What Are Some of Your Favorite RPG Quests?

Ryosen asks: "The current issue of PC Gamer Magazine has a rundown on the MMORPGs due out this year. Reading over the list of hopefuls and checking out some of the websites and comments, I continually ran across complaints from players about the tedium in a lot of the quests from various games. These are typically of the non-imaginative 'take this message to that person' variety, or 'go kill 4 of these creatures' sorts. Obviously there have been some great quests and plots in games of the past and, with so many new RPGs in development, I thought this would be a great time to reminisce over some of our favorites. Who knows? Maybe some of those designers might find some inspiration for their upcoming creations."

Comments

Involve players in the epic storyline

[Metasquares]

I used to GM an Ultima Online shard. The most successful quests tended to be the ones that involved players in the storyline, bringing all of UO's lore into play and allowing them to mold the shard's future lore. These quests tend to be deeper, darker, and more dangerous than your run-of-the-mill "kill these monsters" quests. You can drag some of these storylines out over multiple quests spanning long periods of time, too.

That's if you're talking about GM-run quests. If you plan on automating your quests, you're going to be kind of doomed from the start. Anything automatic will eventually become boring to players.

Re:Baldur's Gate 2

[Donniedarkness]

Agreed. Baldur's Gate 2 was so good that Neverwinter Nights DISSAPOINTED ME. The quests were interesting, the characters were interesting... I always got very into the storyline (and the comedy was such that it didn't feel out of place... Boo rox ^_^).

In my mind, Baldur's Gate 2 has not been outdone yet.

Best quest ever

[darthwader]

"Fetch a larva for the council."

It must be the best quest, since it appears in the two best RPGs ever written.

Re:Star Control 2

[antic]

Agreed - SC2 is a great game.

I don't really play RPGs but I wondered if there were any out there that used a more natural format for quests. So someone's talking in the town about a rising threat in a nearby area. It's not mentioned as a specific quest, but should you not decide to deal with it, the threat's power may develop at a later date to the point at which it is simple too difficult to defeat. e.g., take care of a brooding Sauron before he's amassed his power.

Or is the concept of a quest to finely engrained in the level-up, "I've achieved something" format of games?

Final Fantasy VI - The Opera

[zzz1357]

Celes's performance at the Opera House is the number one quest in my book.

It's so beautiful, but sad, and it foreshadows what happens during the second half of the game. Arguably the most famous sequence in the game, in 2002 Electronic Gaming Monthly declared the opera scene one of the "20 Greatest Moments in Console Gaming."

Dragon Quest VIII

[zerocool^]

I have to chime in for Dragon Quest VIII. It probably isn't the best RPG I've played - I'd say there are some parts of Final Fantasy US3 that can make my eyes water (locke's girlfriend and the phoenix)... but DQ8 is a throwback to Old school RPG's. It has excellent grapics in the "cell shaded" style, and I can not possibly say enough good about the music. The game has a good storyline, it's never taking its self too seriously, and I can't wait to see how it all ends.

~Will

Re:Progress Quest

[usrusr]

heh, why did you have to mention progressquest? now i'm heading back to the killing fields, only because of you!

"Placate the Ochre Jellies"
"Seek the Crafted Spangle"
"Seek the Proverbial Galoon"

Re:Morrowind

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, that was one great thing about Morrowind. The two quests I liked best weren't even in the quest log - find out what happened to the Dwemer and find out how Vivec became a demi-god. I guess I skipped about 50% of the main storyline just bashing around the island searching ruins for books and clues.

World of Warcraft has some good ones...

[matthewcraig]

Though most of them are "fetch my hoe" or "deliver this note" or "kill me some rats" quests, there are some good story quest chains in World of Warcraft. I think my favorite ones are in the Plaguelands. The Redpath quest chain is really enjoyable.

After the fall of Darrowshire, the Redpath family was split up. The ghost of the daughter starts the chain sending you off to located the remaining living family members. Through magic you rewrite their historic battle to allow yourself to enter into the defense of the town. The last quest involves gathering up to 39 other friends to fight along side the ghostly town defenders against the undead scourge onslaught. Really an epic conclusion to an interesting fantasy story.

The Glow

[necrognome]

I will never forget the Glow in Fallout. The atmosphere and music were perfect, and I loved the way in which the veil was peeled away from the game's storyline.

Re:Favorite WoW Quest

[WIAKywbfatw]

I think that you mean Gnomeregan rather than Gadgetzan. Gadgetzan is a neutral town in Tanaris, whereas Gnomergan is the fallen city of the Gnomes.

Coming back on topic (or at least this particular thread of it), I personally enjoy doing the quest chain that gives access to Onyxia's Lair. It's one of the longer, more complicated quest chains in the game but it has one or two really nice parts to it. I don't know exactly how much health and armor that Highlord Bolvar Fordragon has, but he can tank for me anytime.

The basic problem with quests in World Of Warcraft is that they have to be accessible to the average player, and by that I mean that they have to be pretty much idiot-proof. Any quest that wasn't would only:

1. Cause a disproportionate number of GM tickets (support requests from a Blizzard employee);
2. Be ignored by most players unless it offered particularly good quest rewards;
3. Be completed by 95 percent of players only after they looked up the complete solution on a site like thottbot.com or allakhazam.com.

If you want to over-analyse things then you'll find that there are only four core quest types in WOW: killing, collecting, delivering and escorting, and that all the quests are basically made up of one or more of these elements. But then there are only actually seven core stories/plots used in novels and movies, and all of them can basically be boiled down to a combination of one or more of those too.

Yes, if you just look at quests as "kill 10 murlocs" or "collect 8 murloc scales" then they will seem rather banal, but if you actually take the time to read the back stories, and the various non-quest-related texts around the world of Azeroth then there is a lot more depth to the story to appreciate.

Again, it's to WOW's credit that if you don't want to take all that in that you don't have to: if you just want to kill, collect and level up then you can do that, and have a lot of fun doing it without having to totally immerse yourself in the rich lore all around you.

CRPG quests = mostly errands

[Lazy Jones]

This is a problem of CRPGs and probably the reason why I don't remember anything particularly enjoyable (OK, some were funny, but that's about it). Really noteworthy "quests" were always the domain of adventure games (you know, good old Infocom and Sierra stuff etc.)