Number One on my do list - Give an explanation for why I'm the one that has to perform the task. Nothing breaks immersion faster than somebody asking me to do something that is either their job, or would be much easier for them to do.
"Hey, I know you're a wandering mercenary who never stays in one place for long and probably won't be back this way for weeks, but could you pick up my cabbages from Jim at the greengrocer? It's just at the other end of the street."
I'm not saying that such quests shouldn't exist, I just think that if the captain of the guard is asking some random nobody to solve a mystery instead of putting one of his own men on the case, there'd better be a reason behind it.
Other do's:
- Make the reward proportionate to the effort required. Climbing a mountain on the other side of the country to retrieve a rare bird egg should not earn my the same amount of money as delivering Old Mr Simmons' mail.
- Make the quests at least slightly interesting. A good quest is one I want to complete, not one that makes me think "Urgh, fine. Let's just get it done."
Don'ts:
- Pointless backtracking.
- Repetitive tasks/Every quest being essentially the same thing.
- Those sidequests in Mass Effect 3 where Shepard overhears someone on the phone talking about how they need some special space medicine, and what do you know, it just so happens that you found exactly that while you were raiding a Cerberus base.
"Hey, I know you're a wandering mercenary who never stays in one place for long and probably won't be back this way for weeks, but could you pick up my cabbages from Jim at the greengrocer? It's just at the other end of the street."
I'm not saying that such quests shouldn't exist, I just think that if the captain of the guard is asking some random nobody to solve a mystery instead of putting one of his own men on the case, there'd better be a reason behind it.
Other do's:
- Make the reward proportionate to the effort required. Climbing a mountain on the other side of the country to retrieve a rare bird egg should not earn my the same amount of money as delivering Old Mr Simmons' mail.
- Make the quests at least slightly interesting. A good quest is one I want to complete, not one that makes me think "Urgh, fine. Let's just get it done."
Don'ts:
- Pointless backtracking.
- Repetitive tasks/Every quest being essentially the same thing.
- Those sidequests in Mass Effect 3 where Shepard overhears someone on the phone talking about how they need some special space medicine, and what do you know, it just so happens that you found exactly that while you were raiding a Cerberus base.