Talking Point: What Makes A Good Sidequest, Anyway?

Worldbuilding and character development as well as a good story is crucial. It helps if its not actually detached from the main story, but its not set in stone.

Be it Chrono Trigger, Majora or any other game, it is proven time and time again that quality is better than quantity

I like deltarune so I was legally obligated to say super bosses

As long as it isn’t “Collect 10 Endura Carrots” or “Kill 5 Bunnits,” I’m probably gonna be okay with it.

Character development, worldbuilding, and a good reward for your efforts are what I love to see in my sidequests.

I voted nothing because I agree with all the options. That being said, I think the quests in Totk are really fun (and often have good rewards). Only the picture-quests are a bit annoying since you can't take pictures you already have in your compendium. No you have to take those pictures again, removing your maybe supperior pictures in the process! That's just lame!

Whatever CDPR did. Seriously those side quests were better than the main quest. Best side quests I think I’ve ever played to be completely honest. That well Wraith in White Orchard, Trollololo’s quest, Hearts of Stone…. Good god. Well it’s time for another playthrough, see ya at winter time!

I feel like a good side quest needs a good reward. And I don’t just mean a reward as in a fancy new item (though that can work), but a feeling that you got something extra and worthwhile out of it. So new bits of lore, world-building, exploration, etc. I want to feel like pursuing a side quest was worth delaying the main game.

Anything that can help invest the player more in the experience really is a win for me! Likely why Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda

Something you stumble upon, and becomes your personal highest interest, and has a few surprises of its own.

It can really vary nice example from a gameplay perspective Final Fantasy XVI's side quests aren't that spectacular yet I absolutely love them because of the great world building and NPC interactions they have.

The Black Rabite in Trials of Mana!

There are a lot of ways a sidequest can be memorable and engaging, but I feel like the focus of this article may be a bit to much on the narrative side. Strong narrative elements are certainly a plus (and really strong narrative elements can even carry a game's worth of sidequests, as they do in XC3), but I think sidequests are also a great way to change up the gameplay loop in interesting and/or challenging ways. Superbosses are an example of this, but so are side-puzzles or (well-crafted) minigames.

Although I absolutely loved the narrative-heavy sidequests in XC3 (which frequently included story tie-ins, lore building, and character development), they were often mechanically pretty uninteresting (though sometimes they fed into fun exploration). In contrast, I also really loved the sky island diving mini-games in TotK, which had zero narrative payoff, but were a refreshing change of pace.

A lot of people talk about Chrono Trigger's multiple endings but rarely mention that you can tweak the main ending a bit, such as by saving Lucca's mom's legs from injury. It's just a detail in the ending, but it really hits.

A good side quest helps me explore the area I am in, but doesn't drag me from the main quest I am following. I hate it when a side quest wants me to go to the other side of the map for something. No, that's the main quests function. As much as I love both of the new Zelda games they are terrible about this.

From Majora's mask that Kafei's mask was very fun to do but İ have choosed for Tough enemies and Super bosses because İ have more fun with that. Majora's mask have so much sidequest to make that was fun.

I choose Others, which means all of the above

I could go on forever about how much I love that Chrono Trigger sidequest but that might be off topic.

So many sidequests in games are tedious. So many games seem bloated with sidequests and they all seem the same. If there's some kind of item or ability awards and it doesn't take too long, that's cool, but otherwise, for me, its gotta be character development. I agree 100% that character development is "the beating heart of any story."

Easier to say what doesn't. Namely, at least IMHO, being:

• too obscure (emphasis on "too")
• permanently missable

Absence of the latter factor actually alleviates much of the former since you can figure stuff out in the long run. Games specifically designed to offer multiple playthroughs and various quest lineups depending on the progression (Elder Scrolls, Romancing Saga etc) are an obvious exception, too.

As for the best ingredients, lore ties certainly come to mind. Basic fetch quests are nothing to scoff at either - they help contextualize much of the standard grind, - but the more in-universe data you can get out of a sidequest on top, be it local history or even just the cast quirks, the more lasting a memory it will be. And if the sidequests impact the environment, like all the NPC relationships and region development in Xenoblade games... "aaawww YEAH"©

Side quests that are more than just “do thing to get thing”. Xenoblade 3’s side content works so well because it’s not just the main protag that does the interaction. A lot of them focus on different party members and their relationships with all of the other colonies. Heck, the Hero Quests are as if not better than some of the main quests! I was hunting them down simply because I just liked the characters!

Obviously this was written because of how dismal FFXVI's sidequests are.
For me I like a bevy of difficulties - from the 'get three of these' to very complicated that might need a guide. Side quests should offer something in the way of story. Witcher 3 is great in this regard. And make it worth it. Some item that can add power or something new to gameplay.

Xenoblade 3 and Majora's Mask are the sidequest GOATS.

not grindy and tedious

Every time someone mentions Skies of Arcadia, the world becomes a slightly better place to live.

A worthwhile reward at the end. The best example I can think of is the Biggoron's Sword in Ocarina of Time.

A good side quest is one that actually adds some value to the game rather than simply wasting time.

TotK would have benefitted from more meaningful quests. Straight off the top of my head... how about quests that unlocked different modules for the house you can build? You know... instead of them all just being given to you. The whole horse God nonsense could have had a more meaningful quest if the prize was having a stable at your house - for example.

It's not difficult is it? They just don't bother.

It's easy to make a decent side quest. The problem is, it is easier to make a rubbish one. So guess which one the developers go with...

And say what you want... but I'm sorry. Its true. They choose the shortcuts. Every single time. Even the best.

And how does the poll not include "to unlock a decent item" as an option?!

Knights of the Round in Final Fantasy 7 for example.

The side quests in Xenoblade 3 are the best in the series. I still remember a good amount of the npcs when I can hardly remember the ones from 1/2 or Torna. Considering Aionios’s setting, the side quests are really meaningful when the soldiers are trying to survive and find a purpose other than fighting. You could also count hero quests as side quests since they’re optional, they provide great world building for the heroes and you get to see individual stories other than the main one play out. Even the 4/6 out of the side stories for the main characters are optional, I still don’t understand why they weren’t required but they provide so much to them. Other than Xenoblade, the side quests in TotK are memorable too. The Hateno Village quest was one of my favorites, I still have plenty more to do but the ones I’ve done provide insight into Link’s adventure and Hyrule itself. It’s funny how a lot of the world building comes from the quests, you can count the memories as side quests too since they’re optional. But honestly? Side quests are important to the series in general. Fetch side quests are annoying but at least you get an award (sometimes)

Same things that make a movie good, of course!

Gun violence
Curse words
Female nudity
Open drug use

'Merica, buddy!

You know what makes a bad sidequest? Locking shops, mandatory areas, stamina & wallet expansions or even fast travel behind it.

TotK has the best examples on how you should never place them.

@SpeedRunRocks
Sounds like a Disco Elysium side quest!

For me, it acts a bit like a sub-plot it of a book or film. Like has been said, it helps enrich the gameworld and characters, making it more immersive.

To me, a good side quest changes the way the player engages with and views the characters and their world. I think this is one of the reasons people love the Souls games so much

For me side quests are only worth it if they have great rewards behind them, like some OP weapons, armor, etc.

For me personally, Nino Kuni Wrath of the White Witch rewards system for side quests was the best I've seen to date: great rewards like top tier weapons and/or armor as well as other rewards like guilders and items, had super bosses, (sweet exp) and last but most certainly not least, a stamp card that gets filled out upon completing side quests. The rewards from it were game changing: getting more experience per enemy killed, to getting more healing glims per battle/and coming to you automatically at the end of battle, to being able to ambush enemies easier, to Oliver bolstering his HP and MP both by 100. That's just some of the amazing rewards it gives.

TL;DR it's all about the rewards to justify my time. Otherwise super bosses are the only other thing I find worth my time for that sweet exp and enjoyment of it.

What I value most in side-quests you ask?

Well, maybe those that not suddenly end up in your failed-list after casually proceeding the main story or exploring certains parts of the map, without being aware there was a side-quest to begin with, haha .

A little bit more on topic: I like it when a quest is centered around character development, especially when you have to choose between different options or factions just like in the Witcher, Thronebreaker, Cyberpunk, Disco Elysium, Mass Effect, The Outer Worlds, Fallout, et cetera.

From a story standpoint, I haven't seen better sidequest design than Witcher 3. You can start doing something and all of a sudden you're several hours in and you've experienced what amounts to a self-contained TV episode. Some 90s RPGs like Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment manage that too, at times, albeit without the cinematic flair.

Much as people are down on collectathon-style quests these days, I've always loved them provided what you're collecting is unique enough. I adore taking pictures of all the stuff in Breath of the Wild for instance, but the one that immediately sprang to mind for me was finding all the family members to honour an old man's desire for them to be present at his deathbed in Baiten Kaitos. It was such a great way to encourage you to talk to everyone you found in the game and by extension immerse yourself in the game's world.

In general, though, I like sidequests that feel bespoke. Like, don't make me go back to a place I've already been to pick up some mushrooms. Send me on an adventure. Give me a new dungeon or place to explore. And if I do go back somewhere, make it new and fresh, resignify that space. Like, in Tears of the Kingdom, I started doing the quest where you go fetch the eyes of the big, creepy statue under the Great Abandoned Central Mine. I had already been to the mine, but had no idea that humongous altar was down below. Moreover, the level design and mine cart rails around the Central Mine make a lot more sense now. All of that was carefully designed FOR this optional quest line. That's what I'm looking for.

The best side quests are the ones that don’t make me pull my hair out

I don't prioritize character development or story in games; as far as I'm concerned, I'm the main character in the game. What I want from sidequests and games, in general, are worthwhile enemies, worthwhile combat, and satisfying powerups.

@BodkinDQ I recently got Nino Kuni Wrath of the White Witch and your comment just encouraged me to prioritize it. I've gotten the first stamp card reward - jumping, lol.

Character backstory, development and rewards… that’s why Majoras Mask will forever be the better Zelda. It made you sympathetic for all the people you were helping and would eventually die.
It makes the world feel alive unlike the generic Mii NPCs in TotK where you don’t give a crap what they are doing and just feels like a bunch of code roaming the towns to give you the impression that someone lives in it.
You never feel anything about them or their “stories”, why should I spend time away from my adventure with you?
It doesn’t entice or motivates you when they all look so generic and same with each other either.
Also….
“Here’s a mission go fetch. Here’s your 5 mushroom reward” … I just want to kill them.

As @nocdaes said, for rewards they could have given you so much more, instead they opted for the cheap, easy and unoriginal route every single time.
A good reward for my time is optimal …and TotK is a game that doesn’t respect the players time.

Other: All of the above

I really like sidequests that take you back to early game areas and either show how the events of the game have affected them or recontextualize them based on things you've learned since you were last there. Xenoblade frequently does a great job with that kind of thing. It's also one of very few games where I actually remember anything about a lot of the NPCs, probably because you talk to them repeatedly over the course of the game if you're going through their questlines/dialogue as they unlock.

@Lightsiyd You're in for a treat of a game my friend.

Ni No Kuni WotWW really, really makes side quests worthwhile, cos you get a ludicrous amount of rewards and the stamp card really opens up the more you spend your completed stamp bonuses on it, which gives the best rewards...

...also adding more fuel to the fire, it enriches the story more too. But I do side quests only if the rewards are worthwhile and if I enjoy it, which I did both immensely.

Enjoy!

I played Nier Automata recently, the side quests there are quite unique. They tie to the story, bring new endings, and sub plots. Pretty special.
But usually I like a nice challenge, so boss fights, boss rush, gauntlets ..
Story in videogames is for me usually background.

• Very few of them
• Make them related to the main story
• Great reward (you can do this is you have very few side quests)

a good sidequest must start with a small something that piques your interest and leads you down that path, a good sidequest is not merely listed amongst hundreds of others on a sidequest board, a common occurence in games these days.

Whether short or long, just having an indiscernible difference in quality to the main story makes a good side quest. Witcher 3 is a good example. All side quests are fully voice acted, some are short some are quite long but all of them were either fun funny or really intriguing.

As with many elements, Chrono Trigger got it right in ways the majority of games still can't grasp. The quests towards the end of the game are indeed optional, and you can go right to Lavos. But every one of them is absolutely worth doing for the journey, the reward, and the character & world development. Putting them at the tail end was genius because you're already invested in the world and you've been following a main quest with so much desire to see a little more.

Also the sealed boxes/doors could count as a side quest which was also brilliant, introducing them very early on with that intriguing melody, and dropping small clues for hours as to how they somehow tie everything together. And then having a mid game optional quest to finally crack them open was so satisfying.

Would have been nice if we could choose more than one option. Up to three maybe.

I voted “ties to the main story,” but let me be more specific. I know it’s a video game and I have the right to play it how I want and advance the story at my own pace, but I find myself having a hard time getting invested in side quests when the main story is presented as urgent.

If the story tells me “there’s a monster attacking this town on this part of the map RIGHT NOW. Get there quick and help them!”, it feels awkward to ignore that and go play a mini game or help find somebody’s cat.

That’s a complex thing to balance though, because a good story should have some of that urgency. MM and TOTK handled it well if you ask me. MM has the urgency of the moon, but it doesn’t feel strange to spend time doing other things since you can reset the clock. TOTK says “hey, we’re looking for Zelda. Here’s the four leads we have so far.” That in itself doesn’t present urgency, even though the four phenomena themselves do once you actually get to them. It also helps that many of the sidequests actually do tie into the overarching “Find Zelda” main quest, like those you get from Penn.

I like the world building and tie ins - Trails games are fantastic at this and the Crossbell duology is almost built on it as the prime mission of the SSS. If you meet a guy who says in passing he has a brother in Erebonia, you're likely to run into him sometime later, even in a later game. It makes the world feel more alive, like it's going on with or without your intervention, even if you can have an impact on it.

And sweet quest loot. I love that too.

FF16 had terrible side quests, i dont know why people are defending it... i guess it's just sony fanboys claiming its still an exclusive lmao

I’d say exploring new areas, and the loot/unique encounters that come with it. Always loved feeling like I had an edge in stuff like Final Fantasy or Zelda because I did a sidequest and suddenly I’ve got better weapons or more hearts.

@YoshiF2
I agree really strongly with this. It really ticked me off in BoTW how much these requests offered so meaninglessly little. I don't know you from Adam and yet you offer me 5 rupees for something worth at least 500. I've not yet gotten ToTK because I'm still undecided about it, but BoTW definitely did not respect my time.

I think the only game I've played that put much of the backstory and behind-the-scenes in quests was Phantasy Star Online Ep.1.

Some of them introduce you to some of the characters, few are stand-alone quest, & then there are the ones that have a huge bearing the main plot itself.

Phantasy Star Zero kinda did this but to a much lesser extent.

I wish I could say a good side quest is one tha adds depth to a character. A scenario that the protagonist thinks is worthwhile and one that adds layers to the world building. Instead of a random farmer asking you to collect 20 soil samples, a long time friend desperately need your help, and anyone would have to think about helping them if they can...

...but I can't. The answer is loot and quest rewards innit. You stand to get a shiny new toy, most folk will do anything lol.

(/s)

I think what makes a side quest good is determined by how well it adds to the game's artistic goal.
For example if a game is all about exploration, then if the sidequests get me to explore then they're a success. Likewise if a game is very script based and a sidequest offers more story that the main quest couldn't then thumbs up.
I'd even argue fetch quests have their place (often misused though), if you think about grind heavy loot based games or a combat focused game, they offer an easy, quick quest that'll give you more of what you want (exp, loot, an excuse to try out a new combo etc.)
My favourite side quests (that I can think about on the top of my head) would include Mordins loyalty quest in ME2, Tarrey Town in BOTW, and pretty much most quests from Fallout 3/New Vegas

I’d like to take a sojourn outside of Nintendo land for a minute.

Fable 2 and 3 have some absolutely brilliant side quests, largely because of the humour therein. There is a great one in Fable 3 where you have to gather some items for Simon Pegg and his friends who then shrink you down into their Dungeons and Dragons RPG. And who can forget the daft brothers from Fable 2 who use the Norminomicon to resurrect their dead mother only for her to scold them?

My absolute favourite is one in Frozen Wilds, the Horizon DLC. You come across a disused dam control station a tribesperson is using to echo their drumming. You have to drain the water from it sequentially so they can use it to make music. All the while you come across a series of logs from the workers in the past who are being replaced by robots. In their boredom they’ve created their own band who again use the acoustics for themselves. In that way you’re passing down the baton.

it's either got to expand on the main story/lore in some way, or be a well crafted side story that stands on it's own, OR it must make exploration feel worthwhile despite having almost no story.

Using TOTK as an example since it's fresh on my mind...I really didn't like the majority of the side quests it had. It was either frivolous errands or something tied to a shrine. Rarely anything that felt vital to the main experience. And sure, it can be said that SIDE QUESTS can be ignored and treated as optional, but I still wish they had a bit more meat to them. They expanded the map to a drastic extent and touched upon ancient Hyrule history, yet barely did anything with it when all was said and done. And they could have immensely improved a ton of side quests by making it possible to explore the past somehow. not a literal past, I mean along the lines of speaking to spirits and seeing visions as part of exploration.

@Cashews So I'm wondering if you think (like I do) that there is a certain degree of positive bias towards square enix on these sites?

And yeah, I do agree with you. This feels like a veiled reaction piece to a game that isn't even on this platform.

@Cordyceps a certain degree? People rationalize their failures like no other company in video games.

Hence my negative bias. I REALLY dislike Square Enix and I enjoy watching them flail around. The last game I bought was Neo: The World Ends With You. It was so soulless and bad. I was such a nut for the original game I asked myself, "Why do I give these hacks opportunities? They aren't worth my money."

SE gets a built in bias for reviews. Nostalgia and their horrid art design and their hackneyed music. So if it reviews an 8? It's really a 6.

@Cashews Oh yeah we're totally on the same page. Even on the minus 2-3 scale.

I grew up in the golden era when everything squaresoft and enix did was great. The merger is the classic example of the whole being less than the sum of its parts. And they thread the nostalgia so heavy that fans think there's a Renaissance going due to... remaking all the golden era games?

I've been disappointed in their output for a long time, to the point that I kind of do gleefully relish in their expectations not being met. I feel like they, as a company, outright lie and retcon themselves, just like they constantly retcon their games... and always get a pass.

There's a long story I'll skip, But I recently started Live a Live. I can understand why that game didn't come over here before. It is across-the-board a 5 at best. Lower mids. But reviews? 8s and 9s, some say it's a "masterpiece".

But really, it's the fan base that is the worst. Rational discourse is impossible there because they just attack you when your opinion isn't what "it is supposed to be". The company and their games have become so core to these people's personalities that they can't even handle a difference of opinion.

I mean, when the merger happened and they went in their new direction of "identity crisis is our identity!$$$!", I went through a really weird phase of not knowing what to do as a gamer, and I pretty much stopped gaming for 15 years based on how bad that era (ps3) was. The pandemic brought me back and... shock really. But, yeah, I mean, I found other stuff to do with my life. Which I feel is much better than the alternative which is being one of their current cult members.

Out of curiosity, I was reading some stuff on square-enix the other day, and their top competitors are Ubisoft, EA, and all of these other huge studios. And I'm, like, when did this happen? They used to compete with Atlus and NIS!

They're not AAA material at all.

@Cashews sorry that's long, I don't run into kindred spirit square haters often. Cheers.

@Cordyceps My hatred was born from an old passion. I literally bought anything with their name on from about FF7 to FF13. For years and years. Not just Final Fantasy - every game they made.

The loathing came from the CONSTANT remakes on every platform and everyone just lapping it up like they were doing us a favor. The fire grew bright after one miss after another. Now they just chase whatever trend is going on at the moment. Like the splatoon rip with Fortnite faces. No talent. Their best game of the past decade was made by Platinum - Neir. Their second best game of the decade will be a remake by Nintendo - Mario RPG.

Ffxvi does side quests wuite well. I guess it falls under character development and world building. If you look at the side quests only from a gameplay perspective, they are nothing better than fetch quests. However, every single builds the world further and makes it more believable. You get to see how people live, the things they struggle with, the things they need, conflicts, worry or triumphs. It really drew me in and I do every single side quest immediately.