Why are quests getting increasingly terrible?!

Rapt0rtech · June 2023

I honestly can say that when it comes to most of the quests we’ve gotten, zone and side, I have been able to guess what’s going to happen before I hit halfway. Everything is so predictable! Characters are not memorable and plots are just not interesting. I’m not sure who’s writing this garbage but I can honestly say I could pull better plots out of thin air!

The main DLC zones stories are shocking while for the most part the smaller side DLC zone quests are interesting. The last great story we had was Summerset, since then through lack of good writing, decent characters and competent world-building have left me dissatisfied constantly.

Necrom is no different. A completely dull story that even involves my two favourite Daedric Princes!!!! Vaermina and Mora!!!! And somehow whoever wrote the story still managed to make me bored and disappointed. This game needs better writers, now!

wilykcat · June 2023

This is why I avoid quests and mostly do dungeons, exploration, and battlegrounds.

TheImperfect · June 2023

Rapt0rtech wrote: »

I honestly can say that when it comes to most of the quests we’ve gotten, zone and side, I have been able to guess what’s going to happen before I hit halfway. Everything is so predictable! Characters are not memorable and plots are just not interesting. I’m not sure who’s writing this garbage but I can honestly say I could pull better plots out of thin air!

The main DLC zones stories are shocking while for the most part the smaller side DLC zone quests are interesting. The last great story we had was Summerset, since then through lack of good writing, decent characters and competent world-building have left me dissatisfied constantly.

Necrom is no different. A completely dull story that even involves my two favourite Daedric Princes!!!! Vaermina and Mora!!!! And somehow whoever wrote the story still managed to make me bored and disappointed. This game needs better writers, now!

I personally really enjoyed the questlines and writing in Necrom. What would you have done differently?

colossalvoids · June 2023

I'd agree about Summerset being the last big release that I wasn't disappointed with story wise. Especially looking at it from this point in time. But last overall release was Murkmire for me, imagine it was free back then and had an arena packed with it.

Norith_Gilheart_Flail · June 2023

You should get into writing then and show us how it's done.

Necrotech_Master · June 2023

i feel like necrom story was far far better than the last 2 major expansions stories lol

Kory · July 2023

Dark Brotherhood story, level design, and all the cool animations is some of their best work.

FabresFour · July 2023

Zavijah_Arventi wrote: »

You should get into writing then and show us how it's done.

Oh no? The OP is a consumer and probably likes the game too much, and that's why he complains. He has every right - and I would even say the duty - to criticize if he feels the need. It's only for the best. That's one of the main goals of the forum, to improve the game we love. [snip]

I've been playing since the 2013 beta, working on an unofficial translation for other people to play in my country, and honestly, I agree 100% with the OP. This year's story I found OK, much better than the last 3 years. Still, but it doesn't come close to what Zenimax did in Summerset or previous years.

The lack of interesting events, permanent deaths and devastating consequences makes our character seem like just an observer in a story that always ends in a happy ending. At least that's one of the things that bothers me the most since Elsweyr. (Elsweyr, in my opinion, was good... With interesting characters in general)

[edited for baiting]

Norith_Gilheart_Flail · July 2023

[snip]

If you won't provide compelling stories, then give specific examples to them along the lines of what you do want to see, or tropes to avoid.

[edited for baiting]

FrancisCrawford · July 2023

The original game in my opinion had surprisingly good quest writing. But even then it was uneven.

The DC had the best ratio of good quests by far, but had plenty of clunkers. It also had a bunch of good characters.

The AD was almost as good outside Valenwood -- but Valenwood was largely blech, and it's a large part of the area.

The EP wasn't nearly as good.

Orsinium is like another DC zone. Thieves Guild is outstanding, although of course one can find the thieving mechanics boring.

Vvardenfell was a big disappointment, however. Clockwork City was a lot better, but suffers from some slow pacing. I agree with the strongly favorable views of Summerset, the unlikeable bigots in the side quests notwithstanding.

Murkmire was awful, however. And I haven't engaged much w/ stories since, except for High Isle, which was fine. One reason is that I HATE how they retconned various characters to be less interesting, e.g. Abnur and Lyris.