In Morrowind and Oblivion the quest journals svcked. You would have to back peddle through all of your previous quests to find an old one you haven't already done. It svcked plain and simple, but since you guys are doing some major over-hauls don't skip some of the smaller things. Give us an Index or something so we can Navigate better. Just a thought :biggrin:

Similar to FO3?

I didn't really play FO:3 but something from like World of Warcraft maybe. When you bring it up it shows you active quests and then a description to go along with it.

I'm not saying steal the idea from them but take that concept and switch it around or just add an index or table of contents to the journal.

I don't really have a lot of experience with RPGs but I know that WoW has to be doing something right lol.


And TES is like 1,000,000,000x better than WoW

Morrowind actually did have a quest index like the one you describe (go to "options" in the journal), and yes I'd like to see it return; navigating the journal in Oblivion was horrible.

But.. Morrowind did have a quest index. And even a specific word index.

I honestly don't remember OB's journal though.

Uh... Morrowind had the backtracking journal. Oblivion's separated things much more efficiently and into two larger categories, completed quests and active quests.

To be fair to the OP, the quest index isn't immediately obvious since it's hidden in "options" for some reason. It took me till my second playthrough to realize it was there.

I'm not referring to the index. I agree that Morrowind's journal was horrible to navigate through. That index was post Bloodmoon or Tribunal, as far as I'm aware, and it didn't even mark completed quests. Oblivion's was much more efficient and actually did categorize quests based on completion or not. All updates pertaining to the related quest were also conveniently kept in a compressed package. I don't see how one can think Oblivion's journal was like Morrowind's or how anyone could think it's difficult to navigate in any sense of the word. It did what the OP requested. Does no one here actually remember Oblivion's journal? I'm honestly surprised people haven't already informed the OP.

Oblivion's quest tracking system was several orders of magnitude better than Morrowind's in my opinion. If Skyrim's is even better still I'd love it.

Well i haven't played Oblivion or Morrowind for a while now. I just remember that seeing where you were in a quest was annoying and kinda tedious, but I could be wrong though (i probably am). Figured why not post some stuff on the forums about it. Perhaps you guys will be thanking me when there is a log when you first open it up and its not a giant cluster [censored]. :foodndrink:

Oblivion's was easier to navigate and all around better, true. Morrowind's had less clutter though since it simply showed the quest title and quest giver and not the most recent journal entry for every single quest. I just don't really like cluttered UIs I guess. I think we can all agree both were horrible though.

Oblivion had two large sections of the journal, completed quests and current (non-completed quests). Each quest was put under a specific title and clicking on that title would open up all information pertaining to that quest. It really can't get much more organized than that.

Damn! Morrowind had a quest index? I HATED going through that chronological journal all the time! Why was this not the default?

I liked Morrowinds best of all. (post patch) and the only thing better I could wish for would be the ability to write notes in it. I loved how it looked like a book or a journal my character might have been keeping.

Morrowind before Bloodmoon was terrible, Oblivions journal works, but would like to add a index for active quest and just use the index for completed ones.

Yes notes would be nice, I would just use it for places with useful plants, good merchant and other useful stuff but guess many people would probably use it as a character diary.

I never used the new features of Morrowind journal. First time I heard about it. So much unnecesary suffering... :cryvaultboy:

What!? Of course it can. How about sub categories like Main quest, Fighters guild quests, region quests,Quest for the each major citie, etc. I have seen other games like TW2 with something like this, much better than Ob mess, which was better than MW mess.

I think I also liked the style of Morrowind's journal better, even though it was a major PITA before I got the GOTY edition. It looked and 'felt' like a real journal. Adding the ability to write notes would be a huge plus, though. I wonder why we haven't been able to thus far? :shrug:

I was more than happy with Morrowind's Journal. Oblivion's wasn't a journal at all, just a series of menus. Bring back the book!

If I were keeping quest-logs in reality, I wouldn't do it like it was in Morrowind. That was just a pain. I'd do it in an Oblivion way, just instead of using tabs (since I'd need to use a book) I'd make sections and have an index of quests so I know which to turn to. And just mark a topic off in the index when I'm done with it. So basically I'd get something similar to Oblivion's system in layout.

A list of all quests, current always on the top, active below, then the finished ones with indication of failed and success. Quests that was never given but still failed (i.e. you killed an important NPC or was result of previous actions), should not appear at all. There should also be a full history of chat logs which I should be able to sort as I see fit: Chronological, alphabetical, and per quest, in addition to own notes and several player markers on the map containing text. If I click on the current quest (the one at the very top), it remains active but quest markers are removed. If I click on it again, I get quest markers back.

I would also like the ability to highlight a location marker on the map and choose to view different quest logs associated with that location.