Larian Studios Forums Divinity General Discussion About Quest Marker as core design philosophy.

It's probably a bottle in the ocean (and maybe too late), but please Larian, I would love to see a revaluation of the boring modern approach of the Quest Marker as core design philosophy, where everything turn around it. Make them as an accessibility option Instead.
I would really love to see a return of true RPG quest design, like we could see in Morrowind for exemple, where you can find your way by yourself without them.

I loved BG3, but the game is even greater if you remove its Quest Markers by mods. I can say than most of the quests already works pretty well without them, as you explore the world organicly, apart from a few specific ones.
So it seems really within reach to accomplish that for me, and way more interresting to play.

Yeah this would be great to see. I never played Morrowind but Kingdom Come Deliverance did something similar with their hardcore mode and I had a blast with it.

Hopefully we also get the option to remove the mini-map. Personally, I find that mini-maps often end being not much more than a persistent eye-sore to draw my attention away from the game-world itself. It is so much more rewarding to find things through the environment. That being said, I understand why it's there, I just wish we had an option to disable it for those who want to.

Personal pet peeve of mine.


The thing about quests inherently build around markers isn't merely touching the topic of accessibility. It's also one of interactive storytelling.



With Original Sin, Larian said "No" to markers from the ground up (watch the making of videos and Larian staff going: "Do these games think I'm stupid?"). BG3 tried to struck a balance here, though some of them markers made no sense, like you immediately knowing the location of the dude supposedly lost in the Underdark. However, taken to its typically AAAAA gaming extreme, you aren't even mentally engaging or interacting with the game world and characters anymore. You're sleepwalking from waypoint to waypoint until quest complete. At this point, it doesn't matter how well written a quest is. PLAYING it will always be the same boring routine.


In The Witcher 3 I almost screamed with joy when I was able to actually "solve" a quest on my own. Which wasn't often, as the game isn't designed for that. Like finding the Thief hideout in Novigrad. The intended solution was naturally just following the magic waypoints until Geralt goes "Done it!" However, I managed to find the entrance to the hideout by simply listening to dialogue and rumors on the streets...


Not only does that feel more engaging -- you are actually tasked to pay some attention and interact with the fiction. Which is a rule of storytelling also in non-interactive media: Having the audience connecting the dots for themselves rather than spelling it all out like in a children's book makes for a more engaging experience. It doesn't need to be super complicated dots to connect. Just.. anything that makes one engage at all.

Since I loved just exploring the campaign setting, markers were sometimes useful to avoid certain areas to visit them last, but I agree that not knowing what's ahead can increase immersion. Perhaps a show/hide-checkbox in the game options would do the trick?