@applejack @alyx yeah i have to force myself to roleplay and just take the roads there and assume that, since my character is a denizen of this world, they would know it better than i would and that's why the marker is there.

i guess the problem with bethesda games is that the PC isn't from the world you play in, unless you specifically choose a nord in skyrim.

i think breath of the wild did a pretty good job balancing quest markers and just natural discovery.

the thing that holds morrowind back for me so much is how clunky it all feels. i could get used to it over time probably but when there are so many other games (that don't have random chances of hitting an enemy right in front of my face) there's just no real reason for me to play it. listening to lore videos or whatever is good enough for me.

@applejack
I understand and appreciate the journal experience. My issue with that approach is strictly with how I usually end up playing a game.

I often will have periods when I get bored of a game, and do something else for even months on end, and then randomly want to go back to the original game I was playing. At that point, no journal will be able to get me to remember where I was, where I was going, what NPCs and from where gave me quests and so on. I'm basically at risk at being completely lost and abandoning the playthrough or the game entirely.

For better or worse, map markers help mitigate this for me. I've got a Fallout 3 playthrough I modded a year and a half ago, and played less than two weeks before pausing. This week I randomly decided to play again, and was able to pick it right up immediately.