Favorite Quests & Missions

[hanselthecaretaker]

What are some of yours?

I’m replaying RDR2 for golds in the missions and just did this one-


It’s even more iconic the second time. The setup is much the same, but knowing Arthur’s full arch parts III and IV are even more impactful. Imo it represents the last time he’s really at the top of his form as an outlaw. Plus the cinematography and score when everyone gets into position is pitch-perfect. It certainly takes cues from at least one movie in particular starring Brad Pitt, but it does so masterfully and adda a bit of its own flair in the process.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Ooohm...OBSERVER (Cyberpunk grime with Rutger Hauer), a (side?) quest which is probably best to put in spoilers just to be safe: When you find a seemingly unsupervised girl talking about her imaginary friend, who in no short time becomes apparent is a real person, a neighbour in the flats who is trying to sneakily synchronise with the girl's brain to cheat aging and death. You get given a choice after rummaging through the neighbour's brain while they're hooked in, which isn't all that hopeful an outcome either. Quite some unsettling Black Mirror techno horror throughout that revealing endeavour.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I mean, outside of this mission, I only think about Halo once a decade or so

 

[laggyteabag]

I'd probably say Halo 3, level 8 - The Covenant.

This level basically packs in everything that makes Halo an absolute blast to play.

Beach landing, fighting with tonnes of allies, warthog sections, CQC combat, flying vehicle sections, fighting against the flood, fighting with the flood, a tank battle, a massive set piece moment with two giant walker-tanks, and the music.

Honestly, if you do not like this level, you just don't like Halo.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'll give some major props to one side mission in Red Dead Redemption 2, where you have to track down circus animals for some guy. You start out expecting to find an actual zebra, but it's just a donkey with stripey paint. And each animal you find next is just another dog with a mane or whatever. And you realize this whole mission is just a silly joke, finding fake animals. Finally you're tasked to find a lion, and you don't expect much of it, but then it turns out to be an actual fucking lion. And you don't really expect it, because why would they model, render, and animate a whole lion just for a couple seconds of gameplay, right? But they did, and they really pulled a fast one on me.

Not much I liked about RDR2, but this I could really appreaciate.

 

[Dalisclock]

I've long since stopped caring about CoD but CoD4 had a couple of standout missions.

Aside from the Pripyat missions, the intro mission(Crew Expendable) is a wonderful way to start the game, throwing you straight into the action, keeping everything moving at a fast pace and then hurrying you ass out of these for the finale before the ship sinks.

Also, the 4 or so missions for the last arc make a great closer for the game. Everything from the point your team drops into Russia, the fight to the silo, the fight inside the silo(with missles in flight) and finally the hurried exfile to the bridge flows beatifully.

Too bad the series lost the rythem of how to make this stuff work in later games.

 

[Worgen]

I'd probably say Halo 3, level 8 - The Covenant.

This level basically packs in everything that makes Halo an absolute blast to play.

Beach landing, fighting with tonnes of allies, warthog sections, CQC combat, flying vehicle sections, fighting against the flood, fighting with the flood, a tank battle, a massive set piece moment with two giant walker-tanks, and the music.

Honestly, if you do not like this level, you just don't like Halo.

That mission is really awesome and is probably the only point where I really really like Halo 3. I mean I enjoy it but its the game where the plot went from really interesting to starting to do the tropes I hate. Like that you are the super special because of reasons, rather then being in the right place at the right time with the right gear.

The quest that always comes to mind for me when asked favorite is from Morrowind, up till this quest point it seemed like a kinda neat game world but nothing was grabbing me till I found this one Kajit women in a small cabin outside of one of the cities and there were a number of quests for her, I think one involved helping her get off of skooma or maybe her brother or something, its been long enough that I don't really remember most of them except for the final one which involved you having to find 2 flowers, one for her and one for her to give to you. That quest line really touched me and gave me a more emotional connection to the game, not enough to beat it but I did play it for another 10 hours and would always go back to visit even though she never did anything else, because in the end, it is just a game.

 

[Dalisclock]

Also, since RDR2 keeps getting brought up....


LENNNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

I'm also quite fond of the St. Denis Bank mission.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I mean, outside of this mission, I only think about Halo once a decade or so
View attachment 2008

Ah, good call. This mission was a perfect blend of effective and powerful storytelling and an engaging test of a gamer's skill. In a perfect world, Halo would have ended there, in the hands of the developer that made such a stellar franchise up to that point, the full circle complete. Alas, Bungie went on to make other crap, and 343 took over Halo and made it crap, but we'll always have this...

 

[Worgen]

Ah, good call. This mission was a perfect blend of effective and powerful storytelling and an engaging test of a gamer's skill. In a perfect world, Halo would have ended there, in the hands of the developer that made such a stellar franchise up to that point, the full circle complete. Alas, Bungie went on to make other crap, and 343 took over Halo and made it crap, but we'll always have this...

Ehh, that one always felt like a huge copout. Reach felt like something that knew it was a prequel and had to have all its characters die heroically/stupidly (I'm looking at you Kat, getting killed by a shot that should have just knocked out her shield from a weapon the covenant didn't have from the most convenient hole in a ceiling ever in anything). They could have done much more, I mean reach was pretty much destroyed or at least the majority of the human habitation was, could easily have had survivors hunkered down some where and them just not mattering to the plot of the Halo games till much later, like the ending of 3 which put the MC on ice.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Ehh, that one always felt like a huge copout. Reach felt like something that knew it was a prequel and had to have all its characters die heroically/stupidly (I'm looking at you Kat, getting killed by a shot that should have just knocked out her shield from a weapon the covenant didn't have from the most convenient hole in a ceiling ever in anything). They could have done much more, I mean reach was pretty much destroyed or at least the majority of the human habitation was, could easily have had survivors hunkered down some where and them just not mattering to the plot of the Halo games till much later, like the ending of 3 which put the MC on ice.

Anything can be made better with "coulda-woulda-shoulda" hypothesizing and hindsight, but the fact remains, as a work of fiction, the canon consists solely of the finished product; it's effectively what DID happen. Likelihood of it or not, Reach fell; Spartans died. We know at the start of Halo CE, the Pillar of Autumn escaped a lost cause at Reach; we saw that in Reach as the Covenant filled the skies, and the last Spartan planet-side (Nobel Six/the player) did what Spartans do best: didn't give up; made a stand while the faintest glimmer of hope was able to get away to fight another day. It's an effective moment, knowing you can't succeed, but refusing to quit. Nothing about that felt like a cop out at all let alone a "huge" one.

 

[Worgen]

Anything can be made better with "coulda-woulda-shoulda" hypothesizing and hindsight, but the fact remains, as a work of fiction, the canon consists solely of the finished product; it's effectively what DID happen. Likelihood of it or not, Reach fell; Spartans died. We know at the start of Halo CE, the Pillar of Autumn escaped a lost cause at Reach; we saw that in Reach as the Covenant filled the skies, and the last Spartan planet-side (Nobel Six/the player) did what Spartans do best: didn't give up; made a stand while the faintest glimmer of hope was able to get away to fight another day. It's an effective moment, knowing you can't succeed, but refusing to quit. Nothing about that felt like a cop out at all let alone a "huge" one.

That's the thing, you don't need that. I mean Pillar of Autumn escaping doesn't mean they got everyone, it just means they managed to evade a Covenant fleet. I understand what its going for, it just failed in that for me. I mean even Jorge's sacrifice was stupid, the only time I didn't have marines with me in that mission was on legendary so we have this super solder with a reentry pack on and all these marines without even space gear that are stranded anyway and hes still all like "I have to do this" and tosses my ass out of the ship. Its trying too hard to do the heroic last stand thing.

 

[laggyteabag]

That mission is really awesome and is probably the only point where I really really like Halo 3. I mean I enjoy it but its the game where the plot went from really interesting to starting to do the tropes I hate. Like that you are the super special because of reasons, rather then being in the right place at the right time with the right gear.

Im trying not to derail this thread with Halo talk, but im fairly certain that Halo has always described the Master Chief as being unique and special.

I mean, Halo CE literally describes the Chief as being "the last SPARTAN-II" and "easily the best soldier aboard the Pillar of Autumn", with armour that "represents the current pinnacle of military technology" and "makes you nearly invincible". Then at some point in the game, you are picked up by some ancient alien robot who (despite admittedly being insane) treats you like some kind of saviour. You may as well be the chosen one.

Then in Halo 2, Chief is jumping out of spaceships, taking down Scarab tanks by himself, killing Covenant leaders with his bare fists, and all sorts of action hero stuff.

The Chief isn't and never was, just some dude in the right place at the right time. Halo is a power fantasy. He is a literal supersoldier, with the best armour, and the best equipment, and the best training. No one else could have done what the Chief did - aside from another Spartan - but as far as OT Halo games are considered, they are all dead.

 

[Worgen]

Im trying not to derail this thread with Halo talk, but im fairly certain that Halo has always described the Master Chief as being unique and special.

I mean, Halo CE literally describes the Chief as being "the last SPARTAN-II" and "easily the best soldier aboard the Pillar of Autumn", with armour that "represents the current pinnacle of military technology" and "makes you nearly invincible". Then at some point in the game, you are picked up by some ancient alien robot who (despite admittedly being insane) treats you like some kind of saviour. You may as well be the chosen one.

Then in Halo 2, Chief is jumping out of spaceships, taking down Scarab tanks by himself, killing Covenant leaders with his bare fists, and all sorts of action hero stuff.

The Chief isn't and never was, just some dude in the right place at the right time. Halo is a power fantasy. He is a literal supersoldier, with the best armour, and the best equipment, and the best training. No one else could have done what the Chief did - aside from another Spartan - but as far as OT Halo games are considered, they are all dead.

I thought he was the last since the facility on Reach that was upgrading the Spartan-IIs was destroyed and all assumed dead. Plus, I view tech different from being the special, your character didn't make the tech, humanity did, you just have it and its good. It wasn't till later that we found out its full of magical pre-human human tech or whatever. I always viewed the chief from Halo 1/2 as just the pinnacle of infantry tech combined with a really skilled solder, but nothing mystical or ancient alien. And the thing that really differentiated him from the rest of the marines was his shield. The Chief a bit faster and better at shooting but what really separates him is the armor tech.

 

[Ghostrick Dorklord]

I'm not sure if it counts but the whole Cabaret Club side quest from Yakuza 0 is actually really fun. Its a total genre shift from a open world beat em up to a management sim yes but they really thought out the mechanics for it. Like your main girls have to be customized a certain way to get specific stats in a category for your customers' taste. And you have to train them through talks and dates with Majima. Then you get to the Cabaret Club part and while its matching people to their likes, Yakuza 0 makes it very flashy as possible as money flies around like crazy and there's nothing like getting Fever Time.


Just hearing that song and all the cash flying is just a really good feeling. I also think the story is great being the usual Yakuza fair; Majima has to bring back a Cabaret Club back from the brink while having to deal with 5 billionaires which sounds ridiculous but there's moments where you can take it seriously. I also really like Yuki from that minigame because she often gets into silly situations. Overall I just really enjoyed the Cabaret Club side quest and its the reason why I'm kind of critical for making Kiryu's side quest practically Farmsville because there isn't much for Kiryu to do but wait where Majima gets a very indepth management sim in comparison. Still one of my favorite things from the game and I'm glad it returns in later games.

 

[wings012]

I really liked the Thieve's Guild questline in Skyrim. The Nightingale stuff was hella cheesy, but the mission where the temple floods after you fight over the giant gem eyeballs of a massive ancient statue was fun. I ended up keeping both gem eyeballs in my house somewhere.

Ehh, that one always felt like a huge copout. Reach felt like something that knew it was a prequel and had to have all its characters die heroically/stupidly (I'm looking at you Kat, getting killed by a shot that should have just knocked out her shield from a weapon the covenant didn't have from the most convenient hole in a ceiling ever in anything). They could have done much more, I mean reach was pretty much destroyed or at least the majority of the human habitation was, could easily have had survivors hunkered down some where and them just not mattering to the plot of the Halo games till much later, like the ending of 3 which put the MC on ice.

I always felt that Halo Reach should've been about Blue Team. Especially considering they got brought back for Halo 5, but hindsight is 20/20. But Bungie and 343 do have very different stances when it comes to acknowledging the lore outside of games. As someone who read the books, when I first saw the Reach announcement and Spartan silhouettes - I honestly thought it was going to be about Blue team. If not, whatever Spartan IIs were still fighting on Reach. Having some special Spartan-IIIs pop outta nowhere was also a bit weird.

The Chief isn't and never was, just some dude in the right place at the right time. Halo is a power fantasy. He is a literal supersoldier, with the best armour, and the best equipment, and the best training. No one else could have done what the Chief did - aside from another Spartan - but as far as OT Halo games are considered, they are all dead.

Halo does take a slightly different tone if you read the books, but even then the Chief is still quite special even if he isn't the last Spartan II. He wasn't just some Spartan-II, he was their leader. Of all the Spartans, Cortana chose him. He was also noted to have almost supernatural luck - that's not some innate or trained ability, the world just happens to favour the guy.

 

[Worgen]

I always felt that Halo Reach should've been about Blue Team. Especially considering they got brought back for Halo 5, but hindsight is 20/20. But Bungie and 343 do have very different stances when it comes to acknowledging the lore outside of games. As someone who read the books, when I first saw the Reach announcement and Spartan silhouettes - I honestly thought it was going to be about Blue team. If not, whatever Spartan IIs were still fighting on Reach. Having some special Spartan-IIIs pop outta nowhere was also a bit weird.

I'm not familiar with blue team, where they in one of the books? I guess they were in Halo 5, still hoping that gets a pc release.

Halo does take a slightly different tone if you read the books, but even then the Chief is still quite special even if he isn't the last Spartan II. He wasn't just some Spartan-II, he was their leader. Of all the Spartans, Cortana chose him. He was also noted to have almost supernatural luck - that's not some innate or trained ability, the world just happens to favour the guy.

Yeah, I remember that line in Halo 3 and that is what started the Halo story's bugging me. I always assumed in CE that he was just the only one they managed to get loaded up before the Pillar had to take off, not the singular one that the suddenly also super special AI picked because of reasons. Like I also thought Cortana was just a standard capital ship class AI, not some super unique thing that later games made her.

 

[wings012]

I'm not familiar with blue team, where they in one of the books? I guess they were in Halo 5, still hoping that gets a pc release.

Yeah, I remember that line in Halo 3 and that is what started the Halo story's bugging me. I always assumed in CE that he was just the only one they managed to get loaded up before the Pillar had to take off, not the singular one that the suddenly also super special AI picked because of reasons. Like I also thought Cortana was just a standard capital ship class AI, not some super unique thing that later games made her.

Blue Team is basically Master Chief's squad. They consist of his closest mates, with one of them being in his 'original' squad from his training days at the start of the Spartan II program. They brought them back in Halo 5 since it had a 4 man fireteam coop thing going on for its campaign. I haven't personally played Halo 5, I only read up on it. But I figured for anyone not familiar with the books, Halo 5 would feel mighty odd and if a previous game(like Reach!) had introduced them first...

Yeah, I remember that line in Halo 3 and that is what started the Halo story's bugging me. I always assumed in CE that he was just the only one they managed to get loaded up before the Pillar had to take off, not the singular one that the suddenly also super special AI picked because of reasons. Like I also thought Cortana was just a standard capital ship class AI, not some super unique thing that later games made her.

The books also fleshed Cortana out to be a special AI. Normally smart AIs have to be created by neural mapping a human brain which destroys it in the process. Which is typically done with the brains of deceased donors. Halsey, the creator of the Spartan II program had basically flash cloned her brain repeatedly. Flash cloning being a rapid cloning process which is largely imperfect for something as complex as a brain(and I think doing it was breaking a lot of laws, but the entire Spartan program was ethically questionable anyway), so she just did it until she got a working result. Then used that to create Cortana. So Cortana is one of those rare Smart AIs that was based off a still living person, with that living person being an important figure.

Of course when they first made Halo CE - they weren't any plans for sequels nor was there a grand plan for a big universe and narrative. They didn't even know it was going to be as successful as it is and Bungie made it prepared for Halo being the one and only game of its 'franchise'. But it blew up, and they continued making shit up as they went along.

In the Halo CE enhanced graphics on the Pillar of Autumn, you can check the screens in the control room overlooking the bay where Master Chief first awakes. Storywise there were actually two Spartans on the Pillar. But the other Spartan was fatally wounded en route to it and put into cryo to preserve her so she couldn't have been revived to fight alongside the Chief. Cryo-pods are jettisoned into space cause protocol, so Linda was shot into space when the Pillar was due to crash into Halo. She gets rescued and shows up as one of the members of Blue Team in Halo 5.

The enhanced graphics decided to acknowledge that detail and there's a screen displaying her status in that control room.


If you can't be buggered to look at it in game.

There's a definite bit of weirdness and a gap between perspectives depending on whether you read the books or not. I really liked how Halo 3 had book related quotes and lines at the start, like how Cortana remarked on the Chief's luck. But I can understand a game only fan going - eh what the hell is this? And possibly reacting even more to Halo 5's surge of old characters.

 

[happyninja42]

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

The mission that begins with a flickering advertisement display, clearly broken.

This lead to such an enjoyable story arc, with a character that I really enjoyed from the first game, and went in a more philosophical route than you usually get.

For anyone that hasn't played it

You encounter the remnant of the AI personality that helped you in the first game, and she asks for your help in basically rebuilding who she is, and what her purpose will be. She's become a literal ghost in the machine, loose within the global networks, but unsure how to proceed with herself. She asks you for guidance, questioning things like morality and ethics, and what her purpose should be. You get to help shape her into something greater, you both hope. Sadly nothing came of it, since it was clearly meant to be sequel material, and they aren't likely to make anymore games in that line. Pity.

 

[Trunkage]

Knight Rider from Watch Dogs 2
Burning Drugs from Far Cry 3
Suicide Mission from ME 2
Almost as good was the last Mission of Me:A which is like those Halo beach landings except every allied grunt is someone you helped along the way
First map of Deus Ex. So much variety and ways of completing it.
Main Quest of Summerset in ESO. Pitting Daedra against each other was great.