Sidequest: Difference between revisions

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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.

Tends to be [[Irrelevant Sidequest|irrelevant]] to your main quest. Also see [[Infinity ~~Plus One~~ Sword]], [[Easter Egg]], [[Fetch Quest]], [[Quest Giver]], [[Sidequest Sidestory]]. And [[That One Sidequest]], though you probably don't want to.

Tends to be [[Irrelevant Sidequest|irrelevant]] to your main quest. Also see [[Infinity+1 Sword]], [[Easter Egg]], [[Fetch Quest]], [[Quest Giver]], [[Sidequest Sidestory]]. And [[That One Sidequest]], though you probably don't want to.

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.

== Action Adventure ==

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** ''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]]''

** ''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.

** ''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.

** ''Baldurs Gate 2'' is famous (amongst other things) for having ''no'' pure [[Fetch Quest|Fetch Quests]]. Subverted and parodied in "Throne of Bhaal", where you subcontract a recovery quest to younger adventurers you just depetrified. They try to kill you for more loot, but reload the game after you slaughter them.

** 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]].

* ''[[Planescape Torment]]'' has a clever subversion of optional [[Fetch Quest|Fetch Quests]]. An old witch will only teach the PC magic if he fetches her three seemingly-innocuous and useless items: some herbs, rags and a fish. Not only do the apparently pointless errands actually have meaning attached to them but the items themselves are used to create spells.

* ''[[Paper Mario (Video Game)|Paper Mario]]'' had a good deal of them as well. The second game made it easier to find the minor ones by means of a ''Trouble'' center, where [[NPC|NPCs]] would put up help requests.

* 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 ~~Plus One~~ 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.

* 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.

* This idea has unfortunately spread to the PSP game ''[[Crisis Core (Video Game)|Crisis Core]]''. There are 300 missions and just the very first one is required to continue with your game. What's worse is that there are only eight or nine "dungeons" the missions take place in with varying parts of them blocked off and all of them boil down to "find all enemies visible on the map and kill them", meaning the gameplay pretty much requires you do to the same thing over and over and OVER again...

* ''[[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.

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* ''[[Skies of Arcadia (Video Game)|Skies of Arcadia]]'' has a ton, and you wouldn't realize half of them actually are sidequests. How can you tell? In [[Updated Rerelease|Legends]], there are special ranks for completing these things, included ''[[Fetch Quest|catching 1000 fish]]''.

* ''[[Exit Fate (Video Game)|Exit Fate]]''. The majority of your 75-person crew roster are optional. How do you get them? Side quests! And if you get them all, you unlock the {{spoiler|Shadow character}} [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]]. More side quests!

* ''[[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]]".

* ''[[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]]".

* [[Might and Magic (Video Game)|Might and Magic]] tended to have a fair number of sidequests. VI, in a minor twist, made a fair number of them connected to the main story... in ways that you don't find out until the end of the sidequest, and maybe not even then if you miss a single chest or fail to read that letter you found.

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== Mythology ==

* [[Classical Mythology/Characters|Herakles]] makes this trope [[Older Than Feudalism|Older than Feudalism]] as he frequently had unrelated adventures ([[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu|like wrestling '''Death''' to return someone that had died]]) while performing his [[Fetch Quest|12 Labours]]. To the Ancient Greek tropers this was known as a Parerga

* [[Classical Mythology/Characters|Herakles]] makes this trope [[Older Than Feudalism|Older than Feudalism]] as he frequently had unrelated adventures ([[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|like wrestling '''Death''' to return someone that had died]]) while performing his [[Fetch Quest|12 Labours]]. To the Ancient Greek tropers this was known as a Parerga

== Web Comics ==

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[[Category:Role Playing Game]]

[[Category:Sidequest]]

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