Skyrim talk:Side Quests

Defining Side Quests

The goal (I think) is for this page to contain a list of all the quests that appear in your quest log as full quests (i.e., they are not simply thrown in the "Miscellaneous" section), but are not part of any of the quest lines.

The quest lines that are excluded from Side Quests are Civil War (Imperial/Stormcloaks), Companion Quests, Daedric Quests, Dark Brotherhoood, Mages Guild/College of Winterhold, and Thieves Guild. These quest lines are both as defined by the CK quest "Type", and according to the categories used in-game to count completed quests (in your log under General Stats->Quests).

I'm starting this page by providing a list of the quests that I think qualify as Side Quests, but I'm hoping that other readers/editors can provide full confirmation of whether this indeed a correct list, according to a few different criteria:

1. Do the quests show up in your log as full quests instead of Miscellaneous Quests?
2. Do the quests show up in your log using the standard Side Quest knotwork () ?
3. Do the quests increment the "Side Quests Completed" counter in your statistics?
4. Do the quest scripts include the command AchievementsQuest.IncSideQuests()?
   • This last one is really just an obscure detail to dig out of the CK, which I've already filled in for nearly every quest. As best as I can tell, this is fundamentally what causes the game to make the quest count towards the Side Quests Completed statistic, and the Sideways achievement.

I'm also assuming for now that any quest that increments the "Side Quests Completed" counter also counts towards the Sideways achievement. I don't know of any good way to confirm that the game is using the same counter for both. However, it would be great if some people could double-check whether they get the achievement at the same time that the counter is set to 10. Another detail that might be worth double-checking is whether failed quests do not add to the Completed counter.

So in the interest of starting to fully document/confirm what constitutes a Side Quest, I'm starting a table here on the talk page to track these details. I'm starting the table with a list of all named quests that are listed as "Side Quests" in the CK, plus all named quests listed as "None" for which we currently have quest pages. I'll start by filling in what I can, but I'm really hoping that editors can fill out information based on their games, too, so we can get a relatively complete table sooner rather than later. --Nephele^Talk 08:17, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Given that I've now found two oddball quests (Blood on the Ice, Delayed Burial) which both provide evidence that the CK script command AchievementsQuest.IncSideQuests() is what makes the quest statistics counter increase, I'm going to be bold, and assume that's true in all cases. At least so that I can move forward with setting up the rest of the article and de-orphaning it. --Nephele^Talk 19:26, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Table of all Side Quests

(In SOG = Listed in the Skyrim Official Guide Appendix I as a quest that qualifies for Sideways)

Quest	CK type	In SOG	#1: Full Quest?	#2: Knotwork?	#3: Statistics?	#4: CK script?	Notes
A Return To Your Roots	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	Y	stage 200
Blood on the Ice	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	N	no?	code not found in any of quest stages (MS11 or MS11b); checking old game saves, counter did not change after completing quest
Collecting the Edda	Side Quest	N				no	Excluded: no displayed quest stages
Evil in Waiting	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 60
In My Time Of Need	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stages 200, 201
Infiltration	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 100
Kyne's Sacred Trials	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 100
Laid to Rest	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 200
Lights Out!	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 250
Missing In Action	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stages 200, 201
No One Escapes Cidhna Mine	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	Y	stages 100, 250
Promises to Keep	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	Y	stage 275
Repairing the Phial	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 100
Repentance	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 50
Rise in the East	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 100
Rising at Dawn	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 200
Silenced Tongues	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 100
Tending the Flames	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage MS05.300
The Forsworn Conspiracy	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	Y	stages 95, 100
The Golden Claw	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	Y	stages MS13.100, MS13.110
The Pale Lady	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 100
The White Phial	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	Y	stage 100
The Wolf Queen Awakened	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y		stage 250
Unfathomable Depths	Side Quest	Y	Y	Y	Y	stage 1000
A Scroll for Anska	None	Y	Y	Y		stage 100
Alteration Ritual Spell	None	N	Y	Y		no	Excluded: mis-categorized CoW quest?
Ancestral Worship	None	Y	Y	Y		stage 200
Falion's Secret	None	N				no	Excluded: no displayed quest stages
Forbidden Legend	None	Y	Y	Y		stage 255
Siege on the Dragon Cult	None	Y	Y	Y		stage 200
The Blessings of Nature	None	Y	Y	Y		stage 200
The Book of Love	None	Y	Y	Y	Y	stage 200
The Heart of Dibella	None	Y	Y	Y	Y	stage 200
The Lost Expedition	None	Y	Y	Y		stage 110
The Man Who Cried Wolf	None	Y	Y	Y		stage 250
Trius' Trinket	None	N				no	Excluded: never triggered
Yngol's Barrow	None	N				no	Excluded: no displayed quest stages
Delayed Burial	Dark Brotherhood	N	Y	N	Y	stage 200	Confirmed in-game that side quest counter goes up at moment when quest is completed
The Affairs of Hagravens	Miscellaneous		N			stage 100

Achievement Listing Error

The listing for the achievement "Sideways" in the article (and others) states that 20 side quests need to be completed to unlock it, but my game states that only 10 are necessary. I don't know how to correct this. — Unsigned comment by 76.181.65.128 (talk)

Thanks, I went and fixed it. elliot (talk) 20:10, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. 76.181.65.128 20:27, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

Forbidden Legend

This quest is listed as a Dungeon Quest, defined as a quest that begins when you approach or enter a particular dungeon. That's not accurate; Forbidden Legend triggers when you read the Lost Legends book, or find Daynas Valen's notes, or pick up a Gauldur Amulet Fragment at the end of one of three dungeons.

Maybe it deserves its own category? --Morrolan (talk) 13:11, 16 October 2012 (GMT)

Good observation. I have updated the page to reflect this. --JR (talk) 17:02, 17 October 2012 (GMT)