Your Opinions on Quests

i think, given the mention of computer games and quests, that it's only fitting to mention the final fantasy games.

they are quests of epic proprtions, but, and i feel this is important, the quest changes and grows and develops with your character. priorities change and so the focus on the quest changes.

this reflets how real life quests work. No matter what you start out doing, it will alter as you do it.

The important aspect of a quest is growth. The quest should grow, the character should grow, thier relationships should grow, their self-awareness, knowledge.

There are few things I hate more than a character who goes straight from point A through B to C and comes out the other end as exactly the same person they were before.

As others have said, there's nothing wrong with the basic plot structure of a quest. What matters is what you do with the basic structure.

I don't think it's as simple as developing a check list of cliche quest elements and avoiding them, either. The author needs to think about what they are writing about, what is unique about their story, and why they are choosing the quest structure to tell that story. You can understand these things instinctually or intentionally, but you do need to understand it all on some level. The book should bring something new to the genre, not merely repeat what others have done.

Quests are fine. Even traditionally structured (Hero's journey) quest plots can be made fresh. You just have to be careful not to fall into the bad thinking habits/patterns of the past.

I aplogize in advance for saying this, but, who the hell cares about wether or not a quest is cliche? If the characters develop in the process, and if the item(s) are detrimental to the world's future but has a side effect, and also if you have an intersting villian and protagonist with convincing motives, then I personally see nothing wrong with it. In my opinion, a cliche is just using something over again like plagarizing. However, if you do change the way it is done without losing the basic concept, then thats just pushing the boundaries of Fantasy, giving life to the genre, and also showing people that certain stories are still usable.