Quests are the bread and gameplay is what’s in between when it comes to the sandwich that is RPG gaming. The purpose of a quest can be world saving, or something as mundane as clearing rats from a cellar, but either way, they are the thing that pushes us forward in RPGs.
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Unfortunately, not all quests are created equal and there are some quests that are just atrocious and are designed to do nothing but annoy the player and pad the end time.
You know the ones. The “why am I doing this?” quests of the world are coming to gather, right here, right now. Here are 10 quests that are so annoying, you wonder why they’re even in a game.
10The Crown of Barenziah
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrimis one of the best games ever made and is so full of quests that you’re able to find yourself playing the game for years and still finding something new.
That’s all well and good, but in between the great quests lie quests designed to simply annoy you. Case in point, The Crown of Barenziah.
This quest tasks you with finding gems for a crown that are randomly scattered across the world.
Their placement of these gems is beyond random, so if you want to discover them all, you’ll be combing every corner of the world for them.
The worst part of it all, is that there is barely any reward for finding them all.
You get to view the crown. You can’t wear it either; it’s just kind of there. That’s what you get forhours of searching every corner of the world.
9Dinner Date
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Spider-Manwas anamazing return to formfor the web-slinger in 2018, but there were some hiccups in the game’s design.
Issue number one was the Mary Jane missions. These were so boring, so slow, and numerous that it was hard to believe this was something Insomniac thought players would be interested in doing.
All of them are terrible, but Dinner Date, in particular, was among the worst.
This one tasks you with sneaking around a group of bikers to gather information and take some pictures.
If that doesn’t sound thrilling enough, there is an Insta-fail state if you get caught. Not to mention, the enemy AI ranges from completely brain-dead to super-human, depending on what you’re doing at a particular moment.
Insomniac heard the backlash about these awful segments and decided to double down on it with the sequel, where they were, once again, awful.
Sometimes, the fans do know what they’re talking about.
8Sequence 4
Assassin’s Creed 3
Assassin’s Creed III
Assassin’s Creed 3is a great entry in the series that people warmed up to long after its release, but it certainly doesn’t make a great first impression.
You open the game in great shape, Haytham Kenway,playing as a Templar for the first time; we’re cooking right off the bat.
Unfortunately, that whole plot gets railroaded rather quickly as you’re thrown into the shoes of Connor Kenway, his son.
This is fine, except for the entire set of intro quests in sequence 4. This involves such thrilling tasks as finding children in a forest, climbing trees, and flying around as a bird.
You open the game expecting brutal action and serious stakes, and then you’re given this.
It’s not even a short sequence, as you’ll find yourself as child Connor for quite a bit of time.
It eventually gains its footing back once Connor ages, but that whole segment was terrible and one of the most hated parts of an otherwise pretty good game.
7Lightning Dodger
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy 10
Final Fantasy Xis afantastic game, but like most titles in the franchise, there are a few quests that make you never want to pick up a controller again.
At the top of the list stands the ‘dodge 200 lightning bolts in a row’ quest that you must do to get Lulu’s Celestial Weapon.
This brilliant achievement in game design tasks you with dodging 200 lightning bolts in a row, and you do it by tapping a button 200 times in a row.
The thought of this quest makes my skin crawl. They really couldn’t have thought of any better quest to get this done? It’s so arbitrary and time-consuming that it feels like the game is actively hating the player.
Square Enix couldn’t have gone with 20 or 50 dodges in a row? They had to have it be 200. I would rather fight Ozma 10 times in a row than ever attempt this quest again.
Mafia: Definitive Edition
Mafia: Definitive Editionis ahidden gem of a gamethat lets you live out a rags-to-riches mafia member’s life.
For the most part, the game is incredible, and it stays true to the original while offering some valuable QOL improvements.
One thing, however, that hasn’t changed a ton, is the game’s most infamous mission.
In the original game, the mission Fairplay was known as being nearly impossible to complete.
This time around, it’s still brutal, but due to some tweaking of the settings, it is possible to complete it.
The idea of the mission is simple. Win the race. We’ve seen it in tons of games, but here, for whatever reason, it is brutally difficult.
It’s not a short mission either, meaning if you lose the race, it’s back to square one with banging your head against the wheel trying to outwit some of the early 1900s' finest race car drivers.
It’s miserable, and at no other point in the game do you need to have the precise driving skill that’s needed here.
It’s just too hard, and the remake doesn’t make it all that much better.
5Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
The Long Shadow of Shinra
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth Deluxe Edition
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirthmay very well be thegame of the year in 2024, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have its share of weak moments.
Easily the worst offender and most annoying quest in the game is the Long Shadow of Shinra.
While you might think that uncovering Shinra’s sketchy past in Shinra Manor would be a good time, Square Enix decided it was a better time to put in the worst set of mini-games imaginable, all helmed by the worst character in the game (besides Chadley).
The objective of this mission is to navigate the labs under the manor, and to do so, you have to throw boxes.
This isFinal Fantasy 7in 2024, and I’m throwing boxes. Needless to say, I’m not having a good time.
It’s not just one quick minigame of this either, but throughout the entire dungeon itself. It is mind-numbing, and I’m being kind with that description.
The game mechanics were not set up to have Cait Sith precision pass boxes into a vat over and over again. It’s like playingMadden, but imagine your quarterback’s hands were boxing gloves.
That’s about the level of control you have over Cait Sith’s passes. It’s cute and fun at first, then wears into rage shortly after.
4A Princess in Distress
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis easily up there with theGOATS of gaming. Unfortunately, its worst quest involves a goat of a different variety.
The quest “princess in distress” has you herding a beloved goat back to its owner.
It requires you to ring a bell to lead the goat to you, but that also draws enemies, so every few steps, your goat herding will be interrupted by combat.
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This, of course, makes the goat run off, and the goat isn’t particularly easy to keep in line, so expect to repeat this sequence multiple times.
It’s funny at first, then frustrating, then completely annoying.
Thankfully, the quest is not overly long, so it manages to stay in the annoying category without soaring into the catastrophically game-breaking one.
3Watch Dogs
Planting a Bug
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogshas a lot of interesting missions in it, but there are a few that creep into the annoying category.
Planting a bug is definitely one of those, and while the setup is fantastic, the execution is rocky at best.
Aiden blackmails a gang member into working for him to get out an important piece of information and, in order to do this, he leads him through a compound via cameras set up throughout the compound.
It’s a cool idea, but it flips all of the gameplay you’ve been used to on its head, and relies on precise jumping between cameras to make sure Bed Bug doesn’t get killed.
The AI of the enemies is sharp, and Bed Bug is slow as molasses, so the amount of trial and error that happens is outrageous, and the mission goes on for quite a while with very little gameplay variety.
It’s one of those quests that meant well, but failed badly in the gameplay.
2The Cloudburst Tank
Batman: Arkham Knight
Batman:Arkham Knightis a great game, most of the time, and the times it isn’t, you’re spending time in the Batmobile.
The worst instance of this takes place in the fight against the Cloudburst Tank, driven by the game’s main villain.
This fight goes on for a while, and if you haven’t upgraded the Batmobile, it’s going to be beyond annoying.
Not only do the controls in the Batmobile feel awful, but you’re going to be faced with a war of attrition here.
The Cloudburst Tank and its minions are a nightmare to deal with, and the inability to get out of the Batmobile and beat everyone down like Batman would is just an injustice.
You could put any of the Batmobile fights in the game in this spot, but it’s the Cloudburst Tank that takes the cake.
It’s infuriatingly annoying and a mandatory roadblock of the worst variety.
Goldeneye 007
GoldenEye 007
Goldeneye 007is alegend in the gaming industry, and is, perhaps, the inventor of the most annoying quest type around.
The “protect your ally” quest. This quest type has permeated gaming since, but the worst of all is the Control mission.
Here, you have to protect Natalya. Sounds simple, right? Oh, sweet summer child, let me tell you about the misery that was N64 controls.
These are not the sharp FPS controls of today. These are the disastrous controls of the past, where you couldn’t aim down sights without having a migraine and where hit detection was less than accurate.
The enemies pour in from all angles, and you’re at the mercy of the N64 to not just up and combust while trying to protect Natalya, who has a resistance stat of negative one million.
That is to say, she dies easily, and if she dies, it’s game over.
So begins the assault that would cause many a child to give their game cartridge to the gaming guru of the neighborhood in hopes that they could beat this god-forsaken level.
It was annoying to the degree that it caused many to quit the game entirely, and if you were one of the few who managed to beat it without cheating, bravo, you are the true 007.
