8 games that make the optional stuff feel essential

Not all RPG side quests are created equal. For every captivating detour that nets you a spiffy new weapon or reveals an intriguing detail about the story, there are a dozen tedious slogs requiring you to kill five slimes or gather some herbs on a dangerous mountain. But a fascinating little side story can help make an epic adventure feel all the more meaningful — and provide a welcome diversion from the daunting task of saving the world.

It’s all but impossible to find an RPG that contains no “filler” whatsoever — everyone’s appetite for fetch quests and fighting colosseum minigames will vary. But these eight games include outstanding side quests that are well worth your time, with memorable storytelling, missable secrets, and unique gameplay mechanics.

1

Final Fantasy 6

After an apocalyptic battle, the second half of Final Fantasy 6 sees all your party members scattered to the winds. It’s possible — though challenging — to take on the final dungeon and boss with only a party of three out of the 14 recruitable allies. By that point in the story, though, you’ll probably be eager to get the band back together, just to see what everyone’s been up to. These “optional” quests are where FF6 truly shines, because we get to learn a lot more about each member of the game’s sprawling cast — and how they’re dealing with a dramatically changed world. Some have carved out peaceful lives, despite it all. Others are depressed and despondent. One guy even joined a cult, and now spends most of his days marching back and forth in a straight line. The end of the world is full of surprises.

2

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Image: CD Projekt Red via Polygon

It’s no secret that CD Projekt Red created one of the best RPGs of all time in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and a big part of the game’s success is just how much there is to do outside the main story. From assisting talking horses to treasure hunting, the optional activities you can get up to as Geralt range from silly errands to unforgettable adventures in their own right. Even the in-universe card game, Gwent, has its own dedicated open-world quest line.

The simplest tasks can give way to a narrative goldmine, as in the early-game quest where you retrieve an old woman’s frying pan from another room in your house. If you return later in the story, Geralt discovers that a spy borrowed the pan — hence the lady asking you to find it — in order to use the black soot to write clandestine letters. It’s this deep worldbuilding that’s kept people fascinated by The Witcher 3 more than a decade after its initial release date. CDPR’s even planning an all-new story expansion for the game, Songs of the Past, due out in 2027.

3

Chrono Trigger

Square Enix

This 1995 SNES game perfected the time-travel video game and introduced the world to the concept of New Game Plus. It also has 13 unique endings, depending on the time period from which you challenge the final boss and who is in your party. Some of those endings have a tragic outcome, some are goofs, and one represents the true conclusion of the tale. But in order to see the best of the bunch, you’ll have to complete a couple of lengthy and challenging optional tasks, like asking your mechanical party member Robo to spend four centuries transforming a barren desert into a lush forest. Like in FF6, it’s in the later, “optional” phases of Chrono Trigger that we really get to know and love the cast of characters beyond the familiar RPG tropes.

4

Baldur’s Gate 3

Image: Larian Studios

2023’s GOTY darling is a vast and expansive experience, with enough permutations of its central story to merit countless playthroughs. Although there are 10 recruitable companions, you can only have three in your party at a given time. (You can recruit them all and swap them out at camp, though.) The side quests for each companion are deep and nuanced, and spending more time with each of them creates a richer game, in addition to a bounty of experience and loot. Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3’s three-act adventure, you’ll also find a massive number of totally optional experiences, some involving creepy clowns, and another involving a literal deal with the devil. Many of these quests will trigger — or not — depending on the choices you make in the early hours of the game, meaning that this is a journey that’s meant to be savored slowly and deliberately, rather than blitzed through at a breakneck pace.

5

Yakuza 0

Image: Sega

Okay, fine. This one’s a bit of a cheat. The Yakuza series is notorious for its bounty of entirely superfluous minigames, many of which do not feel essential whatsoever. In any Yakuza game, there’s usually darts, karaoke, shogi, mahjongg, bowling, and the chance to play Sega arcade classics like Virtua Fighter and Out Run. And that’s not to mention the weirder one-offs, like photographing gyrating Honolulu hunks in speedos, working as the citrus-headed mascot of Onomichi, or chatting with babes at the phone-sex club. But when Sega’s Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio commits to the bit and dives deep on a plot-driven minigame, magic is often the result.

That’s the case with both of Yakuza 0’s marquee minigames. In Cabaret Club Czar, you’ll help Majima take Club Shine to the top of Sotenbori’s nightlife scene, by recruiting beautiful and charming hostesses and helping them keep clients happy by promptly responding to their requests. Sounds simple enough, but blink and you’ll lose five hours of your life. In the equally compelling Real Estate Royale, you’ll help Kiryu rise to the top of Kamurocho’s retail scene, steadily adding to your empire of restaurants, pachinko parlors, and soaplands. You’ll soon earn more money for stat upgrades and weapons than you can possibly ever spend — and unlock a new fighting style for Kiryu.

6

The Adventures of Elliot

Image: Square Enix

The newest entry of the bunch, The Adventures of Elliot is a compact, retro-inspired RPG in the vein of Secret of Mana, made by Square Enix’s Team Asano. With a compact world map and 25-hour runtime, it’s a refreshingly lean experience compared to a lot of the open-world bloat that’s become so common in the genre. According to the quest tracker in the main menu, there are 33 total optional quests for Elliot to take on. Admittedly, several are bog-standard “gather an obscure herb” fare, but many of them contain juicy plot details that will help you unlock the game’s true ending sequence. After all, you’re a chipper, gung-ho adventurer — it’s only natural that you’d want to chat with everyone you meet. Maybe you’ll even learn more about your own mysterious past in the process.

7

Elden Ring

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

FromSoftware’s 2022 smash hit allows you near-complete freedom to explore the Lands Between from its opening moments. The only limitation — and it’s a formidable one — is whether you can survive the treacherous places you dare to venture. Elden Ring’s extremely open-ended gameplay extends to its storytelling as well. On the one hand, if you know what you’re doing, you can blitz straight to the final boss in mere minutes like a practiced speedrunner.

But where the game truly shines is in its non-linear, incidental storytelling. Much of the lore and backstory of the Lands Between is conveyed through item descriptions, as well as environmental and enemy design. This is very much a show-don’t-tell experience, and you won’t find many long, expository cutscenes here. Still, like in most RPGs, you’ll be rewarded for talking to people and helping them when you can. The meat of the story lies in helping characters like Millicent, Ranni the Witch, and the cheerful warrior jar Alexander, though Elden Ring won’t hold your hand with flashing waypoints and quest prompts like other games do.

8

Persona 5

Image: Atlus

Atlus’s Persona games are lengthy dungeon crawlers with twisty-turny plots and turn-based combat that rewards careful strategy. But that’s only half the story. The other side of the game is a FOMO-addled social sim, where you must figure out the best way to spend your free time as a seemingly ordinary Tokyo high school student. On any given afternoon, you can work a part-time job, study for midterms at the library, or catch a movie by the train station. But the best use of your time is making friends with your classmates and around town.

Naturally, you’ll want to make friends with your fellow party members, because a stronger relationship will make them more powerful in combat. But you’ll want to spend time with folks like your overworked teacher, the neighborhood punk-rock doctor, and an aspiring politician, too. Not only do they provide a welcome counterpoint to all the teen angst elsewhere in the story, leveling up those relationships will also provide unique gameplay perks. In Persona 5 Royal, the expanded and enhanced version of the game, one of your confidants is the gatekeeper to a beefy true ending sequence that you won’t be able to access otherwise.