ah.. no. They are both fetch quests... you are basically comparing "bring me a soda" with "would you please be so kind as to go to the kitchen, open the fridge, and bring back a can of soda for me?" Bottom line is, you were asked to go to X place and bring Y item back to the same spot.

What wouldn't be a "fetch quest" is something like... you find this dungeon, you go inside, and as you explore it, you find this sword which seems out of place in the dungeon, next to a skeleton. You examine the sword, and it has an inscription carved on the hilt. So later, as you walk into some town and you initiate a dialog with some random NPC, you have the option to ask "does the phrase/name/word ***** (whatever was carved in the sword) mean anything to you?".. and you could get a response like "well, not, but it sounds like something I read on this book..." then you go try to find that book.. and so forth and so on. So, rather than some NPC ask you to fetch something from him/her with the full story behind the item, you discover that for yourself as you go along.

You see, i can eat 29 pieces of ham with 3 hands on the back of my head.
But it just depends on the ammount of feet that are gathered near my ever-growing trees.

You see where i'm going?

I'd just like to weigh in on this bit.

There was an aspect to Morrowind's short miscellaneous quests that sorely lacking in Skyrim's. In Morrowind, even very short, single-stage quests offered unique insight into the world. You may be completing what is, when it boils down to it, a rather menial task, but that task presents you a new lens through which to view the world. Take a simple item recover quest. In Skyrim it is exactly that. Your goal is to find an item and return it to it's owner. Rarely does the quest offer any additional information. Someone wants some ingredients, or a helmet, or a debt repayed. But it's all rather droll. It may give brief insight into an NPCs life, but it's simply trite and uninteresting.

In contrast, a quest in Morrowind may involve reclaiming stolen guar pelts. On the surface, this is just another meaningless fetch quest. However, it gives the player insight into this new world she finds herself in. It showcases the conflict between native ashlander tribes-people and the new Imperial/outlander presence. Both the racial/cultural divide and the dispute over property as the ashlanders see it. It's essentially the entire struggle in Morrowind (natives versus outsiders) summed up in a single, throw away quest. There is no sense that quests uniquely belong to Skyrim. You could implement them in any other TES game exactly as they are.

The difference, really, is that Morrowind's quests were another form of exploration. Rather than delving into dungeons, you explored the world through the narrative of it's people and culture.

Pfft, they would have gotten it done sooner if they had used "Overnight Eagle Xpress"

Yeah... because Fedex are being continually chased during their journey of delivering a letter to a neighboring village while wondering about how to enter mordor safely... . One does not simply walk into Mordor!

quest felt a bit better in oblivion to me i think. the crazy guy in skingrad was the first quest i did in that game after i got out of the dungeon it was awesome.
skyrim has some good ones, but each oblivion quest felt unique in some way. skyrim feels like its copy pasta sometimes

Then by your logic the part where your finding the book, would just make that a fetch quest...

I consider something with depth, that takes more than 5 seconds to not be a fetch quest. You can't say simply becase you're getting an object for someone that it is. Look at like 99% of plots in games and movies, the main character is just trying to get an item. Are you saying all of those are just fetch quests? No. They have story, meaning, purpose, they take time, and they make a difference.

They aren't, "Go 10 ft, get 5 of this object, to give me. Lololol"

Well, since most of the quests are... "Bring this to ____." and "Find my lost _____." and "Talk to _____." and "Visit your home." and "Search one of these chests, there has to be some armor and weapons around here."...

I would not exactly call that "TASK" a "QUEST"....

A "Quest" is...
- Something that leads you to discovery, not gives you GPS targets.
- Something that rewards you with something of value, not cake.
- Something that adds to the content, which can not be contrived.
- Something that, one would assume, others would have difficulty doing.
- Something that progresses the story-line, not stalling it.

90% of the things labeled as a "Quest", are just "Tasks"...

A "Task" is...
- Something anyone could do, like "Visit the mall".
- Something that is instructional, like "Use the toilet".
- Something that stalls the story-line, like "Return this useless item to this useless person, who has nothing to do with the story. Then return."
- Something that does not add to the content, like "Kill another dragon. You know, the flying things you would be killing anyways."
- Something that rewards you with useless items, like "Here have this 4 gold, for killing those ten dozen bandits that were not actually raiding us, and had nothing to do with the story."
- Something that leads you, not offers you, a conflicting situation, like "Go kill this person, who you just spent the last 15 quests befriending, or you can't continue. He must die at your hand, so everyone see's that you murdered him. He can't die naturally, or accidentally, or that will still be treated as if you murdered him."

Windows has tasks, in the "Task-manager"... "Defrag at noon.", "Scan for viruses at midnight", "Recycle garbage if drive is full.", "Update windows"...

RPG's have quests, "Kill the dragon that is stopping you from getting to the next quest.", "Stop the king from killing the wrong prisoner.", "Get the cake, so it can be poisoned and fed to the troll that guards the dragon-slaying sword.", "Here is your reward, hope 3000 gold and this unique and special magic-reflect shield will help you defeat the super magic wizard beyond the dragon."

Not, "I am the Jarl, you are now my Thane, here is your idiot house-carl, and your shack. That will be 5000 gold. Oh, and thanks for saving our city from the dragon that would have surely killed us, since we would have been unaware and unprepared without your warning. Oh, you want furniture in your house too... WTF, that'll be another 5000 gold. But take this lame sword, which is just as good as the one you have, but it glows. Oh, and deliver this flower to Amanda... She is just an NPC, but that doesn't matter, it is on the way to your shed."

FYI: Hard to tell, but I do LOVE this game... If only for the beauty and the dry humor of the quests/tasks. Plus the twisted trippy and evil quests/tasks.
Be veeeeweee quiet, i'm huntin' wabbits!

That is too narrow I think in categorization. What if some quests have both, for example:


Visiting an underground old library, tucked in the shelves full of normal books is an ancient book (unique).
This book ingredients needed to craft an item.
Obtain ingredients, and craft item.
The item is the only thing that can kill monster.
Kill monster, and get bones.
Craft armor from bones.
This armor is the only thing that can pass a magical shield entering a secret area.
Area leads to an island.
On island is a dragon.
Win over dragon and you get a flying dragon you can hop on to visit island or other places (fast travel).

So Morrowind has 425 Great ones....... just putting it out there.

Not to burst your bubble, but I think the LONGEST QUEST (usually the main quest) is usually the most epic. And I think Oblivion had the most involved longest quest in the series. You had to close so many oblivion gates that you started hating the game. I never played Morrowind, but if it is so great, I assume the the main quest is super long and involved as well? I think Skyrim went back to the drawing board and had a very short main quest.

What some people are referring to as "Quests" are actually "Questlines". They even keep track of those in your journal. Questlines will allow players to get to know characters and achieve a greater goal, while other "simpler" quests are one or two steps only and are mostly filler content. In my humble opinion, everything that falls outside the actual plot branches can be considered just menial tasks. In Skyrim they come in two flavors, Radiant (dynamic) ones and static ones. There's hardly any difference if you're asked to fetch an item from a tomb randomly placed by the system or handplaced by a worldbuilder.

Speaking of Questlines only, the game really falls short. Guild ones are too short and casual, while the main quest, like in Oblivion, is very brief and leaves lots of loose ends and unexplored potential. Other than a couple of highlight moments, such as the they consist mostly of crossing the map as a courier to fulfill the demands of bossy NPCs.

If we're speaking solely about writing quality, Skyrim remains way below Morrowind, but stands slightly above Oblivion.

Next time Bethesda should really take a hint from Valve and Rocksteady, hire an actual script writer.

Is the generation of quests by the AI indefinite?

Never thought of it this way, but it's actually true. Plus, I think part of the fun of fetch quests is exploration, rather than the actual menial task.

Which game are you referring to? There are indefinite kill monsters quests in Skyrim I believe. I think one of the Companions gives those out. I am not sure if you marry the person the quests stop. (that would be a bummer)

This

Nope it was a smart one. Quantity> Quality.

Ok. I have to admit. Quantity is a Bethesda trademark. They have massive content. It becomes so massive, it itself is considered a quality. They are known for having long playtime (value) because of those massive amount of content. It doesn't matter if they have replay value because once you are done one time, that is 500 hours worth of gaming. Blizzard and Bioware are going the opposite direction... Make the games as short as possible (but spend a lot of time on those small amount of content) and try to go for re-play value (Blizzard at least). While Bioware goes with different movie clips (influenced by Final Fantasy I bet) where you are not in control, Blizzard goes for replay value (you are in control). If there is a lot of content, Blizzard will charge you for it (like WoW). Bioware likes to stick to DLC as much as possible.

Out of the three Elder Scrolls games I've played I'd have to rank Oblivion the best in terms of the quality of quests, Skyrim coming in second and Morrowind shortly behind.

Damn! In 140 hours I've completed 140 quests. You're telling me there are another 250 odd to find? I've uncovered 200 locations too.

Is this including radiant quest givers? This is hard to believe, hope it's true tho!