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?

[Lena Wolf]

Yeah, I've done that. Put out books, notes and given various NPCs helpful dialogue lines. But some players either can't be bothered to read, or can't even find a letter in their own inventory because they don't think to check, and they certainly don't talk to the NPCs... hmm... should I just ignore such players? Perhaps they don't really qualify to be the main hero to begin with.

With that said, I could do more, of course...

But here's a good point that Renee brought up: Reputation. May be I should just stick to the way I like my quests, which is challenging and somewhat confusing. You have to pick up the clues and separate actual leads from red herrings. I love quests like that. So it seems I made something along those lines. If I start putting out too much information, it will rip the heart out of them. Hmm... what a dilemma.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Feb 29 2024, 09:43 PM