Minigames/side quests you enjoyed more than the main game

[Neverhoodian]

Many games have completely optional minigames/side content. Some of them manage to be more engaging than the main game itself. Share your experiences here.

My friends and I enjoyed playing Alien Hominid's run-and-gun levels, but the main attraction for us was the Lode Runner-esque PDA minigame and level editor. We spent countless hours playing through the premade levels, then making our own challenging scenarios when we were done.

Another example was the sandbox mode in Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. I always found the time limit in previous games to be an annoyance, particularly when I just wanted to run around and kill zombies. Here I was finally able to indulge myself, often with self-imposed challenges like permadeath mode (aka deleting my save file if I died) or reaching the level cap with no weapons.

 

[Aerosteam]

I don't think it'll surprise anyone that I think the main questline in Bethesda games are trash compared to some side quests.

 

[Diablo2000]

Pretty sure I said this once before, but I think The Ballads sidequests in Kingdoms of Amalur is the best piece of content the game has to offer. And it's where the game uses it's subject matter (basicly "Fuck Fate") to it's fullest.

Spoiler: Wall of Text Incoming

Ballads is a sort of song\prophecy thing that the F?e are destined to repeat over and over, they are bind by fate to it. In the Ballad that the questline takes place the Maid of Windemere is a villain who falls in love with the King of the Summer Court and in order to win his affection she does villain stuff like unleashing monsters... for some reason... But then, the King clervely tricks the Maid into believing into his love and kills her once she's most vulnerable (Dick move BTW), thus restoring order to the land, I guess. Until the Ballad repeats and everything returns to the Status Quo.

Except this time the player encounters the corpse of one the heroes in this ballad that was suppose to slay a monster and come back unharmed and decides to take it's place in the ballad... because loot... Thus realizing that somehow the Maid of Windemere is altering events to her advantage.

Finally after a bunch of stuff I don't even remember because it has been ages since I play it, and it doesn't matter all that much because most of it boils to "Go and undo the shit the Maid has pulled off this time", you get a quick exchange with the Maid where not only you learn she made an deal with the main villain (forgot his name) in order to cheat fate but you also get the impression that she's not mad you for interfering with her plans, expressing admiration for someone who can seemly alter fate at will (take note that's important).

Finally at the showdown she goes full "Fuck Ballads" and kidnaps everyone closely related to the Ballad which was not meant to happen. So The King, The Queen... Other people I can't for the life of me remember... At the end of the dungeon you learn that the King without the ballad to guarantee victory for his is a massive pussy and crowns YOU King (regardless of gender because he's that type of guy) in order to complete the ballad, since you are not only strong enough to kill her, but your inteference caused the Maid fall in love with your character instead (Again, gender doesn't matter... But hey, possible girl-on-girl action) so you are the one needed to fulfil it.

The thing is, this is kinda sick if you think about. Her plea about "Not Being Ignored" anymore send me on a total guilty trip. One so bad I reloaded to a previous save and redid her entire fight (Which is a massive difitult spike) just so I could spare her. That moment stuck with me. It actually made me question the morality of it. Falling in love, being a jackass and dying by trickery was a bad existence overall, so why not try to break from it given the chance? The game is about creating your own destiny, so by killing her and fulfiling the ballad you are being a bit of a hypocrite. At the same time she did bad stuff, really bad stuff, so perhaps punishment in due.

That one questline was a better write on destiny than the... rest of the entire game to be honest.

 

[Saelune]

Pokemon.

Beating the main game is just a chore to get through so you can focus on collecting even more pokemon.

 

[Ironman126]

The Rogue AI/defective mechs questline in Mass Effect 2. The first two mission (especially the second) are atmospheric as fuck and it's so much more interesting than doing the Illusive Man's mercenary shopping.

The Civil War questline in Skyrim. Technically, this one is intertwined with the main questline, but I don't really know why because it isn't necessary. I really see the civil war as more the main conflict than the dragons. The dragons never felt pressing and there were no consequences for ignoring it (save for having to fight the occasional stupidly powerful dragon at random). The Dawnguard questline would also be a good choice, but, again, it lacks urgency.

The Dead Money DLC for Fallout New Vegas. Again, we come back to urgency. It's a tough balancing act between letting the player be the driver of change and having the story remain compelling after the player is inundated with quests. The main questline is good, but, Dead Money is as close to perfect as I think Fallout can get. It's 80% of the reason I keep coming back to New Vegas.

 

[Tanis]

Often times the Dark Brotherhood and Thief Guild side quests are more enjoyable than the main quests of TES games. XD

I've probably spent more time then I'd care to admit playing FF8's Triple Triad.

 

[Jonbodhi]

Far Cry 3 may well have the single worst main quest I've ever played. The game encourages and rewards stealth play until you get to a main quest mission that's all run-and-gun (which is most of them). Then an escort quest so idiotic, with an escort so irritating that I seriously contemplated quitting. You got cool new abilities that could ONLY be unlocked through the dreadful main questline. I never got off the first island because the last mission involves fighting off an endless horde of bad guys while protecting some doofus who kept dying. After about the fifth try I said to myself: 'I'm not having any fun,' and I turned it off. It's one of the few games that I've ever failed to finish.

Contrast this with the side quests of liberating the island from an infestation of bandits! Terrifically fun in every way. Each one was different, each one was like a chess game (in which you can set opponts on fire, which would certainly liven up a chess match). I never got tired of doing them and wish there had been more, but I couldn't tolerate more of the main quest.

 

[CaitSeith]

Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC. Its side-quest is my definition of having fun (if you like cheesy humor and self-references). It also has a mini-game that is pretty much a single-player version of the multiplayer (and I enjoyed really much unlocking everything from it).