In video game stories, it's often side quests that are most meaningful

In the shadow of plot devices like destiny and impending doom, moments of kindness give journeys emotional power

It is a narrative standard in role-playing adventure games: the hero is pitted against a Big Evil, who has a strategic or chaotic hunger to destroy the world we know. From Shinra's greedy harvesting of the planet's resources in Final Fantasy VII Remake to Ganondorf's quest for power and destruction across more than 30 years of Legend of Zelda games, the stakes are always astronomically high.

But what really makes these fictional realms worth saving? Role-playing games need to offer more than a sequence of linked events toward a monumental finale. A world is made of people, not just objectives.