I don't think the OP's necessarily arguing that he *wants* quest markers, just that it seems inevitable, given the random quests, that they'll be in. And given Beth's recent history it seems unlikely that they'll be leaving. Doesn't mean we have to like that; but nor is that what the OP's about.

I'm with you that I don't want them, but I'm with the OP that they're pretty much inevitable.

No, when I first loaded up Oblivion I was like "Woooaahh, combat is so much better! Wooah, graphics! Woooahh, physics! Woah, voice acting! This improved upon morrowind in every way and is the best game eveerrrrr!"

And it wasn't until a day or so later that I realized how much I hated Oblivion.

It truly did annoy me how much Oblivion held your hand in every way, and I would hope Skyrim cuts back on that in some ways at least, though it's doubtful considering they have a broader audience than hardcoe RPG fanatics like myself.

@The Crustacean
Agreed 100%

No thank you. Rather have better notes to the place like in Quest that was about plae pass in TES IV

Yes, I think I understood well what the OP meant, but anyway, what this is about is that I don't agree they're inevitable. That BSG will or won't change the use of quest arrows is another debate.

I think I get your point. Thanks for clarifying.

A possible solution would be this:
For randomly generated quests, let the actor say something like "I think I know the location. Let me mark it on your map".
For "normal quests" have real voice acted directions. One line is usually enough.

The cost wouldn't be too consuming then. I expect there to be not too many randomly generated quests though, so I believe there will be a good balance in terms of directions, if what I proposed above is implemented.
You would still be able to explore and think some for yourself.
Quest markers should go away, far away, and stay there forever. Instead, as I said (for randomly generated quests), have them put a mark on your map instead. So if you have to look on your map when you explore, instead of just mindlessly following that red/green marker...

I think we'll just have to accept that quest markers will always be in now. No more explanations to where we need to go, just a magic compass. Heh.

I hope we get some directions at least, without having to use the compass. In oblivion, you never got any directions, and it was stupid.

Well, I'm happy you say so and I get your point. Let's hope for the best and keep expressing our opinions. Now, let's go hand in hand to fairy land.

Quest markers don't have to be the ones where they are also inside the instance pointing out the quest objective, quest markers could (and should) be pointing out the general location of where you have to go. The exploring of the dungeon or cave should then be your responsibility.



I don't think that the magic compass is in the game. I don't see how it could without a HUD. Not to mention, magic compass and quest markers aren't synonymous. Quest markers are helpful without telling you where exactly your objective is. Morrowind and Oblivion had the about the same play time and Oblivion had the magic compass and fast travel. So Oblivion really didn't have a shortage of content compared to Morrowind but it could've been even more play time if Fast travel was only allowed to major cities and the magic compass wasn't in the game.

Problem solved; the world has become a better place now

Omg, don't remind me of that Dwemer cube. That quest shortened my life by decades from the annoyance and stress of running through the entire dungeon 50 times before I finally found it.

Compass markers weren't included in Oblivion to help locate caves. Compass markers were included in Oblivion to help locate wandering quest NPCs.

Or quest items. Not that they were going anywhere.
Would you see the need for a marker if you knew a person's schedule?

Nope, I always thought that the compass is what kept the dark brotherhood quest to kill the Black Hand that traveled from city to city from being one of the best. I wanted to stalk him but it marked him. The first time I killed him I did it with the compass but then after that I chose a different active quest but it was too late, it just didn't feel the same anymore. Oh well, happiness missed on that quest doesn't hurt that much.

Thanks for the reply 's. I don't have the time to reply to everyone personally at the moment unfortunately, but I just want to clarify what I mean:
Because quests can point to various locations, they will have to add multiple voicerecords on the disk (and record them). Because probably a lot of quests will be influenced by this, this would mean every quest have, say: 20 different 'directions'. This would not only make the gamesize much bigger (in gigabytes), but also the budget much higher. Ofcourse, it is possible, but it will not be profitable that way. Why pay much more when a quest maker is much cheaper?
Of course, they could use something like a GPS: just let the voiceactors speak things like 'north' 'west' etc. However, this probably would sound terrible (at least, all GPS's I know do), because it does not sound naturall.
Of course, they could write it in your journal, something I did not think about. However, I think this gets pretty odd very soon, so I doubt they will do it for most quests .



I did want to say something about your post:
............................................................... (even more dots to express my 'sigh, he doesn't even read my post right, he just starts to scream) To start with, nowhere did I say I like questmarkers (in fact I don't), however, you sound a like a really frustrated little kid... just screaming that you don't want questmarkers in, thinking I do, without thinking what I say (I only say I don't see any other possibility, not that I like them).

Things like "Or you could say: "Go north from here. Continue until you see an opening in the mountains to the right. The cave is further in that opening." are entirely possible, until you have to record this thing 20+ times, because one time the cave is to the right of the mountain, the next time to the left, another time it's not even close to the mountain etc. Of course you can record all, but that will become very expensive with a lot of quests...
It seems to me you just like to scream 'I am right, and you're soooooo wrong, because I don't like questmarkers, you MUST be wrong'. Please, next time, think before you post.

Why does the marker have to be an arrow? Could it be a circle around an area of where it could be, or a strangely shaped blob of where whatever it is could be?

I'm sure there's a way to get the best of "thank god I have the arrow, otherwise i'd never find this thing" and "thank you for holding my hand arrow, but I'd rather think for myself".

Instead of saying why which idea svcks, maybe try to find a balance.

They should make it an option which you can enable/disable from the menu.

This would please both camps as it would enable those who want some direction to have that while others can try to resolve where a location is based on dialogue/text clues. Of course, this would require Bethesda to include the clues in the dialogue for both situations, as it wouldn't really be fair for an NPC to tell you "Go to Eldritch Cave" and nothing else, only to find out that such a cave is on the opposite side of the map. (although I certainly understand why some people might be interested in having as few clues as possible, since that makes the adventure more interesting).

What I really want to see with this game in general is a lot of options, since limiting any instance purely to one camp's opinion results in less fun for the other and less variety in general. I hold the same stance on fast travel, for instance, that it should still exist, but be supplemented with physical means such as boats for those who do not wish to use it.

If you think that CAPS always means screaming, you're very wrong. It can ALSO mean that you emphasize something.
If you are going to call everyone who oppose you "a frustrated little kid", then I'm pretty sure you'll get your lesson learnt one beautiful day in life.
My main point with that post was that someone said that directions just couldn't be done by voice actors, and that they had to be quest markers.
Later I proposed something different for randomly generated quests, and that they can be seperated from other voice acted directions.

Your logic is also greatly flawed if you think: "I am right, and you're soooooo wrong, because I don't like questmarkers, you MUST be wrong",
seeming as you didn't even read what I said and just posted your personal opinions right away; not minding any arguments of your own or even my thesis or conclusion.
One could wonder if you really think yourself before you are posting.

I would definitely like to have no quest markers. They should put an option to turn quest markers off.

bahahahahaha I like you, but try to keep the hostility to a minimum man.

I don't want GPS for my fantasy rpg game I just don't, I DON'T WANT IT, it breaks immersion, in Gothic 3 their were hundreds of quests and they all had voiced directions, and I was fine with it, actually it was better than oblivion and I did enjoy Gothic 3 more to be honest.

sure keep the lame GPS but I want to have directions told to me OR written on the journal at least if they can't voice them, so that I can chose not to use the marker thingy.

ALSO if they said "let me mark it on your map", I want them to draw an X on the spot and that's it, no arrow on some compass that keeps guiding me like I'm some frigging missile, in fact I want the compass to be hand held as in you can see it only when you flip it out.

that's what I would love to see, that's what should be done, this way the "directionally challenged" can keep their lame GPS, and I can get my directions, awesome 3D maps (which you can spread in animation and look at), 3D compass, and good old exploring pleasure.

I don't really think quest markers ruin exploration. Marking something on my map is a perfectly good excuse I think.

Besides on the way to a quest marker I have gotten exploration in believe it or not. And when I wanted to continue on my quest I simply go to the marker. It saves one a lot of faffing about.

I don't mind questmarkers as long as they are just on the map and not pointing straight at the target. If they implement the GPS questcompass yet again, I will withdraw in my cave and facepalm until I have no face left to palm.

Are people confusing quest markers and quest arrow with each other again? there was quest markers in Morrowind as well, you really don't mind quest markers.

It seems like it would be really simple to make this an on/off option in the menu... then again I'm not a game dev.

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January 8th tweet. Quests aren't randomly generated.