Why Side Quest Writing is Important

[CriticalGaming]

*Looks at the side quest list*

Yo, a LOT of those side quest that aren’t contracts involve hunting something

Okay fine, but arguing that the side quests involve doing more of what the character is good at is not really the point. I even mention that in spider-man all you do is more spider-man things, "oh no spider-man stop this crime. Oh no spider-man find out who did this crime, etc etc." It's not really the gameplay of the side quests that make important or engaging side quests, it's the context in which those side quests take place.

In a perfect world, you are enjoying the core gameplay as it pertains to the main story, therefore well written side quests that provide you more reasons to do the gameplay that you are already having fun with is the ultimate ideal.

I mean what player ever says, "You know I love running around and doing things in Skyrim, but you know what I which these side quests had less sword fighting, sneaking, magicing, and istead had more Go-Kart racing!"?

While there is some merit to sometimes have completely unique activities within the side quests, the actual goal of the game should be to provide the players contextual motivation to get the extra gameplay out of the game. This concept is going to be even more important going forward considering the price hike for next gen gaming, which will make shitty side quests feel even worse because sunk cost and all that.

 

[Dalisclock]

Good side content is probably one of the main pillars of what makes a good open-world game.

Too many games just phone it in with "Clear out the bandit camp" and then cover the map in 20 of that same objective, with barely any context in sight.

Speaking of which, I guess I should get back to Far Cry 5. sigh

MGSV had "Clear out the camps/checkpoints" but then repopulate them, which meant there was no reason to bother unless you were poaching recruits.

It's the unforante problem with stealing the mechanic from Peace Walker except you felt obliged to do it a hell of a lot more and it's a much larger game then PW was.

 

[wings012]

I'm not sure if linear games like COD need additional side missions on top of them to flesh out anything. I like my linear shooters to be linear shooters. If they are going to put more money and effort into the campaign, I rather just have more main missions.

For games that do have side content, yes I would rather them spend more effort and weave some sort of narrative into them. Ubisoft games especially have a lot of filler crap that are little more than checklists. But you do them anyway to unlock upgrades and whatnot.

 

[Dreiko]

Sidequests getting equal respect to the main story is one of the main reasons why the trails of series, of which I am playing trails of cold steel 4 atm, is such an amazing experience.

In those games you have interconnected continuity between at this stage 9 separate 60-80 games that all transpire in the same world, and that world is alive. Almost every NPC has a name and a story. Those get updated often with any minor main-plot-relevant goal you achieve, and they tell a parallel narrative to the main story. So, for example, some random npcs consist of a family, a mother and father and son, they're eating at this restaurant you go to to resupply healing items, if you talk to them you find out the father is drafted in a war and they're there for their last meal together, the son is distraught at this and is not enjoying the meal, then later on you run into them again at the entrance of a theme park, which was apparently part of their plans as well, the parents are struggling to put on a happy face to make a good memory for their son but he's not happy at all cause he's just sad his dad is leaving. You advance the main story a bit more and then, only then, the game hits you with a sidequest where the son ran away from his parents and they're looking for him in the theme park, and you can choose to help find him. Now, this normally would have been a generic "find missing person" thing, but because of the way the writing of the flavor of the world is connected to the sidequest, now you care about finding the missing boy a lot more.

The game series had hundreds of such quests, and they're ALL like this, also, in the games that are part of the same saga (sky, cold steel, zero/azure) you get to transfer your save data from one game to the next, and while this does carry over some minor equipment and loot items, the main thing it carries in addition to that is your quest progress and the way in which you completed the quests which have various choices. Then, in the next game you get to meet the same people, and based on your transfer data you see unique messages of them thanking you or just seeing where life took the people you helped.

It's a completely alive world that grows alongside you and the sidequest writing is key in making it feel as immersive as it does. There really is (or shouldn't be) no distinction between sidequest writing and other writing, it's all supposed to be one narrative.

 

[Trunkage]

Okay fine, but arguing that the side quests involve doing more of what the character is good at is not really the point. I even mention that in spider-man all you do is more spider-man things, "oh no spider-man stop this crime. Oh no spider-man find out who did this crime, etc etc." It's not really the gameplay of the side quests that make important or engaging side quests, it's the context in which those side quests take place.

In a perfect world, you are enjoying the core gameplay as it pertains to the main story, therefore well written side quests that provide you more reasons to do the gameplay that you are already having fun with is the ultimate ideal.

I mean what player ever says, "You know I love running around and doing things in Skyrim, but you know what I which these side quests had less sword fighting, sneaking, magicing, and istead had more Go-Kart racing!"?

While there is some merit to sometimes have completely unique activities within the side quests, the actual goal of the game should be to provide the players contextual motivation to get the extra gameplay out of the game. This concept is going to be even more important going forward considering the price hike for next gen gaming, which will make shitty side quests feel even worse because sunk cost and all that.

I would agree. I also generally like the side quests over the main quest in many games. Skyrim and Witcher 3 being great examples

 

[Specter Von Baren]

One of my personal favorites for this would be Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Because goddamn it, I will make sure everyone gets their happy ending during that final loop!

Except the bomb store owners. I'm sorry guys, Anju and Kafei are more important!

 

[stroopwafel]

Good writing is absolutely critical in all aspects of a game, but I would argue that side content must be even better than the main story in order to make a game feel like it was a full meal rather than a fast food shitburger.

I agree but it's very difficult to write a good story, let alone dozens of them. Most game developers kinda seem to do it on the side, without really having a talent for it. The Witcher 3 really had a team of good writers and it showed. It combined both the high fantasy of The Witcher universe with genuine human passions like grief, hate, remorse, love, malice etc and made great stories out of them. TW3 and Persona 5 are probably the only 80 hour games I actually completed in the last 5 years. With other long games I always reach this point where I just lose interest. You have seen everything the game has to offer on a mechanical level and there is no further motivation to keep playing. That motivation then needs to come from a good story or interesting world, and preferably both. Unfortunately very few games have that. Most long games just seem to fall into a repetitive grind that feels like a second job.