bars. 3rd level - guards attack you on sight.

[Helrato]

The game does have quests with moral dilemmas, eg. Kill this person or spare them, tell this person the truth or lie, help this person or help their enemy etc. But ultimately they don't affect the story. The story is set, the game is basically separated into main questline (Alduin and being dragonborn) / Civil war questline and then there's the faction quests (College of Winterhold, Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild etc). Then finally the Side quests, Misc quests and independent quests.

Crime doesn't really do anything, it just allows you to experience the game if you were "bad". It sets the moral standards, like "I know stealing is bad, therefore I won't do it" etc. However, there is an achievement based on crime and bounty. Sometimes npcs will have expensive items in their inventories, or it might be quest related. In the case of the Dark Brotherhood, most quest relies on crime, specifically the contracts.. Because you wouldn't want to be caught killing your target.

TL:DR :
No the choices you make do not affect the overall story, but rather they give you choices to how you want the outcomes to be. eg. If you kill a person instead of sparing them, they won't be availiable in the game anymore.

Crime is just a feature to make the game more immersive and realistic and gives you an understanding of what should or shouldn't be done.

[Helrato]

I reckon of all the questlines, the Civil War questline + the quest "Season Unending" from the main questline are probably the only quests that influence the story/game

[Derethil]

Thanks for letting me know.