The Golden Saucer - Can it ever be relevant and fun?

[odie]

Everything in life eventually becomes a chore if do it enough times. Try eating your favorite meal/snack every day for an entire year for example. You will get sick and tired of having it all the time. Every game you ever play if play it enough times and play it daily will become boring and tedious. We are people and not robots, we have limited levels of patience and anything fun if repeated enough times will become a chore.

What I'm trying to point out, is that these games got old fast....not from long term replaying them....people abandoned them almost from the beginning. These minigames are far too minimal in their design. And most of the minigame machines are reskinned versions of eachother. This Golden Saucer was teased for a while, was probably in planning for much longer. And the end result seems very half baked.

[Snugglebutt]

What I'm trying to point out, is that these games got old fast....not from long term replaying them....people abandoned them almost from the beginning. These minigames are far too minimal in their design. And most of the minigame machines are reskinned versions of eachother. This Golden Saucer was teased for a while, was probably in planning for much longer. And the end result seems very half baked.

Most of the games in it are related to previous mini games in previous FF titles, even in those previous titles as much as I loved playing them at the time I would still get bored just as fast like after dozen times for some mini games or few hundred times for others. Triad in FF8 was fun for the first few hundred matches then I stopped caring about it in that game at the time. Same applies to the card game gwent in witcher franchise, after few hundred times I stopped playing it because become boring. The snow boarding mini game and all the gold saucer games in FF7 the same thing happened. The water sport blitz mini game in FF10..same. Eventually provided you haven't played them for a very long time you might feel like replaying them but if doing something daily for long enough time, no matter what it is without that long period break from it...it will become a chore.

The good thing about this game is SE will keep adding new mini games to keep you going back there once bored of previous ones and SE needs to keep doing that. So I look forward to the ideas people come up with here and maybe some will get added if good enough but I won't kid myself and pretend no matter what idea people come up with eventually I will get bored of it too and want something new. As for how quick some people are bored of some of the current events, that's too subjective and differs person to person what they enjoy and for how long they can enjoy it before becomes tedious.

Things like the MSQ though for example rarely becomes boring in itself because only get to see it once for most people unless have alts, even if some of the tasks involved in the quests become boring because of doing the same tasks over and over in some quests but the progression of the story itself doesn't for most people. Maybe SE can add a really good major quest line for the gold saucer which constantly gets added to and progresses like the MSQ or Hildibrand. It won't get boring due to being limited to seeing once unless make alts but at the same time it won't keep people coming back to the gold saucer because of that same reason.

The reason I even said what I did earlier is because your original post came across as though think SE or people here can come up with something that will not become tedious or a chore (if that is not what you meant then my apologies) but it will eventually become boring no matter what come up with. As long as SE keep adding new content/games and rewards/items to gold saucer, that is what matters most to me since any individual game added will lose it's appeal after a while and especially if obtained all the things/rewards wanted from doing them. I have played triad for example in this one over a thousand times, but it did get boring after the first few hundred. The only reason I kept doing it is because still wanted something from it aka more cards.

Chocobo racing though is still fun for now mostly because I haven't played it enough to get bored of it yet.

[seraseth]

I think a big problem is that they put a grind into everything, even fluff content. Grinding has it's place of course, but only in serious content. Fluff content should just be fun, stuff you play on the side between dungeons or when you're bored.

Stuff you do when you want a break from the grind.

[Warlyx]

I think a big problem is that they put a grind into everything, even fluff content. Grinding has it's place of course, but only in serious content. Fluff content should just be fun, stuff you play on the side between dungeons or when you're bored.

Stuff you do when you want a break from the grind.

QFT , i was expecting this from Gold saucer...and to be fair it was kinda fun for some days , the GATEs , the chocobo racing (ok that lasted 1 day ) , not a fan of TT .... and the minigames are meh...click click click ....

jackpot and minijackpot are of course all about luck.... i wanted to get fenrir ....and be in GS until the end of another era....and haven touched it since .....2.0

[Marcellus_Cassius]

The event square should be turned into a PvP ring where 1v1 matches can be spectated on.

[Croweyes]

It'd be fun if there was a PvE arena kind thing. You would fight enemy's that had unique mechanics in order to win rather then just a "dps it down " fight. Maybe also have a gauntlet type fighting option too.
A rough idea, but some action like GS content would be neat.

[Snugglebutt]

I think a big problem is that they put a grind into everything, even fluff content. Grinding has it's place of course, but only in serious content. Fluff content should just be fun, stuff you play on the side between dungeons or when you're bored.

Stuff you do when you want a break from the grind.

The thing is though for most of the mini games (gates, cactpots and such), the only grind is for MGP (outside of achievements). Triad for example the only grind is either for more cards, for achievements or for MGP but would removing the grind for those make the game more fun? I don't think so as the game itself would still be the same game that on a basic level I still either like playing triad as a game or not. They could let you win cards easier which by proxy might make me enjoy the 'grind' more but it wont make me enjoy playing the 'mini game' itself more...it will decrease the reason to keep playing after it has already become boring to me though. Chocobo racing, if removed the ability to rank up and level the chocobo which is the grind alongside again winning MGP...would it be more fun without those elements? I don't think so.

To me the grind only becomes an issue when the mini game already has become tedious, the reward becomes the only thing keeping me playing it. That's when the grind takes over as motivation to continue playing it. The grind can often also add to the enjoyment in terms of things like chocobo racing leveling up/breeding your racing chocobo's for the game.

With many of these things the removing of the grind elements themselves would either have no affect on enjoyment or not make it less fun as a mini game itself. It would also cause people to stop playing sooner than without it. On the other hand I will certainly admit the amount of MGP gain from such things and amount of MGP costs for the rewards you want will also have a negative effect on enthusiasm but that to me is a separate issue, more an issue with the MGP than the mini game enjoyment itself. If I enjoy playing chess it wouldn't make me hate it to not win a million pounds playing it but if was a million pounds for winning a match of chess I would enjoy the game itself the same...only would potentially end up richer from it. I am not sure I got across my thoughts on the matter adequately but I hope you understand what I am trying to say.

[VargasTruestrike]

Slot Machines

[Blackcanary]

Just give me the snowboarding game from FF7 and I will be happy.
And also a haunted house or something or a roller coaster lol.

[Khalithar]

Give me snowboarding and G-Bike and I'd be there all day.