Castle Paradox

Iblis · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 9:12 pm Post subject:

I'm gonna agree with JSH and Aeth, minigames and sidequests are not necessary. A game should be able to stand on its own without them, and if you need to stick a minigame in your game to keep players interested then your game has problems too big for a minigame to solve. It's kind of like tricking people into thinking your game was good.

I hated the chocobo breeding 'game.' It was frustrating and and took forever and the outcome was completely based on luck with no skill involved at all. You just get the right kinds of chocobo and keep reloading your game until it works. A good minigame should not make the player continuously reach for the reset button.

That said, I certainly don't think minigames are bad (unless they're poorly thought out like the breeding game). If you can make a fun minigame that adds some quality to an already well-made game, then good for you. But a well-made game should still be fun without it.
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Moogle1 · Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 6:01 am Post subject:

Here's a good minigame/sidequest: the contests in Pokemon R/S. They're completely unnecessary, but they add a new dimension to your pokemon. To do well at them, you have to deal with berries, new attack sets, and an entirely different "battle" system.

Or you can ignore them and beat the game anyway.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

Poodles · Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 8:45 am Post subject:

Pokémon shouldn't even be an RPG... it's much better online, since you don't have to spend 70 hours to make a competitive team.

It's one of the rare cases where the "side game" is the only thing worth playing in the game. Another example: Triple Triad in FF8.
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junahu · Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:54 am Post subject:

JSH357 · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 1705

Junahu, have you ever PLAYED online?

There's no levelling up, just team customization. You change your team to reflect the metagame, but it doesn't take you 90 days to do.

Moogle1 · Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:19 pm Post subject:

What's the URL, JSH?
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JSH357 · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 1705

Two methods I know of (Warning: there are a loooot of arrogant jackasses and stupid spanish-speaking people who play these):

1) Some IRC client called RSBot (text-based, but faster; I don't recommend it unless you want to learn the IRC commands)

2) Netbattle: http://www.tvsian.com/netbattle/
NB is graphical, but the servers are a bit buggy. The cool thing about it is the team builder software! It's awesome.

Edit: And on a forenote, if you want to stand chance against other players, it would be a good idea to understand how Genes and Effort values work in R/S. It's not that complicated. Ask me if you really want to know, but this is getting off-topic so I'll shut up.

Dan the Man Entertainment · Joined: 31 May 2003 Posts: 204

pharo212 · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 52

the perfect minigame is one that kinda fits with the plot. Like a mini-game where you have to guide a raft down a waterfall to get down said waterfall fits well, and could give you gold too.

Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762

You just bumped a thread whose last post from 2004?

(EDIT: If more people show that they care about the discussion, I'll add to it also).
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TwinHamster · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:02 pm Post subject:

pharo212 · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 52

More enviroment then plot, but if it does fit with the plot, it makes more sense.
A good example is the river in LoZ:TP, where you have to do a minigame to get to lake hyrule, but it doesn't feel like a chore, because you can't die, only not get points, so its fun.

Joe Man · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:05 pm Post subject:

Why not bump? This looks like a worthwhile thread.

Now, personally, I'm not generally a fan of the types of games that contain minigames. For example, RPGs do not have fun core gameplay. Some of you may argue with that point, but I spend about as much time walking around doing nothing as I do battling or solving puzzles. Yeah, it's a vague definition, but for the sake of simplicity let's just take what I say as a given, hmm? I prefer games that are just fun always. Chess or Tetris, for example.

Now, in general, I disagree with minigames. They can be fun, but as several folks have said, they serve as a diversion from the core gameplay, which is pretty ridiculous. The core gameplay is supposed to be a diversion in itself, from life. Minigames are a bit redundant.

However, I do agree with variation in the gameplay. Take Contra III for example, which would frequently change the controls on you. The second level felt like a gimmick to me, but dangling from rails or climbing walls worked out nicely. That game was a bit scripted for my tastes, though. A better example is Super Mario Brothers. It had very consistent gameplay, but every once in a while there'd be a water level to mix things up.

Aaaand I just realized I'm not even paying attention to this, so please feel free to revise this post as you wish.
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Last edited by Joe Man on Fri Dec 13, 1957 1:21 am; edited 2,892 time in total

Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762