So... How about a Golden Saucer?

[SnowTiger]

I took quite a break since early last spring, but I'm getting back into the game again, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit. The news of the coming patch was really exciting, and I love the progress they've been making on this game.

But, a bit ago, I recalled the topic I made back over on the Zam site during the Beta last year, or sometime around then... Well I wanna bring it up again, so here goes. :P

I think FFXIV needs something along the lines of a general amusement center, golden saucer, casino, whatever you wanna call it. A place for games and play, novelty and etc, where the quests for gears and stats can take a backseat to good old fashion fun, be it solo, with friends, or with strangers.

Just a few examples of what could be incorporated into such a place are as follows:

Chocobo racing, but unlike FFXI, it could feature player to player races, as well as player to AI races, or just AI to AI races. The more the merrier. This would be an excellent compliment to an in depth form of Chocobo raising, should that ever come along.

Cards... Classic games like poker or blackjack, reskinned to be lore friendly and FF-esque, as well as original card games such as the ones I've seen SE make in the past. There's a card game out there for everyone, so again, more the merrier. There could be all different levels of stakes, from 'for fun' games to high stakes gil matches, tournaments, or just friendly matches. Perhaps some of the more original non traditional games could have custom decks that you could build up by various means, perhaps by cashing in tickets like at a fair, or winning them from other players like that old FF8 card game. I know plenty of people like that sort of thing.

Dice games, because who doesn't love those. Test your luck with anything from a quick roulette spin to a full blown casino wing. So many types of games to be had from that premise, from the simple dice roll games to a more elaborated mini game style thing.

I recall FFXI having some monster vs. monster battle thing in it... Not really sure what it was about though, some pokemon style thing or something I think... Anyway, why not redesign it and give monster battles their own little corner somewhere? Couldn't hurt. :P

Another tried and true thing for any MMO to make use of is the tendency for players to operate simple casinos. Facilitate them with an in game mechanic to prevent any chance of scams, and maybe toss a little flair in with some special effects when someone wins beyond just the casino runner saying here ya' go, and etc.

There could be countless other varieties of mini games and such, anything SE could dream up really. Plus, the whole place would be a very valuable tool for SE, allowing things such as managing the quantity of gil on the servers with simple small gil sinks or taxes, to festival events and etc, to introduce items or remove gil or anything else for that matter.

It could even help put more purpose to some of the more obscure areas of the field that have so far gone to waste. SE could plant mobs, chests, or w/e else in certain areas, that would yield tickets of some kind, redeemable at teh 'golden saucer' for whatever. The place could run on gil, tokens, tickets, or anything, including combinations of all the above.

And of course, the prizes! Again, they would be focused away from things like gear and trophy pieces, as that stuff is better left to the whole endgame bit. But, Gil could certainly be won/lost , primarily from/to other players if anything. Aside from that, there could be a nice variety of novelty items, from costume gear such as what you normally get around seasonal events, to fireworks, chocobo/gear dyes, consumable gag items, or maybe even a curious new materia that has some amusing but not too practical use.

Maybe have a PvE Arena, which could be the one place where perhaps some actual practical items or equipment could be won. Might get some of those overly serious players to step foot in an amusement focused place for ones. Who doesn't love a PvE arena? Pick a tier and fight wave after wave of increasingly tough fights, perhaps even with spectators watching at the top tier. Put a cooldown or price on it to keep it from being too popular. lol.

The whole point is to have some fun. Anyone whose played an MMO before knows that things far to often boil down to those age old epeen contests in the form of gear and stats. That's fine and all, but a lot of players prefer not to take that stuff seriously like others do. A golden Saucer amusement park style area could be a great avenue for DoL's, DoH's, and DoW's could all get together and share a good time in a place with lots of things to do, lights and semi annoying upbeat music, and all that good stuff. :P

So... Anyone else out there on board some something along those lines? Sure, might seem a little out of place, but I'm sure SE could modify the general premise to fit in just fine... Maybe implement something like that as an attraction in Ishgard whenever that comes out. Or is that whole idea just a wall of text pipedream to hope for in MMO's?

Love it, hate it, don't care, or have a better idea? Feel free to chip in. I just felt like tossing the idea out there again, maybe incite a bit of interest towards novelty and gambling. :P

[Reika]

Don't let gambling ruin your career.

[Tezz_Xivectro]

Agreed, this game (and all MMOs) could use a fun center.

[Nuru]

I like the idea of having some mini-games to play, a gil-sink to further establish a gil flow back into the economy. I'm willing to accept a casino sorta like how Pokemon had it. :3

[Verecund]

They should install a giant Golden Saucer area in Gridania so people know Gridania actually exists.

[Leon_Aerhart]

+Support

I'd also really like to see a Triple Triad style mini game.

[Nvr]

This would be great

[Nuru]

They should install a giant Golden Saucer area in Gridania so people know Gridania actually exists.

Well, to be fair, each city/state should have its own minigames.
Uldah = Casino type games
Gridania = Archery Minigame (Sort of like the gathering minigames but with wind speed and direction in effect) Frog Capture (Catch as many frogs as you can before time runs out.)
Limsa Lominsa = Duals (First person dualing with Pirates, Winner take all,etc.)

[SnowTiger]

Oh gambling is fine, in moderation of course. And it is just a game, so if a few people go too far with it and go totally broke, it's not like they will starve or go homeless lol.

Besides, think of all the other stuff aside from gambling you could pack in to that place.

A real treat would be if they let some of the stuff like maybe betting on chocobo races or w/e be done while crafting, so you could have like a crafters lounge where people could chat or play whilst crafting away. It'd be a great way to liven up crafting without having to take away from it or over streamlining it.

At any rate, I'm glad I'm at least not the only one who'd like to see MMO's put a little more novelty into the mix. ^.~

[Rentahamster]

Yep. Lots of good ideas were discussed in this thread from before:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...er-style-thing