• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

The Journey vs The Reward

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
Staff member
ZD Legend
Comm. Coordinator
In gaming, are you satisfied if you had fun accomplishing something, or do you only do something if you get something good out of it? For example, the korok seeds in BotW or the power moons in Mario Odyssey. Do you enjoy doing quests, regardless of what the reward for it is? Me, personally, I like to do everything as long as that something is fun. Exploring the world to collect and discover korok seeds was fun. Trying to be good at platforming to get all the power moons in Odyssey was not fun. So I got all 900 korok seeds twice in BotW, but I only got 475 or so moons in Odyssey.

I don't need there to be some super good reward at the end of the long quest to be happy; although it would be a nice bonus, I'm looking to have fun first and foremost. The exception is for things that aren't so fun. For things that aren't fun, one of two things happens for me. 1. I simply don't do it. 2. I put up with it because the feeling of accomplishment is enough to make it worth it or it has a reward that I need for some reason or other. An example of the first is 70% of quests in Skyrim. Most of them had me doing things I did not want to do or did not work with my character's morals, so I just didn't do most of them. Most of them weren't engaging anyway, so I don't feel like I missed much. An example of the second is some of the challenges in Smash Bros like "KO 4 LVL 9 CPUs by meteoring in under 3 minutes" or something. My first reaction to that challenge was "oh god please no.", but I wanted to complete every challenge in the game, so I stuck with it. Turns out I could easily do it by Chromicide, and eventually I beat every challenge. I am glad that I did because completing them all was a good feeling.

So, generally I am satisfied if I had fun with the journey of getting there. I don't mind much if the only reward at the end is a trophy for your menu, as long as I had fun along the way. And sometimes, the sense of accomplishment for doing something is a satisfying reward all on its own. What about the rest of you? Do you care about the reward more than the journey or no?
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
England
Gender
Absolute unit
With story focussed games like Skyrim and Witcher 3 often the quest reward is some EXP and some coins but the best thing about the quests usually are the story it tells, getting to know characters and seeing the conclusion of that story rather than the physical reward. So in that sense the journey is more important than the reward.

I know you mention the Korok seeds. That is an example of where I found it neither particularly fun journeying to get them because you're basically just wandering the world and they show up all over the place and the reward isn't good either because they don't really offer great benefit.
 

el :BeoWolf:

When all else fails use fire
Joined
Feb 5, 2016
Gender
Centaleon
Depends on the quest. I love to explore and learn about the world, though some quests don't provide much of that, they have a pretty nice award to compensate.
The perfect quest would let me explore a relatively large area, whether it be a dungeon or a temple, and when it's done I'd be awarded with something cool like plenty of money or a new item that does something super cool.
 
It completely depends for me.

Things like Koroks I find quite peaceful to do so the activity is its own reward because it brings me peace and i dont really need a reward due to that.

Other games like Nioh that make me do really difficult things arent worth it for me. It isnt worth spending 4 hours on a boss just to progress for 5 minutes before being killed by something waiting to cheap shot you around the corner. No reward is worth such frustration.
 

Jirohnagi

Braava Braava
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Location
Soul Sanctum
Gender
Geosexual
I think it's kinda dependant for most things i enjoy the effort i put into the journey more so than i do the reward but normally the reward allows you to do more that you could before, something like the koroks pissed me off because it had you traipsing about searching for them and then they'd hide them in stupid spots outta site (lurelin village atop a house)

For some games the reward is more than the journey mostly because you strive for it more, and so obtaining that reward is bragging rights (golden turds don't count as bragging rights y'know).

Generally speaking i go for 100% on most games not because the rewards great but because i enjoyed exploring the map and finding these things, though i've learnt i draw the line at picking up rocks all over frigging hyrule
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Journeys are dull. I prefer adventures. I want something to happen on my search for treasure. I want the reward to be earned, not just lying around in a barren plain for me to pick up.
 

NintendoCN

Team Captain
Joined
Dec 6, 2014
Location
North Dakota
Gender
Protagonist
I judge thing on a system based on a system on effort for return, in Super Mario Odyssey getting 999 moons is too much effort for not enough return, BotW gives you more hearts/stamina for doing the shrines which is a fair return for the effort I put in to them.
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Australia
@NintendoCN
The only terrible moons in Mario Odyssey was the 150 or so you had to farm coins to buy to get the 4th and final ending of the game. I honestly don’t even know why they exist in the game.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom