How do you like your quests?

[ShadowTiger]

If I recall correctly, it was Chris Taylor, I believe, the creator of Dungeon Siege for the PC, who said "Dungeon Siege won't be a long quests. I want people to finish it."

If you took this to heart in the fashion otherwise intended, I will direct you to Dreams of Yesterday, and the other thread started recently. The vast majority of you should know inside and out that it was the single most kickiest of assiest games out there for quite a while. Why was this? Massive attention to detail, and a VERY, VEERY long quest which held readers interests for a long time.

But how many of you fine folks actually finished it? ;) That's the thing. Do long quests cause more frustration than necessary? So that's why I would like to take a moment to ask all of you your thoughts on this.

The longer the quest, the more you hate it, or like it? I won't post a poll or anything, because the choices are vast, I'm sure.


THREADEDIT: OK.. um.. as an example, I'll pull up my quest, Blade of Ages. Chances are, it won't be a very long quest, (So hopefully I'll get to finish it. :sly: ) but it's jam-packed with really cool things, like cinematics and minigames, and people you can speak with, and holes to fall thought, (Because let's face it, all Zelda gamers like to fall through carefully planned holes in the ground.) and other stuff. But, the thing is, I won't have the player looking through all the bushes in the world to get to the end of the game. It'll be very linear, and the player will hopefully realize no frustration in the game. I'm going to pretty much guide the player through the game. The player will be able to set his/her own difficult level as they go through the game scene by scene, depending on how they take the course.

In a nutshell, (eventually,) Blade of Ages will be short but fun. Dreams of Yesterday was long, but still considerably fun. The Dungeons were (in most cases) hideously fun, but challenging. Blade of Ages Dungeons will be short, but still hopefully at least a little bit fun, and you'll have to use your wits at least once per dungeon, but not in a difficult way.

With that said, I will open the floor to you.

*You fall through a carefully planned hole in the ground. :p

[Petoe]

I answered to this question already at PureZC, but it's not a cime to copy paste it here, so here you have it:


Again, it DEPENDS on so many things.

Sometimes a short quest can be better than a long one. And like Starfox said, many people didn't stop playing DoY because of it's longness, but because of it's toughness (like me).

When I start a new project, it must be huge, a real game, not just a little adventure. But as I said, long quests can be bad. If it's too repetative, too boring, or too easy/hard, then it should be short quest to keep people's interest (at least mine). But if we have much versatility and lot of stuff happening in the quest, then the longer the quest is, the better it is. :)

[jman2050]

Trust me, I would GLADLY finish DOY if someone would tell me what to do already, as I am up to my knees in confusion. I like long quests. I like playing something good for a long time. I really hate it when I have to 'finish' a quest, because that means I've done everything there is to do (I always try to do the optional stuff before finishing everything). Of course, there is the issue of insane difficulty, which is probably the main reason people get turned off by quests like DoY...

[ShadowTiger]

A..ha. *scribble* *scribble* So.. the more interesting it is, the longer you'de want it, right? That seems only natural. But, what if the author wanted to cut it short to work on another project, which, could potentially be even MORE interesting? What do you think about that?

[KJAZZ]

I don't care if it's a short or long quest, it just has to hold my interest. (Have the right curve of difficulty, balance, and various other things. ;P)

[Demimore]

Nope. NOPE. A linear quest is a horrible quest.... Maybe not, but when you make it linear, you take away the adventure and the .... Interesting-ness and all that. Sure, a short quest would be fine although I do prefer a long one but not a long quest with Pure tileset. I'm so sick and tired of it ....

Yes. That's what I think. Not much....

[Ganonator]

The age old question - long vs. short. Let's just say its all about how you use it.

If a creator can make a quest that retains the players interest, it doesn't matter how long it is. For example, had Ocarina of Time been 3 times as long, the players would have eaten it up. It was captivating. You throw 20 dungeons of Kings first quest around, and people dodge it like feces.

As long as its good, the length doesn't matter.