It all depends on how they are implemented and how well they tie into the story. To me a good side quest is something that expands on the game's story or setting, but isn't strictly necessary to get the full experience.
Mass Effect 1's sidequest system was terrible in spite of this. Mostly because you had to use that friggin Mako, which was a hell of an effort to fiddle around with, and the recycling of maps for the missions and being so lazy as to not even blot out the area of the map that they had closed off for this particular mission.
Deus Ex Human Revolution has been doing sidequests right in my opinion (so far). It spices up the game's story and atmosphere, adds a bit of spice and it is not just Another Quest To Do, it really feels like most of them could easily be part of the main story arc both in story, gameplay and design.
Sadly, plenty of games just tack them on since it is almost mandatory these days and there is no inspiration behind them at all. But despite that, I am such a sidequestaholic that I will do them anyways!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-08-30 04:21 pm (UTC)Mass Effect 1's sidequest system was terrible in spite of this. Mostly because you had to use that friggin Mako, which was a hell of an effort to fiddle around with, and the recycling of maps for the missions and being so lazy as to not even blot out the area of the map that they had closed off for this particular mission.
Deus Ex Human Revolution has been doing sidequests right in my opinion (so far). It spices up the game's story and atmosphere, adds a bit of spice and it is not just Another Quest To Do, it really feels like most of them could easily be part of the main story arc both in story, gameplay and design.
Sadly, plenty of games just tack them on since it is almost mandatory these days and there is no inspiration behind them at all. But despite that, I am such a sidequestaholic that I will do them anyways!