In his latest video, Tim Cain explores the topic of the various types of quests that await us in most RPGs.

Have we ever sat down and counted how many types of quests there are in an RPG? How varied are they, really? Cain explains the nine basic types of quests we might encounter: These include assassination, killing, the infamous fetch quest, gathering, delivery, the often-misunderstood escort quest, conversation, puzzle, and timed quest. He explains that assassination involves killing a specific person or persons, while a killing quest involves killing a certain number of generic enemies, such as five alligators.

We all know what a fetch quest is: go here and get this item. A collection quest is similar to a kill quest – you collect a certain number of items. In a delivery quest, you get an item and take it to a destination or person, like Sam does in Death Stranding. Escort missions are similar, except instead of an item, you have to transport a person, which is often more complicated. The Last of Us can be considered a long escort mission. The conversation mission seems obvious when Cain mentions it. These usually involve convincing a non-player character (NPC) of something. For example, you might have to convince V’s downstairs neighbor in Cyberpunk 2077 to open the door and talk to his friends at the police station. Then, there are puzzle missions, which involve rotating stone pillars, fitting gems into holes, or arranging mirrors in a certain way.

Finally, there are timed missions, which many people despise. According to Cain, these are often modifications of existing missions. For example, you might have one in-game day to kill five alligators. However, they can also be standalone missions, such as when you only have a certain amount of time to reach the mission giver. Cain explains that the more missions like this in an RPG, the more influence players have. In the original Fallout, for instance, you must rescue a woman named Tandi from a band of raiders. You can kill all the bandits, fight the boss unarmed, pay for Tandi’s release, or convince the boss that you are his father’s ghost and persuade him to release the woman. Thus, there are four solutions: a killer, a slayer, a taker, and a talker.

However, having many different types of missions also has a downside. According to Cain, if our budget is fixed – as it is for 99.99% of projects – then more of one thing means less of another. If we want to build all mission types into our game and support them with additional design, coding, graphics, quality assurance, and debugging, then we will probably have to compromise on something.

Source: PCGamer