The Broken Hourglass Interview, Part Two

RPG Vault has published the second portion of their The Broken Hourglass interview, once again quizzing Planewalker Games' Jason Compton about the upcoming fantasy RPG.
Q: What role will quests play in the game? Will there be very many side tasks? What would you like to tell our readers about this element?

A: At the end of the day, you can always boil down quests into two categories, things you must do in order to complete the game, and those that are optional. There are four major story arcs that must be completed to reach the endgame, and dozens of other things you can do in the city, which do not directly lead you to it, but may provide greater enjoyment, understanding or goodies that may come in handy, or a better outcome for the city in the end, etc. Because Mal Nassrin has been through a rough spot, tensions in the city are high; there are some unusual situations the player can get involved with, either to defuse them or exploit the matters. The disturbances in time also mean that the player can meet some interesting (and mundane) figures who have been pulled out of their proper places in time - and also have to sort them out from the impostors who are trying to make names for themselves.

The player will also be haunted by the consequences of an early tragic event in the game. The rest, we want to let players discover for themselves.