I have heard this complaint over and over again about Skyrim quests:



Being a big Morrowind fan myself, I had thought this at first too, but this is simply not true. I have received quests from (among other things) reading books, finding notes, and from NPC conversation. In some cases these give me a note in my journal, in others, I've had to simply study the book or story myself with no direct or formal commission from someone or any journal entry at all. In many of the quests I've received, I've had no map marker and no compass pointer to follow - just a few vague clues to go by.

Let me be clear: There are TONS of Morrowind-style, "use your brain", quests in Skyrim. If you haven't seen these yet, take a walk off the beaten track for a while and you'll start finding them. They require serious brainwork, patience and investigation to solve. To be honest, I had thought like the person I quoted above. After the first few main quest missions, I felt like I was playing Call of Duty, like I was on rails. I was absolutely SHOCKED the first time I found a quest that felt identical to the kind that we got in Morrowind. After that, I started getting more and more of these type of quests scattered all over the world. It was then that I realized that Skyrim doesn't deserve the criticism that it simply holds your hand the whole way.

It seems to me that the beauty of Skyrim is that it caters to both the modern casual gamer (those who really loved Oblivion) and those of us who loved the nuanced, problem solving atmosphere of Morrowind. There are plenty of both types of game-styles in Skyrim, you just have to go looking for it to find it. I'd like to crush the misconception before it gets started, that Skyrim is a "hand-holder". Some of the "prime" quest paths, indeed, hold your hand a lot, but once you've gotten off the rails you'll find a plethora of mysteries to solve.

Agree? Disagree? Have you guys seen the type of quests I'm referring to?

I agree with the quote 100%. I also enjoy that element too. Sometimes I like to take it easy a follow the arrow, other times I like to get deeply involved in the quests and figure out the "puzzle" myself.

There's always the option to turn off the arrow on the main quest lines too, but I dont feel the journal gives enough information for the main quests to do that effectively.

Well, even though I haven't played too much because of life stuff, I've played long enough to be happy and very disappointed in certain aspects. Your statement does give me more excitement and hope since I haven't done not much of quests. Glad that you're liking the game and its important to give credit when credit is due.

I was a little worried at first as well. But the more I wandered, the more bizarre and interesting things I found. Caves that didn't exist on the map with interesting stuff inside.. epic quests that are almost hidden away... this is an epic epic game.

Thanks Bethseda, I know you need to shift the game in volume, but I appreciate all the things you do, which you didn't HAVE to do, for those who want to delve a little deeper.

There were quests like that in Oblivion too... but people were too busy complaining about how much they followed the map marker instead of stumbling across them.

Quests are much harder and more detailed than they were in Oblivion. The quest markers have not been an issue for me in this game. Either I am getting use to ignoring them, or they are less obtrusive in this game.

My problem is my Journal keeps filling up with things to do and I can't get to them all.