Mar 20 2009
Sidequesting Idiocy
To me, sidequests are always found during the main quest. You happen to talk to a random NPC in a town right in front of a dungeon, and he asks you for a favor. You deliver something to someone. You take care of some monsters ruining his trade route. You plant some endangered trees in the far corners of the world. You get the idea. No matter what the sidequest is, it’s found along SIDE of the main quest.
And unfortunately, because I think this, I never think of trekking out on my own to simply find sidequests. So many RPGs implement this idea, so you’d think I would figure it out by now, but I never do.
I reached the fourth disc of Lost Odyssey, and we’re on a ship about to explore the Overworld. I distinctly remember the ship tutorial saying how to “warp” to the closest ports, but all I can think of is how to get to the land-locked lake Ming mentioned. I don’t think about going back to Uhra, because Tolten and Sed are both in my party and they’re both wanted men. Seth may be as well because she freed Sed. I should have thought about going back to Gohtza since I already had a letter to deliver there, but I didn’t. I plunged my ship all over the ocean trying to find the passage to the hidden lake. Instead I found a secret cave. A secret cave with a sidequest all of its own. I flipped open the guide to make sure that I didn’t skip ahead in the main story to find out that this is one of the many sidequests you can uncover before heading to the hidden lake.
So wait… I can go back to Uhra? Doh! I should have known to go back to Gohtza! Look at all of these things I can do! Idiot! I knew I needed to traverse back to a few places to open up the Royal Seals now that I have Tolten. I was just thinking about that the other day!
I’m not sure why I never think about hunting for sidequests, especially when the game has an Overworld feature. That should be my first clue that I’m supposed to hunt for them. My second clue is when I’m forced out into the Overworld.
Surely I’ll get this. You would think that I play enough RPGs to get it, but I seem to have a mental block. Here’s hoping.
