Minigames

[Del Murder]

What is your opinion of minigames, games-within-games? FF is notorious for having many, but they appear in other games too. Do you find them a nuisance or are they a nice break from the main game? Do you play them even if there is no in-game reward at the end?

I am generally a completionist, so I will play minigames if there is some in game reward after achieving a certain score or amount of progress. If there is no reward I'll generally play them once and move on.

What are some of your favorite minigames? Any you like better than the main game?

[NorthernChaosGod]

It depends on how well the game is done mostly and also how it's implemented in the game itself. If the game is balls and somehow mandatory, I will be most unhappy.

Triple Triad I liked; it was pretty simple and it was well worth it for all the rewards you could get.

And I hated the chocobo racing in FFX, smurfing birds.

[Bunny]

I loathe minigames in all forms.

[Jiro]

I don't know what constitutes as a mini game, but I hate item creation stuff. Too many smurfing possibilities. I do it though, because if I don't, then I end up too weak. Never sell items any more, just in case there's item creation.

[drotato]

I loathe minigames in all forms.

You would.... lol.

[Dreddz]

Minigames are fine. The only problem is that hardly any thought is put into them.

[Flying Arrow]

It depends. For one-off mini-games (like those seen in FF7) it's usually hit or miss. As far as modern games go with mini-games being part of general play (Fallout 3's lockpicking, for instance) - I generally like them as long as they are satisfying and serve a purpose beyond just making the player do something for the sake of doing something (like Mass Effect 2's safe-hacking).

[Roogle]

I loathe minigames in all forms.

I agree. It is very rare that I see any distraction that is worth playing outside of the forced part of it.

I find it less annoying if the game has no real relevance aside from a small reward and it acts as part of the story like when Justin and Sue have to swab the decks in Grandia.

I hate it when they hide an important item behind it forcing you to learn how to play the game or have someone do it for you. For example, dodging 200 lightning strikes in Final Fantasy X for Lulu's ultimate weapon comes to mind.

[edczxcvbnm]

I like Mario Party...that is pretty much nothing but mini games =D

[Jentleness]

It depends on how well the game is done mostly and also how it's implemented in the game itself. If the game is balls and somehow mandatory, I will be most unhappy.

Triple Triad I liked; it was pretty simple and it was well worth it for all the rewards you could get.

And I hated the chocobo racing in FFX, smurfing birds.

Ditto!

I absolutely hated the card game in FFVIII! I think I spent six months resetting my stupid play station so I wouldn't lose an important card! Then, after playing it until my eyes bled, I never actually needed to refine the cards into the items promised!!!

[Wolf Kanno]

I actually don't mind mini-games as long as they are integrated into the story. Having a task turned into a mini-game doesn't bother me and generally breaks up the monotony of talking to NPCs or dungeon crawling, especially since the RPG genre has decided to abandon actual puzzles in dungeons. I feel Chrono Trigger, VII, IX, and a few others did it best. FFX is an example of how not to do it cause all the mini-games are not only tedious and lame, but feel out of place considering the story.

Yuna: Let's go save the world Tidus!

Tidus: Can't, I still have to dodge 50 more Lightning bolts then go to Macalania Woods for some Butterfly catching!

Yuna: But Sin's going to destroy Spira...

Tidus: Then it's for a few blitzball tournaments, and training Chocobos to dodge balls being thrown into their faces while they catch balloons! Also, remind me to pester everyone in Kilik who is busy restoring their ruined village, to see if they want to join a rival blitzball team, our goalies contract is almost up...

Yuna: But... Sin...

Granted, games like VII and IX have some non-story related sidequests but they also had some actual ones tied to the story. Hell, most of VII's good optional mini-games are just being able to replay the mini-games introduced earlier in the title.

[Jessweeee♪]

I love Triple Triad! It's just so fun using it to exploit the Junction system. But my favorite minigame of all is Tekken Ball. I spent more time playing that than the rest of Tekken 3.

[magemasher]

I liked Tetra master from FF9 and Blitzball from X. The Calm Lands mini games were evil and should be considered torture,though saying that the relief when I beat the Choco time of 21 seconds by 100th of a second was unbelievable after the 1000th time of trying.

The lottery game in Shadow Hearts 1 was alrite.

[Vermachtnis]

I like minigames, especially the ones that give game breaking stuff or joke items. Mega Man Legends had good minigames. I really like the kicking balls at dogs one. That one was fun and I kept doing even after I got the item.