Most useful/important side quests in any video games you've ever played

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - The Big Goran sword upgrade. Upgrades a broken goran sword to an unbreakable one. It deals twice the damage as the Master sword, allowing you to just ravage through the game. It's so useful, that the game doesn't even feel fair anymore once you get it (as in it's too easy and fair to the player after getting the sword).