Skyrim: Turn off your compass marker

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I use the map markers in the dungeons to make sure I explore every part not on the correct route first!

I turned it off once for a dungeon, and accidentally missed a load of the cave because I had taken all the correct turns first time!

Skyrim doesn't blatantly point out correct paths/vs non correct paths like most games do, so using the marker is the best way of making sure that caves are explored to the fullest!

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Well here's the thing. I have a crap TV and...not all of Skyrim can fit on it... see where I am going with this? I haven't been able to use that compass once because it's hardly even on my screen I mean I can just make out the white line at the very edge of the top of my screen and some lines on it but just barely.

 

[Hugga_Bear]

So.
Clairvoyance huh? How about that spell? Clairvoyance...yup...

But really, this is silly, your addiction to following red arrows is irrelevant, I'm perfectly capable of meandering towards my objective at the pace of a mudcrab thanks. In fact, like any true RPG gamer, I tend to avoid any serious quests like the plague. I mean, take the very first thing I did in Skyrim, once I was free of the tutorial dungeon.

I turned around and ran back through the burning town, to the south and then the west and ended up in Falkreath after fighting some Draugr in a mountainside dungeon.

YOU might need to turn it off for freedom, other people are capable of finding that freedom on their own

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Or you could just take some time to explore and not bother with any quests.

I don't like wandering around not knowing where I'm supposed to go.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Im currently playing through again with mods. I installed a mod that removed the main quest and made the poor sod on the boat you started at be the Chosen one. And you can walk around doing whatever you want and sometimes see him walking for quest-location to quest-location doing the main quest xD.

You *have* to explain this now!

Not to mention that the mods put the environmental graphics of Morrowind on par with Skyrim.

Morrowind: 1 GB.
Environment Mods and Soundfiles: 6GB.

I mean, Holy crap. How many people are modding morrowind?! xD

This too!! Don't say this and not explain! Details details!

I dont need to listen to you.

Are you refusing to follow a direct order Private? That's a court martial offence.

 

[JediMB]

Isn't the game built around the quest compass though ?

Meaning, the npcs don't give you enough detailed information on where you should actually be going.

There is a mod to fix that (unsurprisingly) - it adds more information to the quest log, so it doesn't sounds retarded "I was told of X [no information to where it is but still a big arrow points at it]". It's called Better Quest Objectives[/I] you're welcome.

Thank you muchly. I've bookmarked the mod for when I (finally) pick up Skyrim later.

 

[gorfias]

I need all the help I can get on Skyrim! I'm not turning off nothing!

 

[Sansha]

Alternatively, I'll play the game however I like, you play how you like, and we'll both leave each other alone over the subject.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

I dont need to listen to you.

Are you refusing to follow a direct order Private? That's a court martial offence.

The only offence here is your manner of dress sir!

 

[Greni]

You serious people are so lulzy [insert y so srs picture of your choice].

Huge thanks to the dude pointing out detailed quest log mod, done putting it in. Excited to try it out.

Happy exploring everybody.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Im currently playing through again with mods. I installed a mod that removed the main quest and made the poor sod on the boat you started at be the Chosen one. And you can walk around doing whatever you want and sometimes see him walking for quest-location to quest-location doing the main quest xD.

You *have* to explain this now!

Not to mention that the mods put the environmental graphics of Morrowind on par with Skyrim.

Morrowind: 1 GB.
Environment Mods and Soundfiles: 6GB.

I mean, Holy crap. How many people are modding morrowind?! xD

This too!! Don't say this and not explain! Details details!

I dont need to listen to you.

Are you refusing to follow a direct order Private? That's a court martial offence.

MCA 5.1
Morrowind Overhaul v 2.
MGE.
Morrowind Comes alive.
and the one with the NPC I cant quite remember. But it is a part of the Chargen that allows dozens of new starting locations and equipment.

My last character was a Breton Spellsword named Raegar that started in an Imperial Prison under the castle where you can join em.

Personally though, atm I abandoned Morrowind for Daggerfall.

Spoiler: Thiswillbringyouluck

http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Daggerfall_:_DaggerfallSetup_EN

nough said. It comes with the most important Daggerfall mods and it is completely compatible with new OS. Enable the mouse/control and you have a game that, although with outdated graphics. Has the most detailed world/NPC/characters and skillsets. 'and' a combat system I actually prefer to Morrowinds. But the graphics are hard to look at, Morrowind mods made the enviroments on par with newer games on Low. But nothing can be done for a game as old as Daggerfall except for perhaps waiting for the guy making the Skyrim mod for Daggerfall.

Only problem is making those sorts of mods takes more years for a modder than it does for Bethesda to release a new Elder Scrolls game and render the old one sorta obsolete in terms of Mod Importance of older remakes. Lets hope the MMO they make will give a break for those modding/remaking singleplayer games.

 

[Redingold]

After seeing this thread, I've decided to play New Vegas in hardcore mode with the HUD opacity on 0 and this difficulty increasing mod [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.336419-Fallout-New-Vegas-Project-Director-Releases-Personal-Mod] (made by the project director for New Vegas itself). I can get my ass handed to me by a paltry group of geckos, but my god it's fun.

 

[Reaper195]

*Turns off compass*
"Now, go and find this place called...I dunno....Scary Dungeon Cave."
"Cool! *Charges outside of Witerun, gets bored after ten minutes of having not one clue where to go*"

Seriously...in a lot of games, without the compass, you wouldn't ever get to where you need to go unless by sheer coincidence.

Yeah, that's if the game was designed around the compass as the crutch. It saves on voice acting and writing (Even if it's just one line "Go to the Scary Dungeon Cave; it's to the west of Solitude"... Then if you click on the option "Where is Solitude": "Oh, you follow the road to the West".

It's a little bit more vague and requires a little bit more exploration ("Is this the cave he was talking about? No."). Some people love it but most don't.

Generally, I like exploration. The amount of time in Skyrim I stop doing quests, see something in the distance, and then go wander over there (Maybe being arse raped by a few dragons along the way (Master difficulty ftw!)). But if I'm doing a quest, the last thing I want to do is spend three hours wandering around some rolling planes hoping that one snowy mountain in the distance is the snowy mountain I'm actually looking for.

 

[MidnightSt]

Thanks for the suggestion...cough...order.
I haven't played Skyrim yet, but next week I'm finally getting a new computer that's gonna be able to handle it, so after finally enjoying IL2 Sturmovik with joystick, and running at more than 18-20 FPS, playing the shit out of AssCreed 1 and 2, then maybe some Batman: Arkham City, I'll go into Skyrim and turn off the compass straight away.

Thank you, good sir.

 

[MidnightSt]

But if I'm doing a quest, the last thing I want to do is spend three hours wandering around some rolling planes hoping that one snowy mountain in the distance is the snowy mountain I'm actually looking for.

...when have quests turned into something you have to finish as quick as possible before you can go around the world and enjoy it? I remember in the times of Planescape: Torment there were TONS of quests that lingered in your journal for HOURS until you actually even got to the point when you could really do them, and it never bugged me. And another tons of side-quests I finished by accident just by bumping into their objectives as I was pottering* around the world, taking it in? In fact, you get the endgame quest "unofficially" about 10 minutes into playing the game (Pharod says something like "you have to find a way to die for real, while you still can", then Deionarra repeats it), and yes, it never gets written in the journal, but 1. it's kind of obvious, and 2. it would be really cheap story-wise. Despite that, you learn that it'll all end in the Fortress of Regrets somewhere in the middle of the game (that is around 50 hours into it, with another 50 before you, if you don't really do all the side stuff), and THAT actually gets written into your journal...

Is this obsession with "get the quest done ASAP" somehow related to the achievement-hunting rollercoaster rides most games are today, which in turn train us to be just achievement-hunters/consumers instead explorers and adventurers?

*now out of curiosity - how many of you know that this is actually a word (verb) and what it means? I've been curious about that since I've read Harry Potter and looked his name in the dictionary because it seemed silly that he'd be a "Harry ClayDishMaker", and found out I couldn't be more wrong? Btw, it can be actually percieved as a little joke, seeing as he just stumbles upon all the solutions without actually trying.

 

[lacktheknack]

Why would I do that? I don't even remember there IS a quest marker until I've gone "DAH WHERE IS THIS BLOODY THING I'M SEARCHING FOR ARGL". Then my eyes are opened and I'm in the wrong house.

 

[Souplex]

The compass isn't as useful as it seems. I can't go through half the mountains in-between me and my quest marker.

 

[Krantos]

Um, welcome to TES 101?

Next week we'll talk about not using fast travel, and not Min/maxing your character or spamming iron daggers (or leather armor post patch).

Seriously, though, this game works best when you disable a lot of the aids it puts in there. I actually have a fun time playing with the hud turned off completely. I just wish it was a little easier to aim a bow/crossbow like that.

 

[TheCommanders]

Weirdly, I feel like the quest marker actually encourages exploration. When I'm on route to a dungeon or whatever, if I see something that looks interesting, I can go look for it and not worry about having to waste hours finding the damn path again. I have tried this before, and it seems like a great idea... until you actually do it. When the compass marker is off, I always go straight to the location of the quest, because there's to much risk of getting lost. I hate it when adding instructions gets equated to dumbing things down. It's not dumbing things down, it's opening up new possibilities and alleviating frustration.