God of War: Ragnarök was released on November 9th and has received extremely favorable responses from both fans and critics. Many fans are slowly working their way through exploring the Nine Realms as they engage in the finale of the Norse Saga for God of War.
For some players, experiencing the story is more than enough. At times, they may touch upon a few side quests but will avoid most of them. It's good to know though which side quests should be avoided because some are too lengthy, a bit pointless, or just simply too tedious to bother with for some players.
Sigrun's Curse
Sigrun's Curse is definitely one of the many quests that players should skip given how time-consuming the quest is with its various puzzles and tons of running around. There are also plenty of tough enemies the player has to go through at each of the locations they're required to go to.
There is a bit of expansion on Mimir's relationship with Sigurd, however, most of this is already touched upon in the main campaign. The biggest downside of Sigrun's Curse is how long of a quest it is and how there are no rewards outside of experience points at the end of the quest.
Born From Fire
This quest can be difficult to finish and will require the player to explore every region of the Nine Realms unless they're using a guide to specifically track the locations of these Draugr holes down.
The task is relatively simple as the player must fight against the Draugr at the holes, and then they are given multiple rewards of loot. However, the journey to find each Draugr hole can be time-consuming and there are six of them in all.
The Lost Lindwyrms
The Lost Lindwyrms is an extremely lengthy quest that requires Kratos to find the six lost Lindwyrms and return them to Ratatoskr. Players will find it difficult to forge the boss battle against Nidhogg where Kratos utilized his best weapons in GoW Ragnarök as he fought alongside Freya.
These Lindwyrms happen to be the children of that same Nidhogg and can be rather difficult to find. Each one is found in a tiny little rift across the different realms, however, there is no way to track them, so most of the time players will find them by exploring.
Song Of The Sands
The Song of the Sands quest is a follow-up of the Secret of the Sands and requires the same exact journey of Kratos freeing a Hafgufa. It should be noted that when this quest is completed it does give the player a trophy. However, other than this the quest is totally skippable and offers nothing new that the Secret of the Sands didn't offer.
There's an actual compelling narrative for Secret of the Sands as Atreus gives GoW Ragnarök some great quotes and seeks to save the Hafgufa but also reflects upon his actions in the past and the present of Alfheim. None of this is really done in Song of the Sands and the quest feels more repetitive than anything else with no great reward at the end.
Guiding Light
The Guiding Light quest should only be skipped for players who are comfortable with the armor set they have for Kratos as the quest does grant the player a new armor set they can craft in GoW called the Guiding Light armor set.
This set is the only reason worth attempting the Guiding Light quest as the rest of the quest is rather boring and doesn't add anything interesting to the game. It's also a hassle to try and figure out where exactly each of the wreckage sights is.
The Elven Sanctum
The Elven Sanctum quest will become available after Kratos teams up with Freya and is located in Alfheim. This quest shouldn't take very long once the player reaches the Elven Sanctum, but the quest feels more like filler rather than an addition to the story like several other ones do.
Players will pick up various items within the Elven Sanctum including the quest item which the boss, the Maven, will fight the player for. Interestingly enough, this will be the first Elf that Kratos doesn't kill after the battle ends.
Conscience For The Dead
Conscience for the Dead is a quest that sends Kratos searching for Seidr Fanatics to hunt down and slay. Not knowing precisely where to go can already make this quest a bit tedious. However, a tip for many beginners in GoW Ragnarök is to explore as much of the areas as possible.
If they do this, they will probably stumble upon the Seidr Fanatics anyway. This quest is a bit long, and it doesn't offer anything exciting whether that be rewards or a good story and the whole quest ultimately feels rather pointless.
Garden For The Dead
Garden for the Dead is a rather brief quest that takes place in Vanaheim. The quest requires the player to find three poison totem poles and destroy them. Finding the totems is a bit tedious, but this is far from one of the longer quests.
However, this quest is very clearly just meant to bulk the game rather than serve any actual narrative purpose. This quest also doesn't have any great rewards so players wishing to spend less time in the Nine Realms to beat the game faster should definitely skip this quest.
Nine Realms In Bloom
For players uninterested in playing after they complete the game, they won't complete this quest at all. Players will have access to this quest before the game ends, however, it can only be completed during the post-game and requires the player to find a flower in each realm.
Players are better off avoiding trying to complete this quest at all if they have no intention to play post-game and players who wish for easier and more narrative-driven quests should also avoid this one due to the difficulty of discovering the flowers and how there is only one in each of the Nine Realms.
The Eyes Of Odin
As every quest does, the Eyes of Odin offers various rewards depending on how many of Odin's ravens the player has slain. However, these ravens are often difficult to spot, and even when they are seen it can be overly tedious to throw Kratos' axe or shoot Artreus' bow at exactly the right time.
This is the worst quest for players who want to beat the game in a timely manner and don't want to spend too much time on side quests. It isn't a bad idea, however, to shoot a raven that's easy to spot when they're seen and cash in for a few of the prizes in Niflheim.
Source:gamerant.com