Hidden Quests....why?

[negru08]

Why are there hidden quests in games? Ones that are missable are the worste also. Like in the very beggining with the cafe and his secret item. There is no lead up to it. How is someone supposed to know to go talk to him without reading a wiki. Wikis to me ruin a game. I like to find things out myself but completly random quests with no hints to check there are no fun.

Are there a lot of them in this game? Do they take away from the overall story?

[Stabbey]

A lot of RPG's have quests scattered all over. In this series, you instead get the vast majority handed to you in unmissable ways. There are a few which are hidden, though. There is a pattern that makes it easier:

There are only two hidden quests per chapter - one is always after the visit to the Old Schoolhouse, the other is during the field study, but when varies from chapter to chapter. The only real way to find them is to talk to every NPC twice before advancing the main plot and finishing all mandatory tasks.

I have a Spoiler-free Mini-guide to missables for the first 5 chapters which is as spoiler-free as possible. I don't even tell you where the field study is.

[Furry Wrecking Crew]

Originally posted by negru08:

Why are there hidden quests in games? Ones that are missable are the worste also. Like in the very beggining with the cafe and his secret item. There is no lead up to it. How is someone supposed to know to go talk to him without reading a wiki. Wikis to me ruin a game. I like to find things out myself but completly random quests with no hints to check there are no fun.

Are there a lot of them in this game? Do they take away from the overall story?

I played this blind and got the achievement for completing all quests. You don't need a wiki. You just need to have some intuition, and also talk to everyone as much as you can.

[negru08]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

A lot of RPG's have quests scattered all over. In this series, you instead get the vast majority handed to you in unmissable ways. There are a few which are hidden, though. There is a pattern that makes it easier:

There are only two hidden quests per chapter - one is always after the visit to the Old Schoolhouse, the other is during the field study, but when varies from chapter to chapter. The only real way to find them is to talk to every NPC twice before advancing the main plot and finishing all mandatory tasks.

I have a Spoiler-free Mini-guide to missables for the first 5 chapters which is as spoiler-free as possible. I don't even tell you where the field study is.

Thanks for this :)

[negru08]

Originally posted by Vigi React:

Originally posted by negru08:

Why are there hidden quests in games? Ones that are missable are the worste also. Like in the very beggining with the cafe and his secret item. There is no lead up to it. How is someone supposed to know to go talk to him without reading a wiki. Wikis to me ruin a game. I like to find things out myself but completly random quests with no hints to check there are no fun.

Are there a lot of them in this game? Do they take away from the overall story?

I played this blind and got the achievement for completing all quests. You don't need a wiki. You just need to have some intuition, and also talk to everyone as much as you can.

I honestly forget who I talk to. I have talked to everyone and it takes alot of time. Most of them have boring things to say. I wish there were a slight indicator on who to talk to . Like some game has a box above there head. Its white when thy have something new to say and gray when they dont. Its also green if they have something out of the normal to say. Optional yes but that way I can see who I need to talk to without talking to everyone to shift threw the pointless chit chat.

[Monterossa]

I don't think it's a good idea to play it blind anyway. It's like telling people to talk to every NPC every time period the game let you run around.

[maskedlord76]

I play it using a walkthrough on my phone

[astranabeat]

Originally posted by Monterossa:

I don't think it's a good idea to play it blind anyway. It's like telling people to talk to every NPC every time period the game let you run around.

Well I did that. end my first playthrough at 102 hrs. I like to find how NPC life had change over the course of the game.

[Gin-chan]

Originally posted by astranabeat:

Originally posted by Monterossa:

I don't think it's a good idea to play it blind anyway. It's like telling people to talk to every NPC every time period the game let you run around.

Well I did that. end my first playthrough at 102 hrs. I like to find how NPC life had change over the course of the game.

Yeah considering almost everyone named NPC has a small bit of story goin on with them as the plot moves on i like doin this too :). (This is true especially for the school town.)

[何かしら…]

They are bonus side quests, you aren't supposed to complete them all.

[Gambio]

Hidden Quests serve as an incentive for you to actually go exploring, the same with Books, recipes and the odd item you get from talking to the right person at the right time.

Now, in order to understand that mindset you need to know that one of the most defining aspects of the Trails Games is its huge amount of NPC's with ongoing storylines and dialog that changes ater pretty much every cutscene. Dialog hunting is a cherished pastime under Kiseki fans and the idiom "Talk to everyone after every cutscene, twice" has etablished itself pretty firmly

Now, look at it that way, you don't have to talk to everyone in order to enjoy the game, but in the same vein you don't have to get those hidden quests either. They aren't particularly more meaningful then any other convo you might get in the game that isn't tied to a special event.

If it's because of something silly like "Achievements" fret not, You need a second playtrough to get all of them anyway, so feel free to play the first time blind.

[negru08]

Originally posted by Gambio:

Hidden Quests serve as an incentive for you to actually go exploring, the same with Books, recipes and the odd item you get from talking to the right person at the right time.

Now, in order to understand that mindset you need to know that one of the most defining aspects of the Trails Games is its huge amount of NPC's with ongoing storylines and dialog that changes ater pretty much every cutscene. Dialog hunting is a cherished pastime under Kiseki fans and the idiom "Talk to everyone after every cutscene, twice" has etablished itself pretty firmly

Now, look at it that way, you don't have to talk to everyone in order to enjoy the game, but in the same vein you don't have to get those hidden quests either. They aren't particularly more meaningful then any other convo you might get in the game that isn't tied to a special event.

If it's because of something silly like "Achievements" fret not, You need a second playtrough to get all of them anyway, so feel free to play the first time blind.

I dont know, I was able to play Trails in the Sky FC,SC, TC without any guid and I didnt miss a sinlge quest cause I kinda could tell when to go tlak to certain people. I would of missed that first hidden quest with the cook had I not see it on a guide.

[Oddness]

Because people like to explore and discover instead of getting forcefeed every step with questmarkers.
I wish I could turn those off in this game.