What do you think of Skyrim's "Quest Journal"?

[Wolfram23]

The whole GPS thing in Skyrim (and Oblivion) has been somewhat controversial. There's a lot of people that don't mind it and find it helps streamline their gameplay, but there's also a large group of people that don't want to be told so precisely where to go and would rather figure it out for themselves.

This wasn't too much of a problem in Oblivion, as you had a quest journal that would detail aspects of your quests, where to go, etc. You could turn off the markers and for the most part were free to adventure, explore, and find the right place on your own.

The problem in Skyrim, however, is that the so called Quest Journal is actually just an Objective Tracker. Even for the larger quests, it usually boils down to "Talk to [person] at [location]" followed by "[person] told you to get [item] from [location]".

In and of itself, these "descriptions" are what should constitute the bullet points, while the journal should describe the details of the quest. What have you done? Why? Where is this location?

Instead we get a minimal description of the entire quest (I've already forgotten most of the details by the time I get around to them) and the bullet points are simply "get [item]". Most of the time the only way to find anything is with your GPS. But it doesn't even make sense half the time. Occasionally an NPC says "here, I'll mark it on your map." Fair enough, and I could reference my map then find it on my own without GPS. But so many quests a guy says "oh, some bandit robbed me, go kill him/get my item" and suddenly you know exactly where this guy is. Even quests like "deliver this to [person] in [town]" shouldn't give you pinpoint accuracy on the person. You could maybe ask the quest giver where you might find him - "Oh, he runs the shop" - or get to the town and ask a guard - "That drunken scoundrel is always behind the inn!"

Personally, I do use GPS and I don't mind it. However, I do wish the game could keep much more detailed entries of each quest. I've played many RPGs where your quest journal fills out like a story of your progress, and I think that is just awesome. As it stands now, I've heard of some people literally keeping pen-and-paper notes of what NPCs say so they can find stuff on their own (which is great), but according to them that only works some of the time. In particular those Miscellaneous quests (radiant story stuff?) have little to no information given and you have to rely on the GPS for them - that, or luck.

So, do you like the Quest Journal the way it is? Would you rather it be more detailed for both current and past quests? What changes would you make, or do you hope the mod community can make once the Creation Kit is out (in regards to questing)?

 

[Limecake]

If you think skyrim's journal is bad you should go play morrowind and try to follow which quest your on. The journal would fill with entries whenever you would get a new update on a quest or a new quest in general. The problem was that it was too easy to get lost in the journal. Quests you had fully intended to complete would get lost in a wave of boring side quests.

Besides Skyrim is HUGE, and when you play for as little as I do (me and my roomate split the xbox) you don't want to spend 20 minutes just trying to figure out where you're going.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It might b e streamlined but at least it's functional. And it's nothing mods can't fix if it bothers you that much. As for Morrowind, I didn't mind the journal at the time, but it really is a bit frustrating when you think about it.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

One of the first posts I made on these forums was regarding Oblivion's GPS system over Morrowind's much more immersive directions. Long story short, I agree with you OP. In sci-fi games like Fallout and Mass Effect, co-ordinates and PDAs are at least explainable, if not that great for immersion. But in medieval fantasy? There is no way of explaining such a system.

How is it that every time I'm asked to uncover the lost doodad of whatsit the bloke who wants it can tell me exactly where it is?

[sub]Grumble grumble grumble...[/sub]

 

[Wolfram23]

If you think skyrim's journal is bad you should go play morrowind and try to follow which quest your on. The journal would fill with entries whenever you would get a new update on a quest or a new quest in general. The problem was that it was too easy to get lost in the journal. Quests you had fully intended to complete would get lost in a wave of boring side quests.

Besides Skyrim is HUGE, and when you play for as little as I do (me and my roomate split the xbox) you don't want to spend 20 minutes just trying to figure out where you're going.

It might b e streamlined but at least it's functional. And it's nothing mods can't fix if it bothers you that much. As for Morrowind, I didn't mind the journal at the time, but it really is a bit frustrating when you think about it.

you know what? im tired of hearing people complain about Oblivion and Skyrims objective markers, so much so that I am going to learn how to make viruses just so I can make one that detects if someone has Oblivion or Skyrim and then installs a mod to remove all markers on your map except for a vague square and then give you a book that only lists mission events as an actual journal ala Morrowind which after several hours of playing you will forget what exactly happened on the 27 of Last Seed, 4e201 and never complete the quest(s).

Then, THEN we will see who complains.

While feedback is always nice, you should try to read a little more carefully. My post has nothing to do with the GPS, other than a mention that it's odd how precise it is, especially when the NPC doesn't give you any directions. That, however, is beside the point.

The POINT is that the Quest Journal is not a journal at all. I look at my quests - for example there's those two families in Whiterun that are feuding. Battle-Born and... something. Anyway, one of the sons is in jail and I'm supposed to free him. This much I know. What I don't know, or remember, is who is who, why are they feuding, what details have these people told me about the situation? I can't remember that, 30 gameplay hours (and a couple IRL weeks) later.

While I hate to make the comparison, I'm sure many of you have at least tried World of Warcraft. Each quest had a paragraph describing the situation and it was pretty easy to find locations without any quest trackers (back in vanilla for example). The descriptions though is my main concern.

So yeah I like the option of the GPS. That's cool. It helps. I use it. I just think it would be much more immersive to be able to read into the quest lines more. Recap what you've done. I'm working through the College quest line right now and have only vague recollections of what's happened, besides the most recent event. I like to think that I've actually done something in this game world, and I like to see a story progressing. Why was I sent to that dwarven ruin? Who were those researchers? What have the Psijic's been telling me?

 

[TPiddy]

As a 30 year old with a wife and a job... I don't have hours on end to hunt down some random dude for some random quest reward. I like collecting as many quests as I can in an area, then pulling up the map and seeing where they all are. Then I go to that region and walk around until I've done everything...

I play Skyrim kind of like how I shop.... and I like it that way.... however.... in cases where I haven't been to an area before, I'll happily wander and explore all the way there... since the map always starts with SOMETHING on it, in this case, the 9 holds, I just randomly threw a dart, and ended up walking towards Riften when I started the game. I got my exploration fix right away. Now that I've been everywhere and I know where everything is, I don't want to dick around.

 

[gigastrike]

All I wish is that it would remind me what all of the misc. quests are about. All it says for half of them is "talk to so-and-so" and I can't for the life of me remember who they are or why I should care.

 

[The Wykydtron]

It's fine as long as you keep far, far away from the "misc" section... You may very well drown in words if you so much as poke your head round the door.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I agree that I would love to see a more fully functional system. I appreciate the GPS style pointer once in a while. but what I would really like to see is exactly what the OP mentions: some sort of proper journal. I'm sure it's something that most MMOs have, but since my main MMO experience as of late is with LOTRO I'll use that as an example. LOTRO's quest journal/tracker gives you a full text run down of what the quest giver said to you. It also usually includes a little extra information on why you're doing what you're doing. The actual tracker part of the quest journal can be toggled on/off on it's own, just as it can in Skyrim, but with Skyrim's journal I too find myself often forgetting the details of what I'm doing what I'm doing given how many quests you can be tasked with at any one time.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

It's fine as long as you keep far, far away from the "misc" section... You may very well drown in words if you so much as poke your head round the door.

Lol I was playing for ages until my friend said 'How the hell don't you have the side quest achievement yet?'

Then I realised I had been doing Misc missions the entire time...xD

I think Skyrim's GPS goes a little too far in the psychic dovahkiin stakes. I think even something like this might help with the immersion a little.

Please recover X from this mine.
Where do I go?
Mr Smith knows about the mines in Markarth.
find out from the locals where Mr Smith is.
Ask Mr Smith, he marks some local mines on your map
You go check it out.

It's all about taste though I think. I do miss the feeling of being lost like in Morrowind a bit. But that's certainly not for everyone. I can see why they did it the way they did.

 

[ResonanceGames]

My main problem with Skyrim's system is that, unlike Morrowind, the journal doesn't give you detailed directions on how how to get where you need to go, so ignoring it totally gimps you.

Then again, the journal entries in Arena were pretty much just "Find Fangtooth Lair, n00b!" And then they dumped you into all of Tamriel with no other help. So by that metric, playing Skyrim without a quest marker isn't that bad!

 

[Zhukov]

Eh, it works.

I can sort of see the appeal in a more vague system, but, well... basically, fuck that. I do not appreciate having my time wasted. Wandering around a town looking for the one person I need to speak to in order to continue is not an engaging gameplay experience. Neither is wandering around a mountain looking for the right cave entrance. If you want to wander around then you're free to do so, but I want to be able to get shit done in a timely manner.

...

Ohhh, ohhh, hey, I know what would be great! If you had to wait two hours for potions to brew! So immersive!

 

[Tharwen]

And it's nothing mods can't fix if it bothers you that much.

They can't fix it, because for a lot of quests where you need to find something, the map marker is the only way to know where it is. If there was some other way of finding out, it would be fine to just disable it, but as it is, you'd just be making loads of quests impossible.

 

[Wolfram23]

Eh, it works.

I can sort of see the appeal in a more vague system, but, well... basically, fuck that. I do not appreciate having my time wasted. Wandering around a town looking for the one person I need to speak to in order to continue is not an engaging gameplay experience. Neither is wandering around a mountain looking for the right cave entrance. If you want to wander around then you're free to do so, but I want to be able to get shit done in a timely manner.

...

Ohhh, ohhh, hey, I know what would be great! If you had to wait two hours for potions to brew! So immersive!

There's nothing about a "more vague system". It's about a more DETAILED system. As in, less vague. GPS is fine and is not a topic being discussed though you can feel free to discuss it if you want.

I agree, wasting time sucks. But to me, so does not having a reason to do a quest besides it being available. I want to know what's happening, what progress I've made in the quest, that kind of thing. Otherwise it boils down to checking things off a list and hoping to have fun on the way... which does happen, of course. But it would just be a more immersive experience to be able to go back through your journal and catch up on the stories/quest lines.

 

[Wolfram23]

And it's nothing mods can't fix if it bothers you that much.

They can't fix it, because for a lot of quests where you need to find something, the map marker is the only way to know where it is. If there was some other way of finding out, it would be fine to just disable it, but as it is, you'd just be making loads of quests impossible.

Actually in the mods section on the bethesda forums there's a thread about gathering info on all the quests. Eventually their plan is once the CK comes out, they're going to totally overhaul the quest texts in the journal so that you can in fact just read that and figure it out from there. Unfortunately I don't have the link here but it shouldn't be too hard to find, it was on the first page today in the Mods section of Skyrim.

That's one mod I look forward too.

 

[Krantos]

Yeah, I kind of feel that they messed up the Quest Journal. I don't like the tracker, but you're forced to use it a lot of times because the journal does f--- all to explain where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to be doing.

This is especially bad on the misc quests which just give you the objective name.

That being said, I like how easy it is to find your quests this time around. What I'd love to see is quest descriptions like that in Morrowind, organized like Skyrim.

Write that down Bethesda and get on it.

 

[Tharwen]

And it's nothing mods can't fix if it bothers you that much.

They can't fix it, because for a lot of quests where you need to find something, the map marker is the only way to know where it is. If there was some other way of finding out, it would be fine to just disable it, but as it is, you'd just be making loads of quests impossible.

Actually in the mods section on the bethesda forums there's a thread about gathering info on all the quests. Eventually their plan is once the CK comes out, they're going to totally overhaul the quest texts in the journal so that you can in fact just read that and figure it out from there. Unfortunately I don't have the link here but it shouldn't be too hard to find, it was on the first page today in the Mods section of Skyrim.

That's one mod I look forward too.

Oh, that sounds good. Maybe Bethesda should pay attention.

 

[babinro]

I really like Skyrim's Quest Journal System except for the Miscellaneous quests which DON'T have markers of any kind.

I have something like three quests to resolve by speaking with Madesi (I think). Great...now I'm expected to search all the major cities in order to find out where this person lives so I can talk to them. Not only would this process take well over an hour of actual gameplay, but they might not even live in a major city.

The end result is that I simply don't do the Misc quests unless I just happen upon that person through sheer luck.

Is there a mod that corrects this yet?

 

[Wolfram23]

I really like Skyrim's Quest Journal System except for the Miscellaneous quests which DON'T have markers of any kind.

I have something like three quests to resolve by speaking with Madesi (I think). Great...now I'm expected to search all the major cities in order to find out where this person lives so I can talk to them. Not only would this process take well over an hour of actual gameplay, but they might not even live in a major city.

The end result is that I simply don't do the Misc quests unless I just happen upon that person through sheer luck.

Is there a mod that corrects this yet?

They should show up. You have to both select the quest you want to do from the bullet-point list AND mark "Miscellaneous" as active. So, you know the main quests, you mark them active and there's a little triangle next to them? So do that on Misc. as well as the individual quests within that list.