Best Quests from Other Titles

[Elkor_Alish]

 

Not impressive tbh. Cos there is no reason not to save Redcliffe or Leliana from ashes unless you're being evil for the sake of it. What I mean is when you choose to save those things you don't sacrifice anything, no one in anywhere else is getting pissed etc.

It sounds like reactivity Deus Ex:HR had at the start of the game. If you take too much time hostages you were send to save will be dead already. It seems less like choice, as more like devs bypassing expected behaviour (game always waits for players). If it doesn't get any reactivity beyond loosing on "town defence" than it is disappointing. Still, a positive thing in a campaign, in which every thing after the battle of Ostagar I found extremely dull and rigit.

 

Deus Ex has always had those moments. In the first one there is a point where your brother (who is also augmented) starts shutting down while a grip of agents are incoming. The mission is to escape and leave him behind. His dialogue is to escape and leave him behind. If you try to stay and fight with him, he will die in a hail of gunfire (there are a lot of them), but if you ambush the agents in the lobby or stairwell and take them all out before they can reach his room he will live through the rest of the game. There are also hostages in the subway who will be shot if you **** around too long in the air ducts trying to infiltrate, and who will all be blown up if you are seen at any point trying to rescue them. And then there are also two mini bosses whom you face at different times, or not at all, depending upon choices you have made throughout the game, which is also pretty cool.

 

edit: I will never understand devs who think content people may not experience is wasted, because having a dynamic experience which is different from your friends who are also playing is what makes you replay a game you would otherwise forget about as soon as something else comes out

Edited March 13, 2018 by Elkor_Alish

[geala]

I think good and complex stories are found in books. That said, I especially liked several stages in the main quest of Morrowind, the first small quest which sent me into a Dwemer ruin in Morrowind, the jouney into the deep in DA II (although I did not like the game as a whole), exploring Markaths deeps in Skyrim or dealing with a ghoulified child from a refrigerator in Fallout 4. And many others where certain parts are remarkable or funny, f.e. the can factory search in Fallout 4, yummy yummy. I don't like the Witcher but the three-big-witch-monsters-in-the-swamp-quest in Witcher 3 remained in my memory, too.

[Blades of Vanatar]

The Planar Sphere in BG2 with it giving us D&D fans an experience with crossing of the various PnP campaigns. Knights of Solmania and Cannibal Darksun Halflings, plus the whole Valugar storyline of him being a hater/hunter of mages due to his evil ancestor. Cool....

[general_azure]

Figuring out what can change the nature of a man was pretty brilliant imho.

[Lord_Mord]

 

Figuring out what can change the nature of a man was pretty brilliant imho.

 

I think, what made the quests in PS:T so very good, wasn't the quest themselves, but how they all were a part of the great puzzle of solving that question. PoE did that to a degree, but not nearly on that level.

[Wormerine]

 

 

Figuring out what can change the nature of a man was pretty brilliant imho.

 

I think, what made the quests in PS:T so very good, wasn't the quest themselves, but how they all were a part of the great puzzle of solving that question. PoE did that to a degree, but not nearly on that level.

I think PoE has a bit of Planescape brilliance. The "what can change the nature of a man" was a brilliant moment, because it wasn't thrust upon you: there was no big revelation. It was a question directed to you - a player or a roleplayer. The answer you give doesn't really matter, and matter a whole lot at the same time. A space given to you to express your character, key moment allowing you to define your current Nameless incarnation. 

[daven]

A lot of the Dark Brotherhood quests in Oblivion are good and there are usually multiple ways to complete them.

 

I have been playing New Vegas again and something is really bothering me, a lot of the quests you just run back and forth constantly. 

[Progressive_Stupidity]

Generally quests which involve a lot of roleplaying dialogue/persuasion and intrigue mechanics while being minimal on combat stick with me. The winter palace from DAI, the brotherhood quest in Oblivion where you bump off all the other guests, pretty much the entirety of Mass Effect: Citadel. Also the quest to find Virgil after he leaves your group in Arcanum using the clues from his actions and backstory and the same with Magnus and his lost clan, Glory's personal mission in Shadowrun: Dragonfall, almost all of the side quests in VTM:B... In general as far as side quests go, if they're going to continue to be a part of the core roleplaying game makeup, writers need to set themselves a series of rules to abide by when creating them ie:

 

1. Does it allow for the player character to enhance their roleplay story or show their skills/background through dialogue choices?

 

2. Does it reveal something new about an important character/companion or some interesting new lore about the world?

 

3. Does it involve a unique mechanic?

 

4. Does it show the effects of current events in the main plot on the world in ways that might otherwise go unexplored?

 

5. Does it not require mental roleplaying gymnastics for the player to justify why their character would stop to do this given whatever is going on in the main plot?

 

Etcetera. If the answer isn't yes to at least two of those questions, then it shouldn't be in the game.

[anameforobsidian]

• In Avernum there's a quest to find a bag of sugar (which is incredibly rare), and annoying to get; it takes place in a weird prison colony.  In Avernum 3, which takes place in the normal world, every inn has a bag of sugar.  There's also a quest to get an orb that lets you fly, but you can only tell where it is by following rumors and exploring.

Fallout has the Iguana on a Stick quest.

In Fallout 2, killing a (amphibian morton) gangster means that his brothers will eventually hunt you down to try to get revenge (as random encounters).

In Baldur's Gate there's that dead cat quest.

Arcanum has the great orc labor strike quest.  It's fantastic at setting the scene.

Gothic 2 (or is it Risen) has a quest where you have to get into the city.  You can do sidequests, bribe your way in, or if you're clever swim in.  Gothic 2's whole thieving arc is pretty awesome.

Sunless Sea is made up of nothing but cool quests and lame mechanics.  One ends up with crazy sisters burning a house down in true Victorian fashion.

VTMB's whole ghoul quest is pretty cool.  That game had a lot of neat of sidequests.  The chinese theater and weird fish demon fights are examples.

The Secret World has awesome investigation quests where you have to solve puzzles and do internet research.

New Vegas has a lot of great quests.  I think my favorite is the whole Old World Blues DLC, which captures the imagination and wonder of old school science fiction.

Being sent to find dwarf ruins in Morrowind was pretty cool.

The class specific quests in BG2 were awesome, but many of BG2's quests were a level above.

Edited March 25, 2018 by anameforobsidian

[Tattyblue]

I've always been a very big fan of evil quests. Evil always gets the short shaft in almost every RPG. How many people went cruel and aggressive in Pillars? We need some evil quests like some of the Daedric quests in Skyrim. 

[anameforobsidian]

I've always been a very big fan of evil quests. Evil always gets the short shaft in almost every RPG. How many people went cruel and aggressive in Pillars? We need some evil quests like some of the Daedric quests in Skyrim. 

 

There aren't many evil quests in Pillars but there aren't many good quests either.  Sometimes it's nice to move past a Manichean good vs. evil narrative.  The most quest in the game (Orlan baby) is presented for believable reasons.

Edited March 25, 2018 by anameforobsidian

[fortuntek]

Saren. I have a ton of respect for how the ME1 team pulled off Saren as a villain and the (major Mass Effect 1 ending spoiler:) ability to persuade him to kill himself in the first part of the end boss battle. While not strictly an example of a quest, if we're including broader story choices, well, they took something as gamey as putting points into a stat (Paragon/Renegade) and turned it into a way to enable one of the most shocking and rewarding moments in gaming for me, period. I'll always remember that first play through fondly. Hands down my favourite villain since Irenicus

[Elkor_Alish]

Saren. I have a ton of respect for how the ME1 team pulled off Saren as a villain and the (major Mass Effect 1 ending spoiler:) ability to persuade him to kill himself in the first part of the end boss battle. While not strictly an example of a quest, if we're including broader story choices, well, they took something as gamey as putting points into a stat (Paragon/Renegade) and turned it into a way to enable one of the most shocking and rewarding moments in gaming for me, period. I'll always remember that first play through fondly. Hands down my favourite villain since Irenicus

And it also made him incredibly sympathetic. It was at that point that I really bought the fact he truly believed what he had done was necessary because once he was confronted with the possibility of another course of action. . .it destroyed him.

 

Great moment :D

[Tattyblue]

 

I've always been a very big fan of evil quests. Evil always gets the short shaft in almost every RPG. How many people went cruel and aggressive in Pillars? We need some evil quests like some of the Daedric quests in Skyrim. 

 

There aren't many evil quests in Pillars but there aren't many good quests either.  Sometimes it's nice to move past a Manichean good vs. evil narrative.  The most quest in the game (Orlan baby) is presented for believable reasons.

 

 

 

Basically almost every quest in pillars is a heroic come to the aid of someone or something.  I cant spoil but if your saving a girl from an evil group, thats a good focused quest, if you are stopping a madman thats a good focused quest.  There were a few evil quests or decisions in Pillars but most of them came back and bit you in the ending slides or even in the game itself.

[fgalkin]

I'm a big fan of the personal quest of one of the party members in Shadowrun: Hong Kong where you have to infiltrate a hacker convention. The meta jokes are hilarious. 

For that matter, there is Dragonfall, which has a ton of great quests, from the Aztechnology Run, to Glory's personal quest, to the final base. 

[master guardian]

how about the entire baldurs gate 2 game

[fgalkin]

how about the entire baldurs gate 2 game

Seriously? When was the last time you played BG2? It....hasn't aged well. 

[Elkor_Alish]

I'm a big fan of the personal quest of one of the party members in Shadowrun: Hong Kong where you have to infiltrate a hacker convention. The meta jokes are hilarious. 

For that matter, there is Dragonfall, which has a ton of great quests, from the Aztechnology Run, to Glory's personal quest, to the final base.

They could have made an entire game surrounding Bloodline and those clones, because the implications of Aztechnology succeeding with that program would have been pretty horrific. I liked the Black Lodge quest quite a bit as well

[Aramintai]

how about the entire baldurs gate 2 game

Can't say I agree about BG2, but entire Planescape:Torment for sure.

Edited March 26, 2018 by Aramintai

[JerekKruger]

Yeah BG2 had some good quests but plenty of terrible ones too.

[Heijoushin]

Nice thread, it brings back memories.

 

- In Vampire Bloodlines, there were so many quests that were awesome (including the haunted house quest mentioned earlier). I suppose more than the actual quest contents, this was very much thanks to the writing. Each quest in Bloodlines had a really rich story to it and you met interesting people.

 

- I loved the Dark Brotherhood questline in Oblivion. Apart from the fact that wearing black cloaks and assassinating people is a power fantasy, I like that you have to murder someone in cold blood to get in and that they ask you to kill people in unique ways. 

 

- NWN2. I liked the whole trial section that ended with a one-on-one duel. You get to use all your talking skills in the trial, but then finish it with an epic 1v1. Real Game of Thrones stuff there. 

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Edited March 26, 2018 by Heijoushin

[Aramintai]

Also, I like quests that start out innocently small but as they unravel the plot takes a complete turnaround to something else entirely, be it funny or sinister. 

Like that "Hangover" style quest in Skyrim where you roam across the map looking for clues as to what happened last night and in the end you end up in another plane at the guest table of the Daedric prince of drunken debauchery.

Or that quest in the Witcher 3 where merry preparations of the grand opening of Dandelion's inn turn into a morbid serial killer investigation.

 

Also, I love quests where you have to investigate crime scenes, find clues and make deductions, which you can fail and with consequences. So I liked lots of L.A. Noire quests and the Witcher series quests.

[SonicMage117]

Did I already say Witcher 3's fetch quests? No... onay I'm saying it now.

 

Why The Witcher 3's fetch-quests are superior:

 

The inclusion of solid voice acting

The variety

The atmosphere

The "Oomph"