Well its somewhat relevant to stretch goals, maybe.
With the sidequests being optional, I was only thinking of Fire Emblem at the time where I literally could see no point to not taking the sidequest. Unless someone wanted to get the game over and done with? But then I'd say the TBT genre while not exactly niche, is a genre where it's very easy to know if you enjoy games in it or if you don't. So the number of people who would skip sidequests that have no opportunity cost would be very small.
So yes you're right, implementing opportunity cost in the way you've suggested is something that sounds enjoyable. Choice in video games, almost always a plus, also creates a reason to replay the game.
But I was talking specifically about the extra branch in the campaign. If its something heavy with story content than it maybe isn't something you'd want to have a large opportunity cost. But having a series of optional missions along the way telling this additional story in pieces is maybe one way to do this extra campaign branch. It would create the opportunity to extend the campaign and possibly be more interesting to write/read because more details about the world and characters could be revealed. As opposed to just having a fork in the road, having the choice of following one characters trek through haunted forest or another's charge through enemy territory for example.
With the sidequests being optional, I was only thinking of Fire Emblem at the time where I literally could see no point to not taking the sidequest. Unless someone wanted to get the game over and done with? But then I'd say the TBT genre while not exactly niche, is a genre where it's very easy to know if you enjoy games in it or if you don't. So the number of people who would skip sidequests that have no opportunity cost would be very small.
So yes you're right, implementing opportunity cost in the way you've suggested is something that sounds enjoyable. Choice in video games, almost always a plus, also creates a reason to replay the game.
But I was talking specifically about the extra branch in the campaign. If its something heavy with story content than it maybe isn't something you'd want to have a large opportunity cost. But having a series of optional missions along the way telling this additional story in pieces is maybe one way to do this extra campaign branch. It would create the opportunity to extend the campaign and possibly be more interesting to write/read because more details about the world and characters could be revealed. As opposed to just having a fork in the road, having the choice of following one characters trek through haunted forest or another's charge through enemy territory for example.