Vapourware What's your favorite quest/mission/etc in a cRPG, and why do you like it?

[vazha]

Enderal has some sublime mid-game quests - the assassins quest chain and the half-finished mysterious island quests were top notch.

Not sure when you played it but when they re-released it(as Enderal: Forgotten Stories) they finished up a bunch of quests and tied up loose ends, FYI.

The very thing that got the mysterious island quest to that level of sheer awesomeness was the cliffhanger and the feeling that even you werent privy to some of the secrets of Enderal's world. Are you telling me they "fixed" it? Goddammit, why do people fix things that aint broken

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Enderal has some sublime mid-game quests - the assassins quest chain and the half-finished mysterious island quests were top notch.

Not sure when you played it but when they re-released it(as Enderal: Forgotten Stories) they finished up a bunch of quests and tied up loose ends, FYI.

The very thing that got the mysterious island quest to that level of sheer awesomeness was the cliffhanger and the feeling that even you werent privy to some of the secrets of Enderal's world. Are you telling me they "fixed" it? Goddammit, why do people fix things that aint broken

I have no idea, I'm not sure which quest you're referring to as its been a while since I played it. Just thought you meant it was purposely unfinished.

 

[vazha]

The one where you're sent to investigate why the entire colony (inhabited by a sect) just up and disappeared. Then you get to read various letters strewn across and come to several plausible scenarios as to why it might have happened, with no conclusive proof being offered to make sure what exactly took place. I absolutely loved that, wish other games had the balls to do that too.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The one where you're sent to investigate why the entire colony (inhabited by a sect) just up and disappeared. Then you get to read various letters strewn across and come to several plausible scenarios as to why it might have happened, with no conclusive proof being offered to make sure what exactly took place. I absolutely loved that, wish other games had the balls to do that too.

It's the same way in the re-released version.
Enderal has a lot of stuff that is left open to interpretation tbh, kind of a running theme in it.

 

[vazha]

Happy to hear that. Was very impressed with the feeling of eerie claustrophobia & paranoia that they managed to achieve in that quest, I don't think most horror-themed games even come close to that.

 

[Raghar]

Or blowing up Megaton, then finding Moira body.

Nah, blowing up Megaton is bethesda retardation of the highest order.

Yea, it was totally awesome. And Tenpenny actually never found these people didn't leave the city. He thought they moved to better place than that old scrapyard.

And in the end everyone was happy, even Moira who got her radiation experiment done properly on her own body. And on top of that we could see a beautiful nuclear explosion. (Actually if that nuclear explosion would be true ending instead of the idiocy that's ending, everyone would be happy.)

 

[lukaszek]

from recent games I quite enjoyed loose quests around mind control in cyberpunk. Getting just a hint here and there whats really going on, being able to connect the dots as you go.

 

[Trashos]

The best quest ever made is obviously the... hidden quest in Underrail. Unless you read about it you will probably miss it.

Spoiler

The Oculus quest, "Old Man Nosek". The start of the quest is obscure. Then, assuming you manage to start it, you are sent to find a person, a chief....spy so to speak. When you eventually manage to find him (this is an open world game, right?), he promptly blows your mind. Anyway, THIS person sends you to find another person, an old hiding scientist, in order to get information on some old scientific project. Intriguing!

But you can't find him. You ask around, you have got your informants as well, and you get some clues of where and who the hiding scientist might be, but clues are not always to be trusted in this game. At any rate, you try to follow the clues, you end up trying to enter a mansion, but you are denied admission.

There are various challenging ways to enter the mansion (and keep in mind you are not even sure he is in there), but the way I first did it is that I quit the quest in frustration and I forgot about it. Later, as 2 other completely separate quests progressed, new NPCs became available. If you happen to talk to them, they give you new ways to enter the mansion.

So you enter the mansion, and you still can't find him, although you get further clues he might be there in the attic. By this point you have access to spying resources, so you put them to use. You EVENTUALLY manage to get in the attic, and an old man is there, and he won't talk to you!

At this point I was throwing breakable things on the wall in frustration. I quit the quest again and went about other business. Then as some other completely separate quest progressed, I got a code to hack a computer in some lab where the scientist used to work. So I hack that computer and get new info. I revisit the old man in the mansion. NOW he will speak!

TLDR: Read the whole thing, bitch! This quest involves some serious investigating in an open world game, and at various stages you get ways to make progress as you do several completely separate quests and visit various dungeons. It is the complete opposite of hand-holding. This quest blew my mind.

 

[Tihskael]

Beyond the Beef, A Brush with Death, No Place Like Home and getting the gang together before Battle of Kaer Morhen are some of my favorite quests in RPGs. And yeah, Emil's Dark Brotherhood questline in Oblivion is dope too.
Edit- How did I forget the Bloody Baron questline?

 

[Daemongar]

The disappearance of the dwarves in Morrowind. One of the very first quests is finding a Dwemer Puzzle box from the ruins which sets up a very long quest ("Mystery of the Dwarves") which provides more backstory on the thrust of the game. A fantastic, if not the best example of "less is more" in story and quest design, and most people would miss it. What the hell happened to these guys, who should I believe, and why is this half-robot so fat? Most people are wild about Oblivion, but if had to say it had a single flaw, it would be lore that didn't build on Morrowind and precursor lore in any memorable way.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

The Jews Conspiracy quest from Arcanum, they just aren't making quests like this anymore.

this. it's pretty much the only thing I still remember from playing Arcanum 20 years ago.

There's nothing special about the design of this quest. It's just this "ooohhh it's a creepy mystery that ends in an anticlimactic fashion". That's the only reason people still mention it.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Just on top of my mind - I have always loved the Inquisition one in Risen

The entire sequence in Harbour Town was good. The whole business of resolving stuff in favour of the Don or the Torquemada fellow which leads to cementing your choice of faction and who owns the town in the end.

Yeah, overall the game have fairly long quest chains that have a nice conclusion with choice and consequence.

Too bad they are false choices and the end result is always the same: kill 300 lizardmen armed with swords to win the game.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Just on top of my mind - I have always loved the Inquisition one in Risen

The entire sequence in Harbour Town was good. The whole business of resolving stuff in favour of the Don or the Torquemada fellow which leads to cementing your choice of faction and who owns the town in the end.

Yeah, overall the game have fairly long quest chains that have a nice conclusion with choice and consequence.

Too bad they are false choices and the end result is always the same: kill 300 lizardmen armed with swords to win the game.

Nothing wrong with killing scalies

 

[Red Hexapus]

"Paperchase" from Witcher 3 - the one where you try to recover money from the bank account made in your name, but because Geralt has "technically" died before Witcher 1, you need to get the right paperwork to prove that you are indeed who you are. Essentially a boss fight between Geralt and the bureaucratic machine

 

[V_K]

Ah, how could I forget - the titular quest in Realms of Arkania: Star Trail. Don't read the spoiler if you haven't played it, it'll really spoil all fun out of it.

Spoiler

The trickster god is so cunning that he's given the name of his sidequest to the whole game to make you think that it's the main quest and complete it.

Not to mention that the dungeon itself is pretty good.
But really most quests in Star Trail were cool AF. The Finsterkoppen dungeon, which had no combats if you just did what you told the guards you came there to do. Escaping from the besieged Lowangen. Trekking through the wilderness while trailing a party of evil mages who stole the mcguffin only to find out that they've fallen victims to some orks and got imprisoned in their fortress. Such a great game.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The side-quest in Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar where you find a new home for a hermit crab:

 

[Bohrain]

Bloody Baron questline from Witcher 3, one of the rare cases of decent writing combined with C&C that feels meaningful. And the Dark Brotherhood quest in Oblivion where you are locked in the mansion and are supposed to kill everyone without them suspecting you. The stealth quests in Oblivion and Skyrim in general feel like the high points of the games, they manage to somewhat compensate the shitty combat and puzzles.
Other than that, I guess Beyond the Beef in FNV and Raedric's Hold quest in PoE come to mind. Large location along with design that supports multiple different approaches is a great formula.

 

[GhostCow]

The assassin's guild quest in Oblivion. Ending it with killing the entire guild was a nice surprise and I had a blast killing them all. That whole quest line was pretty good.

 

[vazha]

Speaking of fighting the bureaucracy machine, West of Loathing has a hilarious quest that revolves around that exactly. Hell, that game had good (and superbly written) quests dozen for a dime.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I'll repeat myself from another thread, but:

I have to tell you one thing, guys. The inquisitorial trial of Johanka in Woman's Lot DLC for Kingdom Come: Deliverance and everything that leads to it is fucking great. Long have I waited for such piece of RPG brilliance. So many elements work together to make this scene believable and engaging - your stats (speech and charisma, even reading), your previous deeds and decisions, the books you've managed to read, conversations you had. Relations you created with certain NPCs. When it all goes into action it is a beauty to behold. An interesting quest culminates in a very well written scene with lots of snarky dialogue, theological debate, moments of genuine comism, but also growing feeling of dread and incoming tragedy.

You have to do a lot of legwork and talking before it even begins - and quest compass does not show you the most important factors, you have to use your brain to save the poor girl's life. During the trial you have many possibilities to influence the proceedings, but some things may happen regardless of your actions - you are not the main actor here. The main actors are the inquisitor (who at least in one ending shows a surprising amount of decency) and the accused woman. Also, every possible outcome is interesting and sad in its own, unique way. You can basically help Johanka save her life - or the sincerity of her convictions. But you can't save both.

Great idea and brilliant realization.

 

[Falksi]

I love the main quest in Shadowrun Returns. I'm a sucker for a good murder-mystery, and that was an excellently weighted one.

Flemeth’s Real Grimoire was great too. Pure traditional fantasy involving witches and ancient books which unearth a secret far more terrible than anyone would have thought.

And whilst it wasn't particularly fun to play, bonking as many slags as you can in The Witcher 1 was refreshingly misogynistic, and deserves recognition too.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I love the main quest in Shadowrun Returns. I'm a sucker for a good murder-mystery, and that was an excellently weighted one

It was the only reason to endure the first half of the game.

 

[Alienman]

Flemeth’s Real Grimoire was great too. Pure traditional fantasy involving witches and ancient books which unearth a secret far more terrible than anyone would have thought.

You mean the quest from Origin or something later in the series?

 

[Falksi]

Flemeth’s Real Grimoire was great too. Pure traditional fantasy involving witches and ancient books which unearth a secret far more terrible than anyone would have thought.

You mean the quest from Origin or something later in the series?

The Origin one titled "Flemeth’s Real Grimoire". Morrigan's main companion quest.

 

[Alienman]

Flemeth’s Real Grimoire was great too. Pure traditional fantasy involving witches and ancient books which unearth a secret far more terrible than anyone would have thought.

You mean the quest from Origin or something later in the series?

The Origin one titled "Flemeth’s Real Grimoire". Morrigan's main companion quest.

Yeah, I liked that one too. I just remember that her "death" is not final in Origin. Not sure what kind of interactions you have with her later on in the series though.