Azarkon
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2005
- Messages
- 2,989
"Side quests" are a direct result of design by marketing, where developers try to achieve a certain amount of hours in order to write it on the box rather than because they actually have that many hours' worth of ideas or because the narrative supports it, or they try to have "side quests" because players demand more open world content and so they try to force it in. Bioware's games suffer especially from trying to fit side quests into "cinematic" narratives that don't support them. Obsidian has picked up the same philosophy from developing Bioware sequels and, unfortunately, many of their recent games also suffer from it.
The problem is one of structure. A game with many loosely connected quests follow a different structure than the plots that most AAA games these days want to sell. Such games benefit from having an open story that is told through gradual expansion of the game world, rather than a plot diagram. The former is the join of many different stories tied together through themes and/or characters. The latter necessarily revolves around a single story and conflict. "Side quests" are an irrelevant concept in the former because there is no "main quest." "Side quests" are an unnecessary evil in the latter because they only serve to distract and delay the player from experiencing the main story.
Examples
Open narrative:
The player belongs to an adventuring group trying to make it in the world. Through taking on different jobs and adventures, the group grows as a set of characters and as an unit. There might be a conflict that serves as the background for most of the jobs/adventures, and which eventually lead to a climatic showdown with various consequences for the group and its members, but that is not the "goal" of the game.
The player is just trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Water and food are scarce, dangers lurk around every corner, and the few remaining communities have little trust for outsiders and each other. The "win" condition is just to find relative safety and stability. As such there would be many different "endings" and conditions for reaching them.
The player is trying to become a Special Person. The requirements for becoming a Special Person involve performing X amount of heroic tasks, with few requirements as to what they have to be. The player goes out in the world in search for these heroic tasks, wherever they might be found.
AAA narrative:
The player is the Chosen One and must fulfill the prophecy by performing a series of set tasks in order to set up for a climatic battle between himself/herself and the villain. The player must in theory do this before the villain destroys him/her/the world, but in practice can take as long as he/she wants.
The player's family is kidnapped and the player must find/rescue them. In the process, the player discovers that his/her family was kidnapped because they/the player are very important people, and that he/she must fight a powerful organization to get his/her family back.
The player has lost his/her soul and must get it back by tracking down the villain who took it from them. Through solving various mysteries, the player eventually finds out who and why the villain took his/her soul. He/she then has to have a climatic showdown with the villain.
It should be obvious why the "open narratives" do not have a problem with "side quests" - because the goal of the game IS to perform "side quests," and therefore they cannot be "side quests." On the other hand, in the AAA narratives, the goal of the game is an obvious and specific "main quest" that should be fairly urgent - but usually isn't in game. When progress in this "main quest" is locked behind plot-independent quests, or the game otherwise encourages the player to do these plot-independent quests in order to have a complete experience, then we have a "side quest" problem. Thus, the "side quest" problem is a direct result of bad design driven by the need to advertise large/open world experiences, while at the same time trying to have a "cinematic" plot.
The problem is one of structure. A game with many loosely connected quests follow a different structure than the plots that most AAA games these days want to sell. Such games benefit from having an open story that is told through gradual expansion of the game world, rather than a plot diagram. The former is the join of many different stories tied together through themes and/or characters. The latter necessarily revolves around a single story and conflict. "Side quests" are an irrelevant concept in the former because there is no "main quest." "Side quests" are an unnecessary evil in the latter because they only serve to distract and delay the player from experiencing the main story.
Examples
Open narrative:
The player belongs to an adventuring group trying to make it in the world. Through taking on different jobs and adventures, the group grows as a set of characters and as an unit. There might be a conflict that serves as the background for most of the jobs/adventures, and which eventually lead to a climatic showdown with various consequences for the group and its members, but that is not the "goal" of the game.
The player is just trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Water and food are scarce, dangers lurk around every corner, and the few remaining communities have little trust for outsiders and each other. The "win" condition is just to find relative safety and stability. As such there would be many different "endings" and conditions for reaching them.
The player is trying to become a Special Person. The requirements for becoming a Special Person involve performing X amount of heroic tasks, with few requirements as to what they have to be. The player goes out in the world in search for these heroic tasks, wherever they might be found.
AAA narrative:
The player is the Chosen One and must fulfill the prophecy by performing a series of set tasks in order to set up for a climatic battle between himself/herself and the villain. The player must in theory do this before the villain destroys him/her/the world, but in practice can take as long as he/she wants.
The player's family is kidnapped and the player must find/rescue them. In the process, the player discovers that his/her family was kidnapped because they/the player are very important people, and that he/she must fight a powerful organization to get his/her family back.
The player has lost his/her soul and must get it back by tracking down the villain who took it from them. Through solving various mysteries, the player eventually finds out who and why the villain took his/her soul. He/she then has to have a climatic showdown with the villain.
It should be obvious why the "open narratives" do not have a problem with "side quests" - because the goal of the game IS to perform "side quests," and therefore they cannot be "side quests." On the other hand, in the AAA narratives, the goal of the game is an obvious and specific "main quest" that should be fairly urgent - but usually isn't in game. When progress in this "main quest" is locked behind plot-independent quests, or the game otherwise encourages the player to do these plot-independent quests in order to have a complete experience, then we have a "side quest" problem. Thus, the "side quest" problem is a direct result of bad design driven by the need to advertise large/open world experiences, while at the same time trying to have a "cinematic" plot.