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]

Ghastley says:

Quests also need to be designed for failure, which many forget. A maze puzzle needs a way to give up and go back to the start, a switch puzzle needs a reset lever, and the boss monster needs to have a tether, so you can run away.

Yes, these would be backtracking possibilities. But I disagree that they are required. You can always load an earlier save and go do something else. Most games I played don't allow for retreat.

I feel this is one of those matter of taste points. Switch puzzles are not in the same league as mazes and boss enemies. Puzzles need a reset, enemies I think not necessarily.

From all your responses and the ones I got on Nexus, one thing is abundantly clear: preferences vary greatly and I should not try to please everyone. Not that I was necessarily trying to in the first place. But I realise now that I have to make a clear decision for myself how much help I want to provide within my quests and how confusing, hard or unforgiving I want them to be. Then I should stick to it because otherwise I won't be pleasing anyone at all, and least of all myself. It's what Renee said: Reputation.