So, I have been playing for a bit now (lvl 15) and I love the game (PS3). My play style is to explore and adventure, finding locations and seeing what they are all about. Collecting side quests along the way.

My question is this. I first started out playing TES Skyrim (PS3) and as much as I love that game, if you did something like picking up objects you were not supposed to along trails, in caves, mines, etc. you could glitch or even break a certain quest if the item you acquired was quest related (but you had not obtained the quest to do so).

Make sense? Kind of tough to explain...

Anyway, because of this problem when I would discover a new location in Skyrim, I would look it up on USEP or Wikia. If the location was quest related I would cross reference in order to see who the quest giver was in order not to "break the quest" by obtaining items, notes, weapons, what have you, that would end up glitching the quest out.

I hate to play that way, and do not want that to be the case with Oblivion.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I can′t think of anything like that. There′s only one problem regarding quests that breaks and especially on the PS3 that I can think of, I′ll put it in a spoiler tag if you wish to know.


Edit: glargg just made my spoiler tag look foolish

if you are asking if picking items will break quests? then i dont think so, you cant remove them though.
thats strange that never happen to me in Skyrim

It never happened to me in Skyrim either.

I really don't think you need to be worried about breaking quests that way. Oblivion is pretty bullet-proof when it comes to quest design. Quest-related NPC are protected from death until after their part is played. Quest items are automatically logged when you pick them up, whether the quest is assigned or not, and can't be accidentally sold or dropped. Most major quest locations are protected behind "key-required" locks or hidden locations so they can't be entered prematurely.

There are a few glitches that can mess things up, but they're not things that you can prevent anyway. Examples would be the case where a certain person who is needed in order to buy a certain house will accidentally get himself killed, or the major "vampire cure bug" that occurs on the PS3 GOTY version.

Thanks everyone. Awesome responses so far. As far as glitches and quest breakers, lots of people would have to reload a previous save in order to get around them...and then not make the same mistake twice!

*makes sure not to get bitten on neck*

If you contract the Porphyric Hemophilia disease, be sure to get it cured before you sleep anywhere. The initial symptom includes your fatigue meter staying slightly less than full and the fatigue points being in red when you look at your character sheet. If your character has any ailments, you can usually look-up what they are on the last tab of the spell book.

Good to know, schmoe. Thanks.

I can think of two other potential problems (especially if you're playing on console), not so much related to picking stuff up, but to quests that break other quests. If you get a quest and run that quest, I don't think there are any problems besides the ones that people have mentioned. But the Thieves Guild quest line has a couple quests that can break when they interact with other quests, especially the waterfront one and the one where you have to get something in Leyawiin. Pretty much, don't accept a Thieves Guild quest until you're ready to run it, then complete it right away and you'll be ok.

^^^ Got it, thanks!


Still up in the air what Factions I want to join...kind of going my own way for now.

There is one DB quest that you can never get? that I know of if you take action before joining...


Not a glitch, and not a quest braker. Just one you can never get.