I have thought about it before...always loved Mario Party Minigames...IMO they are very fun and creative. Still, i'm not sure if it would fit ptoperly the game. Also, it would still be boring to grind if you received over and over the same image for the same recipe.

A similar, but at same time unique mechanics can be seen in Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, where in the mining minigame you need to use different tools to uncover an item completely. Similar to here, you have a more delicated tool that uncover less but depletes less durability and one that uncovers more but depletes it faster. Very fun minigame IMO!

I like the suggestion though...IMO some more versatile minigames are always welcome, even though i really doubt it happening...SE always had a preference for old school minigames rather than trying something new. ^^:

I had a suggestion that would fit SE best, by changing crafting into a ATB battle mechanics...but it wasn't posted here since i actually didn't meant to suggest it for "this" FFXIV...it's part of a terribly long synthesis spam in my lodestone blog (tagged as "battle" lol) if you happen to be bored enough to read a blog that only talks about pure game mechanics. Also, keep in mind that there i'm talking about the original FFXIV, not this one (that's why it wasn't posted here...would be "off-topic").