Thank you for mentioning Vilja

I have written to the author long ago and asked that Vilja should be added to the list, but never got any reply. The Companion quest list seems, well, really, really outdated, newer companions, like Fergus, Dai, Blade Song (and Vilja, of course) aren't included, and Arren is still called "Baddy" (which I think he was called back in 2007-2008 or so).

Vilja's quest small or medium? Do you mean the first questline? Or all the five questlines? There is no "epic story" *), but surely the playtime is quite a bit longer than for most questmods.



*) A design-choice - I wanted to do a companion with a quest rather than a quest with a companion, i.e. I didn't want the companion to "take over" and I didn't want the mod to interfere with the gameworld by adding objects to it.

The more I ponder it, the more I'm inclined the think of her various quest lines as a combined whole, which for me would seem to place them solidly in the medium camp, possibly higher. The piecemeal nature and pauses between quest phases lean me more toward medium than large. Then again, like another contributor I think the breakdown between small, medium and large needs reevaluation. If Nerhim and Kragenir's enter the list as LARGE, then almost everything else is no more than MEDIUM by comparison. I'm inclined to think of Cybiades and the two Gates to Aesgaard as MEDIUM in any case, at least if the primary judging criteria is length of play. (I take nothing away from those mods. They just don't take overlong to finish.) Vilja's quests as a whole certainly last far longer.

Then again, so far as I know the Companion Quest Mod category doesn't subdivide, making it a moot point.

-Decrepit-

One possible measure of size is length of time to complete the quests. However, that also could vary, depending on the user, and whether or not they get stuck. You would almost have to go through the quest a second time to time it properly, assuming a "leisurely" pace and best case scenario when solving the quests.

Update for those that are interested.

I liked the revised size descriptions, and decided to go with "Massive" over "Huge" as the category title. I've incorporated the size category examples into their descriptions. I also decided to add a beta/wip category as well as an unreviewed category based on some of the thread.

I've finished processing all the "BIg" quest mods from the original TOQL web page, and that includes updating download links, versions numbers, etc.
I know there are plenty of new quests that need to be included, but I'd prefer to tackle that after the old data has been converted, and the format/presentation/definitions are locked.

Before I continue on and hit the old mid-sized and small quest sections, I'd love it if some of you would take a look at what I've done and provide some constructive criticism or other suggestions for re-categorizing any of the mods in the Big category. I have played hardly any of them, so I'm really relying on all of your expertise.

http://www.saebel.net/TOQL/toql_Introduction.php

saebel

Just a note that Baddy (under companion quests) was re-envisioned by sein-spvssyn and re-named Arren within the past year.

Ok. I went ahead and updated that one specifically before I forgot. I removed the "silly name" reference in the review since that applied to Baddy. If anyone has any further suggestions for editing the review, let me know.

Not having played ANY of these quests, I hadn't intended to comment. But ... (foolishly rushing in)

Given your (really excellent) category descriptions, I have to wonder why 'The Ayleid Steps' was placed in the 'Mid-Sized' category? With 800 new steps (just discovering a route consisting of 10 steps ought to count as a quest, seems to me from what I have read about it) and 40 new dungeons requiring the player to decipher hints to deliberately reach them, would seem to put it into the 'Big Quests' category. Unless there is an unstated 'complexity' component intended? (Though, given no-one has managed to completely map out all the steps ...) But let's wait for those who have or are playing it to weigh in.

Minor typo: On the introduction page in 'Beta/WIP quests' description "doesn't me[an] they aren't fun."

Regardless, thanks to both you for preserving this great resource, and phoenix1213 for bringing it's imminent demise to everyone's attention. I hadn't even been aware of the list before this thread.

-Dubious-

I guess I sort of agree with regard to the Ayleid Steps. Whether it is actually mid-sized or not, I don't know ... I'm sure I haven't even seen half of it ... but it feels bigger. It's a blast jumping from ruin to ruin, especially with FCOM--and it's possible to completely lose your bearings, even if you think you know Cyrodiil inside and out.

Valid points, especially after reading the description in detail. I moved it to the Big category.

Again the problem of "big quests" versus "big mod". The Ayleid Steps is more of a big mod, with medium quests, so I'd vote for keeping it medium but noting that it's not just a quest mod.

I'd base the categories purely on the provision of quests, maybe on the total play time of the included quests, but note where a mod has other features. Or would it be fairer to have a category of "quest plus" for those? You already separate companion mods with quests, maybe house+quest and a few others need splitting off, combining with the companion quests, as a "plus" category?

Great to see you've taken on hosting TOQL, saebel, and are updating it, as well. It's still the one stop resource point for anybody asking after quest mods, in my opinion.

A few notes:

Arren: It should probably be mentioned that if he dies and is revived, any weapons and armor you've given him vanish. He's always recreated with the same basics, as I learned after losing a nice set of armor purchased at Apachii's Hero store. I queried the modder about this, and he confirmed it's working as intended.

Viconia: Sultericdrums now offers both the version of the mod referred to in TOQL, and a series of quests in the Underdark. Both are linked through the same page. Since the link in TOQL simply loops back to the TOQL Companion Quests screen, http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=15200 it is.

Nothing on http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=28977, but that was after the maintainer was on hiatus. Might add these excerpts snipped from her description:

Vilja has her own horse, and when you mount your horse, she will summon hers and go riding with you.

She is very talkative, but you can tell her to shut up if you don't want to listen to her.

You can tell her to eat, drink, take a nap, go home, meet you in various cities. She will recognize your home as her home as well, once you have told her that this is where you will live.

She can make some simple potions for you if you give her an ingredient. She can collect ingredients for you. She can later on heal you if you ask her to.

She can be ordered to fight aggressive, defensive or not at all.

Vilja is now aware of your other companions (after an introduction by you), with some of them she will interact on an individual basis and also comment on them in her dialog with you (similar to how my Morrowind companions interact with other companions).

Tired of companions that promise to stay out of trouble and then still charge as soon as you see an enemy? Well, Vilja shouldn't... If told to stay out of combat, she will indeed do so... until you are so badly injured that you desperately need her help to survive.

Vilja now has her own friends in Cyrodiil. Don't be surprised if she decides to go and have a chat with one of them! Those who know her will also have an extra "Vilja-topic" where they will comment on her (those who have played my Morrowind companions will recognize this).

YOU can go adventuring with HER. Yes, you can actually be her companion. She might suggest it, or you can suggest that she takes the lead. She might show you places you've never seen before! It's a very different and rewarding roleplay-experience to travel side by side instead of having a companion always five steps behind you.

Vilja the spellcaster - as a reward for the new little quests included (which should start automatically a few days after you finished the previous one, which was added with version 2) Vilja will be able to learn how to use a few simple spells.

Vilja the pathfinder - as a bonus to the "Vilja leads the way"-feature described above, she can also lead you out of dungeons and show you the way to various places - guilds, shops, etc.

Show her your favorite places - she will remember them and will be able to teleport or travel to them at any time.

Romance option. The option to romance Vilja has been requested since version 1, and now it is finally here. However, our intention has never been to make her a "romance companion". Therefore, the romance is highly optional...

Finetuned shopping-behaviour. If you send Vilja shopping, you can now also determine which category of items she will bring home to you.

I'd only add that Vilja isn't just a companion, she's as close to a fully realized character as you can get in Oblivion.

Lol, it's easy to get mired down in definitions, which some mods simply defy. IMO Ayleid Steps is one of them; the formal written intro quest may be small, but then the larger goal revolves around adventuring, testing your skills, and puzzle solving ... and the game plan alters depending on the number of jumps you've taken. In that way it's somewhat similar to OOO's Light of Dawn quest, where through 300 successive kills, you finally unlock the sword's full potential--it's a simple goal, but finding and killing 300 vampires can take a very long time unless coupled with a mod like StarX's vampires, or David Brasher's Vampire Hunting-Order of the Virtuous Blood (http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=30568), or both. BTW, if the latter isn't included on the site, it should be.

Other than that, I'd leave it up to saebel how he wants to classify, the simpler the better as it involves less work. I appreciate his efforts in keeping TOQL alive. There was a time when it was my bible, but I'd lost track of it, and I see many more quest additions now that certainly require a look-see.

It's hard for me to judge mods like the Ayleid steps, because I haven't played it. Based on what everyone has said so far, Ayleid Steps is one of those in-betweeners where I'm thinking the hours of game play to complete the quest would be a factor in terms of which category to put it in. I guess the question is, if a mod has just one quest, but requires many many hours of gameplay to complete it, with lots of different locations to go to in order to do so, far more than another mod that might have 10-15 little quests, or 3-4 medium sized quests, wouldn't that be a fairly good reason to qualify it as big? I know in my mind the answer is yes, because when I think about adding a quest to my load order, how much of my adventuring time it will take to complete the quest would be a factor for me, along with the complexity of solving the quest. OOO has a lot of content, but the quests aren't all that complicated or would take that long to complete, as far as I can tell (again, haven't played it). How many hours of game play would qualify for any given category? And also, what about active game play? I think that's one of the reasons why companions got their own category, because someone like Vija could literally take forever to finish it if you decide not to focus on it. So I'm really thinking about a focused effort: Presented with a quest, you only focus on that quest, how many hours of game play does it take, minimum. The minimum should be a reasonable estimate based on someone who succeeds at each step of the quest, without using cheats.

In honesty though, I don't want to get too bogged down in debate or particulars, mainly because I am not going to have a whole lot of free time to maintain it. And since the odds are that I won't get a chance to play any of these quests for a long long time, it's really for the community's benefit. Think about what information would be the most helpful to you in order to make a decision about what quest mod you want to try? For example, I could add three new categories:
- Number of Quests
- Approx. Hours of Play
- Lore Friendly Rating (scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being very lore friendly and 1 not so much)
If there is no information for any of them, there would just be an "n/a" for " not available"

As for mod descriptions like Vija's, based on the other reviews, I think the thing here is not to just spit back the mod's description, they can read that on the mod's download page. Ideally you should write a proper review and present the highlight features you were most impressed with.

Updated the Integration Description, there's been a lot of changes. 20 or so new quests, the romance being completed, the Shivering Isles Art guild,

The lore rating mentioned earlier would be 5


The green parts are comments, and not included in the changes.

I posted a while back when someone had an idea of creating yet another "site for new mod users" about instead of just using "get this mod" the site would instead tag specific aspects of mods and let the mod user decide if they like those focuses, and features. That's why I bolded the things I did, but a tags list below the mods would be good too, for the "too long; didn't read people" or when you just can fit everything into a paragraph or so.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1357125-tagging-standardisation/page__view__findpost__p__20463744

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1308156-tes-mod-concordance-a-site-for-recommended-mods/page__view__findpost__p__19680678, it was actually one of yours lol

I knew that would come back and bite me. It was too overwhelming a project. I think the ideal scenario is to have a different list for each of the main categories, maintained by a different person. Running For Cover has got the stealth mods down. I'm happy to maintain the Quest list, at least for a while, and I'm keeping them all in a nice little folder so that if someone else needs to pick up the torch in the future, it'll be easy to hand over all the files.

I'll come back and update the Stranded Light when I get a chance.

One suggestion: Can we get a TOC at the top of each page, so we know what's listed, instead of having to scroll down through them?

TAS has the intro and "main quest" (the ones whereby you activate the steps network and discover the two hidden depots, and find the first 12 dungeons), and 9 smaller subsequent quests. I haven't gone through them myself, but Ervvin specifically set them up so you have to wait several game days to move to the next quest. Based on playing time, this would probably qualify it as a large mod.

VHB needs this link: http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=36389 It's Arthmoor's SI-only bugfixed version.

I know of a few other quests... I'll write them up and add them here later.

Yes, I'll add TOCs, was thinking the same thing. Probably going to be a left panel / right panel thing, however scrolling is painful, since the TOC loses focus. I might make it a Java thing, so that you only actually see one mod at a time - when you click the mod, the details show up on the right. Actually, with a system like that, I might even have everything on the left, with the ability to hide/show categories. Something like:
V Massive
- Mod 1
- Mod 2
> Big
> Mid-sized
V Small
- Mod 1
- Mod 2
etc.

I'll get everything ported over first, and then I'll look at how to make it fancy and/or more user friendly. Lots of ways to do it. It's just a matter of finding the most user/friendly method. Also need to take into account scale, expandability, and how easy it would be for anyone to add to it if I hand it off some day.

Coolio. I've got some more stuff for you:


JQ Assassin Quest
Author: Jannix Quinn
Current Version: 1
Version Date: 4 Jun 2008
Links: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=oblivionmods.detail&id=4514
Requirements: n/a
Starting from Luther Broad's Boarding House in the IC, you'll find a note left by a stranger which asks you to kill a specific person. Should you decide to go through with the request, you'll be handsomely rewarded, and presented another victim. The assassinations get harder, and the rewards for success are great. But beware, for if you are spotted killing an innocent by the officers of the law, they will show you no mercy!
This mod contains a number of assassination targets, and various rewards that start out small and get much larger. There are several custom items and trophies for you to decorate your houses with, and some of the targets are quite challenging.


NNW's Ayleid Ruins Expanded
Author: Lady Rowena and NNW
Current Version: 3.0
Version Date: 21 Jun 2011
Links: http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=23384
Requirements: n/a
A very long time ago, an artifact filled with stored knowledge was hidden by the Ayleids in an unspecified Ayleid ruin, together with lots of gold, welkynd stones and other useful things. Approximately 80 years ago, an Imperial Army troop stumbled across a strange artifact in a ruin of completely strange architectural style - partly Ayleid, partly completely unique. Since they didn't know anything about it they simply let it disappear into the Emperor's vault...
This mod leads you on a quest through several new and existing Ayleid ruins in search of a lost artifact. The second series leads you on another quest for another artifact. These quests are designed for high-level players - L25+.


Reclaim Sancre Tor
Author: DarkRider
Current Version: 1.0.4
Version Date: 2 Dec 2011
Links: http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/951-reclaiming-sancre-tor/ | http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40757 | http://www.reclaimsancretor.com/
Requirements: n/a
Reclaiming Sancre Tor is an in-depth Story based expansion pack that adds hundreds of new characters, overlapping quests, new worlds, and multiple unique dungeon levels to the original Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion RPG by Bethesda Softworks. The Story surrounds a contingent of Blades from Morrowind who have reclaimed the ancient ruins of Sancre Tor in the aftermath of the Oblivion crisis. The player is invited to join their ranks and must aid the Blades in serving the Empire as well as unraveling their own destiny.


A Brotherhood Renewed
Author: Arthmoor
Current Version: 1.1.1
Version Date: 4 Nov 2011
Links: http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=31773 | http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/422-a-brotherhood-renewed/ | French: http://www.confrerie-des-traducteurs.fr/site/mods/guildes_et_quetes/a_brotherhood_renewed.php
Requirements: n/a
This mod adds a short series of quests to the end of the saga of the Dark Brotherhood which takes place after your first visit to Bravil after becoming the Listener. I always felt that Bethesda cut things short at the end of the quest line. You're just supposed to continue on, as though nothing was wrong, after your entire organization was brought to its knees? What about all those sanctuaries out there the game makes a point of mentioning but you never see? This is my answer to that and at least brings things to a more sensible close by the time you are done.


All the descriptions are from the readmes; I was going to write my own, but I just suffered a huge brainfart. The readme versions are good enough anyway.

Assassin Quest I'd classify as Medium; there are a lot of contracts, but they're all more or less "go here and kill this person" or "find this person, then kill him/her" - there aren't any silly "I need to find the macguffin so I can kill such-and-so" quests.

NNWARE is also Medium; it mostly involves following clues through various ruins to find an artifact.

Reclaim Sancre Tor.... wow, I'm surprised that one isn't on the list already.

Not sure about Brotherhood Renewed - haven't played it yet.


Oh, if you need info for some of the stuff that hasn't been fully vetted, I'll be happy to help out.

Brotherhood Renewed probably only barely meets the qualification as "medium". My villages would obviously all be considered small size if listed individually, perhaps of medium size if considered as a collective.

Normally I'm no fan of wikis, but it seems that using one in this case might be more appropriate since the volume of information could get out of hand, and there's a better chance for long term survival on a wiki run by one of the modding sites, or perhaps on UESP.

I'm with you on this Arthmoor. But I'm happy to do it for now, especially since the site hosting the current list is going to go down as of May 1.

BTW, I'm in the midst of testing a new quest mod, and I'm discovering that "hours of play" may not always be a good indicator of how full-filling a quest can be. For instance, the one I am testing has a big structure with really long hallways, big rooms, etc. The first time you go through it, it's like "cool!" However, the main quest line has me ping-ponging back and forth between reporting to some one at the furthest reaches, and then leaving to go do one thing, and then go back to report in again, etc. It's eating up a lot of time. In fact there are a number of locations within the quest that if they would just cut the size of them in half, it would accomplish the same thing, take half the time, and be more full-filling. Thank goodness I have a sprinting mod built in.

Anyway, I suppose there would be two ways of handling something like this. Either don't recommend it at all, or if the hours of play are listed, and if the rest of the mod is good, then the review should mention the caveat of all the back and forth.

Thanks for posting those. It's been a while since played Oblivion, and i was looking for more quest mods.

So I've been flushing out some more of the guidelines. Here are my current thoughts for the three new proposed categories:

Hours of Play
If the hours of play involve more traveling and going from place to place than interactive content, you should probably mention that as a caveat in the description. It should be filled out with the minimum number of hours at maximum efficiency, without cheating. Something along the lines of 10+ or perhaps 20-25 +.

Number of Quests
For the approximate number of quests, it's a judgment call as to whether or not to split out sub-quests. A side quest is a quest you can choose to do or not, and should be considered in the quest count, a sub-quest is it's own quest that shows up in the log, but is actually part of a much larger quest thread. So if that main quest is already included in the count, you probably should not include it's sub-quests in that count, but put them in parentheses to the right. So, it would be filled out as: 1-3 (5-6).

Lore Friendly Rating
This is a judgment call. Your best guess on a scale of 1 to 5. Half points are fine. So 3.6 would be an acceptable rating.
- 5 represents that all of it matches up with the known lore, or at least doesn't conflict directly with it (any typical new castle/village quest).
- 4 represents that it matches with known lore, but perhaps takes it's own liberties at filling in the gaps and holes with its own content (Dark Brotherhood Chronicles, Kvatch Rebuilt, Bruma Mages Guild Restored for instance).
- 3 represents that most of it matches up with the lore, but perhaps a few elements don't EXACTLY match up, but they *could* theoretically be if you let your imagination stretch (Lost Spires comes to mind, but I never got to far into it, so I'm not 100% sure, and some other examples might be nice).
- 2 represents somewhat lore friendly, but perhaps either some revisionist history going on, or introducing one or two elements that don't really fit (perhaps a new deity, or new culture, could use some examples here).
- 1 represents that it does not at all match up with the lore, such as drawing in elements from other games, books or our own history and culture which fall outside of The Elder Scrolls universe.

Saebel, thank you for doing this - almost all my mods are in TOQL, except for one, Beyond The Realms of Death (thank you Anithinks for remembering it!). Here's the filled form:

Once more, thank you for doing this. I will let Dev_akm know of your excellent initiative - I'm sure he'll be happy to hear!
Cheers,
PKR.

Like anything that adds http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10658 to Cyrodiil?

Thanks for your work on this by the way. I wasn't even aware of a few of these mods until this thread came up. I'll refrain from suggesting new mods for now, as there are tons. Hopefully once you get the format set though, it'll grow like crazy for a bit.

I'm getting there. I'm almost done with porting over the data, double checking links and updating version numbers. I have twelve six two small quest mods left to go. I also sent an e-mail to dev_akm, 'cause word on the street was he was thinking about updating it, but was not aware of this project/thread. So I'm hoping to hear back from him to see if he wants to reclaim this or not, and in general which direction he'd like to take it in.

Edit: I *believe* I've finished porting over all the links and updated the version numbers and version dates. Some of the version dates are guesses, because during one of the TES Nexus server transfers, any file that was uploaded before January 7th, 2008 has that date. So in some cases I had to do a little digging, or go off of the last time the main description was updated.

So next I can either:
A ) Keep the current format, and start updating / adding mods.
B ) Come up with an alternate navigation format, by adding a TOC at the top with links to the data below it, perhaps in a pull-down menu fashion.
C ) Come up with an alternate navigation format, by adding a TOC to the left, and by clicking a link it displays on the right.
D ) Some other format that y'all can suggest.

But, at least the data is rescued. Talk amongst yourselves for a bit.

saebel