Far Cry Writer's Table
person: hey guys we miraculously wrote another charismatic intriguing bad guy
person 2: cool man we'll try to find time to squeeze him in when you're not talking to your quest givers who intone every sentence with incredibly unsubtle menace and the homosexual fella who makes you cklothes
person 1: j
Lol
I'd say the quest givers in almost any game take up more time from your mission in-game than the actual missions and objectives you're there to accomplish. I remember the one side-quest that I never did manage to nail down was the Riddler's Trophy collection search that would allow you to take him down in Batman Arkham City. Was just too painful to pursue for prolonged periods of time, especially since some of them required you to play as Ms. Kyle to unlock part of the way to them, and then switch back to the Bat to acquire them.