I think if they had given us an actual journal, this would have been easier to overlook. An entry saying, "I overheard some commoners talking about problems with the mine east of town. They could be in need of an adventurer. I'll stop by if I find the time."

But that's not how the game presents it. Instead, it says, "Go to the mine." There is a slight, but important change in tone. The easiest solution is to be able to cancel started quests. Other, less simple solutions might be allowing us to consistently and definitively decline quests ("no means no") or, as I described above, implement a true journal.

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't object to having some/more descriptive/narrative text attached to all the entries in the journal.

I would really like that. I often forget what's going on in a quest if I don't get right to it and the present journel is not very helpful.

Right, I miss the actual journal aspect of the game. Morrowind's journal was primitive and could be overwhelming after a long use, but it definitely kept the idea of being the character and seeing the world. It was also nice because you had the chronological flow of entries, dated and everything, and then the index and active quest pages (later added by a patch I believe). I don't know if the people who want to hide quests would be sated by that, but I'd love to see that again. Maybe next time!



You clearly didn't read the rest of my post, because I logically argued against the sake of removing quests/hiding quests. The initial point was for others to ignore the main premise of the thread.

Lol. He had nothing to say after bashing the game. He's probably playing right now.

I think the shift in tone is fairly important. Further, separating journal into two sections with one for accepted/active quests and another for notes would solve the problem fairly handily. Place overheard conversations, clues to hidden treasures, guild recruitment locations, etc in the notes section. Put actual accepted quests that I've specifically said, "Sure," to on the quest page.

Right now, people feel compelled to finish quests both because of the desire to clear the quest window (even if only to make things visually more manageable) and because of the language used in each entry. Currently, to me, the quest window feels a lot like Navi from Ocarina of Time. Whenever I open it, the game feels obligated to remind me of all these other tasks I may or may not be interested in.

I was thinking about this issue and debating whether to start a thread, but decided to search first, and found my answer. And after reading what I did, I thought I should make a point.

There are some quests that I don't want to do for various reasons, usually because they don't fit alignment. Sometimes I start them without fully knowing what they involve. Because Skyrim doesn't have a way to decline quests, and most of these quests have no alignment-compatible alternative path, this means my journal ends up having stuff that I have no intention of completing. So, it's okay to say 'Well, just use active/inactive to separate the ones you do want to do, and the ones you don't want to do', but that also gives me multiple markers on the top line, which annoys me as I occasionally refer to them for navigation - so I prefer having only one active quest at a time. I would like to say that I'd love a feature to be able to hide quests, or know of a mod that can do it.

So, I guess I should now prepare for a wave of being called lazy, OCD, a whining child and whatever else people can throw at me, just because my preferred play-style differs from theirs. But never mind that - I think I can alter my play style, by marking only the quests I want to do as active, and learning to ignore the quest markers on the top. That doesn't change my opinion that this is still a minor deficiency in a game which, overall, I think is fantastic.

What? You can tell him flat out you aren't doing that first quest for him and he won't bother you again unless you talk to him directly.

Not all quests should stick to the "Are you doing it (Yes/No)?" formula and that's good. Quests aren't just something you get and pick from the local Official Quest Giver, sometimes they just happen.


In the "No one escapes from Cidna Mine", would the writing of the quest be improved if after the attack, the guy came to you saying "I'm not interested in what happened here at all, no really. Hey, looks like you drop this note which is clearly labeled as mine, do you want to start my quest or not?"

What, too many quests?

We need more quests, there's nothing to do!

J/K, it is slightly overboard, but you don't have to check the journal every 2 minutes, really.

I usually save up a bunch in one city, clear what I can and move onto next city. Keeps it pretty clean.

I've heard that this bothers alot of people. Doesn't really bother me at all. I just do the ones I want. Or if I'm done with whatever quests I was focusing on, I can go to my quest log and easily find something else to do.

I think the solution would be to insert a no option and once you say no then you can't accept the quest for the rest of the game. Backing out of the conversation wouldn't count as no, you would have to select no in conversation.


Only problem with the last part, that note stays in your inventory until you read it so that means you'll have to start the Forsworn Conspiracy quest or at least have it be in your journal, otherwise the note is a quest item.

I would love to cancel the quests I did and can't hand, in because the NPC doesn't have the hand in dialog in the option.

Opens the possibility to retake the quest and pray for a finish line next time around?

Exactly my point. Like in Riften this guy ask me to steal this ring and pickpocket it into this guys robes. I told him "No I won't break the law" and the guy goes, "Come back when you changed your mine" And then it's stuck in my journal. I said No. No means No. And get out of the journal.


I remember in Oblivion the only marker I got was where I needed to go. The rest I needed to figur out on my own. Part of the reason why you get lost in dungeons.


Yes the change of tone in the journal has changed the way we view the journal. I agree with your post.