Best exploration oriented quest you have experienced?

[Snorkack]

? You can make your own party in 3. I always run with extra sorcerors and less meatheads.

Wait what. Daaaamn son I've been missing out.

You're not the only one - RTFM'ing eventually showed me the light.

 

[Dorateen]

Continuing with Might & Magic, finding all the books as part of the Forbidden Saga quest was a pretty rewarding aspect of exploration in Legacy.

 

[G.O.D]

Finding the middle aged guy in F3. It was a challenge too because his description was very cryptic, and there were quite a few of them strangely enough. Whoever wrote that quest is a genius.

 

[nomask7]

Get reports from the three mines in Gothic 2 Gold. Mostly for the danger and incredible mood. And to get one of the reports, you have to explore part of the Valley because the knights of the mine have abandoned it, and you have to find them.

I think the early Valley experience in general is the highlight of the game. Some hardcore shit right there.

 

[agris]

As someone said earlier, finding the water chip is up there. As is The Glow. There's something to be said for environmental story telling.

While not a quest, I thought Gothic 1 and 2 did wilderness exploration very well, but I can't think of a quest to tie it into the OP.

 

[Excidium II]

Finding the talismans in Ultima Underworld.

This and getting the water chip are my favourite ones

 

[V_K]

Any good DM clone.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Finding Caius Cosades.

Morrowind - Finding out how to cure vampirism.

^ these and many more.
Morrowind was pretty great at making you find stuff with sometimes pretty vague descriptions.

Follow the Quest Marker

Were you replying to the post above?

No quest markers in Morrowind.

 

[abnaxus]

Finding Caius Cosades.

Finding Lady Brisienna is more oldskool

There was even bug that made her letters never appear

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Morrowind had some boat hidden in a crypt, which was mentioned in an ingame book. It wasn't a quest, just a location mentioned in the lore that you could discover. No journal entries at all. That makes it so awesome because you actually have to explore by yourself rather than following directions. I forgot the details but DraQ knows more about it.

Morrowind was cool in general with explorefaggy quests, I liked the Imperial Cult quests where you had to retrieve artifacts and were given some cryptic hints as to where they are located, some vague descriptions of the surrounding landscape.

It was the tomb for the son of some ancient nordic king.

He was buried with Daedric Armour and a princely fortune.

 

[Don Peste]

The search for the entrance to the Blackwing Lair raid.

 

[roshan]

Haven't completed it yet, but the SITS main quest is really awesome. It's also very interesting that basically everything you do somehow ties into investigating the main quest. You're never roaming around looking for someone's golden girdle, thanks to the "no quest grinding" philosophy. And the things you have to do to get the various story pieces is out of this world, from using your spells to solve various puzzles, figuring out a new number system, deciphering runes, using aptitudes like philosophy and linguistics. So cool!

Really amazed that this was the work of only two people.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Actually, thinking back now, the quest for my mage robes when playing everquest. I ended up travelling all over the world, often through areas that were incredibly dangerous to me (in a game where dying wasn't a trivial setback), I needed help from a stranger at one point, and the whole thing just felt like an actual adventure. Finally having those robes felt awesome, both as a status symbol amongst other players, and the sense of accomplishment in doing all the shit required to get them.

RIP old timey MMO gameplay.

 

[belowmecoldhands]

Curios about what people think about this since I think designing quests with exploration in mind needs to straddle a line between engaging or frustrating. If you make it to obvious then it is not really exploration (waypoint markers are antithetical to the concept of exploration) while if too obfuscating you risk losing the player.

For me, and I do realize it is subjective, it was "The Stranger" Gothic 1 Quest. For those who don't know (there aren't really any spoilers), you must find a series of books that are scattered across the map by solving riddles (they spawn in turn so finding book 1 spawns book 2 and so on). They pay off is kind of meh but journey is the most fun I've had exploring the map.

Interesting idea. It made me immeidatley look up definition(s) of explore:
Artha
1. inquire into
2. travel to or penetrate into
3. examine minutely
4. examine (organs) for diagnostic purposes
Dictionary.com
1. to traverse or range over (a region, area, etc.) for the purpose of discovery: to explore the island.
2. to look into closely; scrutinize; examine: Let us explore the possibilities for improvement.
3. Surgery. to investigate into, especially mechanically, as with a probe.
4. Obsolete. to search for; search out.
5. to engage in exploration.

The definition of quest:
Artha
1. a search for an alternative that meets cognitive criteria
2. the act of searching for something
(verb)
1. make a search (for)
2. search the trail of (game)
3. bark with prolonged noises, of dogs
4. seek alms, as for religious purposes
5. express the need or desire for; ask for
Dictionary.com
1. a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something:
2. Medieval Romance. an adventurous expedition undertaken by a knight or knights to secure or achieve something
3. those engaged in such an expedition.
4. British Dialect, inquest.
5. Obsolete. a jury of inquest.
6. to search; seek (often followed by for or after):
7. to go on a quest.
8. Hunting.
...1. to search for game.
...2. to bay or give tongue in pursuit of game.
9. to search or seek for; pursue.

Wow, remarkable blur betwen them. They share a lot in common, don't they?

Exploring IS a quest by itself! But hopefully you're exploring something interesting...

I think the key difference is exploring has inherent risk of not finding anything interesting. Wheras in quests we expect to find interesting things. And quests focus more on specific objectives. Exploring is far looser.

Anyway, I think the reason the OP is confused about howto make a exploration-based quest which isn't frusrtrating stems from the differences between exploring and questing. I propose questers and explorers are diferent. They don't have teh same drive or character. Mixing the two might cause trouble, like mixing oil and water. It's just harder. I'd go so far as to say explorers might tolerate boring or dead ends much beter than questers, while questers tolerate objectives better.

 

[lisac2k]

Find Deckard Cain (Diablo)

Spoiler

 

[Ludo Lense]

Curios about what people think about this since I think designing quests with exploration in mind needs to straddle a line between engaging or frustrating. If you make it to obvious then it is not really exploration (waypoint markers are antithetical to the concept of exploration) while if too obfuscating you risk losing the player.

For me, and I do realize it is subjective, it was "The Stranger" Gothic 1 Quest. For those who don't know (there aren't really any spoilers), you must find a series of books that are scattered across the map by solving riddles (they spawn in turn so finding book 1 spawns book 2 and so on). They pay off is kind of meh but journey is the most fun I've had exploring the map.

Interesting idea. It made me immeidatley look up definition(s) of explore:
Artha
1. inquire into
2. travel to or penetrate into
3. examine minutely
4. examine (organs) for diagnostic purposes
Dictionary.com
1. to traverse or range over (a region, area, etc.) for the purpose of discovery: to explore the island.
2. to look into closely; scrutinize; examine: Let us explore the possibilities for improvement.
3. Surgery. to investigate into, especially mechanically, as with a probe.
4. Obsolete. to search for; search out.
5. to engage in exploration.

The definition of quest:
(Artha)
1. a search for an alternative that meets cognitive criteria
2. the act of searching for something
(verb)
1. make a search (for)
2. search the trail of (game)
3. bark with prolonged noises, of dogs
4. seek alms, as for religious purposes
5. express the need or desire for; ask for

(Dictionary.com)
1. a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something:
2. Medieval Romance. an adventurous expedition undertaken by a knight or knights to secure or achieve something
3. those engaged in such an expedition.
4. British Dialect, inquest.
5. Obsolete. a jury of inquest.
6. to search; seek (often followed by for or after):
7. to go on a quest.
8. Hunting.
1. to search forgame.
2. to bay or give tongue in pursuit of game.
9. to search or seek for; pursue.

Wow, remarkable blur betwen them. They share a lot in common, don't they?

Exploring IS a quest by itself! But hopefully you're exploring something iteresting!

I think that is a bit of a semantics debate. Terms like exploration and quests have different connotations that deviate but are related to the general meaning when talking about them in the particular context of game design. The same way the word "Theory" has a different meaning when talking about philosophy than when talking about science.

A player entering a game and saying "I shall make it my quest to jump on every single chair in the game" is different from the structure created by the designer so the player experiences the content in a certain way (You could kill 10 bears for the hell of it but the incentives are greater in the context of a quest that rewards you or adds to the immersion through context).

 

[Outlander]

Main quest in Dark Sun: Shattered Lands.

 

[belowmecoldhands]

Ya the difference lay in how quests are meant to find something or obtain something. In exploration, the objective is looser, perhaps not defined at all. When I explore, I'm just looking for treasure or fun. And I don't expect to find anything everytime. However, the best exploration is had from worlds which're richly woven, thus producing something interesting most of the time.

The OP said it good I think: "If you make it too obvious then it is not really exploration (waypoint markers are antithetical to the concept of exploration) while if too obfuscating you risk losing the player."

Look at what the OP says there. It's analogous to a picture which is blurred and your objective is to identify it. The exploration happens as you examine it to identify it. When you finaly identify it, the exploration is over. The identification is the reward, as in, you find treasure or advance a quest. You can't get the reward until you do the exploration.

How obfuscating does it have to be to lose hte player? Can it vary for differnt players?

I believe it's possible some people are more of a quester than a explorer, or vice versa. An explorer can tolerate dead ends or boring examinations, while a quester tolerates objectives better. I know in my experience, mostly as an explorer, I do not like to have objectives pushed on me or exploration to be too manufactured--I like a genuine exploration.

* What I say here is a work in progress. Don't take it seriously. This whole explroation topic has been on my mind a while. I did a test on the gamer psychology website and it said I'm an exploret--I swore it'd say Achiever. Several years ago a similar test said I was an exploer, so it's consistent. And I've seen several topics in this forum about it. Namely, how much exploring is fun? And is it desirable to make games which have more exploring, or should all games have the same amount?

I feel like "sandbox" describes what I like in games better than "exploring". They go together, I think.

 

[Alienman]

The quest of finding myself back on the mainland in UO after getting stranded on a small island to the north-east by pirates (Pking scum!)

 

[laclongquan]

Arcanum: Cross that mountain

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Plenty of Ultima love in this thread (apologies if I've missed a brofist - Underworld doesn't count), but the quest to find the answers to life and death on Skara Brae in Ultima VII is seared into my memory, as is what you discover when you make it back with the answers.

 

[C.H.A.R.L.I.E]

Baldurs Gate have great exploration oriented quests
- investigate the iron crisis (from coastal area to friendly arm inn to naskel and finally bandit camp)
- the tale of captain brage (south western part of the map + likely to meet drizzt on this quest)
- searching for baldurans helmet (evil wizard with hidden agenda, 3 city zones and the undercellar, petrified adventurers + a riddle + nasty traps)

Fallout - Become and initiate (glow)
Fallout 2 - Rescue Smiley

Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader - Join the inquisition (best faction quest line)

Arcanum - Gnome/Half Ogre conspiracy

 

[laclongquan]

Good first post! Congratulation!

Mind you, it's not a good post. Accent on the first.

 

[Copper]

The geneforge games deserve a shout-out here, especially the first one had a great sense of exploring, and finding out more about what went down on the island in the distant and more recent past made it something of a quest. Also, investigating the compounds of the Serviles could give some nice secrets that fed back into dialog.

 

[nikolokolus]

Star Control II . . . Like, every last damn minute of the game.