Good day everyone,

Okay, I maybe new to The Elder Scrolls, and to Skyrim but I have been playing RPG games for over 20 year now, and I must say that Skyrim is probably one of the worst games I have encountered. Now, it could be because of the "openness" of the game itself, and my lack of understanding of the premise behind it... but I feel the execution of the quest system is broken. When you are given a quest, there is no simple way of knowing where to go, to whom you speak too, etc... sure, a symbol appears on the compass, but you have no indication as to how far that is from your current location (unless I have missed something). When you are on a quest, and you are trying to follow a path, most of the time they lead to block passages; mountains that can't be climbed; rivers that can't be crossed; or they are guarded by giants that can't be beat ( only @ level 3 with magic etc)..

I've been walking around for over 2 hours trying to find a path into Throat of the world so I can speak with the Greybeards, and unless I can swim up a waterfall, or fly over a mountain, I can't seem to find any way to the location. I've tried placing a temporary marker location on the map, and attempting to reach that, but I am challenged with the same problems. I would think that "paths" would be visible for the most part. And what is the use of the "local map" feature? This doesn't appear to provide any real details to the area you are in... (I'm on the xBox 360 if that helps with anything)...

You use the map to see where to go and there are a ton of pathways. Just look a little harder. I'm new to so can't give great advice.

Have you accessed your map?

I guess you'll learn the world in due course.

3rd person finishers however.... theyre always gonna be there > >

Use the map mate. Press M. Or, open your journal and choose your quest. Then press M. Shows you where on the map it is. And the part about blocked paths etc, thats kinda what TES is about, atleast for me. Exploration! I was sent on a quest a few hours ago. On the way there, my path was a dead end. Just a massive waterfall. Next to the waterfall was a cave. I went in, fought some loltrolls and gain a level and some good loot.

Exploring is a great way to pass the travel time, brake up questing, gain levels and loot

I've been searching for the way up. I believe that is part of the quest and challenge. There is a path up we just have to find it. Horses are also pretty decent at climbing where you can't so you could always try to climb that way.

Yea I know but Elder Scrolls has been named for beeing on fo the best rpg titles there is and with the location of the quest that is wat the mp is for so you can see were it is and the NPC usualy tells you were to go and who to look for and the mountain thing yea you just missing the route like i id going to the collage of winterhold i had to go up the side of the mountain to get in Winterhold *took forever* but when i got in i found the route into Winter hold was over some more i was so mad. You can swim in all the water i havent come to any i couldnt swim in yet and the mountains can be climbed it just takes some time but i would clime that one since its the tallest and all

Or you could buy and use the Clairvoyance spell.

Clairvoyance is my best friend at the moment, saved me so much time.

wow, Summer, that much snow in your driveway already?
Your gonna be frozen, dead, before Christmas !

To the all the replies that tell me to use the map... yes, I have used (or at least tried too) use the map... and like I said in the original post, I doesn't offer any details about paths etc... or even how high mountains are or how deep rivers are etc... I am finding the map next to useless.. other then giving you a vague idea of where to go... which is probably to whole point if I'm all up for exploration, but it would help if there was some indication to know if you where on the right track or not... to spend 2 hours walking through woods is one thing, but to have nothing to show for it is very frustrating -- to the point of wanting to give up on the game.

I agree that sometimes it can get difficult, but we should be thankful we even get a quest marker really. Besides I don't like when games hold my hand...I'm not horrible so I like to do things and figure them out by myself for the most part.

But whatever. On your question trying to get to High Hrothgar (Throat of the World) to speak with the Greybeards, I too had difficulty but I then watched my friends brother do it with ease and I facepalmed at how simple it is. Basically on the Eastern side of the big mountain just east of Whiterun and Riverwood, there is a small settlement (unsure of the exact name, but it's north-east of the village you start the game in). At this settlement there's a bridge that leads to the mountain and a little pathway with stairs; go here, ascend the stairs, and it takes you straight up to High Hrothgar and the Greybeards.


Now, the way I did it....well I died like 3 times, then finally got it after glitching my horse through half the rocks on the freakin mountain, and going up several near-vertical angles that shouldn't have been allowed to happen. I did complete the task though

You have to pay attention to the dialogue and do some investigating sometimes. I've played RPGs for a long time, as well (not as long as 20 years, though) table-top included. I modded out the compass and now am actually very happy with the rather free-form nature of game discovery. I like having to work a little to find something.

Anyways, as I said, pay attention to what you're being told and always be looking through your map for any new points of interest.

A simple way to think about it is that you won't need to climb anything to get to somewhere important like that. Just walk around the mountain until you find a path.

make you quest the active quest and it will show you where to go on the map

As mentioned above, use the clairvoyance spell. You only need to press it for a second and a ghostly line will trail off in the direction to the NPC or location you need to go to. It is THE solution to your problem.

Where do you get the clairvoyance spell?

I believe that is the concept of the game. Investigation and Exploration are important parts of the Elder Scrolls games.

You want a line indicating the path you wanna take? You want me to hold your hand too? Maybe provide a walkthrough guide, couple cheat codes?

Press M, see the icon, plan your route, get on with it....

(ps. M is the default map key for for RPG's, wait scratch that, most games. If you didnt find this out in 20 years of gaming, then you have bigger problems.)

Ahem,
Use the map, marker also gets bigger as you approach target - as well as an arrow above them/it, Mountains can be climbed and/or walked around, Rivers can be crossed and/or walked around, giants CAN be avoided. It is simply because you have overlooked the more simple solutions, your'e thinking too hard. Play the game, learn the mechanics. That's what I had to do with Oblivion.

No reason to get hostile with him. It's his playthrough, not yours. You understand Bethesda marketed the game on that concept?

I bought the spell in Riverwood general store I believe.

Whoever suggested that you activate the quest in your journal is correct. When it is active, you will see that the entrance is at the base of the East side of the mountain. The mechanics for activating/tracking the quest should be obvious once you're in your journal. Good luck.

t

Dude... If you had read my first post. you would have read that I am using an xBox 360... so there is no "M" key... and I WAS using map...

The Elder Scrolls games are unlike any other. Forget what you know about RPGs and learn anew. My girlfriend is playing Skyrim, and she has RPG experience, but no ES experience. She has a harder time because she is used to things working one way like they do in most RPGs and MMOs. ES games are a genre of their own and should be treated as such.