Your Favorite Side-Quests

[FearlessFaber]

Hey guys,

I have two related questions for you today:

1. What are your top sidequests/optional missions from any game?

2. What qualities do you look for in sidequests?


My top sidequests:

1. This is a combination of a sidequest and a later reference to that sidequest in a sequel. In Mass Effect 1, there was an optional mission on the Moon where you had to defeat a rogue VI (UNC: Rogue VI). Later, in Mass Effect 3, it was revealed that EDI was actually created by a combination of this VI and Sovereign tech.

2. The Missing Diplomat (World of Warcraft vanilla - alliance). Back in the day, this questchain was one of the few related to the central lore of the game. After several minor tasks, you discover that the "missing diplomat" is in fact the King of Stomrwing, Varian Wrynn.

3. The Elder Scrolls games have several memorable sidequests related to the Daedra.



As to the second question: For me, it's important that the sidequests either 1) reveal something about a character, 2) have some bearing on(or are at least related to) aspects of the lore/story of the game.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

In oblivion, fairly deep into the Dark Brotherhood quest chain, you are given a mission to go into a house full of people that is locked from the outside. You are then tasked with killing all of them, ideally without anyone discovering that you're the culprit. It was such an unexpectedly excellent segment that it remains one of the only clear memories I have about Oblivion in spite of the several hundred hours I likely spent playing the game.

 

[Vegosiux]

This is a bit of a subversion, but there's some sheer brilliance in it. In Daggerfall, you get tasked by the Emperor (oh, and Ocato actually does look like a badass battlemage in that game) to look into why the spirit of the late king Lysandus of Daggerfall is traipsing around the city at night and calling for vengeance, and as a personal favor, find out what the hell happened to the letter that the Emperor sent to the queen of Daggerfall. Turns out that the letter, seeming as a sidenote at the point, is what develops into the actual main quest.

As for actual sidequests?

The "ohmigosh I turned my colleague into a chicken" quest you run into in Baldur's Gate, and then need to help the mage out. That quest is awesome because the counter-spell is called "Antichikenator" (and both interpretation of the name might happen!). In Baldur's Gate 2, running into a dirtbag trying to mug a citizen, you can intimidate him into backing off by telling him how he's totally going about it wrong, and how he should be more threatening and just kill the NPC.

The Mordon Cube in Planescape: Torment.

Sheogorath's quest in Oblivion - even better if you go talk to the shrine on different stages of Shivering Isles quest line. "This is no time to be in Cyrodiil! The forces of Order are invading so why the hell are you there, offering yarn to yourself?"

The barrel-breaking "side-quest" in Bard's Tale.

Oh, and as for the most annoying side-quests ever? "Yes, but they're using bikes, and they're going cross-countr....WILL YA SHADDAP, CESAR!?"

 

[FabTails]

In oblivion, fairly deep into the Dark Brotherhood quest chain, you are given a mission to go into a house full of people that is locked from the outside. You are then tasked with killing all of them, ideally without anyone discovering that you're the culprit. It was such an unexpectedly excellent segment that it remains one of the only clear memories I have about Oblivion in spite of the several hundred hours I likely spent playing the game.

Yes, I agree.

Oblivion and Skyrim are two examples where the side quests seem far more interesting than the main quests. Morrowind had a really engrossing main quest - but I personally didn't feel very invested in either Oblivion's or Skyrim's main quest line. Neither were personal enough for me. I like my narratives to be really personal and slightly introverted. I don't really care for "YOU HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD!" storylines which Oblivion and Skyrim's were. They both felt really detached and they both had virtually no character development for the protagonist.

 

[EHKOS]

It was a side-quest that lead me down to Blackreach. The one about the mysterious cube and what lay inside. Who knew there were elevators connecting all over the province?! It was fantastic. Oh, and VTMB is like, two-thirds side-quest.

What I look for in a side-quest is intrigue. And something with a climactic ending, or a twist of some kind.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

In oblivion, fairly deep into the Dark Brotherhood quest chain, you are given a mission to go into a house full of people that is locked from the outside. You are then tasked with killing all of them, ideally without anyone discovering that you're the culprit. It was such an unexpectedly excellent segment that it remains one of the only clear memories I have about Oblivion in spite of the several hundred hours I likely spent playing the game.

You beat me to it: This is my favorite quest in Oblivion as a whole. I love rigging it so that I and the burly Nord confront the kindly old woman. I let He-Man take her out before I take him out.

---

It isn't a side-quest technically but I like how in New Vegas you can either kill Tabitha or, you can repair her Mr. Handy. This has them walking off into the sun-set into untold though obviously great adventures.

I'm having trouble thinking of other side-quests at the moment...haven't played Skyblivion in a long while and House Party is by far my favorite side-quest.

 

[IFS]

Mass Effect 1 had an excellently written sidequest where you had to talk down a woman who had escaped from batarian slavers, it was tied to one of the backstory options you chose at the beginning and for such a short quest it was quite powerful in my opinion, I think it was called "I remember me" though I could be wrong.

Other than that Planescape Torment has some fantastic sidequests, as does New Vegas, particularly in the dlcs such as Old World Blues. Fixing up the sink so that every member could help you to their best was hilarious and fun, as well as useful.

 

[Godhead]

No question.

Spoiler: Sacred 2

Who wouldn't want to fetch Blind Guardian's instruments?

 

[Saltyk]

I don't know if I have a favorite Side Quest. But I know some memorable ones.

In Suikoden 2, there's a Side Quest in a small town that you only have to pass through. But, it's not hard to find Humphrey and Futch, two characters from the original Suikoden. In the original game, Futch was a Apprentice Dragon Knight, but in the course of the game's story, his dragon, Black, was killed saving him. After which, he was cast out of the order. A Dragon Knight without a dragon is sort of pointless, you see. After the events of that game, Humphrey and Futch left hoping to find information that could help Futch acquire a new dragon.

In the town, Humphrey is being his silent self, speaking very little, but after talking to him, he'll pay for your party to stay the night, telling the inn keeper that he enjoying "talking to you". Meanwhile, Futch tells a local boy about his dragon Black and shows him a scale he still had from him. If you talk to Humphrey the next day that should start a series of events that will begin the Side Quest.

Learning that the boy Futch talked to went North to a local and dangerous mountain, you can travel with the two to find the boy. When you make your way to the top, you fight a Harpy boss (honestly, one of the toughest bosses up to that point) and after that you'll find the boy who swears he heard a dragon. Going a little further in, you find an egg amidst several fires and such. Stating that it is a dragon egg, it seems that Futch found his new mount.

But Futch refuses. Stating that he doesn't want a new dragon. He says he was afraid to tell those who were being so nice to him, but in truth, the only dragon for him was Black. So Humphrey steps forward taking out his sword approaching the egg. When asked what he was doing, Humphrey explains that dragon pups are weak little things. Without a mother or some other to care for it, it will die. At best, it survives and becomes a plague to the local people. Better to kill the beast than allow either of those outcomes. But, Futch stops Humphrey and the egg hatches revealing a small White dragon. Which they state is an oddity. Futch seems conflicted about taking in the little beast, but with some encouragement from Humphrey he realizes that he does want to take this new dragon. He then names it Bright, after the main character's Bright Shield Rune.

What's great is that Humphrey and Futch then join you as party members for the rest of the game (there's 108 by the way). And in Suikoden 3, we see a much older Futch, now the second highest ranked Dragon Knight, wielding Humphrey's sword, and with his dragon, Bright, who can be recruited as party members.

As for what I look for in Side Quests. I generally want some sort of reward. Be it a new ally, a weapon, or magic. If it's got a good story or reveals something about the character's that's great. But something nice and shiny is icing on the cake which makes me enjoy it so much more.