10 Video Game Tropes We're Sick Of

You're on a very important mission; the fate of the entire universe rests in your hands, but you've found the ideal person to help you, and they agree that they will! But would you mind just popping to the shops to pick up some milk first?

This trope is the most egregious form of padding. It's basically the developer admitting that the main quest line isn't as long as it could be at its core, and a brief or long excursion is the ideal way to stretch things out.

Now, it's important to be clear that the prerequisite fetch quest is dissimilar to the side quest, which is always optional. There's no loss of momentum there, unlike here, where it's the gaming equivalent of being told to clean up your room when you're itching to hang out with your friends. It wouldn't be so bad, except the prerequisite fetch usually involves doing something unrelated to the main quest line. It's a deliberately placed chore, and chores have no place in gaming.