Chapter Select and triggering Side Quests - How does it work?

[Mumrah]

Hi,

I just completed the game where I have Chapter Select. So my main goal is to complete the quests I missed and get endings.

I would load up a chapter to fight the Dojo machine, but his dot is not present in the chapter when it should've been there much sooner. This is one example of course.

Am I to understand that you would select a chapter for example, with (12/13) quest completion and play through the Main Story quests to get them to show up?

I just wanted a detailed explanation of how one would go about finding and completing side quests.

[TheSeek]

While yes, checking the quest completation for each chapter might give you a general idea of what chapters to go to find the missing side quests, there is no single method that works for all side quests, some will be available in multiple chapters as soon as you access those chapters, others require you to complete a main quest first, others only appear after other side quests have been completed, some are exclusive to some routes and/or characters, others yet will become unavailable after some main events, and so on.
I'd suggest checking this side quest wiki to see when each side quest can be done, with which character/s can be done, and how to trigger it https://nierautomata.wiki.fextralife.com/Side+Quests

Also, even if you just unlocked chapter select, remember that the main game is not over yet, you need all 5 main endings from A to E(with E being the true ending) to actually complete the game.
You probably only have ABC or ABD, to get the 2 missing ones you don't need to replay the game like you did already, you can use chapter select to go to the final battle right before the last decision on who to pick, and pick the other one to get the ending C or D you miss, and ending E(you need network connectivity on for this one) will follow automatically once you have both C and D. If you do decide to do these endings before going around to complete side quest, mind that the question the game asks you after ending E is 100% serious, so decide accordingly to what you want to do.

[deidian]

Quests are generally chapter based. On a very general outline: side-quests for routes A/B will only be available during the chapters(1 to 10, but remember the majority will only be available until "Mission Supply" main quest, so until 7-2 you can do them) of that routes. Route C has another array of side quests which will appear only on route C chapters(11 to 17). Also try to figure out if world changes that happen from one chapter to the next might actually ruin the possibility of doing side-quests, for example: if Pascal's Village is destroyed you cannot do side-quests from that place.

Then some quests are character specific, which you can see in chapter select. Shared quests can be done playing with any of the characters available. This is 2B or 9S for routes A/B and A2 or 9S for route C.

Completed quests will not be available when you start playing through chapter select. Only failed, non completed or not discoreved quests will appear.

The quest counter in Chapter Select shows the counts for total completed and available UNTIL that chapter. So it's a incremental counter that accounts previous chapters, but not quests from next chapters.

[Mumrah]

Thank you for the replies.

In response, it seems I just have to play through the game like normal, again, to see the quests I'm missing to pop up.

Both of you mention and refer to the wiki, which has many holes for the information. For example, the Dojo fight, there is no info on WHEN in the main story it is triggered so you can go fight him. I didn't straight up complete him all the way because I didn't want to let go of some materials for upgrades.

In essence, it is what I said: Play the main quests again to find the side quests. I have searched around quite a bit to find a definitive answer and found very little. I'm actually a little surprised being this game is popular and 3 years old.

@deidian
If I were to pick chapter 7-1, than in theory most of the side quests should be available. Correct?

[deidian]

Yes, for the A/B route most side quests are available in 7-1.

I would try though to make an exercite to locate in which story chapter the side quest became available. Most side quest in N:A are tied in some way with the main quest and character development, so having that idea is insightful.

Chapter Select is essentially being able to do a partial start. You start the game in some specific point of the story and then you can do what you want. Keep playing the story normally or selecting Chapter Select in a save point and jump to another point. Only drawback is your level is kept, so it's not exactly the same as playing fresh in row.

You can use the counters for completed quests and then search them in map too. As soon as you find a missing quest you start in the Chapter and search it in the map. If it doesn't appear then you may be missing some requirement for the quest, so you can skip it for the time being. It's another way.

I forgot the other question, getting endings requires too to jump using Chapter Select, it requires playing with chapter select even more than doing side quests.