Irrelevant Sidequest: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[~~Baldurs~~ Gate]]'' has lots of them, where you need to pick up rings, gems, books, nymphs... whatever, for no real reason that has anything to do with the plot. Fortunately, many provide experience, gold, and reputation, as well as making your journal quite an interesting read.

* ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' has lots of them, where you need to pick up rings, gems, books, nymphs... whatever, for no real reason that has anything to do with the plot. Fortunately, many provide experience, gold, and reputation, as well as making your journal quite an interesting read.

** ''[[~~Baldurs~~ Gate]]'' 2 is much better about it: the sidequests are ''just'' as irrelevant, but you either a) have a personal stake, b) make it clear that you're looking for a large sum of cash for a personal quest, or c) given to you ''because'' you're an ass-kicking demi-god. Throne of Bhaal is also significant in that there are ''no'' irrelevant sidequests ''per se'': some seem that way, but end up being relevant later.

** ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' 2 is much better about it: the sidequests are ''just'' as irrelevant, but you either a) have a personal stake, b) make it clear that you're looking for a large sum of cash for a personal quest, or c) given to you ''because'' you're an ass-kicking demi-god. Throne of Bhaal is also significant in that there are ''no'' irrelevant sidequests ''per se'': some seem that way, but end up being relevant later.

* Particularly jarring in ''[[Earthbound]]'', in which Ness, a fourteen-year-old boy, performs exorcisms and corporate espionage, overthrows a cult, and enters a partnership in a startup mining venture.

* These are arguably the whole point of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series. There are dozens upon dozens of irrelevant side-quests (The first two had infinite quests that were procedurally-generated on-demand), all of which are optional. Even the "main quest" a.k.a the game's entire plot, is optional. Players are expected to pick-and-choose which ones to complete on their own.

** This doesn't keep four out of five games from having main plots with good in-universe reasons for why you ''[[Take Your Time|shouldn't]]'' keep them hanging (the exception is [[The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall]], which instead has reasons ''why'' you'd go off and do entirely unrelated things for a while).

* Humorously [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[Fallout]] 3'', which has a radio station on which the DJ periodically gives news reports about the various side-quests your character accomplishes (i.e. if you help the settlement of Arefu in the Blood Ties quest, he'll praise you for doing so). One quest involves collecting 30 bottles of a limited edition soda for a cola addict. When you finish the quest, the DJ's news report is simply "The Lone Wanderer is done collecting ''soda bottles''. Sheesh, talk about your slow news days".

** Surprisingly subverted in the first two games, though. No matter how irrelevant they may seem, many of the sidequests you can undertake can, and often do, directly affect the game's ending depending on how you completed them. This is also the case in ''[[Fallout New Vegas]]'', which came after ''Fallout 3''.

** Surprisingly subverted in the first two games, though. No matter how irrelevant they may seem, many of the sidequests you can undertake can, and often do, directly affect the game's ending depending on how you completed them. This is also the case in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', which came after ''Fallout 3''.

*** The above is true towards the end of the game, where your now [[Sequence Breaking|(supposedly)]] experienced and well equipped character is entrusted with all sorts of important tasks by the various factions. Throughout the early game on the other hand, most of your quests still involve inconsequential things such as guarding cattle or saving some nobody, [[Take Your Time|despite the fact that any delay may very well lead to the destruction of your entire tribe]] [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|(from a storyline standpoint at least)]].

* ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'''s adventurers are never explicitly stated to do anything... just "adventure". Said adventures somehow include collecting stamps and grocery shopping. Apparently the little kid definition is what comes to mind to these people...

** The new ''Abyssea'' expansions are based entirely around an alternate version of Vana'diel (called Abyssea) in which all of the adventurers simply disappeared one day {{spoiler|in their world, the [[Alternate Universe]] version of the [[Player Character]] failed the final fight of ''Chains of Promathia'' and was absorbed by the awakening god}}. Without adventurers to grease the wheels and do the dirty work, it doesn't take long for [[The End of the World As We Know It]] to set in.

** The new ''Abyssea'' expansions are based entirely around an alternate version of Vana'diel (called Abyssea) in which all of the adventurers simply disappeared one day {{spoiler|in their world, the [[Alternate Universe]] version of the [[Player Character]] failed the final fight of ''Chains of Promathia'' and was absorbed by the awakening god}}. Without adventurers to grease the wheels and do the dirty work, it doesn't take long for [[The End of the World as We Know It]] to set in.

* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'': "Get me some fingerless hobo gloves!" "Can't I just cut the fingers off of the hobo gloves I already have?" "No."

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' you play a Jedi trying to save the galaxy from evil, but along the way you get to resolve a family feud, act as the defense lawyer in a murder trial, and return a runaway droid to its master (amongst other things).

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*** The sequel has probably the most irrelevant irrelevant sidequest ever: finding out if there are fish in the Presidium lake. That's it. True, nobody actually ''asks'' Shepard to do this, but they still seem to find settling what amounts to two tourists arguing to be a worthy use of their "preparing to save humanity" time anyway<ref>Note that, while this quest seems completely irrelevant, if you do it right, it's less a sidequest and more "While I was there, I happened to find out X". Shepard is, in fact, going all over the Zakera Wards, trying to prepare for his/her mission, and while in a bar on an unrelated side-trip, s/he runs into the person that happens to know the answer.</ref>.

* Have you ever wanted to find a banana, cure recurring nightmares, take a picture of snow, or give unsolicited weight loss advice? Well, then ''[[Mega Man Star Force]] 2'' is the game for you!

** ''[[~~Megaman~~ Battle Network]]'' was only slightly better because it had a valid reason for them to be given to the PC (he accepted them via a job board)

** ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' was only slightly better because it had a valid reason for them to be given to the PC (he accepted them via a job board)

*** That, and the fact that most of the time your PC is basically a just an elementary-school student. Major threats only come up in specific [[Closed Circle]] events, while the rest of the time the series is more [[Slice of Life]], so it makes sense for you to do odd jobs on the side when there's no major disaster in progress.

* The ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' games take it one step further and have "adventurer" as an actual job title. You can even earn a diploma in adventuring by correspondence course.

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* The main character of the ''[[Ryu ga Gotoku|Yakuza]]'' games is extremely community minded, which seems to be a open invitation to provide him with ridiculous requests for help. "Please, you have to stop my corrupt boss by becoming a male escort!", "Please, you must run my Hostess Bar while I go to see my sick mother!".

* Justified in the ''[[Ultima]]'' games, from IV onward, where your character is explicitly a role-model for the population and helping people out boosts the [[Karma Meter]]. In VII, Lord British encourages you to mingle with the citizens and solve their sidequests.

* In ''[[Dead Space (~~Video~~ ~~Game~~)|Dead Space]]'', you're a [[Badass Bookworm|space repairman]] on board a [[Ghost Ship|spaceship full of]] [[Body Horror|mutilated, reanimated corpses]], looking for your girlfriend while also trying to figure out how to get the Hell away from the aformentioned undead freaks. Cue spending time at a shooting gallery or playing zero gravity basketball! Granted, it's all optional, but still. Isaac, you've got better things to worry about than getting the high score.

* In ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'', you're a [[Badass Bookworm|space repairman]] on board a [[Ghost Ship|spaceship full of]] [[Body Horror|mutilated, reanimated corpses]], looking for your girlfriend while also trying to figure out how to get the Hell away from the aformentioned undead freaks. Cue spending time at a shooting gallery or playing zero gravity basketball! Granted, it's all optional, but still. Isaac, you've got better things to worry about than getting the high score.

** Long before ''[[Spiritual Successor|Dead Space]]'', ''[[System Shock]] 2'' had a sidequest where you could go around the Von Braun and collect a Game Boy-esque portable system and several 8-bit games for it (along with audio and text logs from crew members talking about how addicted they were to the game).

* 77.4% of ''[[Paper Mario (~~Video Game~~)|Paper Mario]]'' is composed of this trope. Especially in the form of mail delivery and Koopa Koot's favors.

* 77.4% of ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' is composed of this trope. Especially in the form of mail delivery and Koopa Koot's favors.

* In ''[[Okami]]'', you can end up helping an old lady with her laundry, getting ingredients for a restaurant (twice!), racing messengers, taking vases as offerings to shrines, feeding kittens, and what-have-you. And you're playing as ''god''. Heck, the plot ''requires'' you to do some of the odder ones, like helping clueless people fish with no line and having a turnip-digging contest with a kid's pet dog. Vaguely justified in that you need to re-earn the people's faith, but still, you'd think that there would be better ways to do it.

* [[~~Borderlands (Video Game)|~~Borderlands]], which provide the fastest route for experience to level up your characters. They're less important late-game.

* [[Borderlands]], which provide the fastest route for experience to level up your characters. They're less important late-game.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (~~Video~~ ~~Game~~)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'', some of these are MANDATORY. Despite having no plot relevance. Somehow, things just happen afterwards, not always explained why.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'', some of these are MANDATORY. Despite having no plot relevance. Somehow, things just happen afterwards, not always explained why.

* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' and ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'', you are frequently tasked with doing silly side missions, oftentimes to get NPCs out of debt. If you are someone who spends a lot of time roaming the [[Wide Open Sandbox]], you can easily have enough money to settle these debts for your friend without jumping through the hoops, but this is not an option.

** Many Grand Theft Auto games are like this. In ''San Andreas'' your beloved Grove Street is overrun by drug dealers, smackheads and people who personally hate you. But hey, let's go race cars and dance!