Hand-holding or initiative?, The style of a your quests Options

[Lena Wolf]

Now that I've released a large quest mod (TWMP Skyrim Alive) with several quest lines, I am getting questions from users who get stuck, and not because of bugs. This got me thinking back to all the various games that I played and how they handle quests and quest lines, how much hand-holding they provided and what I found fun and what not so much. Given that most people on this forum have already played a game or two I thought we could discuss this.

I'll start with a comparison of Morrowind TES3 and Oblivion TES4. In Morrowind you start on a ship, arrive in a strange land, get a package to deliver fully expecting to be thrust into the thick of things... and what does Caius tell you? "You're no good to me at level 1, go off, do stuff, come back when you're stronger." Huh? In Oblivion on the other hand, you do get thrust into the thick of things straight away, and with great urgency - just like in most other games I played.

The first time when I played Morrowind, I got discouraged and confused. What do you mean - go off and do stuff? What am I supposed to do..? But now, so many years, games and playthroughs later, I absolutely love this approach. And it continues like this throughout - Caius never puts any urgency onto his requests, he's a typical fellow who speaks softly and carries a large stick. And with that we arrive at the topic of quest markers, etc.

But it's over to you now. What approach to quests do you like or dislike? Do you like it structured or do you prefer to be told to go off and do stuff?

[ghastley]

If you like it structured, then you probably don’t like mods, because they change that structure. You’re asking people who already answered that they like extra choices, and not doing what the game tells them to do.

Am I playing this game, or is it playing me?

[Lena Wolf]

If you like it structured, then you probably don’t like mods, because they change that structure. You’re asking people who already answered that they like extra choices, and not doing what the game tells them to do.

I think you can want mods even if you like a structured approach. You could have quest mods that add their own new adventures, completely self-contained, without "breaking" the game in any way. And the question is then how would you want those quests designed - structured or free?

I am getting complaints that my fetch quests don't have a marker leading you to the exact location of the item to fetch. Err... but where's the challenge in that? It's not much of a search quest if you know exactly where to look!

Similarly, people get confused because some quests are confusing. But they don't think to go talk to the NPCs living nearby to see if something else might come along that would clarify the situation.

And then they ask for a walkthrough.

Well, I guess I'm seeking justification for making confusing quests... Morrowind is confusing, right?

~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later: asking the right question is the most difficult bit, isn't it?

So, let me have another go. My question is this: how can I help those users that get confused by confusing quests and don't think about poking their noses everywhere, so how can I help them without spoiling the fun for the other users who do poke their noses everywhere and don't want hand holding?

Do I make an option in the INI file? Do I send out letters when I notice that the user gets stuck? Ideas, please?

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Feb 29 2024, 05:17 PM