I feel as if TES series is a series that doesn't need a main quest, post-Daggerfall. To me, the main selling point of the series is open-ended gameplay full of side quests and defining a character without the need of a storyline. I was wondering what everyone else thinks of stories in the series with the hand-crafted gameworlds that the series now seems to have and won't let go. I voted "I care about them a little, but if they were removed, I would still gladly play Elder Scrolls games." I don't want the stories removed from the games, but if they were removed, despite some disappointment, I wouldn't care much.

I like them, but I wouldn't care if they were gone. I would rather a TES game that was only open ended than one that was only a main quest. They should try to steer away from what they did with Oblivion though. I felt they forced the quest upon you. I like the way Morrowind did it.

I like to have a main quest, and I would be pretty disappointed if there wasn't one, but I would get over it and enjoy the game anyway.

I feel like the main quests are really the only things that change the stagnant, technologically absent world that is Nirn. Sure books like The Infernal City and in-game books can do this, but the player feels less significant. But I don't want it to be shoved down my throat from the very beginning like in Oblivion.

The best thing in my opinion, would be for the game to give you the option to turn off the main quest when you start a chargen after completing the main quest on a save file. You can then RP a small time farmer or whatever it is that suits you.

I like having them, but I also like when you can totally ignore the main quest while you do everything else in the game. That's what I do in both Morrowind and Oblivion. Hell, while I know the basic plot of Morrowind, I've never actually finished the main quest. I prefer to explore instead. I finished Oblivion's because at one point I just said "I am DAMN tired of these Oblivion gates popping up everywhere," so I finished the main quest to stop them. In that sense Oblivion's main quest made me feel like I couldn't ignore it like I could with Morrowind. That and having the Amulet of Kings stuck in my inventory, but that's easier to forget about than Oblivion Gates.

Without a Main Quest, I would probably see the game as pointless, as the story is why I go for a game series.

Main story lines are good but to me they are just one of many things that make the elder scrolls a great series, and while it would be weird to not have a main storyline I would definitely still play the game.

Coincidentally, I was thinking the exact same things just a few days ago. The answer of course is that the story line is not essential. In fact it would be quite a nice change from other genres if the open world RPG genre took a turn like that. There are enough side quests. There are enough factions. I never beat Morrowind but I have plugged 200+ hours into it. I've done almost everything in Morrowind too. I personally like the main quest option though. Its just another option and options are good. The problem is, though, without the main quests, the biggest points in Tamriel's history would not be playable. That is why there must be a main quest. No other reason besides that they add more awesomeness.

I think that a main quest isn't a particularly necessary selling point for an Elder Scrolls game. However, in the initial presentation and immersion into the world - the exposure to the factions, the turmoil, the common rumors on the street, work quite well alongside one. I do feel that players should just jump into a game and discover everything on their own - open ended RPGs have always been catered to the pioneer, the person who looks out across the horizon with a sense of adventure, looking to establish himself and put his decisions in the world into action. After what I've seen with Morrowind and Oblivion though, I think that the main quest does a great job at allowing the player to experience a touch of everything, as well as bringing more prominent issues and persons in the world into context. Would a main quest be nice? Definitely. But in the end I definitely care more about the abundance of other quests and activities than the main plot.

Despite my constant ranting about Morrowind, I still think that Daggerfall's main quest is the best. It tends to sit in the background for much of the game, and most of your tasks only come within months of one another. As procedural and generic as it can be, the lack of distractions (through whatever - the main quest, sleepers, oblivion gates) really are what makes the world feel so real. Any particularly special quests will feel just that to you, but otherwise you're still just a humble adventurer. In a way, you feel more bound to the towns - not in regards to freedom, but in that most of your lore, information, and quests come from them. Eventually, in the case of MW/OB's cities, they degrade into but a place to sell loot and sleep. But I digress.

I do think that as a main quest becomes less important, the overall immersion and desire to roleplay in the rest of the game becomes stronger.

While the main quest is usually not the most important part of an Elder Scrolls game to me, I'm not sure if I'd still play the series wthiout it. The main quest, the way I see it, is sort of a central point that ties the game together, the side quests, faction quests, and free exploration may take up a larger portion of the player's time, and with some characters, I might not even do the main quest, but honestly, I think without one, the game would feel a little meaningless, like a series of disjointed, random things that don't tie together and bearly mean anything in the overall history of Tamriel, in short. While the main quests aren't always the most important or even best parts of the game, I would never want to see them removed.

I think the way Morrowind and Oblivion handled it is quite acceptable, there's a main quest you can play if you desire, but you can choose to ignore it and go do other things if you prefer, and yet you can get back to it at any time if you want. While the actual quality of the main quest might be a different story, I can't complain about how its place in the game was handled.

I would be pretty upset if there was no main quest.

I liked the way that Oblivion did it, I liked the main quest, and I liked how the game started. After finishing the tutorial dungeon I didnt feel like I was being forced to play the story, but I did anyway because I was told to go there and do that (talk to jaufrey etc). And find out about the game. I've been watching Lets Play Morrowind and I dont like the way it starts. Well I liked that you get off the boat and have to fill in papers etc about ur char, thast all good, but after thats done, u have no direction and no reason to play. So I liked how Oblivion introduced you to the main story as soon as the game started.

Really? I'm quite the opposite. I feel that OB was strongly urging me to hurry up and do the main quest, while in Morrowind you are left with a package to deliver, and when you deliver you are told to do your thing and come back later. I like that, it feels more laid back and less "have-to-do-this" to me. :shrug:

That is something that I hope BGS improves upon in TES V. I personally did not mind it but when I decide not do the main quest it feals weird to be carrying the amulet of kings in my inventory. Especially when it says in my journal that I must take it to Jauffre and when I go to Chorrol it says that Im almost there.

I think the main point is that, in both games, the fate of the world waits around to see what you do next.

The first time I became Nerevarine, I was like,"whaaaa... coooool."

The second and third time, I was like, "whatever, Azura, gimme my nighteye."

A more personal story for your character would be ok, but for the big world events, here's what I'd like to see:

Each major event, like the battles and seiges and assassinations happen at timed increments, whether you're there or not.

You may be involved in certain events in different ways if your guild gets hired to handle it or if you have made a certain friend over the course of the game who asks for your help. Sometimes, the thing happens while you're in a dungeon on the other side of the map and you only hear about it later.

Maybe you return to a city after finishing a side quest to find that city in ruins. Maybe, with your second character, you happen to be in that city when it's attacked and you help evacuate the citizens. Your third character is part of some knightly order, who is ordered to destroy that city. Your fourth character is in the thieves guild, and is hired to steal a valuable scepter from the palace of that city during the commotion.

If this is done right, each character you make could play a drastically different role in the "main story" of the province, with minimal scripting.

An event could simply be along the lines of "faction a attacks faction b and wins" and who your character happens to be will determine if that event affects you and how.

Yeah, it would be better to be able to toss it, and then if you wanna continue later, there is a quest to find the amulet again (which of course have been found by the enemy).

I could live without a MQ easily enough. In all the TES games the MQ has been something you knew about from early on. I'd quite like it if in TES V it wasn't signposted for you, instead starting because of things you discover with the onus being on you to follow them up rather than being prodded to do them by NPCs.

I'd like a main quest where I don't become the hero of the world at the end of it. It's just rediculous.

I like the main storyline of all the Elder Scrolls games. It's nice to play them 1-2 times, but after that It's too repetitive. I feel like its the funnest part of the game, but also the least replayable. So I would hate it if it was removed but I'd still get the game.

I had to at least bring Martin to cloud ruler temple, before that urgency was lifted a little. But for every replay I at least gets as far as the gather forces for bruma part.

Oblivions feels that if you don't do the main quest you and everyone else is going to die the next day.

Fallout 3 gets you involved right away, sort of like oblivion but I never felt I that I HAD to do it, but mind you, there was nothing else to do. A few quests, no guilds.

I truly think the only way this would work is if the factions got a HUGE booster and essentially became your personal main quests, depending on your character and preference. I love the sandbox feel of Elder Scrolls but I would probably never buy another one if they knocked out any sort of major quest/event to play through because that's where a lot of the lore comes from. If Oblivion doesn't have a main quest line, the empire never truly crumbles, and no amount of books you can read in Vivec's library would properly explain the magnitude of the nerevarine. Taking out the main quest would absolutely kill the series IMO, not because I love the main quests but I love the culture and the lore and you NEED a main quest of some sort if you're going to try to tie in hundreds of years of culture and history into the games with any credibility. Especially since you don't have to do the main quest if you don't want to. This move would kill the marketability and the believability of the Elder Scrolls series.

I really like the main quests in Tes. A game without one would indeed feel lacking. But I would still play it

I personally didn't care to terribly much for the storylines themselves (Arenas was okay, though I only played for a few hours because of the combat, same fore daggerfall, Morrowinds was lacking, Oblivions was horrible), but the best moments in the games were during the main storyline. If Bethesda would put awesome moments like the end of Morrowind, or the big battle in Oblivion (trying to say this in a spoiler free way... How do I put one of those spoiler pop-up buttons on here...) in regular moments in the game such as... I'm a farmer minding my own business, when suddenly a giant hole opens up out of the ground and a demon floats out with his army and totally pwns me... but with a little more fairness. If they would do something like that where you still feel epic and everyone thanks you constantly i would have voted I don't really care about the storyline. But if they could write a good story... They hire famous voice actors, how much would it cost to ask a famous author for a story?

I also liked how Morrowind did their main quest. They throw you toward it, but things don't pick up until you decide for them to.

How about a "story" mode and a "freeplay" mode. Like Spaceforce: Rogue Universe (I know that was a horrible game but that was the only thing I liekd about it because the main story was terrible).

That's the thing though... a TES game is one big freeplay mode... or it's supposed to be.

I've said before that you are not the savior of anything in Morrowind, you are Azura's puppet in an intricate plot to take revenge on everyone who was involved in the death of her mortal friend.

Nerevar's soul was recycled in Aetherius and he's just gone forever, and that is such a shockingly alien concept to the daedra, that we can't really blame her for how she reacted, can we?

Anyway, back on topic, the main quest is not the reason I keep playing Morrowind, nor is it the reason I haven't played Oblivion in a while. I can say though, that I would notice and be pleasantly surprised, if, upon coming back from a guild job, I learn that some other jerk just saved Tamriel for a change.