I tend to turn on a quest marker then head in that general direction exploring as I go. I would like a little more details in the journal just to fill the gaps but I get by without it. A lot of the side quests are kicked off from journal or diaries that I find, I tend to read them though and then keep them until the quest is finished.

The quest directions of this game are the worst I've ever seen in a video game, ever. In fact, in most quests there are ZERO quest directions. The quest giver doesn't even say it, and nothing is recorded in the "journal".

This is so bad and poorly done, that it makes my rating for Skyrim go down from 9,5 to 8,5. It's THAT bad, because quests are a big part of the game.

ADD DIRECTIONS TO YOUR QUESTS NEXT TIME BETHESDA FOR [censored] SAKE. Utter disappointment.

I agree completly OP.

Quest markers are the worst thing that ever happened to the elder scrolls series.
I try to play as much without the questmarkers. But sometimes its just impossible. e.g :

-> I get a letter from a courier.
->Nice, let's read the letter...Oh a friend tells me that that there is acertain source of power at [location].
->Yeah great, but you forgot to tell me where that location is? Near Markarth? Riften? Even in Skyrim??
->You have to use your magic Doovakhiin GPS Dragon shout

I'm also missing some kind of quest log ... Especially when you forgot what a particular quest was about.
I don't mind that there are quest markers..

You just have to assume that the questgiver has marked the location on your map for you.
Bethesda could have added "Can you give me directions?' "Here let me mark it on your map" to every conversation, but that would get annoying very fast.

As for the direction arrows, you just have to assume that your character is looking at the map occasionally to get his bearings instead of you, the player, having to look at your map constantly.

If the OP et al. are unhappy with the information in the journal, what exactly is preventing them from keeping their own notes? An arrow to the knee?

What? Are you dumb?

This is not an issue of believing we have found out the location or not.
This is an issue of people actually wanting to follow an actual direction and look out after the directions as people travel through the world (like a river, a big rock, north-east, etc etc), like in Morrowind for instance. This is something that is IMPOSSIBLE, whether you believe you were given the knowledge to the location or not.

This is a huge part of exploring/track or whatever you wanna call it for a lot of people in an open RPG world like this. Bethesda destroys this. It's an utter disappointment.

Some of the known quests should have directions, while others shouldn't, I actually the random quests probably can't have direction unless they are on a piece of paper.


They are right to defend them if this is your reason for attacking them. Giving directions is just another form of handholding, why not make you find them yourself? Markers can also coexist with directions, meaning that it is wrong to attack markers for the lack of directions.


If you could search the keywords and the journal could record the entire dialog sequence, why would you listen to them in the first place? I mean the problem with no given directions is that it is not immersive for you to know where stuff is without being given the knowledge, so having a magic journal which records entire dialogs isn't helping either. if I talk to you you will not be able to recall the conversation in exact detail. a journal should just be the key words of interest.


Again, how is this immersive? how did you know the bandits name? Does he shout it when he attacks? how did you even know his profession? This was highly unimmersive in morrowind, where you instantly knew everybodys name, regardless of whether or not you had interacted with them. I actually liked skyrims approach more with this, sometimes you can come across NPC's simply known as "redguard" or "khajiit", this is logical, because the only thing you can know for a fact upon first contact is their race.


Skyrim wont force you to adventure if you don't want to, you have to want to do it. Stop following the quest marker if you want to go adventuring, especially if you want to go exploring. If you are following directions, of any kind, than you are not exploring, because exploring is to uncover the land, to go without goal, to see whats hiding beyond the corner, if you have directions than you have a goal, and if you have a goal, than you are not exploring, you are searching.

I don't understand your second point, Can't logic out a puzzle? No problem, just use logic to solve the puzzle?

It's not possible to play this game without the compass, and not get completely lost as hell during quests. I miss morrowind..back when you had to pay attention and think.

Its not solving a puzzle when the answer is right there in the same room, and all you have to do is copy it.
Its more like filling in a crossword with a pen, when someone else has already filled it in by pencil.

I agree 150%! The journal really is non existent. Not even bullet points of information that would be useful. On that regard I miss the Morrowind system, or even Daggerfall. Not game breaking to be, but would be nice to have a proper journal.

I don't know. Do dumb people ever really know they're dumb?
Well, atleast I have some manners.

Switch off map markers. Look at location on map. Oh, hey! It's just northeast of that big mountain! Go explore.

I think the lack of journal is one of the biggest downsides of the Skyrim game.

In Morrowind all dialog was text base , so sayin " go to Markath, head norh until you hit the weird looking rock, then west until you see a mountain then north until you find the settlement of orcs, he may be in the inn" was reasonable. In order to add voice acting they had to cut that down. Granted every quest giver could give you a note with directions, but that soon adds up, especially with multiple quest from the same NPC. It seems reasonable to say "I'll just mark it on your map"

This journal is the worst I've seen in any game that has used one. Even the unpatched Oblivion Journal was head over heels better than Skyrim's.

We need MORE information, not less.

I didn't think about this, but this could be a factor, along with Bethesda thinking that a compass with quest arrows is the norm for modern RPGs. Along with the possibility that if they implemented a quest journal like Morrowind's, Skyrim would be... not be as popular as it is.

Nah, look at all those people that want details and information.
It would have been really simple to do that with a note the questgiver hands you.
And if thats not your cup of tea, ignore the note and follow the marker.
That would be a win-win situation, but the absolute minimalism of this design does not do that.

For PC version, you can set a quest as active by pressing "Enter", the active quest will be marked; then press "M" to open map right at the quest menu, and you will see a mark shows on the map which leads you to the target.
However, this GPS sometimes doesn't work, and it also has bugs as expected.

This arguement is old... people continually saying "Nah just turn it off" and other people continually unsuccessfully trying to explain to them why it doesnt work.

Yes because a Quest tracker is really convenient in a TES (The Elder Scrolls if you are new to the series) game.

As opposed to the completely fleshed out Journal entries in Morrowind or Oblivion, I'm actually depressed by the fact Skyrim was as much of a step up from Oblivion as it was a step down, I don't understand any reason for half of the decisions they made with Skyrim, it's like they paid another company to handle TES.

It is if you have to find the answer and use logic to discern in which way you should apply it.

Whoa, didn't expect these forums to be so full of rude and bitter users. The Morrowind section is helpful and nice and nostalgic, but this, this is just acid!

The Journal is meh, I wish they kept directions and things. However, what keeps you from just penning it down and not activating the GPS? Sure, I understand that you dislike the way Bethesda handled it, but I get the distinct impression that you (yes, you!) have only come here to whine instead of finding a solution to the problem.

Y'know, just like how this entire forum looks at the moment. Only complaining. Gah.

Completely agreed with this. It's rather stupid I must say.

First thing I did when Skyrim was installed was generate the .ini's and then switch off all markers and the compass.

On my 43 hour character I have a quest in the log (from a night playing drunk) that says...

Speak to Nod.

That's it. Just that. Well... who the [censored] is Nod and where the [censored] is he and WHY should I speak to him, because frankly I have no clue what-so-ever. It was probably one of those quests that's randomly forced upon you whilst you're trying to get eight hours sleep in the inn of some newly visited town/city.

I'm currently doing the Stormcloaks quest with my newer character. Christ. Goto S island? Uhm. Where the cook is S Island? It's not on the map even, so what, okay. It's likely by the coast.... or in the middle of a body of water... ugh.

Had to go to Embershard mine to get the Clairvoyance spell for that one.

Very, very stupid.

- Baat

*looks at revolving pillar*
*looks at symbol directly behind the revolving pillar*

That is not logic, that is putting the square block into the square hole. Toddler stuff.