This. A billion times.
This is exactly what i think everytime i see someone comparing skyrim questlines to oblivion. (Even if I played through oblivion 2 times).

Thieves guild is the longest of them all. Then comes the dark brotherhood. Then the companions. Mages guild can be done in less than two hours.

So....we're not allowed to be upset that the quests are a step down in comparison to the previous installment because its a different game?

:shakehead:

*pukes*

The radiant quests are terrible in this game. Dark Brotherhood would have been so much more enjoyable without random "Kill X" missions, and Thieves Guild might have actually been completed by me if it didn't require you to do 5 random burglaries in every city to unlock a "special mission".

This kind of logic is why the Civil War quest chain is just a series of keep capture missions, instead of a story of political struggle and true warfare. Ew. Ew.

This.

I also need to add that the transitions between phases are ridiculously non-believable.

Actually it used to be standard procedure for Bethesda. Both Morrrowind (announced for a 2001 release, released in 2002) and Oblivion (announced for a 2005 release, released in 2006) were postponed (I didn't buy Fallout3 so I don't know whether it happened with that game too). But as you say, the catchy date came back to bite them in the backside this time.






I do. Or, rather, I run/ride everywhere and look at the trees.

Great so i have probally nearly finished the mages even though i just started, how long does thieves guild take?

Thieves n DB take awhile and r really fun.

In the context given? No. I should be directing my guild. I should sending thieves out and collecting money. I should be recruiting. I shouldn't be stealing trinkets.

And what separates a fetch quest from a well thought out, engaging quest is simple. Fetch quest = "Hey, I dropped my shield in a cave and it somehow ended up 100 feet below ground, past five closed doors, at the bottom of crypt. Weird, huh? Can you go get that?" Then you do so and the person says "Thanks, here's a level scaled amount of gold for you!" Or worse, someone just needs you to pick flowers for them. Seriously, you see me wearing armor made of Dragon hide and you want me to pick flowers for you? Flowers that you can buy at the shop next door for 20 gold, and you're going to pay me 1600 gold for, because I'm level 45? That's a fetch quest.

You can do a quest where you have to retrieve something and actually make it interesting. Maybe someone else is after it. Maybe they get there first and you have to track them down. You maybe then have to find out why they wanted it. Maybe have the decision to side with them because they know things about the person who hired you that you didn't.

A quest has choices. Decisions. Twists. Consequences. You know? Plot.

Again, if you were to play the guild like so

MQ > SQ >MQ > SQ and so forth

it would make perfect sense, but no, people go

MQ > MQ > MQ > MQ > MQ > SQ Beth your guilds are crap!

Aaaah, you mean there is this part in the manual that tells you exactly what quests to play in what order? Im so sorry, my bad... I thought this was "Go where you want, Do what you want, Be who you want" Skyrim, not "Play like Wyatt Waste Ranger tells you you should" Skyrim.

Can you feel the sarcasm? Doing things other then guild quests doesnt make guild quests longuer or better.

Actual time isn't why I would consider them somewhat short. To me they seem a bit rushed because you don't actually do many quests before you find yourself sitting at the head of the guild(s). This is the one spot they should have used the radiant quest system to get you to build up your status in the guild. Instead after about four plot quests you are suddenly the leader. You don't feel like you have earned the position, more like you just stumbled upon it accidentally. You don't even feel like you have helped your guild, just yourself.

Don't get me wrong... I actually loved the guild quest lines. However, there seems a certain detachment still.

Ooohh, you must be new then. Yeah, you see, I am the all mighty authority on TES and how it should and shouldn't be played. Well, at least you know this now and will do as instructed from now on. Thats a good boy.

Also, my statement said nothing about doing other things besides the guild quests. My statement was saying doing ONLY the guild quests will make it feel better IMO. As I have stated numerous times before the guilds have both main quests (MQ) and side quests (SQ) for each guild. If you do only the MQ for a guild, it feels incredibly short and not worth it, BUT if you do some SQs in between the MQs then if feels much more fleshed out.

Companions only let me do a grand total of 2 SQs, otherwise telling me "Go see _____, he was looking for you." and forcing me to move on with the shallow MQ. In the College it was worst: one SQ was to be done during the MQ, another involved me clicking "yes", drinking a potion, recieving "quest complete".

In any case, the SQs are generic errands, which doesn't exactly flesh out a specific guild. One way or another, it remains counterintuitive: when im told I have to hurry or beware of the [censored] hitting the fan hard, my first instinct isnt exactly "ooh, I should have time to go collect that bounty!".

side quests are total garbage and add nothing to the questlines.

Were the quest lines too short? Yes in some areas no in other areas. While one guild seemed short, another seemed on the border of just enough.
My biggest gripe is the stories seemed forced and did not just flow like Oblivion. I for one loved the Dark Brotherhood quest and (not being big into spell casting) loved the Mages Guild quest in Oblivion.

Let us go down the list:


The Companions Quest line is probably the weakest and the worst guild quest to date. Granted I loved getting a “special perk” from them, but the story was too short and weak. You joined up and were thrown into this “war” without being given the opportunity to flip it around and be on their enemies’ side. Then later you are unable to dump a quest item(s) which is annoying because it takes up a bit of your carrying weight. The NPCs in the guild felt woody and uninteresting. I never once laughed at their comments or felt sorry for them; I mostly did not care what happened to them.


Mage’s College was probably my second least favorite. The story line was just annoying more than interesting. The Mage’s Guild in Cyrodil had a story that had a lot of twist and turns, you felt challenged and working your way to the top. In the College of Skyrim, once again it falls on the lines of who cares. I would have assumed at some point you would be given the opportunity to change the people’s minds about the college, but no such thing happens. Instead this quest line spills out in front of you and makes you realize these people don’t care what other people think; yet they do things that even you as a citizen would want to grab the torches, pitchforks and burn the place to the ground. In addition, I am still trying to understand why the design team thought it was a good idea to make the arch-mage look like the devil, or perhaps there trying to make him look like Krampus-just in time for the holidays.

I will not bring up the Dark Brotherhood since their quest line seemed fine with me, aftermath however is complete crap but that’s a whole new topic. The Thieves Guild is by far the best and the aftermath actually has the rewards, good rewards.

I knew as soon as I finished typing that someone would bring up the companions, but I had also written this


earlier in the thread, so I figured I wouldn't have to repeat myself, silly me.



I remember in Morrowind collecting mushrooms as a mages guild quest. I remember in Oblivion going into a well behind the guild to get a ring, that took me 2 minutes, yes I also remember it was because the dude was a dike and killed the other wannabe mage, but the quests were not that great. The story was interesting, yes, but so it the thieves guild (which I have been using as an example for most of this thread) if you do the side quests in between the main guild quest it becomes more fleshed out and interesting.

Now, I'm done repeating myself, go ahead and say whatever else you wish, I'm done.

To that I would just say, that by this time in the previous games I had done at least a few quests that made me say, 'holy [censored] that was cool.'

I like this guys list of OB quests:
http://botchweed.com/game-news/the-road-to-skyrim-greatest-oblivion-quests/

I haven't come across anything as cool as these - but maybe its just I haven't found them yet.

and yes, TG rocks, but the other 'main' quest lines are lacking.

You are playing the game the way it is supposed to be played. Taking the time to do all the side quests. You can skip them altogether and most of the guild quest lines become very short compared to past TES games. I have played all except the Dark Brotherhood as of yet (saving it), and though some are a little short I haven't been disappointed the content.

To "complete" the TG takes forever because they fluff up the back-end with Radiant "fetch" quests basically.
It is, however, the longest guild quest, DB being close as well.

The college and Companion quest lines can be completed in an afternoon (the same afternoon).

Comparing the quest lines against Morrowind or Oblivion they seem shorter. I think it is a combination of the lack of build up in rank in the factions and the guilds being in one place. Morrowind and Oblivion you had to travel to various cities to get quests and be a certain rank to even do some of the quests.

In previous TES games during the early quests when you are a newbie apprentice being like 'go and collect 5 of these mushrooms' or 'there is a cellar of rats that need clearing out'. Once you progresssed the ranks you ended up by assasinating entire guilds of fellow companions or taking out the biggest threat to the mages guild all on your lonesome. In Skyrim from the begining it's 'go through the massive dunegon, kill the drauger deathlord, come back' then the same again, or 'we are going to make you an epic werewolf straight away-welcome to the guild!'. The progression within the guilds is a little off.

I am not ashamed to say if i don't feel like a trek then i do fast travel often if i have found a location, i did this in Oblivion too. That is not the problem. You shouldn't have to 'flesh out' guild quests by taking detours and doing other things because that is not in realtion to the actual quest line!. The guild should be fleshed out all on it's own and give you a huge sense of achievement for when you are made head of said guild.

The problem is with things like the Mages College, where you are rushed through it. Ok, there isn't a timer or anything, but with the story being OMG HURRY HURRY HURRY APPRENTICE YOU MUST SAVE US!, it turns an already short questline, into something you complete in a handful of hours.

edit: Okay, so there is 8 pages of thread and that quote is from the first... Coulda sworn the threead only had 2 pages. Must have been looking at another one.

We got it. You think that doing things that are not guild quests somehow makes guild quests better, deeper, feel more personal and more involving.

We disagree.

And I come out of retirement for one more.

Nowhere in this thread have I ever uttered the words about doing non guild quests. Read the [censored] thread before making yourself look foolish.

very true if you take the time to do more than just rush the main quest then it does make it longer. But i do think the companions quests were abit short one side quest followed by the main quest isnt much of a break between