History Main / LoadsAndLoadsOfSidequests

* The online game ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'' and its variants ''VideoGame/DragonFable'', ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'' and ''VideoGame/WarpForce'', all have this.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' goes so far as to give you an achievement, "Easily Sidetracked," if you complete 75% of the sidequests.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends'' when Charlie enters the Enchanted Forest and dismisses sidequest offers from a centaur, a goblin, an elf and an ''alien.''

[[caption-width-right:292:And this is just the FirstTown.]]

** ''''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'', much like its immediate predecessor ''Breath of the Wild'', lets you skip ''all'' the content besides the trek to fight Ganondorf, including all the main story quests. Even the quest to get the Paraglider, which was required in ''Breath of the Wild'', can be skipped here, giving you quite the SelfImposedChallenge if you want to try and reach Ganondorf without it.

* The first UsefulNotes/NintendoDS entry for ''Literature/ChroniclesOfNarnia'' has around 70 sidequests. The creatures of Narnia will ask the player to do things for them in exchange for new skills. Most are fairly simple, and can be ignored without a hassle... At least until the very end of the game, where it turns out that to face to White Witch one has to complete ALL of them.

Games that feature this generally fall towards the open end of the SlidingScaleOfLinearityVsOpenness. Compare SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer, where a particular sidequest is so good and addictive it might distract one from the main quest altogheter, as well as QuicksandBox, when the sidequests are so expansive one gets confused on what one should actually be doing. See also PlayTheGameSkipTheStory.

* The ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' series. While the entire gameplay is always puzzle solving, some puzzles are relevant to the story, either with the puzzle directly being related or the giver using a puzzle to test Layton's ability, but many puzzles are just completely random. This is often {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''The Curious Village'', when people keep stopping Layton to have him solve random puzzles despite Layton telling he's has more important matters on his hands.

** One of the distinguishing features of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' is that ''all'' the content is optional to complete the plot except for TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Even the four main dungeons besides Hyrule Castle can be skipped if you want to head straight for Ganon. This is [[NintendoHard not recommended]] though, as completing the four dungeons along with as many [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] as you can make StormingTheCastle much easier. And skipping the dungeons and the [[StoryBreadcrumbs retrievable memories]] would result in you missing the bulk of the story.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts Covenant'' has a truly obscene number of side quests and subplots, though most of the time they do offer worthwhile things (like powers to the party members or new weapons). A lot of them are under the pretense of being a club or society the party is randomly asked to join, varying from dog fighting to step counting. Yuri [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]]:

*** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' [[JustifiedTrope justifies it]], as it is recommended to you to keep up your cover identity as a freelance adventurer to hide that you are working for [[SecretPolice the Blades]]. And later, [[spoiler:after you've been named the [[TheChosenOne Nerevarine/Hortator]]]], completing side quests works to fulfill your duty to protect the people of Morrowind.

* The ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' series has shades of this. While the entire gameplay is always puzzle solving, some puzzles are relevant to the story, either with the puzzle directly being related or the giver using a puzzle to test Layton's ability, but many puzzles are just completely random. This is often {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''The Curious Village'', when people keep stopping Layton to have him solve random puzzles despite Layton telling he's has more important matters on his hands.

[[caption-width-right:350:And this is just the FirstTown.]]