How much of an RPG should be the 'Main Quest'?

[Teut Busnet]

I'm playing DX: MD right now, am 13 hours in and maybe 3.5 of those hours are related to the main quest. The rest of the time I'm running through Prague, crushing drug rings, organize fake IDs for augmented people and free some weirdos from a hypnotists cult. It's far worse than in DX: HR, where most of the time you at least knew the people you were helping.

I almost lost track of what my mission even is.

Compare that to the original Deus Ex, where you always knew what goals you had and why you were doing something and 'side missions' were either very brief or directly related to the main plot. (I guess helping the Rentons and freeing the daughter of that Aquinas Lab-scientist count as 'side missions'?).

So what is a good mixture for you?
I think the main quest should be at least 40-50%, with maybe 25% each for 'support quests' - 'help me to find this item and I tell you where you have to go next' stuff - and 'side missions'.

 

[Reapa]

why?

 

[Barnabas]

I’m 50 hours into Baldur’s Gate 2 and I’m only on chapter 2!!!! Bhahahahaha I love it bhahahhahah

 

[gaussgunner]

Developer?

I think close to 100% of quests should be relevant to, if not central to, the main plot. Any exceptions should be very entertaining.

DX plot was totally railed AFAIK, there were no side missions, just a few optional objectives. I like to have more freedom than that. But frankly most rpgs are too linear and rely too heavily on fedex quests to drive the plot. Doesn't matter if they're "main quests" if they're that lame.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

50-70%. Some side quests are good but too much leads to the game feeling aimless and bloated.

What I think is side content should be less structured. When you have a quest log and check-boxes to fill the game becomes a chore. It's more interesting to just explore the world, get into fights, and find cool stuff. Basically if your combat and leveling aren't fun enough on their own to keep me playing, adding side quests is just going to piss me off.

 

[aweigh]

is DX MD an RPG

 

[Trashos]

I do not mind at all if the main quest is only a small percentage of the game. Actually, highly replayable games often have a lot of content outside the main quest (FO2 comes to mind). This variety gives them replayability, whereas doing the main quest over and over will get boring quickly.

 

[Teut Busnet]

I’m 50 hours into Baldur’s Gate 2 and I’m only on chapter 2!!!! Bhahahahaha I love it bhahahhahah

See, BGII is a good example.

You had a reason for those 'Side Missions' - get 15k gold. Or help your friends / teammates (because you like them or so they will stay in the party). Most content once you get to the Mage-Asylum is related to the Main Quest and not optional, like Sharkpeople city or the Underdark.

I at least felt like following my goal half the time - IIRC, it's been a while.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

50%.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dorateen]

Main Quest
Liberate the city of Phlan

Side Content
Clearing out Sokol Keep
Stop Yarash from poisoning the river
Investigate the graveyard
Nomad camp
Buccaneers base
Lizardman village
Kobold caves
Exploring the Eastern, Western and Central Wilderness

And so on. I'd say a 10:1 ratio of quality side missions to critical path, sounds about right.

 

[kintake]

This is why the time limit in Fallout is great, stops you wanking off the entire wasteland whilst on a critical mission. For notes on how not to design a main quest:side quest ratio (Or whatever the frack I should call it) see Bethesda: World's ending but fuck it; go do whatever oh chosen one.

 

[Darkzone]

Main Quest
Liberate the city of Phlan

Side Content
Clearing out Sokol Keep
Stop Yarash from poisoning the river
Investigate the graveyard
Nomad camp
Buccaneers base
Lizardman village
Kobold caves
Exploring the Eastern, Western and Central Wilderness

And so on. I'd say a 10:1 ratio of quality side missions to critical path, sounds about right.

Wasn't Sokol Keep part of the quest of "Liberating the city of Phlan", right after liberating the Slums, likewise the Investigation of the Graveyard? I hated the Wights and their Lv drain ability.

In my humble opinion the right ratio should weighted quite towards the Side Quest side.
Main Quests: 5% - 15%
Side Quests: 85% - 95%

 

[Dorateen]

Wasn't Sokol Keep part of the quest of "Liberating the city of Phlan", right after liberating the Slums, likewise the Investigation of the Graveyard? I hated the Wights and their Lv drain ability.

In my humble opinion the right ratio should weighted quite towards the Side Quest side.
Main Quests: 5% - 15%
Side Quests: 85% - 95%

The thing is, most of the city council's directives were optional. SSI's documentation explicitly states that ultimately the only important objective is uncovering the identity of the Boss and defeating him. I mention Pool of Radiance because the way it is structured is an excellent blueprint for computer role-playing games to follow. Another good example is Dark Sun, where the main quest line is to unite the villages against Draj. But there is a ton of content to explore outside that specific parameter.

 

[anvi]

The template for RPGs should be games like Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore, etc. There are no side quests in those games. You are a group of adventurers on a mission and that takes you far and wide. You might end up doing some tasks that are more minor than others, you can't get off the island unless you find something that the boatkeeper lost or whatever, so it is kind of like a side quest. But it isn't. It is part of the main quest, and that matters. It makes everything a coherent whole, it makes everything you do feel purposeful because it takes you one step further towards your goal. It also means the devs can focus on telling one good story with multiple parts, rather than one half baked main quest and 1000 smaller MMO type fetch/kill quests.

So it should be 100% main quest. In a huge MMO, side quests can be justifiable. But I don't think any single player games have a big enough budget and a talented enough team, to make side quests that are worth doing. I more or less think that "Open World" gaming is kind of a joke, and it arrived before its time. Some are better than others, I probably would have enjoyed side quests in Witcher 3 if the combat was better, but still, walk in house, right click witcher senses, follow the footprints, repeated 500 times with slightly different circumstances, really outstays its welcome. I think it would be much better for them to focus on one main story and the time they save making 1000 extra side quests, could be spent making the main quest better. I can think of some examples that proved this too.

 

[Liquorice]

50% or less.

 

[Darkzone]

The thing is, most of the city council's directives were optional. SSI's documentation explicitly states that ultimately the only important objective is uncovering the identity of the Boss and defeating him. I mention Pool of Radiance because the way it is structured is an excellent blueprint for computer role-playing games to follow. Another good example is Dark Sun, where the main quest line is to unite the villages against Draj. But there is a ton of content to explore outside that specific parameter.

It is a long time ago ( 28 years or so ) that i played Pool of Radiance, so i can be mistaking many things. I agree with you that Pool of Radiance and Dark Sun, because of their structure are excellent blueprints for cRPGs. And therefore they belong for me to the best cRPGs. I was stunned why TSR didn't try simply to reproduce this 'Pool of Radiance' formula and why they talked about something with a very different approach.

 

[Black Angel]

Do it like Fallout 1.

 

[2house2fly]

Different games have different aims; relatively open exploration of a setting, like Fallout 2, definitely demands a lot of side quests. Part of the idea in that game is that you're trying to find something specific that's a long way away, so having a lot of side quests also contributes to the main quest in a way, as it's noise you're sorting through to try and find your main objective. It would feel too contrived to just be led by steps to the goal. Plus, of course, the stakes shift from "save your village" to "save the world" and the side quests flesh out the world you're trying to save, making you care more.

A recent example where I actually don't think side quests help is Witcher 3. They're well written and all, but there are essentially two stories in that game: one of a professional monster slayer who wanders the land taking contracts and collecting coin; and one of a father figure trying to save his loved ones in a world gone mad. You have to intentionally blow off one story to see the other; the side quests and main quest don't complement each other at all. So why even have side quests? Well, because they were told to make an open world game full of side quests like Skyrim.

 

[Zombra]

There is no One True Answer, because it really depends on the nature of the MQ.

A game about stopping an imminent meteor impact damn well better not have much (if any) side content, because hey asshole! I've got a meteor to stop!

A game about a young sorceress exploring her sexual awakening in the city of the damned, on the other hand, could have tons of exploratory "side" content. In fact it might not have a MQ at all - though for me, I like a game to at least have ending credits so I know when to put it down. And the game I just described might be pretty hard to put down.

 

[laclongquan]

Fallout 2 pace:

Arrive at The Den: MQ "Saving Vic and find the next clue"
Side quest:
The casino trio of quest
The gang mini war quest, trio
The haunted house mini quest that you might miss
Matron's delivery quest that introduce us to the mechanic and the car.
The slaver's mini quest that you almost certainly miss unless on evil path.
I think it's about 9-10 quest before you need to do Vic's rescue.
The ratio of 9-10:1 is about right.

 

[Mastermind]

I’m 50 hours into Baldur’s Gate 2 and I’m only on chapter 2!!!! Bhahahahaha I love it bhahahhahah

that doesn't mean anything. chapter 2 opens up most of the side quests.

 

[Mastermind]

to OP: depends. what kind of RPG? grind-based rpgs should have significant end game content outside of the main quest. In fact giving the main quest too much prominence can result in degenerate gameplay like it did for diablo 2.

Heavily story based ones (IE: torment, bg2, pillars) should mostly be focused on the main quest, no more than 50/50 split.

large epic open world rpgs should have lots of content for every power level. a 80/20 or even 90/10 split in favor of side quests is much more appropriate, although you can work more of it into the main quest if the main quest is decentralized (IE: M&M series, where the main quest often was a bunch of unrelated shit eventually leading to the endgame plot) and if you don't have the funds to do it properly no world changing main quests. bethesda is notorious for underdelivering on this front (IE: oblivion "invasion").

 

[Barnabas]

I’m 50 hours into Baldur’s Gate 2 and I’m only on chapter 2!!!! Bhahahahaha I love it bhahahhahah

that doesn't mean anything. chapter 2 opens up most of the side quests.

I HAD SEX WITH YOUR AVATAR

 

[Nutria]

Darklands proves that you can make a good RPG that's 95+% side quests and random encounters you run into while doing side quests. Obviously not every game should try to be like that, but side quests are a good way to hedge against the possibility that the main quest sucks. Even a pants-on-head retarded main quest like the one in Mass Effect 2 can at least be endured if there's enough good side content.