"Sidequests and other distractions: the erosion of meaning in CRPG quests"

[almondblight]

Discrete quests in general aren't great. You know, talk to person "X", get a quest that shows up in your quest log, finish quest, have the quest removed. Have a more organic and integrated design (and having a journal where you can copy down what someone said rather than have quest logs) is much better.

 

[Coma White]

Discrete quests in general aren't great. You know, talk to person "X", get a quest that shows up in your quest log, finish quest, have the quest removed. Have a more organic and integrated design (and having a journal where you can copy down what someone said rather than have quest logs) is much better.

I think it really depends on the quest itself and its weight in the world. Even straightforward quests can be entertaining provided their impact is resonant. In Icewind Dale II for example, you're sent out to engage in various forays with the Legion of the Chimera. At the apex of these however; the goblinoids strike back, and you are forced into a desperate siege to prevent them from razing Targos. This particular encounter is a memorable battle, both because of its overall difficulty relative to what you'd already seen and done in the game and for how many tricks the goblins try to throw you off.

For me it's not so much whether tracking the quest feels organic but rather how its success or failure (the latter being all too rare in modern RPGs) stimulates the world into responding or changing.

 

[belowmecoldhands]

Discrete quests in general aren't great. You know, talk to person "X", get a quest that shows up in your quest log, finish quest, have the quest removed. Have a more organic and integrated design (and having a journal where you can copy down what someone said rather than have quest logs) is much better.

I agree and maybe I don't. I'll say climing a wall is funner than being told I climbed a wall. But sometimes you get hurt or bored in the dull periods. That's why things are on rails so much in games. They're just trying to direct our experience to keep us from getting lost/bored or hurt. The probelm is too mcuh directing is like telling someone about climbing a wall. Sooner or later, every1 wants to stop being todl about it and just do it. I think it depends on mood. It depends on how much time you have. It depends on YOU generally. The more you feel like it's ok to sometimes be lost or bored or hurt, the more likely you'll want to climb that walll yourself and experience what it's like off the rails.