Bioware’s previous games have had some issues with side quests; mainly that not much came out of doing them, and they’re hoping to change that with Mass Effect: Andromeda.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Andromeda’s producer Fabrice Condominas says, “We are approaching the completionist aspect very differently, because we’ve done and learned a lot from Inquisition. But we’ve also observed what other games have been doing, like The Witcher.”
He points out that many side quests in The Witcher 3 changed the world, or led to bigger issues and interesting storylines. Bioware is well aware of the “Hinterlands problem” that forced players to do side quests that were barely interesting and got them next to nothing just to advance in the story.
They learned a lot of the complaints coming from Inquisition players and they’re applying that knowledge to Andromeda. They want players that feel the need to do everything in a game to have fun while doing that, and slogging through hundreds of boring side quests isn’t very fun. The new approach to side quests will hopefully engage the player in these smaller stories.
Condominas stresses that bigger isn’t always better, and side quests will be meaningful, thoughtful, and fun, “…it was very important for us that the quantity of scope doesn’t downgrade the quality of whatever your are doing there.”
Andromeda drops March 21st for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.