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In a generation of open-world games, housed on enormous blu-ray discs or multiple cd’s, the side-quests and trophy/achievement quests are a staple of most game genres.   A staple that is expected on almost every title, but with all the advancements in these games that have us careening off the beating path, have these side-quests gotten better and more creative? Or have they become a laundry-list of tedious motions one must complete to move forward?
 
Side-quests can be a great way to lengthen a game’s playtime. It can provide an excellent framing device for new gameplay mechanics within a title, and it can provide difficult challenges for players looking to get the most out of the games they purchase.
 
A general threat to the side-quests that older gamers may have grown accustom too, is the addition to trophies and achievements in games. These optional trophies have become side-quests on their own. The reward for completion no longer a special item or cut scene, but usually just a shiny trophy to display on your profile.
 
In Final Fantasy VII, a rather famous RPG title for a console; players were met with side-quests varying from; defeating optional bosses, to a snowboarding mini-game. These mini-games, or boss hunts, were optional and added length to the game and allowed the player to take a break from the story and explore the world on their own.
 
Side-quests are just that, a break. They should be fun, challenging and vary from the core of the game in a way that it gives the player a sense of achievement and progression when the story-line might be plateauing.
 
They can also provide the player with an optional task, when they may be stuck at a particularly tough segment of the game and can not move forward. Side-quests should be rewarding, or advance a character’s story, or become a small story-arch on it’s own. They should not simply exist to extend time, or add another trophy to the game.
 
The open-world genre has brought with it a horribly dull habit of collecting small items in a massively open environments. In Assassin’s Creed, there are small flags one must collect. In Infamous, you have tiny shards of rock that you must scour the land for and pick up. In just these two examples you see how the tedious act of a to-do list has taken the place of traditional side-quests….(cont.)
 

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