Personally I never really grind every quest unless I REALLY like the game (I never look for collectibles) its especially annoying if there is pressure to go to the next main quest(you know what I mean).
Side quests, How do they make you feel?
- Thread starter Danny 6Speed
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I like side quests, if they don't feel like side quests. If they feel like they're actually important, even if not important to the main quest, as long as the people asking for the help seem like they really need YOUR help.
I get OCD on a game when it comes to side quests, I have to complete them all as soon as I get them.
Which is why Borderlands is taking forever for me to play.
Which is why Borderlands is taking forever for me to play.
If its an RPG and there's a character, weapons or armour to be had I usually give it a go, but things like dodging 300 lightning strikes a la FFX can lead to broken controllers! Hate escort side quests but love collectibles and fetching missions- must be my OCD! If the sidequest is totally unrelated to the typical gameplay of the game, its usually a winner in my book. Also, thinking Arkham Asylum here, the optional collectibles really enhanced the whole feel of the game and divided up the action. Get questing!!
Depends... are they like inFamous' moral side missions or are they like the Flags from AC: Brotherhood?
If the former then i love them.
If the latter then they can suck it. (I'll admit i did get all the flags, but since there was no other benefit than the "Ding" it felt pretty much like pointless grind which is something i hate)
If the former then i love them.
If the latter then they can suck it. (I'll admit i did get all the flags, but since there was no other benefit than the "Ding" it felt pretty much like pointless grind which is something i hate)
I confess to being somewhat of split opinion.
For the sake of illustrating this, I'm going to largely refer to fantasy RPG's, but most RPG's will do.
Here's the thing. I like side quests. They offer a certain amount of perspective about the world, they offer opportunities to collect much-needed resources and god help us yes, XP, and they give you a bit of an opportunity to define yourself in terms of the game in a way that simply following the 'main' plotline doesn't. Whether or not you help Main-Plot-Character-A may slightly affect the end of the game, but there's (usually) only the one 'next step' in the game storyline. An example of this would be in Baldur's Gate 2 (spoiler warnings, but it's an 11 year old game, and this isn't huge), wherein you can choose to assist the morally nebulous thieves guild, or the almost-certainly evil vampire leader who's preying on them. Some small details about how the story unfolds are affected by this choice - you skip a bit of the next chapter - but it really has no lasting effect. The next chapter still happens more or less the same way, you just got there by a slightly different means.
In contrast, side-quests have a sort of liberating insignificance to them. Do you want to help the farmers stop the bandits? You're not obliged to, but if you don't they'll die. The world won't end - it won't be a 'you have failed at a critical mission to the completion of the game' - but you made a significant moral choice that, for the purposes of that specific quest, drastically altered the outcome. That's more telling about the character you're playing than 'I choose to make this slight difference in how I go about finishing the main storyline', because when it's NOT the end of the world, and therefore you're not OBLIGED to care.
Granted, newer games have this problem a bit less - you can make decisions in the main-story that DO allow you to still conceivably succeed while still being seriously affected by your actions - but there's still a goodly percentage that has a main plot that you 'have to get through', and they aren't going to let little things like your decisions get in the way.
And.. that's the problem with side-quests, really. Often, the main storyline is VITALLY significant. If you don't win, the world will end. Like, literally.
And you took a weekend off to go fight bandits.
For the sake of illustrating this, I'm going to largely refer to fantasy RPG's, but most RPG's will do.
Here's the thing. I like side quests. They offer a certain amount of perspective about the world, they offer opportunities to collect much-needed resources and god help us yes, XP, and they give you a bit of an opportunity to define yourself in terms of the game in a way that simply following the 'main' plotline doesn't. Whether or not you help Main-Plot-Character-A may slightly affect the end of the game, but there's (usually) only the one 'next step' in the game storyline. An example of this would be in Baldur's Gate 2 (spoiler warnings, but it's an 11 year old game, and this isn't huge), wherein you can choose to assist the morally nebulous thieves guild, or the almost-certainly evil vampire leader who's preying on them. Some small details about how the story unfolds are affected by this choice - you skip a bit of the next chapter - but it really has no lasting effect. The next chapter still happens more or less the same way, you just got there by a slightly different means.
In contrast, side-quests have a sort of liberating insignificance to them. Do you want to help the farmers stop the bandits? You're not obliged to, but if you don't they'll die. The world won't end - it won't be a 'you have failed at a critical mission to the completion of the game' - but you made a significant moral choice that, for the purposes of that specific quest, drastically altered the outcome. That's more telling about the character you're playing than 'I choose to make this slight difference in how I go about finishing the main storyline', because when it's NOT the end of the world, and therefore you're not OBLIGED to care.
Granted, newer games have this problem a bit less - you can make decisions in the main-story that DO allow you to still conceivably succeed while still being seriously affected by your actions - but there's still a goodly percentage that has a main plot that you 'have to get through', and they aren't going to let little things like your decisions get in the way.
And.. that's the problem with side-quests, really. Often, the main storyline is VITALLY significant. If you don't win, the world will end. Like, literally.
And you took a weekend off to go fight bandits.
I'm almost the same way, but with everything. I'm very much a completionist.TheYellowCellPhone said:
See a sidequest? GET OUT OF MY MISSION LIST, fine, I'll spend a few hours on that... Because I have to. Bored? Go on the Wiki for the game and search for missed side quests or hidden ones. OH SHIT I MISSED ONE, TIME TO GO BACK AND MAKE A NEW PLAYTHROUGH.
I partially hate myself for this fact because it takes a long time to complete a game, but the upside is... It takes a long time to complete a game. I will play a game to the end, and get whatever content is possible to get for the sake of completion.
Fallout is hell... Quite literally actually, but what I meant was that it sucks away hours and hours of my time because I still play the game after completing every quest, because I haven't discovered all the locations, I haven't looted every place, beaten every boss, found every unique weapon... I still haven't done that, but I've come close to it in Fallout 3. I have just about every unique weapon save for a few of the melee/unarmed ones, and a large amount of locations discovered.
Like I should do them all, some cool parts of games can be hidden away on optional quests, plus xp armour, weapons and adding to the story or characters. I usually have to finish all the side quests before hte main missions so things can sometimes take ages but it's usually enjoyable.
Like a new woman! Err.... Wait? What?...
On topic: I always do them. Pretty insistently because in some RPG's they have rewards that really shine farther down the road or offer items, experience or reputation gains you can't otherwise get.
However I have skipped some in games where I am rapidly becoming bored with the designer's idea of fun. Scavenger hunts, fetch quests, random drop quests, I will often say screw these.
On topic: I always do them. Pretty insistently because in some RPG's they have rewards that really shine farther down the road or offer items, experience or reputation gains you can't otherwise get.
However I have skipped some in games where I am rapidly becoming bored with the designer's idea of fun. Scavenger hunts, fetch quests, random drop quests, I will often say screw these.