Multi (Lack of) Urgency in RPGs, does it bother you?

[Quagmire]

Wasn't a 100% sure what to call this, but was listening to a podcast and they were talking about how in a lot of rpgs you have all these side quests you can do, ignoring the main quest, often a world threatening issue that it sometimes takes them out of the game. Does it affect you all?

It doesnt really bother me. I try to do quests that are in my area, and I dont want to advance the main quest too far because a lot of times you get some good loot from side quests, and always the chance of locking you out of side content. I can 100% see why this would bother some people, but for me I'm able to separate the urgency and how unrealistic it is to go do some random side content

 

[The Flame]

I've never had a problem with it. I think it's just one of those things that has to exist because it's a video game. Even when I stop the main Skyrim quest and spend months doing fuck all, it doesn't really affect my immersion. It feels more like time has just stopped until I continue the main quest and I've just been playing around in a pocket dimension the whole time. Hell, in some games the main character is an idiot or I don't care about their ambitions in the main quest, so the side quests become the main quest and vice versa.

 

[Jawneh]

There are some rpgs where the main quest kind of locks you in and follows rails when it needs to. Then in between that theres breathes when you're free to do other shit. Some FF games are good with that.

 

[shortkut]

Wasn't a 100% sure what to call this, but was listening to a podcast and they were talking about how in a lot of rpgs you have all these side quests you can do, ignoring the main quest, often a world threatening issue that it sometimes takes them out of the game. Does it affect you all?

It doesnt really bother me. I try to do quests that are in my area, and I dont want to advance the main quest too far because a lot of times you get some good loot from side quests, and always the chance of locking you out of side content. I can 100% see why this would bother some people, but for me I'm able to separate the urgency and how unrealistic it is to go do some random side content

I don’t consider most rpgs realistic to begin with, so I’m okay with it

 

[Smacktard]

It always annoyed me that there's some catastrophic threat to all life, and you only have so much time to solve the issue, but then you stop for 30 minutes to find some kid's fuckin shoe or something.

It does annoy me a bit, but eh, what can you do? Idk, design better side quests, maybe?

 

[Benzine]

It doesn't bother me.

But, when they put it on and it does matter and I have to do the thing, I love it. Story me up, baby.

 

[Benzine]

Cool question.

 

[Quagmire]

It does annoy me a bit, but eh, what can you do? Idk, design better side quests, maybe?

Daggerfall did it kind of well, most quests had a time limit in terms of number of days you needed to do something, I did like it. It was forgiving, but you couldnt have a million different quests, had to basically take them one or two at a time

 

[Smacktard]

Daggerfall did it kind of well, most quests had a time limit in terms of number of days you needed to do something, I did like it. It was forgiving, but you couldnt have a million different quests, had to basically take them one or two at a time

It sounds like an interesting system. I don't know if I'd prefer realism over convenience in this case, but it's possible. I don't know if there's really a good solution to the problem that doesn't cause other problems.

I guess the main thing I dislike about JRPG quests is usually how stupid and trivial so many of them are.

 

[Quagmire]

It sounds like an interesting system. I don't know if I'd prefer realism over convenience in this case, but it's possible. I don't know if there's really a good solution to the problem that doesn't cause other problems.

I guess the main thing I dislike about JRPG quests is usually how stupid and trivial so many of them are.

It wasnt too inconvenient, probably also because there werent many great side quests. There were a couple I did like, but most were generic

 

[Mark]

FFVII was the only game that came to mind while reading this thread. You know, just bullshitting around breeding a gold Chocobo while the meteor is just chillin' like it's not on a collision course for the planet.

 

[The Eye in the Sky!]

I like how Atlus paces their games. Metaphor mixed in the calendar from Persona to keep things moving but also giving you enough time to do side quests without there being an overwhelming amount of them. I loved the mechanic that traveling places to do the side-quests took time so there was a tangible urgency, but not anything that gives you anxiety.

Also enjoyed how Expedition paced itself and only unlocked areas after certain story beats to keep focus on moving forward.

 

[VashTheStampede]

I like how Atlus paces their games. Metaphor mixed in the calendar from Persona to keep things moving but also giving you enough time to do side quests without there being an overwhelming amount of them. I loved the mechanic that traveling places to do the side-quests took time so there was a tangible urgency, but not anything that gives you anxiety.

Also enjoyed how Expedition paced itself and only unlocked areas after certain story beats to keep focus on moving forward.

This pretty much is my position too.

For me, in general, its the slower parts of an RPG that let you delve into the characters more deeply that elevates some of them above the rest of the fray. So games like Persona or Metaphor that have a framework that makes those moments make sense are already ahead of the curve and really appeal to me.

I think Chrono Trigger is another perfect example of this. Thanks to the time travel element, there is a pressing urgent threat...but we can still dick around and get super powerful armor and also heal personal trauma before seeing things through.

I just ask that there is a REASON that we feel like we can hit the smaller moments before the Big Bad End Boss.