Topic: A Farewell Letter to Fetch Quests

[Apollo5]

Collecting random stuff was fun once: Now it is ruining games I enjoy.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/36900/a-farewell-letter-to-fetch-quests

Old friend, we had some good times. You helped me spend more time in worlds I enjoyed. Back when I was wished the days of your game being played on my Nintendo console would never end. You were with me in the trading sequence of Link’s Awakening. You challenged me as I sought out who would need a Yoshi doll and a stick. My heart was pounding as I raced back to Kakariko Village with the Odd Mushroom in Ocarina of time. However, your time in my world of gaming has run out.

You see, we have both gotten older now and you have not aged well. I have to squeeze my gaming time in between work and grad school, and we just don’t have time for one another anymore. These days I am  looking for games to have short, satisfying experiences with. I need to be playing missions with a future, missions that bring me the satisfaction that I have spent my time accomplishing something.

I wouldn’t think it is fair to you if I just left without pointing out some things you had done that have caused these issues. Hopefully, opening your eyes to what you have done will help you recover and move on. Here are three standout moments from our times together that have hurt me deeply.

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Why did you have to invite your friend Tingle? He just bummed money off of me all the time. I was at the point where the battle with Ganon had been built up perfectly, however you slammed the brakes on that momentum and had me searching around in all the wrong places. Because of you, this lovely adventure came to an abrupt end for me.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

We had such a great relationship you and I. This game was telling me of the origins of my favorite story. However, fetch quest, you just couldn’t help yourself from showing up at all the worst times. I let three years pass to try to heal the wounds. I made some progress, powered up the master sword, and then you showed your ugly face. I was pretty frustrated when I found out about the Song of the Hero, but I was able to continue on. Then, in an unspeakable fashion, you showed up in your worst way and had me fumbling through the swimming motion controls in order to collect music note fish. In one angry motion, I ejected the game, and mailed it back to Gamefly.

-

Fetch quest, you have strayed so far from the quest I once knew that made me think differently about the characters around me in games. Now, you are just leading me down a meaningless path just to spend more time with you. It’s not you, it’s me. Ok its you, but I just need to move on with my gaming life. It’s the best for both of us. Goodbye.

-  

What were some of the worst fetch quest moments in your gaming history? Were there any fetch quests that caused you to shelf the game forever or sell it? Let us hear your own personal fetch quest break ups in the talkback thread below!

[Evan_B]

I wouldn't really consider the Tadtones to be a fetch quest, and the difference between "fetch quest" and "objective" is pretty muddled here.

[Ceric]

I have to say the Triforce hate is still the one that burns me the most because I actually do want to experience the end of that game I just can't bring my self to force through that ... With a guide even.

MMO's in general they really get me.  Recently Wildstar beta in particular.

[lwright]

Fetch quests are one of the beauties of Xenoblade. There if you want them (and I wanted a few), but not required if you don't (I usually don't).

[Ian Sane]

So he likes the fetch quest in Link's Awakening but not in Wind Waker or Skyward Sword.  That makes sense.  Link's Awakening's fetch quest is optional (I believe it gets you the boomerang) while the others are mandatory.  There's a major difference between some extra content in a game that you don't have to bother with and something that just abruptly halts the game.  Also the reason to make a fetch quest mandatory is to pad the game length.  It's the videogame equivalent of filler tracks on an album.

[MagicCow64]

"I wouldn't really consider the Tadtones to be a fetch quest, and the difference between "fetch quest" and "objective" is pretty muddled here."

Yeah, if you break down a lot of video game design, main objectives often boil down to "kill x and x" "collect x and x" "traverse x and x". I guess you could ask for a Zelda game to be straight puzzles/dungeons (which a lot of Skyward Sword was), but I like breaks in objective types. I put down Darksiders II because it was too relentless with the dungeon stuff.

What I'm getting more tired of in games is useless or near-useless non-objective-based collectibles. I'd really prefer stuff like Gears of War (I.E.) to drop the "find the dogtags in the nook" routine, as it's pretty antithetical to that type of game, and it ends up breaking the rhythm for me because I get paranoid about scouring expired areas out of an impulse not to "miss stuff". On the other side of the scale, you have something like ACIV which is completely coated in pointless crap to pick up, with the exception of the shanties, which actually enhance your aesthetic enjoyment of the game. More like this!

[Apollo5]

I'm using the term "fetch quest" here to pretty much encompass any game play elements that deviate from the main gameplay components.  For Zelda I consider puzzle solving and combat to be the primary gameplay elements.  I consider the tadtone quest to be a "fetch quest" because you are stopping the flow of the main story to do something that deviates from the core gameplay.  Also it is a part of the greater fetch quest of retrieving the parts of the song to get the triforce.

I think Ian brings up a good point.  The "fetch quests" I enjoy were not forcing me to deviate from the main story.  I can do those quests as I want to. 

Do ya'll think there is a purpose to these quests other than making the game longer? If so, is it worth it?  Link Between Worlds is by no means my favorite in the series, but I think its lack of these deviations is the best part of that game.