What the hell is wrong with Fetch Quests?

I’m curious, what game gave this game play mechanic a bad name? Quests or missions defined as ‘fetch quests’ are quickly coined with words such as boring, repetitive or unimaginative not to mention dumb. To my knowledge, a ‘fetch quest’ is defined by a mission that requires the player to retrieve something to aid in overall progress. Seems like a pretty consistent staple in the video game universe yet its bashed on and ridiculed to the point where paring a mission off as a ‘fetch quest’ is a quick and easy way of saying, “this mission is bad”. Why is that?

What game or games are responsible for the muddying of such a harmless quest element?

Don’t get me wrong, we have all played our fair share of games that have you traversing a landscape in aid of somebodies bar of soap or some other banal object of supposed value. Worse still is when we encounter perfectly able bodied NPC’s, who are quite capable of walking a few meters in front of them to pick up a key who instead choose to glue there feet to the ground and send you off instead. The characters of Dead Island are, for the most part, useless abusers of making you fetch things for them and virtually every sandbox, open world game has its fair share of pick up exhibit A and deliver it to exhibit B. But this is just thinking off the top of my head.

I want to know the bad boy (or gang) who started this toxic game of Chinese whispers. The games that started giving getting items a bad name. I recognize the obvious flaws of the so called ‘fetch quest’ but does every ‘fetch quest’ have to be negative and branded the same way?

Just for a little context for the reasons why I wanted to discuss this is based on the review for Resident Evil: Revelations 2 that’s just come out. The reviewer stated:

“…you feel like a chump when you tackle yet another fetch quest disguised as a puzzle.”

I've played Revelations 2 and I loved it. I’ll save my own review for another day but needless to say, it’s refreshing to play an RE title that’s at its closet to what I consider true RE. But I am totally baffled by this sentence in the review. It recognizes the negativity that a ‘fetch quest’ entails and simultaneously ropes in the puzzle mechanics as well. In my opinion, I do not consider locating keys to unlock doors puzzles unless the means to retrieve the key involves anything other than walking over to it and picking it up. Having said that, I respect the reviewers score and opinions. But this was the fuel that kick started this (mini) investigation.

Let’s bring the culprit of ‘fetch quests’ to justice! And remember, “T err” doesn't always have to end in “ist” (courtesy of the dialogue from Revelations 2).

not that much just that they happen to much man....

They are lazy and uncreative, born of an audience who is more interested in loot and levels rather than a good story.

Great fucking point.... its not the q

Quest thats the issue.... its how its designed.... I have zero issues running errands for NPCs if theres puzzles and interesting challenges along the way.....

I'd like to throw grinding in here aswell..... I don't mind grinding if the enemies and gameplay are clever and interesting......

So yeah you pretty much said it all......

In Darksiders you are asked to Fetch 4 Hearts to unlock a path..... it was interesting because it was littered with all sorts of interesting challenges in between you and the hearts..... the downside was the god awful tedious backtracking.... felt like I was playing Dark Souls all over again......

@Black_Knight_00:

So if the characters and story is good enough you don't mind a fetch quest thats nothing more than simply grabbing an item ?

You're breaking my heart........

@Lulu_Lulu: I think you raise one of the problem areas that I think might contribute to the negativity: backtracking. Another gaming mechanic that seems to have fallen into a pit of shit gaming elements.

I guess the idea of going back and fourth and back again would be treated differently if developers took liberties on the backtracking elements and focused their creativity in making the paths spontaneous and unexpected. Just an idea...

Thanks for the comment!

If fetch quests had a better reason for being there as opposed to just collecting something, either through narrative or level progression, then they wouldn't be so annoying. People need to feel like they're collecting something important, not just getting because it's basically a cool item to get that ultimately proves inconsequential to the game after a while.

The vast, vast majority of games are fetch quests. It's all about how the game presents them, I think. for instance, Zelda as a series is really just one gigantic fetch quest, but I'd say the way most of them are done make them fun and interesting. When a game is blatantly padding out for game length is when they become an issue.

One of my favorite games in recent memory that I've played is Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines. Most of the quests are fetch quests, but the stories that go with them are thoroughly engrossing, so they don't feel like fetch quests at all. It's all in the execution.

For me personally, a fetch quest or two isn't an issue. For me, a game with many fetch quests can be an issue however. By their nature there is usually backtracking involved and the more of that the less I like it. If they feel too similar or generic or if they feel like filler material or the entire game is based on them, then they start to put me off a bit. I think this is where they get their bad name.

If they're done right and done in moderation I enjoy them. It's really a situational thing for me. An exception to the rule for me; GTA could be considered a long chain of fetch quests, but they're usually written really well and don't feel like the stereotypical fetch quests.

Yeah I really don't have a problem with fetch quests in general. As long as they seem worthwhile to me then I'm good with them.

Yep.

If it boils down to gathering 5 Wolf pelts that involve killing the same animal 5 times and then having to backtrack to the quest giver, then it's not okay. Unfortunately several games tend to implement this format as a way to add content for the sake of content.

Personally, I'd rather not see fetch quests in general no matter how cool they spin it. Not that I dont enjoy a fetch quest done well, it's because fetch quests are uninspired and unimaginative. There are just far more active/dynamic/nuanced ways to approach or present 'quests' that can go beyond another static NPC in a quest hub explaining why they need X.

@creepychainsaw: It's all about implementation. Fetch quests as a required step in order to make the story proceed that are little more than scavenger hunts are rarely well recieved. When they are used to artificially lengthen a game that only has a few hours of real content, then it's a cheap tactic for developers to use.

The ones in Dying Light, for example, didn't bother me because they weren't the standard arbitrary RPG-style (get X number of Y items and return to Z and I'll give you 20 gold and 30 xp). Those feel mechanical and artificial. They wrapped more story and context around them, the characters spoke and described their need, and in some cases the story would even take unexpected turns as a result of you getting the items.

For example, the quest you do for Dawd (Daud, Da-ooooed) is he wants you to get him a handgun in exchange for access to his shop which he gives you permission to loot. For one, the game didn't give me an objective marker so it was more like "hey, as long as you're out keep an eye out for one of these" type quests. Eventually I found one and brought it back to him, so he gives me the key to his shop and says "By the way, can you search my shop for this toy my son likes?". I head to the shop, loot the shit out of it, and then find the toy and head back. When I get back, it turns out that Dawud used the gun to steal his wife's money, shoot his way out and kidnap his own son. The toy was a decoy to get you out of the way. Eventually you meet up with Dawud again a couple times, but that is one hell of a fetch quest. When I finished it, my first though wasn't "man, another lame fetch quest". Instead I was thinking "holy crap, I really shouldn't have gotten that guy a gun. I had no idea -that's- what he was going to do with it".

Structure your fetch quests like that and there's no problem.

-Byshop

That's not what I said. I said that since the RPG audience is more interested in loot and leveling, developers give them short and simple "A-B-A" fetch quests to expedite the looting and leveling process.

@creepychainsaw:

Thank you for the thread...... good threads are so hard to come by these days.....

@Black_Knight_00:

Hmmm.... I think I understand...... my heart shall remain unbroken

Nothing inherent. They can be bad when they are mandatory and constantly being assigned, because they loose their fulfilling qualities pretty fast. I also think people who have to 100% every game are prone to doing fetch quests that they needn't, and can suffer the consequences of that in games like DA:I, where there are enough for several play throughs if you can resist

Honestly loving this discussion. Everyone has chipped in with a valid response.

I really would like to know if there was any specific game that tainted the whole idea of 'fetch quests' in the beginning. Let's face it, whenever we hear 'fetch quest' it's usually an alarm bell for a bad mission. I mean maybe it's just the phrase. I can't remember the last time I read, "this game has a really engaging fetch quest".

Regardless keep the discussion going if you want it's all cool.

Well take Dragon age inquisition for example. Everything in that game is a fucking fetch quest. And me the leader of the fucking rebellion, you know the one with three castles a massive army and a massive amount of mages etc.. Is still going around picking everything up for everyone because no one else can do jack shit. I felt like a lacky that whole game even when I was supposed to feel like a king.