I’ve a excessive tolerance for fetch quests. If Genshin Impression needs me to exterminate the identical group of hilichurls again and again to seek for a vengeance-obsessed NPC’s misplaced sword, then I will do it—I’ve bought time to kill. However when an RPG jams that sort of drudgery entrance and heart into the principle storyline or sends me down an extended, tedious questline with the reward pushed to the very finish, even I begin to assume: is that this actually the very best they may give you?
Fetch quests, which have earned a popularity because the lowest type of RPG sidequest, sometimes contain discovering gadgets and bringing them again to a recipient. The significantly unhealthy ones make you run from space to space between traces of filler dialogue, compounding a boring goal with a limp justification for doing it.
“At their coronary heart, nearly each quest is ‘go get a factor’ or ‘go kill an individual,'” Avowed sport director Carrie Patel mentioned in a current interview with PC Gamer. “When quests fall flat, it is simply because there’s not sufficient curiosity in what you are doing.”
Final yr in One Piece Odyssey I did completely too many errands for NPCs within the desert city of Alabasta, every of them telling me that I should ask the opposite man for a key I wanted to progress within the story. Honkai: Star Rail, a sport I publicly love, additionally dragged me by fetch quests for its Belobog museum occasion. It was a chore regardless of some good-looking rewards; I might commerce that bounty for quests that requested extra of me than quick touring someplace, strolling for 30 seconds and urgent one button. It is attainable for a fetch quest to return throughout as an trustworthy try to inform an actual story, however too usually they fall quick, in the event that they’re attempting in any respect. Patel says that “even when it is a fetch quest at coronary heart,” a quest ought to have “some second the place your expectations change, or one thing surprises you or issues get extra difficult.
“If it truly is ‘go choose up this factor after which convey it again,’ you are simply lacking one thing.”
However these sorts of quests do nonetheless exist in video games. After so a few years of gamers rolling their eyes on the fetchiest of fetch quests, are they nonetheless haunting our RPGs simply so video games can promote longer playtimes? Builders say the reality is extra nuanced.
So why are there nonetheless so many fetch quests?
Most quests are mechanically constructed from the identical primary items, but solely a few of them get labeled fetch quests. All quests want a quest giver and an goal, which ought to—huge ask right here—ideally entertain the participant and match into the overarching story. It is as much as writers and designers to construct on these factors to create a quest price our time, layering in sub-objectives, scattering lore all through, or amusing us with a vigorous NPC. Discovering which answer hits the candy spot is the exhausting half.
Adam Dolin, a author and narrative designer who at the moment works at Night time Faculty Studios and used to work for God of Struggle’s Santa Monica Studio, factors to execution as the issue in lots of fetch quests relatively than the premise. “When there is not a lot complexity past that preliminary construction, or there’s TOO a lot of it, or the narrative wrapper feels arbitrary… that is when the hunt is susceptible to being labeled ‘simply one other fetch quest,'” he says.
“The explanation fetch quests are so frequent is as a result of discovering that good steadiness is tough and time-consuming. It requires MASSIVE quantities of collaboration between many alternative departments, and much and plenty of playtesting, iteration, after which extra playtesting.”
Exterior elements can flip a probably intriguing quest right into a flat one. Many occasions sport writers and narrative designers have an thought of the way to enhance a quest and simply haven’t got the means to do it. Guild Wars 2 sport designer Emily Morrow factors to the boogymen so usually exterior of designers’ direct management: time and price range.
“Typically that huge, participating quest you are designing seems to be too costly, or it would take too lengthy to implement and check, or there is not sufficient broader staff assist to present it the consideration it deserves,” she says. “I discover that originality normally is not a problem when developing with quests: concepts are low cost, and it is simple to brainstorm plenty of new and distinctive ideas.
“Sadly, real-world issues usually get in the way in which of that.”
Fetch quests could be… good, truly?
Jeff Howard, senior lecturer within the Video games Academy at Falmouth College, research how totally different sport design components can strengthen a narrative—or fail it. To him, fetch quests are “underrated” for his or her untapped narrative potential and the leisure they will provide gamers once they have a extra advanced function behind them.
Howard factors to The Elder Scrolls and Planescape: Torment as examples of video games that do fetch quests proper. He highlights the Daedric quests in Oblivion specifically, which activity the participant with amassing artifacts for demonic gods. “This stuff embody the Sanguine Rose and the Masque of Clavicus Vile, that are each embedded within the eldritch mythologies of their related daedric lords. Equally, Planescape Torment includes the seek for summary concepts, akin to songs and recollections, which may function as keys to open interdimensional portals.”
Not each quest is meant to be a story marvel, anyway—in comparison with the protagonist’s final objective of saving the world, it would really feel inappropriate for a sidequest to instantly take the highlight when all it rewards you is a few additional bucks.
“Not each quest in a sport, significantly a big sport like an open world journey sport or MMO, must be wholly authentic or a showstopper,” Emily Morrow says. “Having a very good combine of easy and complicated quests offers gamers a wide range of actions to take part in no matter their ability degree or experiences.”
She additionally factors out how fetch quests may even be obligatory for the general well being of the sport. “Fetch quests are a option to acquaint new gamers with a sport’s mechanics and provides present gamers a second to breathe in between huge beats. They might help make a world really feel extra vibrant and energetic, and they are often adjusted to suit nearly any story setting.”
Completed properly these quests do not simply really feel like chores, even once they’re simple.
“Aloy searching raccoons for a selected bone or pelt has a purely purposeful reward: higher tools,” says Dolin, utilizing his time engaged on Horizon Zero Daybreak to focus on how smaller fetch quests could be efficient. “The emotion you’re feeling as a participant when finishing that quest is totally different from, say, one with cinematics and dialog and fascinating NPCs. However the feeling of lastly discovering that final rattling raccoon bone and getting an even bigger ammo bag continues to be a constructive feeling! Including quest givers and cinematics and tons of dialog to this easy ‘fetch quest’ is overkill.”
Avoiding “simply one other fetch quest”
So then, how do devs maintain the “good” fetch quests that do not set off busywork klaxons in gamers’ heads?
“I attempt to ask myself: what function does this specific kind of quest serve right here? Is it meant to be a giant second, or is it OK that it is extra of a facet exercise or a manner for gamers to grind?” says Morrow. “The solutions to those questions play a giant half in what a quest will finally be.” Briefly, gamers simply want a very good cause to need to end a quest.
“If I am engaged on a fetch quest or one thing that has the potential to really feel tedious, I attempt to insert one thing else that makes it fascinating or distinctive. It might be a humorous character, a well-recognized merchandise or setting utilized in a brand new manner, or participating dialog.”
“A foul fetch quest is one which feels pointless or a waste of time,” says Dolin. “If you are going to ask your participant to spend their time to go fetch one thing, ask your self, “Why would gamers do that?” If there is not a solution in addition to “expertise factors and/or gold,” then there isn’t any emotional funding.”
His recommendation for junior devs: “Give your quest giver some persona, imbue the merchandise you are fetching with a private story, and lean in your themes for inspiration.”
Weaving worldbuilding or character growth right into a quest can flip one thing that is a fetch quest by definition right into a significant story. Dolin appears again on The Anatomy of Hope from God of Struggle, when designers gave him a easy description that he wanted to jot down right into a quest: “Whereas exploring the Lake of 9, Kratos and Atreus encounter a spirit who asks you to gather his lover’s bones so she will be able to lastly relaxation in peace. As soon as you come back all of the bones, they flip into a robust Revenant you need to struggle.”
“I might been conditioned by Matt Sophos (narrative director) and Wealthy Gaubert (lead author) to all the time reply the query, ‘why would Kratos agree to do that?’ The strongest reply was normally ‘to show Atreus a lesson.’ I assumed having the spirit promise a reunion with the recently-deceased Faye was robust motivation for Atreus, however Kratos is aware of from expertise that that is bogus. So the lesson turned: ‘Let the child burn his hand on the range.’ It additionally gave me the uncommon alternative to let Kratos and Atreus speak brazenly about their grief after amassing a bone and boating to the following location.”
That little bit of the sport obtained the care wanted to nurture one thing that could be a fetch quest at its core right into a significant second. There was additionally a private expertise at its heart, creating for Dolin the identical sort of emotional funding he hopes to invoke in gamers. He wrote the hunt not lengthy after his father died in 2016, and was processing his grief whereas Kratos and Atreus have been processing theirs.
“Authenticity resonates with audiences. Do not be afraid to mine your personal private experiences for inspiration,” he says.