Opinion - How to fix RPG Side Quests

[Nyx]

The fact that he basically tells anyone that disagrees with him to go fuck themselves isn't giving him much credit either.

 

[Zloth]

Auto-complete with another character? Nah. However, this does sound like the start of a good idea for games with a lot of excellent side quests that you do want to run but you've out-levelled.

Instead of letting the AI do the quest, let us do the quest with a secondary character/party. I think it would work best in party-oriented games where the game has more characters developed than the player will actually use but single-character games could have an "understudy" that cleans some things up. At the end of the game, the "B Team" could help out in whatever climatic battle is going on.

There might be some trouble with the secondary team's level, though. The main party/character will get a steady diet of XP but the secondary might find slim pickings for several levels then be unable to deal with the quests the player wants them to run. They might need a 'danger room' of some sort to automatically train up in.

I certainly could use that in The Witcher 3 right now. "Hey Biff! Here's a bunch of heavy armor and a silver sword I don't want. Go do these Witcher contracts with them. The merchants will only pay me 800 for all this gear so give me 801 by next week and I won't hunt you down." Then I get to play Biff with his different skill set for a few hours.

P.S. Or you could just auto-level the quests. <ahem>

 

[Deleted User]

Or just remove level scaling and have some quests become out-leveled and saved for another playthrough.

Edit - I also don't think quests need to be all epic-scale and/or cinematic and overly dramatic. Simple quests with a small twist are cool, too. I think you need a mixture of both to really add variety and help the game not become too predictable or boring.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

People loves to compare TW3 and DAI side quests, but few seems to realize that there is a difference between how the two games present those quests and what they are about.

All the TW3 meaty side quests are directly tied to the main quest characters and given to you while playing the main quest. They explore those characters via cutscene while Geralt perform some tasks for them *cough*getting stuff for Dandelion's cabaret*cough*. The story-devoid stuff require exploration to find them and are easily ignored.

In DAI, it is the opposite, the story-devoid stuff is thrown at your face. If you want meaty side quests you need to explore optional map/content (like the Exalted Plains) and they are mostly about revealing new lore (minus companion's quest which are about the companion, I'm not talking about the reputation grinding one, but the real companion side quests).

Uh, no...there are absolute ton of sidequests in TW III not tied to main story while still having same "production" value...in fact, some are my favorites.

The point is, it should not have a generic "chore" feel and even worse be required to advance questlines like in DAI or Skyrim.
Good examples, even if structurally fairly simple: Quest for the Gong in BG II or Black Pearl in TW III.

 

[Deleted User]

No RPG quest I've ever played has felt like a chore. If a game feels like a chore then you're not doing it right.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

No RPG quest I've ever played has felt like a chore. If a game feels like a chore then you're not doing it right.

Sorry JDR, but I had to steal this one:

 

[Deleted User]

I don't understand how you can be playing a game that is supposed to be fun yet feeling like it's a chore. Can't you turn it off or do something else? It just doesn't make sense to me. It's like playing Tetris and complaining that you have to stack ANOTHER block. Such a chore.

But please, I'm open-minded so feel free to give examples of these questing chores that are necessary to play the game.

 

[figment]

Progress Quest is still being updated apparently. It is still the ultimate solution for those that want to level up and complete quests without difficulty. I think it would work quite well for solving the side quest issue as well if its not already a feature.

So I don't like the idea as presented but I don't object to the strategic overview and having to use that and sending your minions on their own quests as a means of explaining away the restricted party whilst also giving some unused party members something to do. But solving the cellar rat infestation should still just not be present in game unless its a joke.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

I don't understand how you can be playing a game that is supposed to be fun yet feeling like it's a chore. Can't you turn it off or do something else? It just doesn't make sense to me. It's like playing Tetris and complaining that you have to stack ANOTHER block. Such a chore.

But please, I'm open-minded so feel free to give examples of these questing chores that are necessary to play the game.

Skyrim's thieves guild jobs which are required for full completion of quest line. And most of Kingdoms of Amalur, naturally.

 

[Deleted User]

Skyrim's thieves guild jobs which are required for full completion of quest line. And most of Kingdoms of Amalur, naturally.

Kingdoms of Amalur is better than Witcher 3.

 

[azarhal]

Uh, no…there are absolute ton of sidequests in TW III not tied to main story while still having same "production" value…in fact, some are my favorites.

Nowhere in my post did I say they were tied to the main quest. I said they were tied to the characters in the main quests and given to you while doing main quests (although maybe there should be a "or" there). For example, the Black Pearl quest since you mentioned it. The quest giver is in the Golden Surgeon and the main quest "Destination: Skellige" send you there with just "find the captain" which pretty much requires you to talk to every dude in there. I even believe Nidas is right next to the captain.

 

[GabrielMP_19]

Kingdoms of Amalur is better than Witcher 3.

My eyes are HURTING. KoA has a very boring story and their quests are generally pretty bland.

 

[Deleted User]

My eyes are HURTING. KoA has a very boring story and their quests are generally pretty bland.

While I was joking with my comment, I disagree that the story in Reckoning is boring and quests are bland. It was pretty darn interesting to me, but maybe it needs more explosions like a good Michael Bay movie.

Skyrim's thieves guild jobs which are required for full completion of quest line. And most of Kingdoms of Amalur, naturally.

So the entirely optional Thieve's Guild jobs are a chore for you? Interesting. I wouldn't do them then. And if you're ever feeling like a game is a chore for you to play I'd suggest doing something else that's more fun for you.

 

[SSIGuy]

Man, I just don't this guy's issue. How does he play games? I don't see a problem. If the game is good then I'm enjoying playing it - and by their very nature as "side" quests I can opt to do them or not. Maybe they are filler but if the game mechanics and world are solid, I enjoy sprinkling some of those through the experience. And if they're done more robustly with great writing, then cool - i have some other meaty side adventures to do.

Also, some of my favourite games have been ones like Gothic or even Skyrim, where I often spend a decent amount of time just exploring the world and making my own adventures because the world, gameplay and ambience are well-done. So give me a good RPG with those things and decent writing and there is no side quest issue imo.

It sounds like this guy is confusing playing bad games with this issue.

 

[Elwro]

I liked how in Magic Candle you could split a party and have some guys e.g. stay at a town to work for the much-needed funds while others go adventuring. Or a mage could be left for a while so he would memorize spells. This approach could be easily extended so that instead of, say, working at a blacksmith your warrior would spend time (while not actively in your party) doing rat extermination quests for the local establishments.

 

[azarhal]

Looks like Yahtzee will stop playing Ubisoft games very soon. Their new global design strategy is less pre-defined narration in their open world games to focus on emergent gameplay and player agency (interview in French).

Partial English translation here.

 

[joxer]

No story mode aka sandbox.
Add bugs from AC:Unity and no optimization hammer_the_CPU from AC4...

Worked for Skyrim.

I'm not buying.

 

[lackblogger]

Looks like Yahtzee will stop playing Ubisoft games very soon. Their new global design strategy is less pre-defined narration in their open world games to focus on emergent gameplay and player agency (interview in French).

Partial English translation here.

Funny you should say that, I don't think I've ever played a Ubisoft game. What would you say were their top 5 RPGs?

 

[JDR13]

What would you say were their top 5 RPGs?

The sarcasm is strong with you.

 

[TomRon]

1-5: MMX

Pretty sure that's it?