Oblivion Syndrome: Cured in Skyrim?

[Sloady]

I remember a while back on the Bethesda forums (before I quit because of the sheer amount of hate) some people complaining (surprise, surprise) about what they called "Oblivion Syndrome". It was a condition Oblivion had that forced you into believing that doing the main quest was completely and utterly necessary or the game would end.

Do people feel this has been fixed in Skyrim? While I felt the beginning was much more dramatic than Oblivion, I can't remember a game that was more vague about what the main quest actually was.

[Musicman247]

I agree! I did the first few quests along the main path at the beginning, but now I can't even remember what I was supposed to do without looking at my quest page. In fact, I don't think I've done a main quest step since last Saturday!

Of course, this is how it usually goes with me. "I'm off to save the country! Here I go to OOOH! Look at the castle! I wonder what's in there? I really need to visit the Mage's guild to get some better spells. But first I need to buy a house."

[Ravenknight]

I agree. I feel that the main quest is less predictable and more.. Reactionary(?). It doesn't feel quite so laid out ahead. It feels like you're flying blind, just going on intuition based on what happened just before.

[Wolfie]

I really think the whole idea that it felt like you had to is bull, just becuse in skyrim the eed Imo is way worse and it seems almost stupid to let it go, in olvion it was reltaivly okay, but skyrim your freakign a legend and you take time off to help a cat out of a tree?

[Akiraka]

I think the big draw here is the ability to just turn off quest markers. I never had the MQCD (main quest compulsion disorder), but seeing that stupid red triangle in my compass forever was awful, and I think that's where some of that residual compulsion's coming from.

The other big draw is that this time the MQ benefits you. 'Do I want to trek all the way to Kvatch to rescue some guy and get mauled by daedra, or go this way?'
In Skyrim it's, 'I have the soul of a dragon, and going and finding them and kicking their asses will allow me to become uber powerful? Sign me up.'
Gotta disagree with you on the other hand, Wolfie. I think daedra tearing a hole in the mundus(or whatever the word was they used in Oblivion) and assaulting the mortal realm was a little more dire than a civil dispute between Nords, hah. (then again, I'm not, surprise, very far into the MQ at all)

[Wolfie]

I think the big draw here is the ability to just turn off quest markers. I never had the MQCD (main quest compulsion disorder), but seeing that stupid red triangle in my compass forever was awful, and I think that's where some of that residual compulsion's coming from.

The other big draw is that this time the MQ benefits you. 'Do I want to trek all the way to Kvatch to rescue some guy and get mauled by daedra, or go this way?'
In Skyrim it's, 'I have the soul of a dragon, and going and finding them and kicking their asses will allow me to become uber powerful? Sign me up.'
Gotta disagree with you on the other hand, Wolfie. I think daedra tearing a hole in the mundus(or whatever the word was they used in Oblivion) and assaulting the mortal realm was a little more dire than a civil dispute between Nords, hah. (then again, I'm not, surprise, very far into the MQ at all)

dont ope if you dont want it spolied

Spoiler:

The MQ is Aduin comming back to end the world...not the cival war

neddless to say its way more dire

[Akiraka]

neddless to say its way more dire

I'll take your word for it

[Sloady]

@Wolfie - You're not told about any of that however. Therefore, from the get go, you're not think "OMG THE WORLD IS GOING TO END IF I DON'T DO THE MAIN QUEST". Hell, it took me a while to figure out it WAS the main quest.

[MaKo]

I have real strong Oblivion Syndrome and I'm not entirely over it. I just can't go forward with MQ, and every time I loose fights I tend to desperately think what I made wrong with leveling. But I am learning it

[Brannarch]

Do people feel this has been fixed in Skyrim? While I felt the beginning was much more dramatic than Oblivion, I can't remember a game that was more vague about what the main quest actually was.

It's an obvious thing to point out, but Morrowind's main quest was even more vague than Skyrim's - you basically got told that you had been released as a prisoner, and you should go see some guy called Caius Cosades in Balmora and, well, that's it. And the first time you meat Caius he tells you that he hasn't got any information for you, and you should just go exploring for a while and get back to him when you feel like it. Compared to Skyrim's opening sequence with the dragon, it's not much of a hint.

Skyrim is somewhere inbetween Morrowind and Oblivion. You can ignore the main quest, but dragons will still randomly appear and you can't get away with pretending that there isn't something big happening in the world that, sooner or later, you're going to need to do something about.

[Akiraka]

Skyrim is somewhere inbetween Morrowind and Oblivion. You can ignore the main quest, but dragons will still randomly appear and you can't get away with pretending that there isn't something big happening in the world that, sooner or later, you're going to need to do something about.

lol I don't know why, but that completely reminded me of, "Uh, I was just upstairs, and there's a half dead fat guy eating a dead fat guy. ... Uh-huh. So I guess we're just looking the other way, huh?"

[BvBPL]

(Haven't finished the main quest and I have no idea how far along I am)

Is there any possibility that progress along the primary quest line affects the frequency of dragon appearances? I know that happened in Oblivion where you started with a few gates and then the number of gates rapidly ramped up.

The dragons are a lot more fun than those damn gates.

[MasterRokon]

For the longest point i thought the main quest involved joining what ever faction helped you.

[Chaos the N'wah]

Well the mainquest seemingly starts more on the civil war end with Dragons thought to be a new weapon of the other faction, there's a threat implied, but it's a lurking danger, something that will come to a head later, but not right away. It's a far cry from Oblivion's "THE SKY IS FALLING!" and Morrowind's "There's something you're not telling me? Why am I doing this? Oh why are these guys trying to kill me? What the heck are those things!?"

[yagelazy]

I have been saving the main quest until endgame since morrowind. I never experienced"oblivion syndrome" at all. But honestly I feel like I'm going to do the main quest early on in skyrim basically only for acess to more shouts

[OblivionDuruza]

Technically, the Greybeards/Alduin fiasco is the Main Quest of Skyrim. The ivil War is just another Major Questline, like the 4 Major Factions.

For me, I like this, because, although I fancy none of the new Skyrim factions per se, and I've never been big on Main Quests, per se; I'm really going to enjoy replaying the Civil War Questlines, and this should give me a ton of gameplay in itself.

[Frogmander]

Only thing i can complain about is the few cases of "DELIVER THIS IMMEDIATELY!" even though nothing will change even if you wait 10 years, as for the main quest, it took me a few days to figure out it was the dragon thing was the main quest, not the civil war

[Wolfie]

I dont understand how no one can tell its the dargons and not the cial war, I knewe it form the get go, I

Spoiler:

mean your the freaking dragon born, firsty dragons in forever atack and the quest you et right out of the gate is to go tell them about dragons, go get somethign to find dragons, and then fight droagons, find your dragons born learn the words of dragons, where in there is there anything about the cival war?

[Cuddle_Fish]

I agree with Wolfie, I mean. Didn't we all know the game focused on Alduin waaaaay before the game even came out?
I believe it was also mentioned that Skyrim was in a state of civil war pre release and could see the MQ being about a side trying to use them, but I don't see Alduin being okay with that. And who were you really trying to defeat in Oblivion? Mehrunes Dagon, or the Mythic Dawn?

I could see pretending not to know for role-playing purposes, but come on guys.

[Ryuhza]

I can't remember a game that was more vague about what the main quest actually was.

What about... uh, any of the earlier Elder Scrolls games?

[chrstphrbrnnnn]

My first time playing Oblivion, without having ever played any previous Elder Scrolls (always wanted to play Morrowind, never did though) I got out of the sewers, got distracted and ended up doing numerous guilds before completing the MQ. I never really felt the whole "world is gonna end thing" because I never progressed it far enough that the gates starting open. As I saw it my character just got out of jail and some old dude dying was no big deal to me. However, the beginning of Oblivion was a little more obvious that you were on the path of the MQ than Skyrim was.

With Skyrim I really thought it was going to have a Fallout: NV style going on with numerous factions waring for your support and multiple ending/outcomes. I kept myself completely dark other than a friend spoiling me because knowing nothing was what made Oblivions first time through so awesome. I went and did the Companions before further the MQ past getting to Whiterun. If the Companions hadn't been so short and there had of been other relevant things to my character I probably would have put it off further.

In short: I feel it's pretty easily to ignore both MQs if you don't move past the first two quests. However, I felt like story wise it was easier for me to be like "eh, I don't care about being some destined hero" in Oblivion than in Skyrim.

[Boulderheart]

Well I thought it was obvious the MQ was dragon-related. But my friend had assumed it was the civil war, because that is what he ended up doing. I mean, from Riverwood, you can go to Solitude/Winterhold for the civil war, or Whiterun for the Dragon Quests.

But during the MQ, the Civil War does dip into parts of it, (which would be interesting to play through if the civil war is over).

BvBPL - Once finishing the MQ you still get just as many dragons as before

[CorneliusFunk]

Ah, yes. The BGS forums drove me away quickly. While not as bad as the Minecraft community it was not much more tolerable in places.

Interestingly enough I had a dream in which I played Oblivion with a new char, continued going about my business for three days, then gates opened everywhere and the IC was crawling with Daedra, the guards dropping dead everywhere. "Oh, crap," I thought, "I should have started the main quest."

I never believed that to be the case, and to be honest, I'd say one would have to be pretty stupid to make the assumption for either game. That would be like in HL2 if you spent too long throwing radiators at zombies in Ravenholm with the gravity gun, then having the City 17 uprising would fail without your help.

[zpr9610]

I have barely touched on the main quest and I am lvl 42.
Problem solved.

[Demosthenes01101]

I agree. I feel that the main quest is less predictable and more.. Reactionary(?). It doesn't feel quite so laid out ahead. It feels like you're flying blind, just going on intuition based on what happened just before.

You mean like....reality?