Side Quests

What are your opinions on types of Side Quests to add into games?

In my game i'm currently making, i'm adding side quests that branch off into their own extensive quest lines that sometimes provide overall benefits for the rest of the game. And i'm looking for ideas of what to avoid or what to implement.

So what kind of side quests did you enjoy/dislike in games you've played?

Side quests can be super useful in padding out games.

They are good because they increase the amount of content in your game and allow players more to do besides the main storyline. It allows for new areas to explore that, on the first playthrough, might be missed. My only concern with adding them to my projects is the need to provide a reason, a purpose.

So, if you have a side quest it needs to give you a decent reward right? But you can't have the reward be too decent. That is, you can't make the reward game breaking but you can't make it crappy. It's a tough balance.

TL;DR: I suck at balancing my games too much to allow for side quests.

Very good move @Eurgh

@Latefallen makes some good points on rewards, so i wont mention that element.

There are a bunch of YT videos on the best S.Q's ever made and what makes a good side quest.

Now imo, Witcher 3 got side quests down to a fine art.

IMO a side quest should be treated like a mini main quest. It should have a story, beginning a middle and an end, it should be engaging (not boring) and bonus points if it contains its own unexpected plot twist etc. Fetch and kill quests are to avoid in this respect or kept to a minimum.

SQ's can span your entire game, a good example is finding the Mognet HQ in FF9, so there is little need to think too linear with SQs.
The world is your oyster ;-) but keep in mind that players may need a journal type system to keep track of a quests particular requirements.

Fun Side quests that stick in the mind, such as the Skyrim mission (forget the name now) but your character goes on a drunk escapade, marries a witch and gets up to all sorts of other crazyness, remembered through flashbacks as your character backtracks.
The quest ends up with a daedric prince of madness if memory serves me right! Still, this type of quest has been done many times previous, e.g in witcher 3, Geralt gets drunk by the side of the road with 2 travellers and wakes up in the buff, his clothes stolen.. he then proceeds to chase down the perpetrators and give them what for.

Keep your SQ's fun, engaging and imaginative and you can't go wrong with this, its really the question of adding "worthwhile content" VS "filler".

Best of luck in your project!

I think if a quest isn't a story on its own, it's worth scrapping. I'd rather not go out and collect twenty bear pelts for no reason.

@Eurgh, as many people said in this thread that you need to give players something in return for the side quest, and you need to careful not to give the player god-like items to broke the game mechanics. Another thing is you must provide the storyline for the side quest too because some players care about the story in the game.

Other things that many popular RPGs did with the side quest was to unlock new playable characters.

I hope my inputs help you somehow.
I am personally do not care much because I like to play a game then watch or read a drama in the game.

Imho, I've always belived that side-quests should serve the main quest/plot line so that a player may not even know it is not part of the main quest.

I think the major problem with "Side Quests" is that too many devs design them backwards. "I need to give the player a reward for doing something. Here's the reward, what can I do to make them earn it? I know, they can kill 20 Bears for their pelts. Who would give you that Quest? Oh, I know, a woodsman! Why would he give it to you? Oh, because he can't do his job since the bears are dangerous, and he wants the pelts to prove you thinned out the population!"

This is wrong. If you design Side Quests like this, you're doing it wrong.

A Side Quest should only exist if you have a story to tell. The last thing you think of for creating that Quest is "What should the reward be?". You should never be thinking of, "I should create Side Quests so there's more content".

If you only include a Side Quest when you have a story you want to tell, you'll avoid the typical pitfalls of Quest Types. Collection Quests. Kill Quests. Escort Quests. Kill A Boss Quests. Delivery Quests. Etcetera. Instead, you'll have side stories that the player can get involved in, that you can use to enhance your main storyline, your characters, or your world.

I have a series of 6 Quests that are all "Kill Collection" Quests. They're long and tedious and grindy... But, that's the point. Every other Quest in my game? It's a story. A story I want to tell, usually with some sort of mystery involved. Some of them are more straight-forward and just requires the player to do whatever task is asked of them. A group of bandits is terrorizing the town so trade caravans can't come through. Find out where their base is and tell the guards. You can find out, tell the guards, Quest over. Or, the player can decide to deal with the Bandits themselves, and it starts a different leg of that Quest.

If you have no other stories to tell in the world in which you've created your main story... Don't have Side Quests. There is nothing wrong with a game that does not have Side Quests. If you don't have them, you can focus more on the Main Storyline and the characters involved. You can also balance a little easier since you don't have to worry about whether a player did the Quest to get the Infinity +1 Sword or not.

But, to go back to your original question...

I like stories. If your "Side Quest" doesn't tell me a story, then I'm simply slogging through your extra content for the stats and don't care that it exists at all. Which means... it's essentially meaningless to me other than a different means to grind my characters and stats.

I think everyone so far has said it all, make it worth it to the player in a balanced way and make it have a story (either part of the main quest in a side-way or it's own) just make sure it has a good story and doesn't feel tacked-on :)

I like the idea of side quests providing a guest party member. Skyrim does this a lot. Sometimes, the party member can become permanent.

Putting a character at the center of the quest could add tremendous narrative value to the quest and make it more memorable. It would be important that such a questline protagonist go through an some kind of arc or at least profoundly affect the characters around the protagonist, a la Paddington or Andy DuFresne, during the events of the quest.

I'm personally trying to have as much non-invasive side quests as possible. Especially the escort ones. One example would be that an alchemist wants needs materials for his business and will come with you himself cause how are you supposed to be some expert on what to grab? You're just an adventurer that's good at killing everything. As you go through different areas with him he will also make you and your group some healing items once in a while so everyone can keep going. It benefits both parties. These escort missions only take place in dungeons and it doesn't matter what dungeon you do, you just need to complete it.

This is related to a different topic going on, but side quests are a great place to expand on non-mandatory lore. Each side quest can and probably will without trying tell something about the setting.

Another type of side quest I don't see often is more parallel to the main quests; alternate ways of doing something that's part of the main plot but is extra in some way. In one game, you can get to the point of fighting the final boss, but a side quest opens up that's actually a third way to get there, but it's also closure on a sub plot from earlier in the game. It's not needed, and is in fact the hardest dungeon in the game, but it's also a great way to get in some last levels, megalixers, and stat ups in case you don't feel ready to end it.

On the note of rewards, I've seen some sidequests take away things, even to the point of removing party members. But if they are their own stories, then even party removal can be forgiven by the player.

Sidequests are basically to the main plot as minigames are to the main game; something to be used to do more that's optional. Mini-games should be similar, in that they effectively are sidequests that might not end. As a silly example, chocobo racing shows a large sport that people partake in, even when there is a disaster.

Second post on the forums! Wow!
Anyway, for me the best side quests are those who tell a story of other, supportive or non-important characters.

I agree with @Tai_MT; side quests must be telling an engaging story, with rewards not too high and the player must be getting something out of it story-wise.

Why is that girl helping you? Discover her past via sidequests. What's that NPC boy doing? A little adventure, and we help him via sidequest. This adds depth to NPCs and add emphasis to those supporting characters, reminding the player that they have their own story to tell too.

Sidequests also need to be optional. It's called a side quest for a reason. If sidequests suddenly become a must to progress, then you're doing it wrong. Rewards must be balanced but not too much so players aren't inclined to grind them for its rewards.

Of course, story and other mechanics could override all this. If you have something set in stone and would like some consistency, then go ahead. Some sidequests could be generic to follow the storyline, but it shouldn't be all. It shouldn't be the only types you have.

These are what I consider to be good traits for a side quest:

• Not too long, but obviously more than "Go forth and bring me 15 Bear Asses, then I'll give you this ring."
• Contain a nice slice of story, such as helping an out-of-the-way village defeat a monster which demanded sacrifices, uniting two lovers, or rescuing a lost cat from the deep dark spooky icky cave. Please do not treat Bear Ass collection as actual side quest content.
  
• Offers a worthwhile reward. As others have said, you want it to feel like it was worth the time, but it also shouldn't be something that feels obligatory. If you spend 30 minutes on a side quest, you're going to probably be pissed if all you get is a potion six-pack or a piece of gear easily affordable from the local shops.

I like to think of side quests as snippets of the world, they don’t have to be epic but they should tell the player something about the world they’re in.

I dislike side quests that break the urgency of the main story. Often seen in open world games where the player can get way off track.

Maybe you can make the side quest to have side rewards. For example, bringing thos 20 bear pelts allows you tu buy bear pelt armour later in the shop. Adding an engaging story behind (short, thats is) and a non-tipical reward can be engaging for the players.

I hate this too: "The world is near to its end, but if you uhave time, pls bring me 12 purple flowers to my lover".