Gold saucer mini games.

[LazyC]

A PvE battle arena where you can fight waves of enemies in increasing levels of difficulty solo for prizes, with each round passed also adds handicaps to you (like reduce ilevel by 20 or something), but increases the value of the reward (just like the FFVII battle arena) - gear would not degrade and falling in battle would immediately revive you outside with no penalty.

I don't think a PvP arena is needed though, as we already have the Wolves Den and Frontlines for that.

This is really what im hoping for as well, though i dont think it would work as a solo player or else all the content would be too eazy, but i bet they could use the same battle Colosseum fights but have it be 4 man or maybe even 8 man content, with the handicap roulette still there.

[DarkStar]

This is really what im hoping for as well, though i dont think it would work as a solo player or else all the content would be too eazy, but i bet they could use the same battle Colosseum fights but have it be 4 man or maybe even 8 man content, with the handicap roulette still there.

Actually, I could see it working well with solo. Just make it so that there's a solo tier, a light group tier, and a full group tier. The last few encounters in the solo tier would be stuff equivalent to peisteskin maps or something, where it's perfectly possible to beat if you're geared and skilled enough. Similarly, the Light and Full group tiers would start featuring dungeon-end-boss level mechanics in the last few bouts.

[Enkidoh]

This is really what im hoping for as well, though i dont think it would work as a solo player or else all the content would be too eazy, but i bet they could use the same battle Colosseum fights but have it be 4 man or maybe even 8 man content, with the handicap roulette still there.

But that's what the handicaps would be for, just like FFVII - each 'round' you advance triggers a random dice roll that will then place a debuff on your character, with the higher rounds having far harsher debuffs (like, 'broken weapon' where your weapon's condition would immediately drop to 0% and thus be completely useless (but only for the battle arena - it would revert to it's previous condition after leaving the arena), 'broken Soul Crystal', where it de-equips your Job crystal and locks it, thus forcing you to only use Class abilities, 'Level 10 Down' where your class level drops ten levels like lvl sync, or 'Item Level 100 Down' where your average item level would drop 100 levels!), but the upside would be the harsher the penalty, the greater the reward.

So it would be perfect for all those players complaining the game is 'too easy' - eight rounds in Gold Saucer's Battle Arena might make them think otherwise. And it should go without saying that for extra spice, the enemies would not have scripted attacks, but attacks that have a degree of random chance, making it even more challenging. Of course it would require a lot of tweaking to get just the right balance between challenge and fun, but I can really see this being a popular part of the game. Please Yoshi! Please make this a reality!

[LazyC]

But that's what the handicaps would be for, etc etc -snip-

Well i get how it would be done, i just mean any solo content would have to be designed around every single class being able to ..well solo the content, which means you cant have anything that hits too hard because some classes cant heal at all, or not enough anyway so im afraid that the best we could hope for is the equivalent to Fate bosses..which are already pretty easy to deal with and while i get that a handicap roulette would be a good way to make them difficult, i think most of the things they would add would just make the fights impossible not hard..

hmm its hard to say, i hope we do get a Colosseum that can be enjoyed by anyone, looking forward too it regardless!

[WellFooled]

Well i get how it would be done, i just mean any solo content would have to be designed around every single class being able to ..well solo the content, which means you cant have anything that hits too hard because some classes cant heal at all, or not enough anyway so im afraid that the best we could hope for is the equivalent to Fate bosses..which are already pretty easy to deal with

FATE boss level of difficulty would be all we would need, because the real challenge comes from the handicaps and not from the monsters. Lots of handicaps would effect all jobs equally (like say, losing five levels) and likely wouldn't need balancing. Others, like weapons breaking (which melee would dread, but mages wouldn't mind), could be balanced by including a equal, but opposite like a handicap that reflects some of your ma tic damage back at you (Which Melee would be thrilled to get that, less so mages).

[Grey_Cain]

Honestly, I can only think of edutainment games like sort of speed-tutorials for in-game things:
- Gardening Master: grow 1-3 plants by picking a soil and seed for difficulty/potential points, apply fertilizer to speed up growth, water plants before they wilt, harvest for points, bonuses for using a compatible soil for seeds/pairs
- Titan Dodge: escape the landslides before they knock you off the ledge; bonus round has you dealing with sumo stomps
- Demon Wall Bowling: facing away from the Demon Wall, aim yourself so that the Demon Wall will push you into pins at the other end of its bridge. Falling in the gutter is an instant fail.
- Minion Train: like Snake, but you run ahead of a line of minions, running into minions on the field to add more minions to your line. Running into your own line ends the game.
- Protect Spiny: keep NPCs from hitting your Spiny Plume, then kill it yourself at the end so you don't die to Garuda's whirlwind.
- Racecar Jousting: While riding atop your Ifrit mount, aim your lance to dislodge the other rider (PvP) when he shoots across the arena.
- Laser Block: Move across the field from pillar to pillar toward the goal line, while standing so that the lasers hit the pillars instead of you.
- DFQ (Dat F*ing Queue): In the first part you need to run to the Commence area with a 45 second timer, but windows pop up covering your screen that need to be closed before you can continue, your character randomly stops moving and goes into afk status and you have to click rapidly on a yellow bar until it empties to get moving again, and the Commence area moves around the arena to random spots. Then once you're in the Commence area you get a counter that starts counting up to 45, but the Commence area randomly moves to a new spot at random intervals and you have to continue until you've been in the Commence area for a total of 45 seconds. Bonus: If you're in the Golden Saucer while under the DF queue ban for withdrawing too much, you have to complete this game before you can do anything else in the Golden Saucer.
- Undercutter Cut (PvP): A line of NPCs approaches your and your opponent's items. Move your items closer to the NPC starting point (lower points) or further away (higher points). Use your own points to remove your opponent's items from the field. You start with a specific amount of points to place items (each item has its own point cost) and only get more points when an NPC runs into your item.

Others, like weapons breaking (which melee would dread, but mages wouldn't mind), could be balanced by including a equal, but opposite like a handicap that reflects some of your ma tic damage back at you (Which Melee would be thrilled to get that, less so mages).

If a mage weapon breaks, they're just as useless as a melee with a broken weapon. Both healing and damage for mages rely primarily on the weapon.

[WellFooled]

If a mage weapon breaks, they're just as useless as a melee with a broken weapon. Both healing and damage for mages rely primarily on the weapon.

My mistake, my understanding of mage's mechanics is obviously flawed, but the spirit of the example remains. There can be handicaps that are a blessing and a curse depending on the job, just like how FFVII's arena had a similar situations depending on how you equipped your character. The only balance that would be required is making sure there are an equal number of blessing/curse handicaps possible for each job.