Adventure Gamers - Forums

Antrax - 18 September 2013 03:08 PM

TimovieMan, I’ll accept your definition carries any meaning if you show what doesn’t fall under your definition. Myst and probably some clones can theoretically be solved right off the bat, but most other games I think of feature some progression impeded by puzzles. So, counterexamples of games that don’t contain these?

You seem to think I consider every puzzle a fetch quest. I don’t.
Fetch quests are given by other characters, so any games that features very few (or even no) other characters (Myst, for instance, but Zork: Nemesis and even The Dig as well) don’t have any fetch quests whatsoever.
Lots of investigative games have very few fetch quest too. I don’t recall any fetch quests in ANY of the Phoenix Wright games, and there probably weren’t any in L.A. Noire either.
More than enough examples, imo.

Also, stating that Monkey Island 2 is basically one big fetch quest doesn’t automatically mean that every subpart of said fetch quest is one too. Obtaining the map pieces in that game (or the voodoo doll pieces) may be fetch quests, but those fetch quests consist of long strings non-fetch quest puzzles.
Hence why I originally stated that the quality of a fetch quest depends on the quality of the puzzle itself. It may even disguise itself well enough not to be considered a fetch quest…

Basically, just because my definition is broader than simple “fetch me X and I’ll give you Y” quests, doesn’t mean it’s so broad that just about any puzzle winds up being a fetch quest.

TimovieMan - 18 September 2013 11:57 AM

Iznogood - 16 September 2013 07:13 PM

In RPG’s the fetch/deliver quest usually serves as an encouragement to visit a new area, rather then as actual quests, and as long as you are aware of this, then I really don’t have any problems with it.

I consider exploration such an enormous part of the actual gameplay that it doesn’t really need additional encouragement under the form of a fetch quest. ANY type of side quest in any new environment should do, imo, it doesn’t always have to be fetch quests…

Besides, more often than not in RPGs (but sometimes in adventures too), I get the fetch item through exploration BEFORE I even get the fetch quest. Like so:
Quest giver: “Bring me X!”
Me: “You mean this?” [holds up X]

I took the liberty of also including delivery quests in the definition, since they are basically the same thing, e.g. “Deliver this McGuffin to Fandagar in Bawhanaland” or “Get me the McGuffin from Fandagar in Bawhanaland”. In both cases they are clearly an encouragement to visit Bawhanaland which you otherwise might not do.

Sure, once you are in Bawhanaland any quest can serve as an encouragement to explore the place, though there might be more fetch/delivery quests to make sure you get to a specific part of Bawhanaland. Not all quest has to be challenging, and as long as there is this clear purpose behind them, then I don’t mind them at all.

The same can also be the case in AG.
Consider this, would you rather have a cutscene that magically takes us to some place, because the designers has decided we now need to discover something there, or would you rather have some (silly) fetch quest forcing us get get there on our own, because the designers has decided we now need to discover something there?
Okay both might be a bit problematic, but I still prefer the second situation.

ozzie - 18 September 2013 04:12 AM

The latter stages of Dreamfall feature even worse fetch quests. The worst is the one which requires you to fetch a sandwich to get into a supposedly high security prison. The simplicity and absurdness of this non-puzzle undermines the seriousness of the situation…

Doesn’t that sandwich play a role in a larger puzzle, where getting the sandwich is only a small part?
Besides you can find silly quests in almost all AG, but it is true that the reason many people (including me) love Dreamfall is not because of all the brilliantly designed quests, but because of the story and other elements.

I still maintain though, that the chain of fetch quest in the beginning of Macuria clearly has the purpose of forcing us to explore the city, and that imo completely justifies it.