No, you're wrong.
Just kidding, though you're lucky I had my army of frog-people with me, so your snipers didn't stand a chance

last time i hire locust snipers <_<

I see what you're saying. And linear is definitely not the word to describe what you're talking about. But I do agree to some extent.

I think this is a much better way to deal with it. To stick with the Hackdirt example, the biggest problem, at least in the sense of fleshing out the quest, was precisely that there were trapdoors scattered all over, which made it too easy for the player to discover one, realize that it must be significant, and go down it. If there had only been, say, the one in the Inn and ones in each of the (generally locked) NPC houses, then the player would've been much less likely to stumble on one, go down it and miss the rest of the quest. It would still be possible to do so, so the quest wouldn't be strictly linear - it'd just be less likely that a player could jump ahead and miss out on the whole story.

Sounds like you want more quests http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Canvas_the_Castle. No thanks.

I don't think anyone wants more quests like that. While some certainly want more quests in which, for instance, you seek to gather information and solve a mystery rather than just running around killin' stuff, that particular quest was one of the most terribly written pieces of garbage to ever get stuffed into a TES game.

only 74% disagree with the OP i find this disturbing. im serious i really do find this incredibly troubling...

I don't mind linearity, but this goes against the core precepts of the series... so the less of it the better.

Well 8% agreed the rest probably didn't understand the op. Those 8% are curious though.

What was wrong with Canvas the Castle? I liked that quest. It wasn't one of the best quests in Oblivion but it was still good.

While I agree that is a tad troubling, Oblivion added several elements to make its quests more linear. Mostly in the way of essential NPC's and dungeons being locked off. Some of these are just precautionary for the main questline, which is about the only reason I can think of to implement something like this. (which I'm almost certain they will)

Personally I liked the MW way where if you murdered someone vital to the main quest it would just tell you you've doomed the world.

I think...no... I'm positive... that that quest was in fact...
my favorite one in the game.

Agreed. Plus you could get a cool painting which looked awesome in the arch mage's quarters (though 90% I accused the culprit cause I usually play a good guy)

I would have to say def not. If the certain quests became linear, it would be the exact same thing every play through. Besides its an open world/open ended rpg for a reason.

Linear gameplay is the bane of an RPG that actually attempts to be a role playing game, such as TES.

Loads of people here are missing the point. Including the OP. A shadow over hackdirt was *I think* one of the last quests made. Last minute tribute to Call of Cthulu(released in the year before Oblivion). Which is why it was so bad, it was rushed. Had they fleshed it out a bit more it would've been great linear or not. I do always get kinda pissed when I accidentally trash a quest, but in the end I want more options and multiple outcomes. Imagine, if you were forced to infiltrate the Mythic Dawn rather than just storm the place.

I'm not sure why ANYONE would dislike canvas the castle. Not only for the reasons you mentioned, but the fact that it was pretty much the only quest in game I didn't have to un-check my quest helper for because it didn't have an arrow pointing right where you need to go.... AKA: not designed for a 5 year old...

I enjoy that quest too.

No, I prefer the openness and non-linearity.

Why exactly?

I mean... If my PC falls in a hole (into a mine shaft say...), I would have no trouble role playing his reactions to the situation. Also I'd have no problem role playing the various (and necessarily linear) encounters along the tunnel back up to the surface. :shrug:

Non-linear gameplay is fantastic... but I don't see how it affects role playing at all.

THIS ^^

That is all moving on

Maybe. I think the main quest should be compulsory, at some point, and a lot more linear (as in, you can't just take a few days off halfway through and become leader of the Thieve's guild, or something equally irrelevant). There should be more of an urgency to complete the main quest, maybe not straight away, but at some point in the game.

this is a perfect example why I am not as excited about SK as I could be. I would rant in all caps if it were for the likliness for the devs to agree with the OP and thats pretty much taken the wind out of my sails. they're trading everything that made TES stand out from the streamline and traded it for dragons, and what ever else apease the same people who also think that there should be guns, less roleplaying, linear, etc...

Because it was easy to figure out if you're paying attention. You could figure out who's lying after talking with three or four people (one says they were taking star readings, and three others say it was raining; gee..), but you were required to take all the pre-defined steps to advance the quest. You had to talk to everyone before you could look for clues, you had to get all the physical clues before confronting the thief, and despite the thief admitting to it once you accused them with all the evidence, you had to have a high disposition to get a full confession. And without that full confession, you weren't able to tell anyone anything.

It's not even like there were any interesting twists, or the possibility to accuse the wrong person, or the ability to steal the painting back to make an alternate route through the quest. It was a fairly straight-forward linear quest, and forcing all the "plot points" didn't do it any favors.

I think he meant something else.