Seriously? This is a pretty legit complaint, the journal is garbage. I mean how difficult would it have been to include the quest dialog when you select a quest so you can remember what it's about.
Or heck even just a blank notebook built into the game that you can type notes into and save.

In case people didn't know, you can select the miscellaneous quest option, and choose them specifically, instead of having a giant list.

I don't see the problem just click on the journal and click (mark / highlight) the quest and should show on your map. Follow the node AKA: marker. to obj. ths Journal is 100x better than that POS that was in Oblivion IMO. Party because the Oblivion UI svcked.

Yeah, I wish they had a better quest log system.

Yes but then it only gives you a marker on the map. No other information regarding the quest

That's not what people are complaining about. The problem is that there is no information about the particular quest you're tracking in the quest log. So if you pick up a quest and dont finish it right away you might forget what it's about or why you're doing it. And if you do forget there is no place in the journal to jog your memory, that's the problem.

It isn't a matter of knowing where to go or what to do, it is a matter of where the hell did I get this quest from, and who gave it to me.

A log of your conversations would help remind us of the story behind the quest.

I just wish there were more text in the quest system interface. I find myself annoyed that I always have to look at that damn compass. It's simply impossible to do without.
For instance, let's say you must kill a leader of a gang. What are your options if you don't want to use the compass/map cheat? None. What if you want the quest giver
to repeat the instruction? Usually it's not possible, so you'll have to find the arrow to know what has to be done.

All this hand holding broke my immersion, I constantly relied on checking that darn arrow mindlessly.

Knowing what to do so far what I have seen is in the title of the quest. I mean when I get a quest that tells me to kill a bandit leader at X thats usally wirten clearly in the title. I am not trying to be a jerk here I just pointing out what I have seen Thus far. Knowing where to go is using the tracker.

Understanding the story behind the quest in more detail then I understand your gripe.

Maybe they will mod it. I wouldn't hold my breath for Bethesda to change it.

Wait so the Journal is horrible because you don't want to use the map because you think it's "cheating" or "holding your hand". The game is designed to use the map hence why Bethesda took more time in developing the map in this one. If you don;t want to use the mp then feel free to but, you might need a mod to get the feel you want.

Guys, come on. Write that stuff down. I have one of these...

http://tftechreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMG_0192-1024x768.jpg (pic won't embed)

... so, I have a specialised place for all my Skyrim crap. Seriously, just write it all down. It's what the kids used to have to do

I wish there was an in-game journal you could type things into, my writing is ugly. Someone should make a mod for that.

That's all well and good, but there are also a large segment of people who like to play the game without the incessant hand holding.

I would love to turn the stupid quest markers off all together, but the way in which the quests are displayed, it's impossible due to bullet-point quest information. "Find Thacket family sword" tells me absolutely no information that would allow me to complete the quest. I'm forced to follow a GPS marker, which is an extremely boring way to play.

Yes, but it tells you what to give to the person, and then it points them out and leads you to them specifically and they have a marker over their head.

I was so happy when I realized you could turn off the floating indicators.

But yeah, just want to lend my support to the general vibration of the thread.

My Miscellaneous quest "journal" is starting to boil down to

*> WALK TOWARDS HUD ARROW
*> WALK TOWARDS HUD ARROW
*> WALK TOWARDS HUD ARROW
*> WALK TOWARDS HUD ARROW
*> WALK TOWARDS HUD ARROW
*> WALK TOWARDS HUD ARROW

Oooh, which one should I do first?

It is a little annoying. I miss the journals from past games that actually told stories.

It would also be REALLY nice if we could sort these things. A sortable directory tree with nameable folders would be fantastic. Even being able to sort them into "quests I care about" and "quests I don't care about" would be a big step up.

That's all well and good as far as who, what, and where are concerned, but does absolutely nothing to indicate the why, which is what many folks here are so concerned about.

Take, for example, the quest to talk to Aventus Areteno: the journal tells you where he is and that you need to speak to him, but doesn't tell you why you should even be bothering in the first place. The person who gave you the quest told you why, but few folks are going to remember that after finally getting around to delivering said message 25 RL hours later.

Virtually all the RPGs I've played (which is a lot of them, as I've been at it for over 30 years) have had some means of making it clear just why you were doing what you were doing; some of them were more obscure than others, usually deliberately so, but none of them had nothing at all to say about your activities, at least until now. Granted, I rarely leave quests lying around for extended periods, and if I do it's the main quest line so it's usually pretty clear why I'm doing those quests, but on those occasions where I do leave a side quest sitting for a while it's nice to be able to look it up and reorient myself as to its purpose.

There are occasions where I've deliberately done quests with no clue whatsoever as to why I was fulfilling them, usually because it fit the character's role, but it's not something I particularly like making a regular habit out of; a large portion of my enjoyment of a RPG comes from reading/hearing the various stories the game has to offer and watching them unfold as I probe ever deeper into the game-world's mysterious (to my characters, at least) goings-on in search of answers to all the questions those stories are asking.

I completely and totally agree. The journals from the previous games were very immersive and made sense as a journal. If I wrote down a journal entry about something someone told me to do, I would just put "talk to xxx". I'd at least write "talk to xxx in xxx". On top of this, I really enjoyed the remarks that the journal made, especially the sarcastic ones or ones that questioned other characters. Often, you could even get more insight into a quest if you bothered to read your journal instead of just following map markers.

As far as people saying things like "back in the day you had to" etc... just because things used to be a certain way doesn't mean we can't complain when things aren't the way we want them now. It seems like an act of laziness on Bethesda's part to not take the time to go into back story. It makes me feel like Skyrim is just another instance where they wanted to say "look what we can do with pretty graphics" without giving the time to give the players a truly in-depth experience. I also feel this way about the kill specials. While they look cool, I feel pulled out of the game when I suddenly lose control of my character and see them from a different perspective.

I just can't fathom WHY Beth didn't allow you to simply click on a quest and then show you the information for said quest ? (IE dialogue, npc that gave it to you, etc).

I mean, this is like a NO BRAINER for most rpgs, so why did they just throw it out? It makes remembering the context of quests quite hard.

I sit about 3ft from my TV, and I can barely read the text in the Quests, General Stats, and System menus. I still don't know what the last option in the Gameplay menu says; Pause>System>Settings>Gameplay>???

Meh.. I guess it all depends on how you play. At level 17 I've never had more than 3 to 5 quests in my journal. I get a quest, I go do it. Then I look at my journal and do another, and another. I don't need a story to read because I'm doing the quests shortly after I get them.

clairvoyance is like a necessity for me to do the quests.

I have a hunch that's how they were tested, one by one. Doing them that way keeps the quest fresh in your mind, but as many people have pointed out, the journal isn't as helpful as it could be if you talk to a lot of people and accept their quests before finishing the first one.

And, for those of us who turn off the quest help, there isn't much help in the journal.

You enable your compass?

I really don't see a problem with the journal as far as being functional, however more info is always appreciated.

Should I go back to having to make my own maps using graph paper as well?

That will be the problem - I'm sure - Essentially the one quest has to be selected twice if inthe miscellaneous pile (which works well when you choose whcih miscellanous quests to do.)