Quest Markers need to be discontinued because they diminish the single most important appeal of any Bethesda game: The World. - The World is the main character of any Bethesda game. We all have different play styles, we all have different values, we all do things our own way - but the fundamental truth is that the only universal appeal of a Bethesda game is exploring a massive world. Bethesda themselves have tacitly admitted they aren't the best developers for combat, or dialogue, or character modelling, etc. But they know - just as we know - then when it comes to building a living, breathing world - they are second to none.
- Thus, it is of utmost importance for gameplay to reflect the strength of a Bethesda game: exploring a World. Anything that diminishes exploration of the World, is diminishing the appeal of a Bethesda game. Anything that enhances the exploration of a World, is enhancing the appeal of a Bethesda game.
- Quest Markers are a toxic inclusion that psychologically override the feeling of being in an explorable world, diminishing the universal appeal of a Bethesda game. When arriving at a new city, instead of the emotional reaction of having your breath taken away by a large town to explore, you are perpetually forced to acknowledge that everything around you is a secondary asset to your "objective". This sensation, the wonder, the joy - is tarnished. You are no longer tasked with the pleasure of exploration, of talking to strangers, of entering all buildings to locate your target. Instead, NPCs and buildings are trivialised because you are actually told they are trivial. The city "shrinks". Everything around you simply becomes an "asset" in a game.
- In Elder Scrolls, you used to have to get directions from an NPC to locate something, for example, an NPC would tell you: "Head south from town until you reach the bridge, then head west until you reach the cave. It's just north of the stone statue". This system is actually an incredible enhancement to the feeling of being in an explorable world, for two reasons. 1. It engages NPCs meaningfully. and 2. It compels the player to actually view their surroundings, greatly expanding the scope of the world by having them physically navigate it with tactical instructions.
- Naturally, some form of guidance assistance should be present in future games, which of course, brings me to mention Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is actually a PERFECT replacement for Quest Markers for two reasons. 1. It is entirely optional and uses an expendable resource (magicka),.... and 2. It doesn't spoil the destination, it just provides the direction you should head in to reach the destination. For those two reasons, it would work as the perfect solution to those who get stuck. Oh, and if someone is going to state that Quest Markers are also optional and that I am making a needless complaint - that is inaccurate. Although you can indeed turn off Quest Markers in Skyrim by deactivating quests, the journal does not provide location information for most quests, which actively forces the player to require the use of them - or using the Journal, M>locate function.
In conclusion, Quest Markers should be discontinued because they diminish the sensation of exploration of a world, and the world is the single most important factor of a Bethesda game. For future titles, location information should be entirely journal-based from NPC directions, with the inclusion of the optional Clairvoyance spell for those requiring further assistance. This is the most ideal system to enhance the world, and thus, enhance Bethesda's games further.
1: Partially agree. I disagree that it's the only thing going for it. The games have epic yet simple stories that I f ind very enjoyable. But Exploration is a big part of it.
2:Completely agree, they should not diminish exploration.
3: Here's where thing get tricky and fall apart. You use language like toxic and forced. Quest Markers don't force you to do anything, they just tell you where the objective is. You can still go to any house you like, talk to anyone that you want. Want to go mess around at a Tavern and pay a bard to sing a song as you drink mead and have some leg of goat before a nice desert and then go to the Tavern owner to rent a room and ask about a Job, you can, the quest markers don't stop you. Want to go in that cave off in the distance off the path to your objective, go ahead, the QM doesn't mind. I actually find that they are good for exploration. You know where the objective is and going off the path will not get you lost. There's nothing forcing you to go to them, no time limits, the game doesn't kill or insult you for not Following the quest marker.
4: Honestly, I think this is worse for exploration. In Morrowind, you had to follow those instructions to the letter, one misstep would mean your lost and have to back track a bit and maybe all the way back to the start. Miss a funny stone that was a landmark, you could be quite off coarse. You couldn't even dream of going off the path too much, cool cave or Tower in the distance, don't go, you could not back track right and turn at the wrong funny looking rock and get lost. And the punishment for messing up the directions could be Hours of useless wandering where something better to do. Hell, Morrowind sometimes felt like it was giving me the finger by marking landmarks on my map and going: I know where this place is but I'm not telling you where it is so have this landmark for a place on your way on my round about way. Simply put, if you don't have a great memory, you were forced to have Tunnel vision due to the punishment for not following the directions to the letter.
5: I like Clairvoyance, it's a nice little spell and it could make a good alternative.
Conclusion: I really don't think they should be abolished, your damning of Quest Markers is really Hyperbole, they're not perfect and things could be better. Morrowind's system is actually worse than Skyrim's for the feeling of exploration because it actually punishes you for stepping off the path where Skyrims Quest Markers are just there and if you ignore them, they will wait. Thing could be improved, I think adding an option for Quest Markers to only appear on the Map screen would be a nice edition, and might be possible to patch in or at least keep in mind for Elder Scrolls 6: Elsweyr (well I'm hoping Elsweyr) or Fallout 4.
» Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:03 am 
