Side quests to vibe, think, and cry to…

I’ve been playing Role Playing Games of one kind or another since I was a wee lad, and as I get older I reflect more on the games I played then and what made them truly remarkable. From KotOR to Cyrodil, to Thedas, join us here at VGUtv as we go over some truly standout side quests.

Allan – “Chasing History” (Star Wars: The Old Republic)

Credit: TheGamer

To say BioWare’s 2003 Star Wars roleplaying game Knights of the Old Republic is a good game is quite an understatement. It changed how roleplaying games were perceived and made the point in the Star Wars timeline in which it was set as one of, if not the most desired by fans for expansion.

One of these side-quests involved the group of Taris residents known as Outcasts due to them being cast out by the wealthy group of Tarisians living on the higher levels of the planet. You’d think that things couldn’t possibly get worse and boy are you wrong. The Rakghouls, who are the equivalent of a mutant-zombie hybrid, are on the other side of where the Outcasts call home. The leader of these Outcasts sends you out to find a set of datapads that speak of a promised land that will lead to the group’s prosperity. Upon finding and delivering the datapads the Outcasts leave their home and aren’t seen again. Upon progressing further into the main quest the planet of Taris is bombarded by Malak and what remains of Taris and the various people you met and helped was a mystery.

When the sequel to KotOR was released there was little to no information given on what has become of Taris after its laser bombardment, the Rakghoul plague, etc., and considering the direction Obsidian took KotOR II I have zero problems with Taris’ fate being left up to the imagination.

That was all that we would get until the MMORPG ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic‘ was announced in 2008 with the game serving as a sequel to both of the KotOR titles as the third entry into the series was axed at LucasArts. It wouldn’t be until 2011 that the story of Taris after the bombardment could be told. Particularly the story of the Outcasts who set out in search of a promised land shortly before orbital lasers decimated their home.

You get the Chasing History side quest when reaching Taris as a light side character and you are sent out in search of what happened to the people in search of a promised land. You get the information in pieces similar to how you recovered the datapads in the original KotOR. You learn that the Promised Land that the Outcasts were searching for was the original colony site for the Tarisians. Sadly it goes downhill from there as many factors including lack of vital resources and fatal radiation poisoning condemning the Outcasts to a fate worse than death. In the end, the Outcasts lost their knowledge with the final recording you find stating “We once called this the Promised Land. It was a lie. It is our grave.” I firmly believe this is one of the best side quests in the entirety of The Old Republic.

Chasing History is one of the rare times I have played a side quest in a role-playing game and ended up having panic attacks when thinking of the quest. Not even for the quest alone, but what the quest represents in a matter of societal decay and the horror of losing your very sense of knowledge. As of today, nearly a decade and a half after SWTOR was released I have no idea who it was at BioWare who conceived of this side quest, and it is a tragedy as this is one of the few game moments that has stuck with me as long as it did.