Actions with consequences based on time, like those in Morrowind where you had to get someone somewhere by a certain amount of time, perhaps. That did pose a difficulty that didn't make it feel linear, but somewhat challenging.

The kidnapped child scenario is a brilliant example. Fail to get to the person in time, and the child is moved to a more secure location with more threats to take into consideration. The longer you wait, the harder the challenge. Writing wise, that makes sense and could be interesting.

As long as their are no real "timed" issues, like having to escape or do something with a countdown in the corner, that never is enjoyable, to me.

Writing wise, I did like the errant "change in plans" in a story, like the rescuing of Ashley Graham in Resident Evil 4. I absolutely HATED and LOVED that scenario where Leon runs into the room, and the cinematic has the Castellan Salazar tell you that "Ahh..you've just missed her, the ceremony is over!"

Leon: "WHAT??!!"

Me Playing: "WHAT??!!"

That curveball leading to a more arduous fight and rescue later on was gold.

Timed Quests are bad unless they're done like the Raynil Dralas Quest

No thanks. There have been times when I started a quest accidentally, but ignored it. Then when I had finished most quests and wanted to do some more, I realized I still had that accident quest that I could go back and do. There are other reasons too, like If I'm on another timed quest and start another by talking to some dude without wanting the quest I have to decide which quest I want to do.

I'm not much of a fan of time limits in general, but it's not a bad idea the way you describe it. But it might encourage me to be slow on purpose if it leads to extra missions that you wouldn't see otherwise. Maybe I'd just have to make one character that's a total slacker.

When I saw the thread title, I too thought of a timer (hidden or visibly counting down) starting as you entered the cavern and you must get to the goal before it finishes... to that, I also say NO, as many here have. But reading further posts by the OP, I would be greatly in favor of quests not being "timed" but having them "evolve with time." So, you can never "fail" any quest that is a series of quests like the main quest, but the conditions of the places and people you go may change over time. This is a fantastic idea, and though I doubt Bethesda is really doing this, honestly "Radiant Story" sounds like it may actually be capable of some level of this. And as for a smaller quest being failable, say you don't deliver the merchant's goods in the 3 day timeframe... then why did you agree to start the quest that said you have 3 days to complete if you don't like that?

Making things time-sensitive, is different from them being "timed", and for a quest like the 3 day merchant delivery that actually is timed, a 3 day timer is a very long timer. If you can't complete a quest in 3 days, why did you accept it in the first place? Making things time senstivie would help people play a character in a believeable world, not one where they just collect 3 dozen quests like they're playing an MMO, 3 of which they never finish and 12 of which they finish 3 months after they picked them up. I don't think it would make it more stressful to add time-sensitivity to quests... in fact, it would make it LESS stressful, and really let you focus in on the storytelling of the place where you are, instead of hoping around from place to place and story to story with fast travel and ticking off pages of your log...

I also despise timed events in games. I have NEVER seen a good timed limit in games that ever worked well or made it fun. It usually just frustrated me because they always have it set so you HAVE to do everything PERFECT to make it on time. I just don't think it can work in a ES game because there is just too much distraction going on and people will be on the boards complaining about how stupid it is to have a timed game in an open world.

Personaly I would actualy like some failure to be possible. It's through failure that people learn the most, if you always win you learn nothing. I don't want my character to always succeed, I would like to at times not be able to rescue people in time, to get KO'ed and wake up to find a village destroyed ect. Having said this, failure should only come from gross neglegence and such. Shouldn't be 'time's up you die' kind of thing.

Also, failing shouldn't mean game over, and should make new events open up in the future that wouldn't happen otherwise.



The idea of evolving quests over time is an awesome one too.

Imagine if they had the main quest in Oblivion follow my format. Durring your first playthrough, you've bought a house and kinda like a lot of the npc's in Kavatch, and then suddenly the town is fried. The shock that could give the player is something that could really add to the TES experience. With radient story, Martin could even be moved to any of the towns in Cyrodill. With radient story, the kidnapped child could be sold to different estates, so even rescuting the child could be different from playthrough to playthrough. The options are endless, and that's what changes a game into a living breathing world. Different paths that the world follows based on semingly nothing, but really its taking into account where you've been and what you've done, a world like that poses to give near infinate replayability.


Heh, I probably should have called it Evolving Quests instead of timed..eh, to late I guess. At least a title that many people may not like atractes more people.

Anyway, yes, after the three days you don't deliver the goods...you may not fail, but the merchant could send other people after you to take over your job or to make sure it gets done. Small stuff like that which makes the world feel more alive. Because a world reacts to inaction just as much as actions, so if we want Skyrim to feel alive, it should react to both action and inaction.

Even small things could trigger much larger events. Don't deliver the goods in three days? The merchant may send two npc's after you. If you kill the npc's after you, but then deliver the goods as promissed. You get a little less than the gold you were promissed because you were late, but you still get payed. Think its over? Well, the relatives of the people you killed are now after you to find out what happened to their family. If they find you, they'll ask you straight up what happned. Based on your speachcraft you could convince them they never contacted you, but if it isn't the relative may find that you are the killer.

They could attack you, or higher more people to kill you. Did you convince them that you weren't the killer? Maybe you could fraim someone you don't like for the crime.

Seriously, evolving quests could add soooo much to the game world. Will it happen? Eh, probably not...but half the stuff we sugest here isn't going to make the final cut anyway. Heck, even a lot of the ideas the staff comes up with isn't going to get into the final games...so I'm just throwing an interesting idea out there.


That's the kinda stuff I'm talken about! Failure doesn't have to mean game over, it can open up new paths that you wouldn't have to go down orriginally. If failing just means game over...that'd be boring. But if failure means more options, that adds a ton to an open ended game in my mind.


I think so too. Radient story sounds like it could handle stuff like that, and I really hope its' considered. If I was working on building quests, I would definitly try working this in. It could make the world feel less staged an open it up a lot more than it is.

I can't see timed quests as being an improvement. This would just be fixing something that is not broken in TES. I like being in the middle of a quest and then after talking to someone or finding a new area changing my plans and even go to the other side of the map if I want. Timed quests would make it seem too linear like I "have" to do it before I can do something else wouldn't it?

Not meeting a time doesn't have to mean failure. You don't have to do anything. In Oblivion, the choice was all ready made for you in that you get to do everything. There wasn't any choice, because it was all ready made for you. Do you want to do it? Yes. Do you want to do that? Yes. There's no 'no' choice, because its all ready been decided that you can do everything.

And if you dont' save billy in an ingame week, that doesn't have to mean he's dead. Maybe he got sold into slavery, and now you have a bigger problem on your hands. Sure, you can still save him...but its gonna be a little harder or cost a little more gold now that its not the bandits but the slave owner that has the poor boy.

Missed a meeting? Maybe the npc has some odd jobs around the house for you to take care of in order to get back in favore with him. Maybe a few coins would smooth things over so you can set up another meeting. Heck, maybe you're a good enough smooth talking in order to set up another meeting for free. There's lots of things timed quests could add. Maybe a better name would have been evolving quests, since people seem to think timed quests go hand in hand with failure. That's my mistake...but its not what I'm trying to suggest.

I see what you are saying that is my fault should have read into more before posting... If this is what is being suggested then I can see that working great with certain quests for sure. This would create a lot more options as well turning one quest into several for being lazy... heh

For TES, no thanks.
if there was one, I would just let it go, and not complete it :shrug:
I don't want to feel rushed in Skyrim. It's not that kind of game for me.

The main problem I have is easily getting sidetracked.

Its not like the game itself would have a timer in the corner timing down till the end of the world. I'm talking about specific parts of quests, once tripped, should give some insentive to having to hurry. Its not like you have to hurry...its just if you want to save some npc lives you should probably not stop to pick the blood grass in Oblivion with the giant mudcrab seige weapon thing heading for Bruma.

And not meeting the time doesnt have to mean the game resets and you try again. Maybe the crab thing gets out and now you have to chase after it and take it down before Bruma is withing firing range. Of if you just feel like watching, hey, its not like you have to save Bruma. You could let it burn if you were especially evil.

In an open world...some timed or time sensitive stuff would add openness to the world...not take away from it. With time sensitive quests you could have saved Kavatch and maybe the count as well.

For less world threatening things, timed quests could allow quests to change and grow if you wait to long. For one ingame week after taking the quest to save Billy, maybe he's being held in a cave by bandits. After that week, if you haven't gotten to saving him maybe he's moved to a more secure location like a slave holders estate, and now you have to buy his freedom or sneek in and rescue him with a lot more guards keeping an eye out for intruders.

Timed doesn't have to mean failure if not completed by x. It could be the quest changes and gets harder if not completed by x, or amount of gold gained for completing quest goes down if you're slow. If you take a job to deliver a package from town a to town b in an ingame week...shouldn't you have to do your job in the time given if you want payment?

Timed quests do not belong in a TES universe. TES is about doing what you want, when you want, how you want. Timed quests would keep you from doing that.

I voted 'No' because I've never been a fan of timed quests/missions, I mean what would happen if you find yourself in a really tight spot just after saving your game, such as a Dragon attack? You'd be sooo scroood!

And pretty miffed.

How. Really, evolving quests for smaller things, and then actual threats for larger more world threatening things wouldn't keep you from doing anything. You could still do what ever you want, but the world won't forgive you for picking daisies even though Jaufre told you to go straight to Kavatch. You can still pick the flowers, but Kavatch is gonna be a pile of rubble one you finally get around to looking for Martin. Timed quests would allow for the world to not only react realisticly to our actions along with our inactions, it also allows for the world to be much more open.

With timed quests, Kavatch could have been a visitable town. You could have got a home there, got to know the npc's. And then you trip a part in the main quest that starts the attack on Kavatch, while at the same time it explisitly tells you to pass go and head straight there. You wouldn't have to...but weither you're there to save the town or not Kavatch would be under attack. Go straight there like you're told, you could save most of the town. Wait for a while before checking it out and you'll find Kavatch the way we find it in Oblivion every single time.

[b]WRRRROOONNNNGGGGG[/b]See Daggerfall, and Arena.

Anyway its one more feature that could be inserted and anyone willing to do them could at the same time those who doesn t can pas them.

I dont see why you had to do all the freaking missions in the game, especially when they are "randomly" generated.

I never played Arena, but I did play Daggerfall. I don't remember any timed quests in Daggerfall, if so then a reminder is nessecary.

I guess I need to define what I mean by timed quest. I'm talking about a quest where if you fail to do it in a certain time than the game ends and you need to reload it. Those shouldn't be in any game period, but most definitly not in a TES game.

A timed quest where if you fail it and the game continues..... I still don't like those either.

My prolem with timed quests is that you NEVER get enough time to do them. You have to do it exactly perfect to finish it in time, one mistake and you end up have to start it all over again.

An easy alternative would be to record one or two lines of dialogue for each person that waited for you and you didn't showed up.
For example lets use the quest for the initiation in the thieves guild,where you had to meet with that redguard outside of the Imperial city.
That's the first thing that came to my mind when the OP wrote about a timed quest.
Let's say that if you don't really go next day but one or more days later,the man will still stand there at the time of day he is supposed to,but he will then tell you some things about not showing up the right time.

biggest video game pet peeve- timed quests. I cannot stand them.

No thank you.

variety is good
why not have one?

There should be some timed quests. But this isn't a bioware game - it shouldn't be on rails. I love bioware games, but this is the first TES game in a long time, and they're best known for the open world quality in both exploration and quests.

Timed quests in Skyrim shouldn't be like in other games, as in you're given 1-10 minutes - a time limit of days or a week or two would work much better. In Oblivion, I liked to grab a few quests and then explore, doing the quests if i felt like it. Having a lot of short timer quests would be more annoying than anything else, forcing me to pick that quest first.

I agree that timed quests where if you don't beat the clock the game reloads is a bad thing and should stay away from TES. Not what I'm suggesting or something I want to see.

I'm guessing you didn't like Kavatch then...because by all rights the character failed to save the town. The character was the one that was suppose to be there to save they day...but you were not there for Kavatch. You failed in your duty, be it forced on you or not, to protect the people in that town. That really grinds me, because that's not how an open game is suppose to be. The game's story is writen in such a way that Kavatch can not be saved, end of story. There's nothing open about that. Instead of deciding the character doesn't save Kavatch, a timed quest which gives you a chance to save the town would be amazing.

I could have character's who rush there, saving who they could. Neutral character's who think the Emperor is a crackpot old man and then ignore trying to find his son after Jaufre gives me a troubling task...but then later when he hears rumors of Kavatch being sacked the character rushes right there to find all the people dead. The character would feel responsible for all that death, because he knows he should have been there to save them. I could even have an evil heartless killer who couldn't give a toot about Kavatch, and is only in it for a sword Jaufre promissed me if I help get Martin to safty.

Instead of the one version of Kavatch we see, burnt to a crisp no matter if we wait two ingame days or two months before checking out no matter if we've tripped a specific part in the quest or not.

Imagine the shock a player would get after buying a home and living in Kavatch for a while before starting the main quest for the first time. They wouldn't have a clue...and their home would be a smoldering ruin before they could bat an eye. The emotions that would bring, anger, confusion, sadness to see npc's you've gotten to know attacked. Its the emotions a game should bring to the serface. If you're just a vegetable sitting there while you play, the game's doing something. Sure, it should move that the player's pace because the main reason people play games is to relax. But name one game's story that you absulutely loved above all others where the only emotion you felt was relaxed. Maybe you can...but I can't.

Even if you didn't have enough time to save Billy in the cave, you can still save him from the slave owner. Its just gonna be a little harder now because more people are guarding him, or maybe you could buy his freedom instead. Timed doesn't have to mean failure if the time limit passes for one part of the quest.

In the extreme save the world moments? The game doens't have to end if you don't meet the time. Like for the Grand Gate in Oblivion, maybe if you didn't beat the time you were given to close the gate before the crab thing got out...instead of sealing it between Oblivion and Cyrodiil, maybe now you have to board it like a Scarab or what ever they are called in Halo and take it out that way before it reaches Bruma.

A large explotion marking the end of that ordeal with that strange machine just outside the walls of Bruma would be a great exclamation point to that ark of the quest line.

I agree, and I think the main reason timed quests should be added is because they can make the world more open. Without timed quests Kavatch is a burning ruin every time. With timed quests you could have a chance to save some of it.

Without timed quests Billy will stay in the cave where he was taken by the bandits for years. With timed quests, he could be sold into slavery if you don't move quickly enough.

Short timers would be a bummer, and quests just failing and forcing you to reload the game if you dont make the time shouldn't be in a game like TES. Timed quest should evolve if players don't act quickly enough, maybe get harder or have the circomstances change. Add to the world instead of take away.