Main Quests
Quests whose completion provides the main winning condition of games.
Main Quests are the ones that provide overarching goals for players in games structured around the fulfillment of quests. They are often tied to storylines in the games and provide a framework for smaller quests.
Contents
Examples
Main Quests have most common in Computer-based Roleplaying Games but not so in Tabletop due to the often open-ended narratives. Likewise, overarching quests may be present as story-telling devices in Category:Massively Multiplayer Online Games and large scale LARPS but can often not be completed or do not have rewards on a gameplay level. Examples of Main Quests include saving the world of Tamriel in the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion by stop oblivion portals from opening[1], saving or diverting the intentions of project purity in Fallout 3[2], affect the outcome of the struggle between the mages and the templars in Dragon Age II[3], and choosing the path of non-humans, knights, or declaring neutrality in the Witcher[4].
Using the pattern
Note that although completing some Main Quests may end games (as it does for example in Dragon Age II and the Fallout series with the exception of Fallout 3 with the Broken Steel Expansion), this is not a necessity. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an example of this.
Interface Aspects
Main Questsdo not need to be present in interfaces in the same way as other Quests since they frame the whole gameplay and narrative experience.
Narrative Aspects
Main Quests are the main bearer of Predetermined Story Structures when they exist in games, so the pattern is an inherently narrative one.
Consequences
Relations
Can Instantiate
Anticipation, Predetermined Story Structures, Quests
Can Modulate
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Can Be Instantiated By
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Can Be Modulated By
Hierarchy of Goals, Sidequests
Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
Massively Online Multiplayer Games, Unwinnable Games
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
