Are Main Quests Necessary?

[JesterRaiin]

The only thing I would say differently is that the player DOES make a difference to quests or there is no point to doing them.

Could you explain what you mean by that ?
I'm sure there's some kind of misunderstanding.

In your original post you say that events will transpire regardless of what the player does and I read that as 'you can't change them, it's fated to happen' which would make the quests you choose irrelevent as everything will happen in a predetermined order either way.

If what you meant was that 'shit will happen if you don't deal with it in a certain window of game time' then I appologise for the misunderstanding and completely agree with your idea.

Ah, i understand now.

By saying what i said, i meant that there could be some "global" events that will happen in their time, no matter what player does.
For example (cliched, but i'm lacking an alcohhol to come up with something better now) :

Small, secluded village.
The player is an agent of some Top Secret organization that sends him to this place because "we are sure something will happen on the March 21th there, something bad". So he arrives and...

...He is given (let's say) three days to do whatever he wants. He can gather some resources, guns, provisions, beverages, still, kill, talk, walk, or simply run around naked screaming "pudding for the pudding God". There are a few quests he can do, but he isn't obliged to anything.

On the third day the sky split open and some demons fall from rift. Villagers are decimated, but some manage to survive. Some hide in the church, some in the police precinct, some run to nearby hills and the rest is scattered here and there.

On the fifth day the rescue team in form of some godsend demon hunters come, kill the monsters and rescue villagers. End of story.

- The player can't do a thing about those demons - he can't prevent them from coming, he can't banish them. Their arrival isn't tied to his level or any actions he may undertake.

- However he can prepare himself, do some research about what's bound to happen, find himself a hideout, maybe even warn and convince at least a few people to watch their backs or run them out of town.

- Later, when the situation resembles "30 days of night" he can hide by himself, or try to find survivors and protect them as best as he can.

- In the meantime there are little sub-quests available like "rescue my kid", "find food", "rob an unprotected bank", "find the route out of city", "preserve relict", "escape your hideout" or something like this.

So, as you can see, the player have some impact on his surroundings, he may acquire this and that, but he won't prevent anything important from happening. Some things will happen even with him just sitting on his ass for whole days.
There won't be any scenario either. No chapters, no cutscenes, no "let's wait for this dumbass to push the action forever", no "next episode this way", no "yoo da czosen one, lemme touch yoo".

I hope i made things a bit more clear...

 

[StorytellingIsAMust]

Okay, I didn't read any other posts before answering the question of the importance of the main story, so forgive me if I'm repeating anyone else's points.

Yes, main quests/continuous storylines are very important. In fact, they are more important than anything else aside from gameplay because of one very important thing: context. Say what you will about Skyrim, but I just couldn't get into it because it lacked a strong overarching storyline. Without context, side quests lose a lot of their meaning, ie a scenario where the great hero ignores the overarching threat or villain in order to see how quickly he can run up the Empire State Building or whatever. There comes a point when messing around, exploration, and side quests lose their luster, and the main story, aka what makes you truly invested in a single-player game, is the only thing that will determine whether or not the game is good.

Of course, this is all just my opinion, but there you are.

 

[TheOneBearded]

[/quote]Thats what updates are for, updates are the Ketchup and Soy Sauce of the gaming platter.[/quote]

What if you aren't into Ketchup and Soy Sauce or the Ketchup and Soy Sauce given to you isn't that great or appetizing? Do you eat the crap like a man or do you abandon the dish entirely?

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I'm unable to concentrate when a game gets too open and then I lose interest unless there's a really good main quest I have to follow to the end.

Yeah, pretty much. I tried to pry myself away from the storyline and go for other quests but the main story had a pretty epic scale that made me keep thinking "I REALLY wanna see what happens next." At the very least, it made me feel that "this next story quest really seems more exciting than delivering this dagger to somebody."

 

[BaronUberstein]

Not for me at least, I have never gotten the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller in Skyrim. I rarely use shouts. I play it mostly like I'm a weird, crazy sellsword who is bungling their way to victory across the lands.

In Just Cause 2, I just run around blowing things up, completing cities and villages one by one. Maybe I'll land a 747 on a highway bridge, maybe I'll try and carry a fancy car to the top of a mountain with a helicopter. I don't really care about the main story, I'm playing to have fun.

I mean, a good story is certainly a nice thing to have if it is what you're looking for, but what got me to buy Skyrim was seeing a friend playing it and saying "Man, I want to kill bandits with a giant axe too", not "I want to be a special person who the game revolves around". The tabletop campaign I'm in doesn't have me playing a special character, I'm just a mercenary caught up in a situation where sticking with the group works...that and there is some crazy, cookie-baking lady out in the desert with a doom fortress who would kill me if I turned in my teammates for the bounty.

 

[Byere]

To put it bluntly... If all you had in a game was side quests to progress the story, they wouldn't BE side quests, they'd be main quests.

Your question and point is moot...

 

[Abe O'Farrell]

To be honest, I REALLY want to play Skyrim without the main quest. Especially when you are making a new character so you have already done the main line with another toon and know the story. The problem I found is that on more difficult levels you NEED many of the dragon shouts to take on enemies. Also, I have heard that without the main quest no dragons appear, which kind of defeats the purpose of the game which is all about a world filled with dragons. Even if you go around collecting the shouts, without dragon souls you cannot activate them. The first 2 shouts you get in the game I would say are a NECESSITY. THey have saved my ass countless times. So although I would like to try without the main quest line, and I have tried, I found it hard to do without the skills and loot you get from the main quests.