favorite/memorable quests?

[Abelian]

A good quest is a quest you can refuse without being penalized.

Are there that many quests that penalize you for turning them down? Most quests I've encountered are either mandatory as part of the main quest, or entirely optional ones, where the only penalty is not getting the extra XP and/or loot.

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

entirely optional ones, where the only penalty is not getting the extra XP and/or loot.

There is no punishment greater than knowing that somewhere, somehow there is ungathered loot and/or xp.

 

[Abelian]

entirely optional ones, where the only penalty is not getting the extra XP and/or loot.

There is no punishment greater than knowing that somewhere, somehow there is ungathered loot and/or xp.

Would brofist if I could.

 

[DalekFlay]

The Morag Tong sidequest where you poison that dude's food is really memorable, as there isn't much like that in Morrowind.

A quest where you walk into an empty house, click on a pot and you're done?

I've got to join the Mehra Milo bandwagon when talking about the best MW quest.

Morrowind is 90% fetch quests, so it's all about context and feeling like you're doing something neat inside a neat world. That quest made you feel like an assassin, something the other Morag Tong quests don't do because they're legal executions an you just walk up to people and start hacking.

 

[Servo]

My favorite part of Morrowind was probably not the quests, but randomly discovering awesome shit. That and wiping out town populations.

 

[hydd]

Might and Magic Obelisk quests really stood out. 6, being the most memorable:

Itotecthothesaip
nhrh_aherheatvdi
_etecpe__ersoede
t_haat_lt__en_lc
hd_scawehSfdewee
erbthieaeuu,_o'd
_ay,enis_nn_ans_
lg____gtS_cln;__
aoflo'h.hbtid_p_
nnaifnt_ieif_tu_
d_re_e_Hpfotyhz_
_t_staoi_on_oiz_
oon_htfdorstusl_
f_oteh__fe_h__e_
_nrh__tf__cehr__

Spoiler

In the land of the dragon to north by far northeast, lies the cache of the captain 'neath the weight of the least. Hid for the ship of the Sun before her functions ceased, lift the stone and you have won; this riddle's puzzle pieced.

I spent hours attempting to decipher it. Don't think I've had a quest that pulled me from a game in such a positive manner before.

-

The other one, while probably hated on the Codex, would be Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood questline. The game had many shortcomings, but I'd say the Dark Brotherhood, was one of the few highlights (along with the painting quest). It's worth trying at least once. And since it has the glorious level scaling, you can do it at level 1 and uninstall the game afterward.

Just try to avoid the vampire larping.

 

[The Great Deceiver]

Two of the quests that I fondly remember are Becoming an Initiate in Fallout (the Glow expedition) and the Mystery of the Dwarves in Morrowind.

I usually enjoy investigative quests the most, the frequently cited gnone conspiracy from Arcanum is an another excellent example.

 

[Garboham]

Whom Gods Annoy - Oblivion

Nothing more fun than beating the shit out of the endless swarm of Everscamps.

 

[Yoshiyyahu]

Prelude to Darkness had alot of good quests, but the first that comes to mind for me is the Masseque liberation quest. Alot of interwoven routes to completion and interesting characters.

 

[Cadmus]

Oh I forgot, the Dwemer and corpus blight quest in Morrowind were cool. And the main quest as a whole, once you actually started doing something, was interesting.

I really like it when in RPGs I get a quest that seems to be a fucking fedex quest with tons of running but suddenly, I click the correct dialogue option and pass a check and get lots of xp and quest completed due to my high stat. It's such a relief and satisfaction at the same time. I think Fallout and PST had some quests like this.

 

[DraQ]

Might and Magic Obelisk quests really stood out. 6, being the most memorable:

Itotecthothesaip
nhrh_aherheatvdi
_etecpe__ersoede
t_haat_lt__en_lc
hd_scawehSfdewee
erbthieaeuu,_o'd
_ay,enis_nn_ans_
lg____gtS_cln;__
aoflo'h.hbtid_p_
nnaifnt_ieif_tu_
d_re_e_Hpfotyhz_
_t_staoi_on_oiz_
oon_htfdorstusl_
f_oteh__fe_h__e_
_nrh__tf__cehr__

Spoiler

In the land of the dragon to north by far northeast, lies the cache of the captain 'neath the weight of the least. Hid for the ship of the Sun before her functions ceased, lift the stone and you have won; this riddle's puzzle pieced.

I spent hours attempting to decipher it. Don't think I've had a quest that pulled me from a game in such a positive manner before.

Meanwhile in Morrowind:

This is a coded message, encrypted using a [URL='http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher']Vigenère cipher with the key word being COSADES. During the course of the Main Quest, you are given a document described as the Decoded package. However, that document only provides the first half of the message. The second half of the message can be seen here.

UDQMDWLGF UALYK ECKAGIK
MBAGKXWTFSNW SX VVW IPTWTWSL RVVGF GF EPSFSK
DLVWEHGR RJ AODWRLED KBLEOPAISFCH MF XJSRGIFHSDL GMKVFACW ISUHWRQ TJQJANFIK

K VSVH XZG VGNRV LQ OUQXEAPH QOX AAVV ZIV QSLSKTBW OKGZEV GGPQWRQMFI DUNDQW CB ANGMNKRMAO SX PC JAQO GT QGNVIIWSFCH

TUPOEE KEK DSWN UIDGOKEG JJQA HRLWGP PQ HLW ECXWSWCK CILHRVAVM SNG WWPH LO BSM YWLH WLAU AASVMNG DUNDQW KG LO EI WPHWRHH SU O FOYMUG WF TKI AODWRLED QFVEU SX VVW BOEVGG SNG MK VC KEUZW WBVEU CGWF SBVSDWHW AXXZQFATB EK ACM SKEDN GWE IML GLUESX APGGFDV SU VAS PEBGGLYV TSTHACXPST KASKIK CFW CRRUGFFEG

LAU ASJHWLAG HAUXAEIDAU AAUVWS DVW CG XOOPGYG

S LRGSN GMPHVKVWLIRR ZQZVS WLSV OF OUTZCB SNG SMVQSSW E QQILH ESJP CF A FIJVOAN GEQ VC MNFIJVOAN SEJGBLS VLSNZ MNLXW CZD TKI LTWTEV SX VVW DXREGF VRLZW QIL TKI APJSDHVK QT EOUVGYWFD DRV UVSLO VWGGLAEPAUV LHH EFEWWNW PSYG SNG GMUHGMV SX VVW DDVC GZNEQ RSVWGNV XZKG GRSLSP OFD RYLEOKT LW UCZDEG MF NSYEQH LJS FEUINCFANH EFF WK SXTHQGWD WS TG O JELRUCFFAWMGP CX TKI DQBYDHEV FIFMHV YGBWRDP SPR XIUWL ECMNFMDQF DOUH APRGRLP FGFWVDV

HEBSMH LSU HZE DTHGOJAQGW QT EEHXAPU LHH GGPRATLSFU CX TKMK NCUAO WMRSJSWMLKCF TKIJGTGRH ML KG ZIV QSLSKTBW VGGARH XZCH
HCQEEG GZAOP APGGFDV SU WK PRWKKPDE VELKGXY WLW ECFDLXAQBK OI XZKG SNFMWPH HRRTZGQQ AQH KJODL EIUQAW TKI FGFWVDVAPS

LHRYYJ HZIV TJQDZEFC AU WFDHIV QBDY DR SPQAEQX DQQSL VYHGFKTLXAQB ZIV QSLSKTB LSU HSKHR UQIFSHP GP HZIV QSVHWR ZMLJ VAS PSKV SPPHVL KBXOUQSPHK AQH UQBXIGEFVG SNG LAU ASJHWLA WK PHVKWOVEG XZCH LHH TJQDZEFC AU UWNXMFG OFD VMYPWXIFEFV SATKIJ KB AT HRLKFWTB SJ KB ATV WWXSJAO TSTHK AQH ZG SSRQIKVZQ DHQSPRK YRY LTSST WLAU ASTWIJ YWLH WLW WHEOVX KGFAOXWFGGK

CHVLCWF AVTWEHK OI XZKG SNFMWPH KUSIJUHATLSF CFW DHWUTWTEG EL VVW EQH GH HZIV HGEIEEQX SPR XUUXZGF EAWIJKODS ZMDN PW FRVLJQGMLRY DM UOXVAGF ST WLW GOJLLIKV CUCDWAQB AT ZMDN CX CRYJUS TE QIUGGKAUC LJOL YRY SEEMALRL ACMRVIDH PWTWIJ YWLH WLW FSLALPK QT LHLW SPQAEQX KWDWRVMLKCF FUSE ACMR OSUCZ KOXVUGG KIQGW VVAS PELVSJ IQXAOOLEOC UQBUEURK RQFAPI AV WK EATWEHWD WLSV MGU ZMDN SEPOSQ JWE TR KSVVWR LRXQFEAWMGP CF TKMK UITJHGL JWK MDNWUHQ HDW LCYWN D KJGOL PHVKQBSL LRLGFWSW MF VVW LHKWPRK AQH HTCHHHGAGG GF WLW PSJEYEJKBW AQH WCUWROC SYOATV VWRCJTV CGWF JESSJVG

A HDZW VVW HRRGT HG BH WAT MGUU QGUH ZUPFDG OFD RFWFWWNW WWTJSNW

KDCPJIR FWNZAEQYK
RSJSRRSN GWCUILCFQ TR XZG SEPHVGT

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WLW PSJEYEJKBW PUSHJSUY
WLAU AGSWGGOAGN YIJUS AS RRW ECDLHGLGR XRRQ SUVDAQHWT HJIEIKOSF OXV APQGMSPWVS KOXVUGG KUJKWUH LHDX LJS SSKPSPRWRV LSXS S SWVGPU LRDHAVWGN RJ VTSSMYMKKCFS DRV RFGPKIUKSK AQH LJOL APSFI HZE DWZNOFDHVK VVWRH EJG ASNB SLJSJ VHVKG DJOSLWEWWS FSFESJNLRY VVW NHVWXOJIQI

OJSF EDVLJ WK SXRVGFWD DRV UYAEV GZQYWD EPSEY
SNG WDGSHEUW KGFNE WLW USNEQ GMTGWS
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KACNIV UHSLN LAO FAGKXWQIK CXVKG VAM
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ECBQ TUMSNG EANI ECBAFHWL
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WDGSHEUW KGJWN FYJUSK RHJWTSFCHW STS GBVGMTS
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OKPHGL TSXEUW ZKG XAWI SU TGRHXGNR AN WLW UHSRV XZG GMBMIUVG ZOUSKECHE PELEVWS WLW ROJTLGMNOJS RJ LJS HRRTZGQAEV
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While basic quest design in Morrowind is usually poor (go somewhere do/fetch something), it absolutely aces context, the way quests interconnect and intertwine as well as the sheer amount of detail.
It also allows quite a bit flexibility and is enhanced by often having to find your way to objective.