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How do you like your Side Quests?

Subject: How do you like your Side Quests?
by shaz on 2012/5/20 21:11:06

Okay, I promise this is the last one of these I'll start ... today

How involved do you like side quests to be? What sort of side quests do you like? How much time do you want to spend traipsing around doing things for people, rather than just getting on with the game? If you're playing a game that has a strong sense of urgency, do you think having side quests available to do takes away from that sense of urgency?

"Fetching" quests are nice for a quick detour and a small reward. But I find quests more fulfilling if I have to follow a few steps, talk to several people, in order to complete it (with an appropriately better reward at the end).

What about side quests that are very involved, and those that are interrelated? For example, getting the golden frog in TLO - you had to get the quest to find the real golden frog, trigger the baby stealing quest so you could get thrown into jail, release Rat, join him in Tyobi to get the frog, then refuse to give it to him. A lot of interrelated quests, with a lot of decision points, and making the "wrong" decision at any of those points could see you unable to complete the quest. Personally, I loved that one, but unless you wanted to replay several times, or had the steps in front of you, it would be VERY easy to make a wrong decision.

What do you think about quests that are only available if you have a certain party member, who you may or may not choose to join you? What about those that must be completed by a certain point in the game? If you don't complete it in the allotted time, should it be removed from your journal (maybe causing confusion)?