Hey - long-time fanboy, first-time poster here.
Love seeing designers lean into the freedom that side-quests give them, where you feel them shaking off the narrative straightjacket of the main quest.
Particularly love side quests that give me the latitude to define myself more fully as a character in the world. Who am I, really, beyond this chosen one/saviour? The best side quests are the ones which help me care about the world I'm about to save. Give me impactful objectives to overcome, by which process I can more readily understand and define myself, without ever interrupting the suspension of disbelief (i.e. rats, fetch quests) and the verisimilitude. You heard me, "verisimilitude".
Also, relationships. How do I shape the relationships around me? Like the loyalty missions in ME2, which were majestic.
Mostly just want to say thanks for making really solid games and for not aiming for the middle like the rest of the world! And sorry for the doctoral thesis!
