Generally now I never bother with the MQ. I will finish up to getting the rest of Unrelenting Force. This also gets me recognized as the Dragonborn and the Greybeards will give me clues as to where to look for more word walls. As far as Delphine is concerned I usually just take the horn from her and follow her to the bedroom. I shut the door when asked, and then when she goes downstairs I open the door back up and leave. I assume she is forever in the basemant of the Inn … waiting for me to follow her. Somehow that makes me happy.

So now I’m comparing the differences my game would have if I just finish the MQ or just stop at this point. Either way dragons still attack. Either way very few if anyone knows who I am (where is my statue dang it!). The Civil war can go on either way. I can become the master of all factions either way. I mean essentially nothing changes at that point. I can just do some more quests for the MQ … or not and go do something else. The game remains basically the same either way.

Does anyone else think that overall the MQ in Skyrim is kind of pointless and accomplishes nothing?

Aside from a RP perspective, i agree. There are however certain shouts one can get only thru the MQ. Also you cant get all the dragon priest masks without doing the MQ.

RP reasons are probably why most finish it. I myself have only done the MQ twice across 40 something characters.

The Dragon Attacks continuing after the MQ was the biggest disappointment I had with the game. They should have stopped all together, or diminished over time, otherwise what is the point? They did at least dramatically reduce the dragon attacks after the MQ is over in one of the patches. I don't know how much of a reduction, because I use a mod that stops dragon attacks after the MQ is over.

As for the MQ being worthwhile, in every TES game I have played since Daggerfall, the MQ is always an optional part of the game and does not need to be completed or even started to enjoy the rest of the game. That is probably the best part of TES. "Hey, we have this dramatic Main Quest with a great story, but you can ignore if you want to and do something else"

Besides, all quests, even the Main Quest, is just an excuse to go out in the world and explore. I mean, there are like 5 times as many non quest related dungeons as there are quest related dungeons.

Sorry, but I actually snorted coffee out of my nose when I read that.

But if you compare to say OB, the gates stop, you get a statue, you are call the hero, you get a special set of armor, etc. Sure all optional, but much more significant than ... well nothing.

Compared to previous titles, it's true. The dragon's give you a pat on the back for stopping Alduin and that's about it. It's incredibly underwhelming.

I was speaking as a person developing the game. In most games, the MQ is the game, or it has to be done and side quests are just a distraction. In this game, the MQ is optional and the devs never try to hide that. But, they would prefer that you experience it, so they have to sell it.

Why do anything? Answer that and you will answer your own question

Well, i do the MQ until Paarthurnax gives me the final word of Fire Breath shout. And do stuff for Delphine until i get Dragonbane After that i ignore it, until i'm ready to finish the character. Then i just rush the last quests. Because closure, though it is dissappointing And Skuldafn and Al himself are quite challenging with the mods i use. Fit for a final challenge.

. . . So that the PC receives more respect from Miraak.

Plus, the final mission in Skuldafn is quite fun.

Also, the final rewards would be quite good if:

• Hakon was not gimped.
• The cool-down to summon Odahviing was not ridiculously long.

Vanilla was pointless and boring since so little changed, there were little to no npcs/followers that had depth/character/interaction with the world, the whole game felt so hollow no matter what you did, beautiful, but hollow.

The PC version with mods? All i have to say is this, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end” ~ “You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are”.

Interesting NPCs really filled in the hollowness. I kinda don't want to finish the MQ now because i know it will make me all teary curse you Kris Takahashi! i love you

I just started using Interesting NPC's. No idea who Kris is though. I did note that some can't be married unless you finish the MQ.

He's the guy who made the mod

I'm not sure if there are any others, but i know that you can't marry Zora Fair-Child until after the MQ.

P.S: Use Amazing Follower Tweaks + patch so you can have multiple followers from the mod with you. Sadly UFO or any other mod has yet to make a compatibility patch for Interesting NPCs. He also updates the mod more frequently on his http://3dnpc.com/ in case you run into some bugs.

As far as I'm concerned this describes all the Elder Scrolls games pretty well. In Morrowind the Ghostgate went down and the skies over Red Mountain cleared up. But if I wasn't near Red Mountain I didn't see any of that. Except for the Great Houses, we could be master of all faction in Morrowin too. Same with Oblivion.

I can still remember my first Morrowind character. After the main quest was finished I thought I'd join the Imperial Legion. I was dismayed that Darius didn't know I'd just saved the entire island. He treated me like an errand boy. He sent me to retrieve a deed from a widow, to cure a Kwama Queen, ect. It was as though the main quest had never happened. I became disillusioned with Morrowind at that point. I moved on to another game.

The same thing in Oblivion. Sure, I got a statue. Big deal. It's cosmetic. Owyn in the Arena or Azzan in the Fighters Guild will treat you as though the main quest has never happened. Azzan sends you kill rats, Owyn insults you whether you have done the main quest or not.

That said, Bethesda could certainly do better. NPCs could acknowledge the accomplishments of the player character more often, for one thing. I hope they do improve in this area in the next game.