Sidequest: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"For a bunch of guys on a mission to save the world, you sure do love your detours."''|'''Gig''', ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]''}}

 

A very fundamental video game trope, a sidequest (or optional quest, or side mission, etc.) is any part of a video game that is not required to complete the game. Sidequests come in a variety of forms, and completing sidequests generally brings reward to the player such as additional equipment or abilities, areas to explore, supplemental plot related details, or fun unlockables.

 

 

Some side quests such as the [[Bonus Dungeon]] and [[Bonus Boss]] may provide challenges more difficult than any content available through the main storyline. This allows more casual players to still complete the game and see the plot resolved, while also giving gamers seeking an additional challenge something to go after.

 

Important to note that this trope appears in practically every game which gives the player even a slight amount of free rein, and is one of the best way for a developer to add more content and extend the length of a game.

{{examples}}

* ''[[Solatorobo]]'' has a plethora of sidequests. They're optional, of course, unless you happen to need to be a slightly higher Hunter rank to take a plot-relevant quest. Not all quests will increase your rank, however.

 

 

 

* ''[[Nethack]]'' has two:

** The Gnomish Mines, a [[Bonus Dungeon]] which has Minetown halfway down (with guaranteed shops and a temple) and a guaranteed {{spoiler|luckstone}} at the bottom.

** The ''[[Block Puzzle|Sokoban]]'' [[Bonus Dungeon]], four levels with lots of food, a guaranteed ring and wand on each level, and either {{spoiler|a bag of holding}} or {{spoiler|an amulet of reflection}} at the end of the final level.

 

** Though ''Daggerfall'' was filled with randomly generated side quests in a (more-or-less) randomly generated game world, while the later games had far more detailed, manually created side quests.

** ''Skyrim'' and its Radiant Quest system treads on a lot of the same ground as Daggerfall's procedural generation to the same effect.

** ''Baldurs Gate'' is just full of lazy, lazy gits always asking you to go and fetch them a book, a sword, a dead body, a scroll, or something else that's often less than thirty feet away. To the point where your character has the [[Lampshade|opportunity]] to go on [[Rant-Inducing Slight|a long tirade]] that anyone who has ever played RPGs will agree with. Your journal will be full of [[Deadpan Snarker|snark]] about it.

** It also has ''one'' pure [[Fetch Quest]] but you have to go out of your way and [[Be Careful What You Wish For|wish]] for "[[Exact Words|A quest unlike any other]](Sic)". [[Hilarity Ensues|You then have to find a gong which ends up being]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|a cow dung shovel]].

* It is traditional in ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' for every playable character to unlock a personal sidequest once [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] shows up on the world map. These sidequests contain the character's [[Infinity+1 Sword]], and usually fill out their [[Character Development]]. In addition, the later two games come with game-long sidequests for certain characters that complement or replace the last-dungeon-cued one.

* ''[[The Last Remnant]]'' has a wide variety of sidequests, which is the main way to unlock map locations and the ability to hire some powerful people. There's also Guild Tasks which are similar in function but aren't classed as quests.

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]''

* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]''. Hey, this Masterson guy in the Docks wants me to find his amulet (and I really wish they'd bothered to mark him on the map). Oh wait, my henchman wants this silver ring I found somewhere. Hmm, I wonder if the other henchmen want anything, like maybe this leaven bread recipe or this weird little brooch. The Many-Starred Cloak people want me to do all this magic stuff for membership and discounts. Oh, I can get money and quest XP for helping with the Tomb of Halueth Never thing. Oh, random if insultingly simplistic escort missions through areas I've already cleared of zombies. Hold on, some random druid wants me to engage in a minor act of ecoterrorism, there could be some dough in it for me. Oh, and my mad rogue skills mean I've been employed to burgle these random nobles. Bear in mind that this is a ''partial'' summary of ''the first chapter of four''.

* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' has a subversion. The loyalty missions are under the plot-relevant "Missions", but are mostly kinda-sorta optional. You had ''better'' get [[One Hundred Percent Completion]] of them [[Earn Your Happy Ending|if you know what's good for you]].

* ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' not only has a ton of side-quests, it even gives you an Achievement for completing 75% of them. The achievement is called "[[Take That, Audience!|Easily Sidetracked]]".

 

* ''[[Rune Factory]] 2'' has an optional sidequest composed almost entirely of fetch quests. The townspeople post requests on a message board that you fulfill to win their money and affection. Marvelous and/or Neverland apparently thought that wasn't enough, so ''[[Rune Factory]] 3'' adds a mailbox and a message-delivering owl in addition to the message board. (Each one can only have one request fulfilled per day, so a total of three can be done per day if each one has at least one request.)

 

 

* The ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' games all feature numerous side-missions that are not essential for completion, but often give you abilities that will make the game easier, such as fireproofing (for completing the firefighting mission) or the ability to get out of jail for free (for completing the vigilante mission).

 

 

 

 

{{reflist}}