Quests!

the0thMonkey · Jul 31, 2013

So, while reading the Wikipedia article on quests the other day, I was shocked to find that up to this point all quests in video games can be broken down into four categories. Kill, delivery, gather, and escort. This seems wrong.

While we know some facts about how quests will be handled in Sui Generis, e.g. quest items will not be tagged and NPC quest behaviour will be very dynamic, I intend this thread to further explore the subject. I feel that the player should be able to accomplish more than just killing, delivering, gathering, and escorting. When you look at it, these are all quite menial tasks. Occasionally enjoyable, but menial on the whole. As people, we can definitely offer more than this traditional quest structure affords us.

Therefore, I'd be interested in hearing what original ideas you have for quests (preferably consistent with what we know about the world of SG), perhaps examples of when quests were done well, or particularly memorable ones from other games or media. The devs of course have no obligation to use anything we suggest but if it acts as inspiration, all the better! Naturally, if the devs also want to slip us some extra information, we're all ears!

Begin!

Komuflage · Jul 31, 2013

If you break a quest down, ofc it will just be as simple as kill, delivery, gather or escort, how could it be anything else? Except maybe if you're suppose to ring a guard bell, but then again, it would most likely just be, go from point a to b and kill enemys on the way.

Point is, if you break it down to the very fabric, then ofc it's simple and boring. Just like football is simply running around and kicking a ball (While in reality it's much more) or rallying is just pressing a pedal and turning a wheel. (Again in reality it's much more)

Udolf · Jul 31, 2013

I remember the first "quest" in Nehrim (Oblivion Total Conversion) you had to simply escape from a dangerous, huge dungeon. It was really thrilling! You had the feeling the dungeon would never end! How does it fit in one of those categoties?

Komuflage · Jul 31, 2013

Well you have to move from point A to point B killing enemys on the way.

cosmo bozo · Jul 31, 2013

Interesting...
so which of those 4 categories does a murder investigation fall into for example?

Gather evidence I suppose, bu it's more than just that, the evidence might not just be items....

depends how they are presented...

Komuflage · Jul 31, 2013

cosmo bozo said:
Interesting...
so which of those 4 categories does a murder investigation fall into for example?

Gather evidence I suppose, bu it's more than just that, the evidence might not just be items....

depends how they are presented...

This was the point I was trying to make earlier, "if you break it down to the very fabric, then ofc it's simple and boring." But even a "kill" quest is not just a "kill" quest, it's much more to it, so these categories seems more dull than they actually are.

the0thMonkey · Jul 31, 2013

Komuflage said:
If you break a quest down, ofc it will just be as simple as kill, delivery, gather or escort, how could it be anything else? Except maybe if you're suppose to ring a guard bell, but then again, it would most likely just be, go from point a to b and kill enemys on the way.

Point is, if you break it down to the very fabric, then ofc it's simple and boring. Just like football is simply running around and kicking a ball (While in reality it's much more) or rallying is just pressing a pedal and turning a wheel. (Again in reality it's much more)

Part of the purpose of this thread is to answer the question: How could it be anything else? In real life, people obviously achieve more than this, so why does the game quest structure have to be so limiting? It's not uncommon for gamers to be bored, or even insulted, by game designers making things unnecessarily simple. Talking down to us, so to speak. So, how can we correct this and realize our full potential?

To rephrase the purpose of the other half of this thread, what do these elements build up to? To continue your comparison, what sport do we intend to create? And how can this be achieved?

cosmo bozo · Jul 31, 2013

there's always the "wait here" quest, that doesn't fit any of those categories

martino · Aug 1, 2013

My understanding is that Baremettle want to make said quest more meaning full.
EG, Blacksmith asks for 10 iron ingots.
1) you can steal them from the local Iron mine, however he will identify the irons source and know that the mine has been robbed. Lowering your standing in the community.
2) you could buy/steal the iron from another mine in which case he doesn't care where it came from. Improving your standing with the blacksmith/community
3) You could hand over the rusty iron swords from your raid on the bandit camp. improving your rep and clearing your inventory of garbage you were previously unable to sell.
4) You could do a raid on a iron mine from another community which the local blacksmith/town don't get along with and allow it to be public knowledge. Standing changes dependent on raid success and other factors.

If the game mechanics will not allow stacking of items, then it could be relative easy to attach the "entity" marker (Madoc mentioned here), it could identify which community/ group /person the item has a relationship with and the type of relationship.

Kill 10 bandits. More rep if the bandits you kill are the ones which have been attacking local villages. Through to no rep if you kill bandits outside the villages area of influence (unless you lie). What about those Vagabonds you killed for the fun of it, can you frame them as them been bandits.

What happens if the bandits turn out to be militia for the local power in the region.
Sure you could kill them and get the reward from the village.
But then the local baron puts a bounty on your head for killing his men.
You kill the men he sends after you.
Imprisonment is threatened to any one who harbors/ assist you.
You find you can no longer trade with villages, because of the bounty offered villages are beginning to try and entrap you. If you harm them the standing in the village drops.
If you move against the baron how will it effect your standing with other nobility.
Was it really worth killing those militia who were robbing the village.