how does sidequests work??.. no clue what to do.

[BlackViper]

i got 2 sidequests.. one says about a joke he want.. another says he want his stolen property back.. but there is no indication of where on the entire map i have to find either. or any "names" that i can look for on the NPCs...

totaly stuck..

[Alzack]

Sidequests are generally dependent on taking advantage of Path Actions of your characters so you use them to get appropriate items, unlock access to guarded locations, guide appropriate NPCs, etc. in order to finish tasks.

I'm not sure about sidequest with Joke (I didn't finish it yet) but for task with retrieving stolen goods, take Castti with Soothe, Throné with Ambush, Ochette with Provoke or Hikari with Challenge and use their path action on NPC guarding entrance to the building in Foundry in Oresrush. Unconscious NPC will be moved and you'll get access inside the warehouse. Chest with stolen items should be there.
Cheers!

[Watcher Rat]

For the solution to the joke sidequest:

You need a character that can learn more about NPCs, so you need Inquire, Bribe, Scrutinize, etc. There are three NPCs in the area that, when you learn more about them, will give you a different joke key item. Once you have all three, return to the quest giver to complete the matter.

The answer to each subquest is always different; some require fighting a boss, or stealing/buying/mugging an item, and so on. Look for the "star" key items when going around NPCs, those will always be related either to a side quest, or job/guild contract unlocks like the Inventor class.

[BlackViper]

Originally posted by Watcher Rat:

For the solution to the joke sidequest:

You need a character that can learn more about NPCs, so you need Inquire, Bribe, Scrutinize, etc. There are three NPCs in the area that, when you learn more about them, will give you a different joke key item. Once you have all three, return to the quest giver to complete the matter.

The answer to each subquest is always different; some require fighting a boss, or stealing/buying/mugging an item, and so on. Look for the "star" key items when going around NPCs, those will always be related either to a side quest, or job/guild contract unlocks like the Inventor class.

so with other words, if i got a sidequest, i just play along like normal untill i find a NPC with a star above it wich means he has to do with one of the quests i got?..

i cant even continue the main quest... though i might have to recruit more people first cause i see them on the map but thats all. so far im only 2 people.

[Sombrero]

Side quests are more based on chance than anything I feel. You sometimes have the chance to have an idea of what you are meant to be. In some cases you can get info on the quest by gathering info on nearby NPCs (using one of the traveler's skill to do that) but it's rare. Sometimes the quest is pretty obvious (but rarely).

I've done a few but honestly they kinda suck, most of them are not worth the effort aside from specific ones unfortunately. Just play the game, gather as many side quests as you can and try to look back at them regularly to see if you can finish any.

[dustin1280]

Side quests in this game work like old school sidequests...

You have to pay attention to all the details of the request, and very possibly other npcs in that town who were also scrutinized.

They aren't going to give you arrows to the conclusion, you have to figure it out yourself based on the clues that the npcs give you.

[Lucyfar]

Most sidequests in Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 uses the path actions to get what u need

Some quests have 2 ways of doing it, for example in Octopath Traveler 1 you had a quest from a noble guy who wanted a piece of art or something like that

You could just steal/buy the piece of art from a poor artist who lived in misery
You could guide/allure the artist to the Noble and the Noble would give a job to the artist and the artist NPC would move with his family to the Noble castle, not longer living in misery

Basically, read what the NPC that gives you the sidequest does and go explore the world, somewhere you'll find the NPC that have what u need for the quest in their belongings or the NPC itself will say something that indicates he is the person who should meet with the quest giver

Example: In Octopath Traveler 2 there's a guy whose wife is getting a baby and he asks for the woman who will give birth to his children, because she is travelling and the baby is coming at the wrong time, there's a NPC in a town who is a woman who can deliver babies, you can use a path action that recruits a NPC and bring this woman to this guy, etc...

It's a RPG that doesn't hold your hand with quests, you have to read and explore the world, it kinda reminds me of World of Warcraft in 2004 when the game didn't showed you any indication in the map or anything about a quest

[GalanOfTruth]

Some of them are easy, but some are definitely meant to be completed by accident lol. And assuming none are required for endgame story then I'm fine with it, it's not like the super unintuitive ones seem to give any crucial rewards so far.