Random, minor, quests you found interesting?

[deuxhero]

Most of the time in RPGs minor quests (not relation to any real quest chain, no long term consequences beyond a minor, replaceable, reward) are just shitty fetch quests. Are there any short quests that didn't have any importance to the plot you found interesting ideas?

In Tribunal there's a quest where a random street play stops you and asks you to fill in for an actor. You're forced to memorize your lines and repeat them in the play. I think this may be the only quest in the entire franchise that outright tells you to read a book that doesn't exist purely for that quest.

In Skyrim there's a bunch of treasure maps you can find randomly that picture landmarks and include some instructions on finding some hidden treasure in relation to that landmark. The loot you actually find is all terrible since it's generic leveled crap, but the idea is pretty good and stands out for not being quest compass shit in a modern Bethesda game.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance also has treasure maps requiring the player to determine the location from the scraps of information on the map and the player's knowledge of the gameworld's geography.

Morrowind has a quest where a woman standing by a pond asks you to retrieve a ring that has fallen into it, upon discovery of which the player-character is attacked by the woman and her quasi-invisible ally.

Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar has a quest where the player finds a new home for a hermit crab.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Varnhold's Lot. Murder mystery quest at an inn you stop at, essentially 101 in good quest design.
A bunch of people in the thread even missed the 'true' ending because the alternatives were so believable and it was completely missable.

 

[Dodo1610]

The amnesia Quest from Nier Automata really surprised me.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Fallout of Nevada, Russian made total conversion of Fallout 2.

Random encounter in the Wasteland. You meet a family of vault dwellers (husband, wife and daughter) from Vault 53 driving through the desert in a barely functional van.

They are initially distrustful, the husband threatens the PC with a shotgun. They obviously met a lot of evil on the road.

You can kill them outright and steal their belongings. Or you can speak to the guy. After a speach check he will lower his guard and tell you about their journey.

The family were refugees from a broken vault (mentioned in Fallout 2 lore, one of the governmenal social experiments, the one where all devices started to break down and the vault doors opened, letting the radiation in). They left the false safety of the vault, walked the eastern shore wasteland, found the car and started travelling west, hoping to find less radiation and more civilization.

He also tells you about their problems. The shotgun he threated you with is breaking down. The engine of the car is faultering. They are short on water.

If you have proper items (clear water) you can trade it for some ammo. If you have adequate repair skill, you can fix the gun and the engine.

Another speech check and you find the true reason why they travel west: the couple's daughter is suffering from leukemia. In the west they hope to find remnants of civilization where the cancer can still be treated. They know it is a long shot, but they just have to try.

Now if you have a high doctor skill, you might tell them about a treatment of leukemia researched at the Beijing University before the Great War. And then you can guide them in the direction of San Francisco, where Chinese community settled, propably with some doctors.

All this is a minor encounter in the desert, perhaps 0,5% of the game's content. There is a ton of reading, lore and skillchecks and a satisfying ending that gives some hope to the family. A perfect small sidequest, easy to miss. I'd love to see more of this kind of quest design in commercial games.

 

[Lilura]

Jagged Alliance 2: Robot.

The JA2 overworld consists of 256 sectors. This represents the country of Arulco.

In one of the wilderness sectors, it's possible to stumble upon what appears to be an abandoned house. This house is randomly assigned to one of a few sectors in each game, though only through meta-gaming do we know what sectors to check.

It doesn't look like we can enter the house, but if we look around we can find a hidden switch that opens a secret door. Through that door, we find a scientist holed up inside. He is a bit scared at first but we can calm him down by being friendly.

The scientist is standing next to a cute little robot. He tells us that, if we bring him a video camera and a rifle, he can fix the robot and give it to us.

When we return with these two things, the scientist gives us the robot along with a head-mounted remote control for it.

There we go. We now have our own little robot:

It's good at fighting the crepitus that appear in sci-fi mode.

 

[Dorateen]

In Pools of Darkness, you can cross paths with a group of rakshasa who are attempting to summon the spirit of Tyranthraxus, the antagonist from the first two Gold Box games. The party can disrupt the summoning, and reduce Tyranthraxus to a bubbling stain, rendering him defeated for the third time in the series. There's also a girdle of giant strength in the area.

 

[deuxhero]

I like Sanguine's quest in Oblivion where not!Dionysus has you disrupt a boring hughty party. The whole losing your equipment part of the result while you're halfway across the map from the point you need to get back to is ruined by fast travel, and the "party" part is ruined by the party being literally less than a dozen people including nameless guards, but the idea was interesting (Interesting idea ruined by shit mechanics describes a lot of Oblivion's more complex quests actually...). Likewise there's a quest where the player is trapped in a dream world and needs to solve puzzles to leave (according to UESP this looks like a Mage's Guild quest, but actually isn't part of the faction's quest line and counts).

Gothic had the result for not paying protection money, which was a good way to show what happens to people who don't.

Spoiler

A pair of guys approach you about helping them on a treasure hunt. As soon as you're out of town they attack you, beat you unconsious and take your money and say that's what happens to people who don't pay. Without metaknowledge you'll likely lose this fight if you attempt it early.

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

the painting quest in oblivion came out of nowhere to be perhaps the games finest moment

 

[deuxhero]

Poos
Which one? Canvas the Castle or A Brush with Death?

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

Poos
Which one? Canvas the Castle or A Brush with Death?

brush with death

 

[DraQ]

In Tribunal there's a quest where a random street play stops you and asks you to fill in for an actor. You're forced to memorize your lines and repeat them in the play. I think this may be the only quest in the entire franchise that outright tells you to read a book that doesn't exist purely for that quest.

Not a quest per se, but you can infer the location of Hanin's tomb by reading Hanin's Wake and using paper map (and knowledge of Daedric script) for reference. Inside there are things like multiple daedric items and arguably the best artifact shield in game.

You could also, for example, decipher codebook (the one from FG quest) and get obfuscated list of locations where Camonna Tong stashes contraband (read: drugs).

In Skyrim there's a bunch of treasure maps you can find randomly that picture landmarks and include some instructions on finding some hidden treasure in relation to that landmark. The loot you actually find is all terrible since it's generic leveled crap, but the idea is pretty good and stands out for not being quest compass shit in a modern Bethesda game.

I really enjoyed those and it's surprising to have them and repeating dragon claw "puzzle" together in one game.

 

[Brainlet2]

Half ogre island in Arcanum, I've never been so mad in my life. Every single gnome I found after that has died

 

[Shinji]

Even though Oblivion has flaws, it has some very memorable quests.

One that I remember is that of a village hidden in a forest with a bunch of fish-eyed creeps that would stalk you around. They were part of a cult, and at some point they would kidnap a woman from a nearby town and you were asked to rescue her.

 

[Reinhardt]

Kill 10 rats.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Unmarked quest in Oblivion to find a special piece of armor. It was an iron cuirass, unremarkable aside from a design/crest on the breastplate. Located in a fort ruin with a large underwater component that rivaled Daggerfall in complexity.

No wiki or forum mentions this quest, armor, or fort.
I have never been able to find this quest, armor, or fort ever again.
Maybe I got Mandela Effected.

 

[Barbalos]

Kill 10 rats.

Morrowind only has you kill 3 or 4, major incline right there.

 

[DalekFlay]

I think storming the Legion camp in New Vegas with Boone was my favorite memory of my first playthrough of that game. It wasn't even a quest, I just knew his story and hatred of them from his character quest and decided me and him were going to wipe them the fuck out. Not sure that qualifies but it's what popped in my head.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Escaping from Dagolar's Lair in Dark Sun : Shattered Lands

The building statue Quest from Arcanum where you have to talk the locals into it.

The fetch deliver a box quest early in Planescape Torment which turns out to be far more and has many different and interesting outcomes.

The Unicorn King quest in Might & Magic VIII where you can summon it and kill it for its treasures, you just have to be at the right place on the right moment with the right item.

And much more but it's too early in the morning ...

 

[Contagium]

Returning the crab back to its family in Grimoire.

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

In the last Dragon Age , Bioware game, i met an attractive girl , attractive like hell, face, breast all was perfect, we did some questing together, learned about her origins, family, home, country, my character felt in love with her , her name was Leliana.
Yes the same lady you may traveled with in Origins. Agile warrior and great addition to the party.

I was under her spell totally, and God , voice of the angel truly, and these eyes. After few days of this love affair we went on the quest to slay some monsters that were killing poor villagers.
Then she told me her name was given by her mother after name of some glamour flower from her homeland
when she was 18's after her sister died in the plague, and her mother wanted her to take a name after dead sister.
I asked her, about her previous name , before that tragic event.
-" Frank" - she answered to me -" My love i want to show you my lollipop now"
Never ever i run so fast, without gathering my party even. I felt safe after 25 days of running at Friendly Arm Inn.

Bioware, Bioware never changes...

 

[Nifft Batuff]

In Fallout 4 there is a minor quest where you have fo find your son. Nice touch for a first person shooter.

 

[Falksi]

Divinity 2 TDKS's full of 'em, Saving the Bacon & Skeletons in the Closet two I can remember.

Oblivion's Into The Painting quest was cool.

Witcher 2 Hung Over

Witcher 3's Fool's Gold.

 

[Ranarama]

Ultima VI - Jester's Quest

 

[Reinhardt]

In Fallout 4 there is a minor quest where you have fo find your son. Nice touch for a first person shooter.

There was also quest in fallout 3 where you have to find your father - middle aged man. Cool mystery investigation.