Great Games That Test Our Patience
A brilliant game can bring a lot to the table. Memorable bosses, fantastic worlds, and a story you can't put down? That sounds good to us! And yet, with all the good stuff comes the mind-numbingly boring stuff we all hate. It’s not that these missions are hard, and a few even have good ideas buried underneath the busywork—but that doesn’t mean we like them. Come with us as we brave the most boring stuff together.
1. Scouting the Port — Grand Theft Auto V
Hey, would you like to be a stevedore? Of course not! No one does, especially as a guy who brings chaos wherever he goes. Well, too bad. You’re Trevor, asked to drive machinery, move shipping containers, operate a crane, and snap shots of a freighter while preparing for the Merryweather heist. Oh, and you’ll probably fall to your death at least once.
2. Power From Beyond — Starfield
Finding your first temple in Starfield feels important, but "Power From Beyond" loses its charm once the same routine keeps repeating itself. You find another temple, float around its chamber, enter the spinning ring, and receive another power. Been there, done that.
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3. A Return to Your Roots — The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Blackreach is one of Skyrim's most striking locations, so sure enough, there's a quest that encourages you to stare at the ground. "A Return to Your Roots" requires finding 30 Crimson Nirnroot scattered around the region, and hearing the plant's ringing gets a lot less exciting when you've already wandered past the same Dwemer ruins for an hour.
4. The Library — Halo: Combat Evolved
"The Library" throws Master Chief into corridors filled with seemingly endless waves of the Flood, which you think would be a lot cooler than it is. Instead, the problem isn't fighting the Flood—it’s how frequently similar hallways and defensive encounters appear. By the time another door opens onto another chamber, you've stopped caring what's behind it.
5. The Triforce Hunt — The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Tragically, the original GameCube version really slows down when Link has to assemble the Triforce of Courage. You have to track down eight Triforce Charts, have Tingle decipher them (all of which cost money), and then sail across the Great Sea to recover the shards. Nintendo itself must have known about the lag because The Wind Waker HD really streamlined the process.
6. One Small Favour — RuneScape
Yanni Salika asks you for one little favor…and anyone familiar with RuneScape knows where this is going. One request leads to another, which leads to another, sending you across Gielinor as an increasingly ridiculous chain of people refuses to help until you've completed their own errands first. We get the joke, but it doesn’t take long to stop laughing.
7. The Fade — Dragon Age: Origins
During "Broken Circle," the Grey Warden eventually becomes trapped inside the Fade and has to navigate a bunch of dreamlike areas. And what does progress look like? It means acquiring different shapeshifting forms, revisiting locations, solving obstacles, and rescuing companions. It's ambitious, we’ll give it that, but just about everyone tries to avoid it the second time around.
8. Duchesses and Other Animals — Red Dead Redemption 2
Look, we all love Algernon Wasp and his eccentric oddities, but collecting perfect feathers? We don’t know about all that. His lengthy questline sends you hunting after all sorts of nonsense through the swamps, and while it’s arguably worth it for the cool hat and revolver, it’s a journey.
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9. Photo Opportunity — Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
"Photo Opportunity" sounds like CJ’s about to expose something crazy—and eventually he does. Before that happens, though, you have to drive from San Fierro into the countryside, meet Cesar, and reach the rooftop where the actual surveillance starts. The mission’s essentially an extended commute before you're finally allowed to snap some photos.
10. The Green Hills of Stranglethorn — World of Warcraft
Classic WoW players remember Nesingwary's camp, but they may remember its missing pages even more. "The Green Hills of Stranglethorn" meant collecting scattered pages and assembling them into chapters, with the necessary items dropping from enemies throughout the zone. Your bags could fill with assorted page numbers while the one piece you actually needed just refused to appear.
11. A Needle in a Haystack — Kingdom Come: Deliverance
If you’ve ever wondered about a monk’s life, wonder no more. Henry's investigation takes an unusually disciplined turn when this one sends him undercover to follow the monks' schedule, attend prayers, eat at the correct times, and investigate possible suspects. You can’t attract any attention, either, which means no veering off the path. It's hard to recover from being scolded because you're late for mass in a video game.
12. Company of Heroes — Final Fantasy XIV
Before facing Titan in Final Fantasy XIV, the Warrior of Light has to prove worthy to former members of the Company of Heroes. That means running through a collection of boring preparations for a banquet. Later revisions trimmed some of the questing, but this stretch is still one of the worst to go through.
13. The Tears of Light Hunts — The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Several early sections of Twilight Princess require Wolf Link to restore regions. It sounds cool until you realize that means using your senses to locate shadow insects—then chasing each one down before the story can even progress. We’re sorry, but another insect hunt just doesn’t have the same excitement as a new dungeon.
14. The Lost Sanctuary — God of War Ragnarök
You wouldn’t think God of War would have anything boring about it, but it finds a way. Atreus' trip to Ironwood keeps players away from Kratos for a sizable stretch. Why? Oh, you know, so Atreus can gather materials, ride around Jötunheim, and feed some animals. We’ll admit that the character development has its defenders, but don’t count us among them.
15. UNC: Valuable Minerals — Mass Effect
It’s not every day that you can save the galaxy and still find time for surveying. "UNC: Valuable Minerals" asks you to locate numerous deposits of metals across planets. It’s as dull as it sounds, and it really just means driving the Mako over another landscape. This is not what the recruitment brochure promised.
16. Paperchase — The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
Geralt encounters an unexpected monster in "Paperchase," but try not to get too excited. Attempting to withdraw money sends him between clerks, forms, documents, and different windows as Toussaint's bureaucracy keeps blocking his progress. We know that the frustration is deliberately played for comedy, but come on, guys.
17. The Forklift Job — Shenmue
What’s this? Another forklift job? You betcha. Ryo Hazuki eventually takes a job at Yokosuka Harbor, which means gaming's most famous forklift career. Each day involves moving crates between warehouses while obeying assigned routes. Thankfully, you get a cool forklift race, but there's a reason most revenge stories don't devote this much time to warehouse gigs.
18. Preston Garvey's Settlement Quests — Fallout 4
Technically, Preston gives you a whole family of radiant missions, and that's exactly the problem. Settlers need help with everything: kidnappings, raiders, ghouls, and other threats. Hearing that another settlement needs another bailout became one of Fallout 4's longest jokes.
19. The Long Escort Jobs — Dragon's Dogma
Escort quests pop up throughout Dragon's Dogma, asking the Arisen to personally accompany various NPCs across Gransys. Fast travel was far more restrictive in the original release, too, so one poorly chosen contract usually meant a lengthy trek. You bet we still hate these.
20. The Moogle Chocobo Errands — Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XV has plenty of entertaining side content, but let’s be honest here. There’s nothing fun about driving somewhere, hunting basic targets, and returning to whoever handed out the job. Takka, Dave, and Dino repeatedly send Noctis across Lucis for all kinds of stuff, and after enough errands, even four friends on a road trip don’t save the tedium.
