- Amethyst
- 1 May, 2025
Setting the Stage
RPG side quests are the additional tasks beyond a main storyline. They invite players to experience adventures that go further than making your way to the end of a game.
Quests can dive into the backgrounds of secondary characters. It’s also possible they offer additional rewards or unlock new locations to travel to.
Do the extra tasks enrich the experience of the game or do they just take up time as filler content? In this article we explore the evolution of side quests.
Are they essential for the gameplay and what is their impact?
The Evolution of Side Quests in RPGs
Side quests have been a part of RPGs since its’ early days. Side quests were relatively simple in early adaptations of Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda. Most of the times they were just item collection searches or minor combat challenges. When RPGs evolved through time, so did the difficulty and storytelling in side quests.
Modern RPGs like The Witcher 3, Skyrim, and Persona series, have evolved side quests into rich stories of their own. It adds hours of engaging content and a more in-depth context to the game’s world.
Side quests regularly have their set purpose. From meeting new characters, exploring moral choices of main characters, or expanding the main storyline.
This makes side quests an integral part of the RPG experience. Series like Suikoden in the 90’s/00’s and games like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim showcased this kind of evolution by offering side quests that feel just as essential as the main storyline. It often leaves players with moral decisions and lasting impressions.
How Side Quests Impact Gameplay and Player Engagement
As previously explained, side quests have their set purposes. Each kind of side quests impacts gameplay and player investment differently. Let’s investigate that!
• Fetch Quests – These are often the most simpler kind of tasks, such as gathering items or delivering messages. While they may seem unnecessary at times, they can serve as a warm-up to larger challenges. They can also be used as methods to make players feel a part of the day-to-day life in the game world they play.
• Character-Driven Quests – These quests focus on creating new or deepening existing relationships with other characters. For example, in Mass Effect, side quests around and about squad members help build bonds. Players will feel more invested on a personal level with the characters, their bond and the squads fate when playing.
• World-Building Quests – Some side quests are designed to add layers in the game. They can attribute to the lore of the game, the series or introduce gamers to new areas to discover. In The Elder Scrolls series, side quests can uncover ancient ruins or lost cities. This enhances the sense of discovery of new items and other styles of side quests, to make it all a cohesive narrative.
The diversity of side quest designs invite players to engage deeply and not just invest time, but also emotionally into the game. The best style of side quests can significantly increase connection to the game. It can result in some of the most memorable moments in gaming, resulting in players to always come back to the same game, no matter how much they already know.
The emotions and the time invested will never seem like a burden, but an addition to life itself.
Side Quests: Filler Content or Story Enrichment?
There will always be a debate over side quests. Some find they are just filling up the amount of gameplay hours to spend, others find they contribute to the overall experience.
It usually comes down to the design quality of the side quest itself.
Side quests can feel repetitive or contributing little to the game. Well-designed side quests however, can contribute more hours of gameplay an enhanced experience for the game.
The Witcher 3 has been acclaimed for its side quests in the way it enhances the game’s storytelling. It can then tackle complex themes like family, grief, or morality. In Persona 5 Confidant side quests expand on the main character’s relationships. It displays glimpses of each Confidant’s life, their struggles and successes.
On the contrary, there can also be games where the side quest amount overrules the main storyline. In the lead up to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a prequel called Rising was released. It displays three main characters of the main game and the origin of how they got together.
The main storyline however gets lost in a massive amount of fetch quests, with increasing difficulty. In the end, it levels up your town and the option for equipment, but leads to nothing more than a footnote mention in Hundred: Heroes. This leads up to many players abandoning the game and its final rewards for the main game.
Conclusion: What Makes a Side Quest Worthwhile?
We have learned all about what can make side quests worth its’ while in the past couple of minutes.
A side quest will be played if the design is well done, it enhances the game’s narrative and intensifies the user experience.
My personal advice is to not check RPG’s on just the reviews given about it.
Learn more about whether side quests enhance the main storyline and the time and energy you wish to invest in this game.
Do the side quests reward well enough to play through the game, or will they slow you down enough to put the game on the backlog forever?
Consult online guides and playthroughs without commentary to figure out if the game suits your style!
Choose wisely and I hope to hear from you about the new game you’re playing!
