EDITORIAL: The Importance of Minigames in Final Fantasy

[LocoColt04]

Blitzball and Triple Triad may battle for the crown, but many Final Fantasy titles have featured various ways to kill your time.

• How essential do YOU think these little rest stops are on your quest for victory?
• How much time do you blow when you partake in each game's friendly little distractions?
• Which Final Fantasy title had your favorite minigame?

Popularized by the Wonder Square (Gold Saucer, FFVII), minigames have been an integral part of the series for much of the modern era. The games in FFI and FFII were hidden well within the travel mechanics, but offered up some nifty puzzles that could result in prizes if solved efficiently. FFIV didn't get the royal treatment until the DS version came along, when Whyt and the Fat Chocobo minigames were introduced.

En masse, however, FINAL FANTASY VII was the start of the trend that would stick with the series moving forward. The Gold Saucer was home to everything from chocobo racing (and breeding!) to a basketball free throw simulator, like a built-in carnival of random good times. FFVIII brought us Triple Triad, and FFIX supplied a variant in the form of Tetra Master.

FFX provided us with blitzball, perhaps the most in-depth of all the minigames in the series. FFX-2 offered an overload of games in the Calm Lands, but the most notable comes much earlier in the story in the form of Sphere Break. FFXI had quite a few after some expansions; crafting aside, the Chocobo Breeding/Raising/Racing was a total time-sink. The trend of including actual minigames petered off with FFXII, as the fishing in the Estersand was the closest we got to mindless repetition.

The battle of the "Big Three."

While I certainly cannot claim that the older titles are “better” because they offer whimsical asides to break up the often serious tones in a story, I can't help but point out the correlation. I'll speak for the merits of FFXIII and the perks of its subsequent titles (another discussion for another day), but the overall critical reception is typically higher for games that give you an opportunity to lose yourself in something other than the story. Perhaps it's the monotony of the charge ahead, or the dread of the impending doom, but there is something relieving about taking a break from the fantasy and getting lost in simple activities.

As a most recent example, I fretted while plowing through FFX HD in order to get my review done near the time of the embargo so that I could have a relevant article to draw in some traffic. This meant skipping blitzball! I literally stressed over this for days, and the moment my review was posted, I went on a 40 hour binge of blitz. Certainly this is helped by the fact that blitzball is the [OPINION ALERT] second-best Final Fantasy minigame in the entire series [SECONDARY OPINION ALERT] (and that’s NOT behind Triple Triad, but I’ll address this later), but I was slightly unhappy with the inability to break away from the forward drive.

Maybe we have been spoiled by the traditional “western” RPGs, with their broad, open plains, and their ability to provide dozens of hours of completely plot-void content. Sandbox gaming is the industry term for it, and it obviously works for a majority of gamers. When was the last time a turn-based RPG was even nominated for Game of the Year, let alone victorious? I am NOT suggesting that Final Fantasy even begins to approach the Sandbox concept, despite seeing hints leading this direction for some time now (yet another discussion for another day), but giving the user the freedom to do something else inside the game is a terribly important factor.

So, what then, is the “Importance” of Minigames as per the title of this editorial?

I think it is safe to correlate the inclusion of enjoyable minigames with a higher likelihood of critical acclaim. Obviously, FFVI and FFIV (prior to DS version) both managed critical success without them, but the Gold Saucer was genuinely a turning point for the series in this regard. Take this metacritic list as an example. Sorted by score, most of the higher titles are the ones that feature open play or addictive non-plot items, whereas most of the lower titles are those lacking such features. (This metacritic list has FFXII higher than I expected, and I am personally delighted by that.)

imma eatchuuu~ o_o;

To address my own questions:

• How essential do YOU think these little rest stops are on your quest for victory?

If the article doesn’t answer this question, please re-read the content above.

• How much time do you blow when you partake in each game's friendly little distractions?

This is genuinely dependent upon the “distraction” itself. As mentioned above, I could play blitzball for days. I actually had a save file once where over 100 hours were logged in blitz alone. Tetra Master also claimed a ton of my time, and the chocobo raising in FFXI took literal months of my time.

• Which Final Fantasy title had your favorite minigame?

I logged into FFXI for 64 consecutive days (some days just for ten minutes) to ensure that the red chocobo egg gifted to me by my dear friend Phinn could grow into a beautiful, powerful bird. Her name was Lady Iris, and she was a super badass. Smart, speedy, and steadfast, Iris was a superior racer. I retired her from the stables once she had reached her peak, but she continues to be the bird tied to my chocobo whistle. I couldn’t even count how much gil I sunk into ensuring she would be awesome.

This was one of my proudest moments in all of FFXI.