I love the Elder Scrolls series, even though my first game in the series was Oblivion. After that I have played Skyrim a ton (about 300h). Then I went back and played through Arena, and now I am playing Morrowind (I will play Daggerfall next).

One thing though that I especially notice in Morrowind that I love over the later games is the journal and the way the game don't just put on a "radar" with waypoint to the nearest goal. I had almost forgotten that games where this way back then, we are so used to just having onscreen waypoints now to every objective or goal. It really struck home with me this time though how incredible immersive breaking and dumb that is in a game like the Elder Scrolls. It really just makes you go from waypoint to waypoint, sometimes not even knowing what there is you are going toward before you get there, you just go toward the nearest "blip" on your inbuilt radar system. Opposed to opening your journal, reading about a quest you are on and looking over the notes on how to get there, what signs to look for, when to turn right in the road and so on, what the name is of the person you are looking for. It really gives a whole new level of depth and immersion that is just lost in Oblivion and Skyrim, no matter how much I love those games.

I would love if this was mixed with a feature in my favorite game of all time: Outcast http://www.gog.com/game/outcast

Apart from this being the best game ever made, it also have a feature i have not seen in any game every since before of after it. And it would fit perfectly into a system like this.

In Outcast if you are looking for a person you can ask any npc if he have seen him. If that npc have seen the other npc your are looking for he will give you direction to where he saw him last, dynamically. If in fact the npc you are looking for is within eyesight or very near, the npc you are asking will actually put out his arm and point at him! This is just one of many unique and amazing features in this the best and most underplayed game of all time, so check it out if you have not.

Back to Elder Srolls.

So what do you think, any chance Bethesda will go back to this old system? Or do we just have to accept that this is the way games are now? I would love an option at least to turn on and off waypoints, but in that case there need to be some feature in there for a journal or a way to ask for the way like in Morrowind to your objectives. It would of course be really great if you could write stuff in your ingame journal to, i love games that let you do that (even though a feature like that is probably only viable on PC).

That sounds really cool substitute for compass markers. I would love to see something like that in the next Elder Scrolls game. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

I doubt they'll go back. The target audience has changed, and quest markers and the like are a symptom of that change. And considering how well Skyrim sold I don't see why they would shift their target audience away from such sales figures, much as I would like them to.

Probably not.

i have this ominous feeling that i am going to despise the next ES game because it's going to be their most dumbed-down game, by far.

i would be shocked if they re-introduced a competent and well-crafted journal/quest system without handholding and magic gps'.

along with a competent hud options menu to customize the game to our liking. they can't even get the hud menu right. think about that.....

I still have no idea what you're talking about here.

Also, Skyrim's added quite a bit to the series as well... I intend to make a post about it.

seriously? on consoles, the entire hud options menu is one of the biggest jokes of ineptitude ever. it's all tied together and turning off one aspect turns off the entire hud.

sound, words, music, status bars, new locations, everything, is a jumbled mess.

as for what skyrim added- please don't start talking about the character development because it is the most pathetic it's ever been. simplistic and less customized: use skill, level, raise 3 conglomerate "attributes", pick perk. epitome of dumbed-down and no thought needed at all. as well, the radiant system is a joke and laughably bad.

edit: i'll stop now, since, we can have fun later, lol....

LOL at your Emo-angst-rage.

BTW, you forgot to add "in my opinion" into your post. I mention that because there are people (yes, even people like me who've been with the series since Daggerfall) who like how things work in Skyrim. Including managing the HUD options.

You should probably remember that "IMO" part in the future. I for one don't remember electing you to be the "Community Representative of What We Like and Don't Like".

Just saying.

I'd love to see something similar in the next game. Well, they can keep the quest marker, but why not also write down some directions in the journal? Or the ability to ask an npc in the same village if you're looking for another person. Directions to his house or something like that. I mean we can easily disable quest markers in any Bethesda game, but the journal entries are not even viable now.

udUbdaWgz1, you're only being a spokesperson for half of the fanbase, the other half LIKES their games simpler and straight-forward. Unfortunately for the one half, Bethesda has chosen to change the target audience for their product, so now we've got a divided fanbase that can't even agree on the most basic issues with the series.

Of course, if they could make some of that complexity and character-based versus player-based gameplay "optional" (not "optional" like Quest Arrows, where if you turn them off, you get no usable directions to do the quest), then they might be able to keep both sides pacified. The alternative is to drive one group or the other away, which they've recently been working rather hard at doing.

"imo" is obvious and inherent to every opinion comment from every person on every forum on the internet and i will only add it when i feel it's necessary. talk about irrelevant.

let me just say to you- learn to think a little more critically, since, quite obviously, i wasn't elected as a community rep and my comments describing what i like and don't like have nothing to do with you.

you can feel good about your ridiculous comment all you'd like and we see people saying such irrelevancies throughout internet forums but, you are simply incorrect in your statement.

Now; I don't anyone to take what I say the wrong way. I RP very deeply in every TES game I pick up. I even impose limitations on my characters by active means even when it's something the game doesn't take into account (like necessary meal times, sleep schedule, etc.). IMO more options are always better, but in no way do I think that this series is being "dumbed down".

Is it getting more streamlined? Sure. Do I like every decision Bethesda has made? No.

But do I think that; even with the changes I don't like, that the series gets better with each new addition? Absolutely. And the series has been getting better since Daggerfall entered the world. I can't wait for TES VI, I think it'll be mind-blowing.

I would take you at your word, if you'd quit wording your posts as if your opinion were absolute fact.

i agree. the fanbase is very divided by the same issues while being on complete opposite sides of the spectrum of those issues. i get it. like i said in another post, i think it's time i start yapping about the good stuff, lol.