Yakuza games are truly the Kings of mini games. Those games are some of the few that have an amazing narrative destination with an equally amazing journey that makes it feel like you are living in that world sometimes. I wish more AAA western developers would go the same route instead of vast mostly empty worlds with mostly generic side quests.
Fighting game also had minigame after you made through the half way of the arcade mode, some was purely for score booster while the other DOES demonstrating the advanced mechanic such as learning the Super move in Art of Fighting and playing some "Parrying" game in Street Fighter 3 series
Scrolled down to the comment section just to mention Xenogears' multiple minigames, but it looks like you beat me to it. So I guess I'll have to shout out Xenosaga's minigames instead: the casino, the drill, the battle and the card games of Episode I (I didn't really engage with the latter two during my playthrough), the puzzles of Episode II (some were just part of the game's exploration, though) and HakoX in Episode III.
I couldn't get into any of the witcher games, and when 3 got huge I gave it a try too, I have my reasons why it's not for me, but goddamn I felt more like playing gwent than being geralt dealing with all the characters in that cynical hellscape of a fantasy world. That was a fun easy little addictive card game to learn. Minigames are dope.
I get your point, but for me, minigames, like side quests, usually hurt my immersion in the main story. Like, the main character just had a conversation about the ancient evil that is about to wake unless they do something about it and then they spend in game days traveling miles and miles collecting balloons in order to receive a cool ring as reward. I usually do it, when it is fun to play, but the narrative loses all its weight.
Final Fantasy 16 did burn me out by the end of it with the story after it would progress a little it would give you a daunting wave of side quests and then you progress a little again to get another. Side quest stories in RPGs tend to be detours that hurt the pacing of the main game and tend to just involve the same gameplay like you said in the video and sadly like FF16 the 'side' quests tend to make up a bigger bulk of the game than the main game it self. I loved X's blitz ball and I loved how X-2 cleverly turns it into a manger game where you recruit people around the world. I do think it's important that mini games can be done at your own pace. I don't they should be missable like they can be. The side quests in 16 where missable and thus it made you feel like you had to do them when you got them. One thing I would say though is that their are some mini games I hate like the Cold Steel fishing mini games. I hate fishing mini games like the last Tales of game and Final Fantasy XV's fishing mini game. If they are gonna put a mini game in there, then they have to try make it decent otherwise you might worry that your missing out on something by not doing them.
I think with FFXVI they were so focus on making the game "dark and mature" that they forgot that it had to be fun. I just tried to replay it a few weeks ago and it is unbereable. Which it's something that never happened to me before. Not even XIII was this boring to replay, probably because it was neither as miserable and bleak. And the worst part is that it doesn't even pay off; the story is not even that good and it has massive tone shift problems (apart from the abysmal pacing).
Yakuza games are truly the Kings of mini games. Those games are some of the few that have an amazing narrative destination with an equally amazing journey that makes it feel like you are living in that world sometimes. I wish more AAA western developers would go the same route instead of vast mostly empty worlds with mostly generic side quests.
Want to play Outrun? just play yakuza. LOL
Fighting game also had minigame after you made through the half way of the arcade mode, some was purely for score booster while the other DOES demonstrating the advanced mechanic such as learning the Super move in Art of Fighting and playing some "Parrying" game in Street Fighter 3 series
MInigames? Xenogears paper rock scissors, Gears fighting game, card game. FFVII gold saucer (fight game), rollercoaster, chocobo race and farm, battle square. FFX Blitzball was amazing.
Scrolled down to the comment section just to mention Xenogears' multiple minigames, but it looks like you beat me to it. So I guess I'll have to shout out Xenosaga's minigames instead: the casino, the drill, the battle and the card games of Episode I (I didn't really engage with the latter two during my playthrough), the puzzles of Episode II (some were just part of the game's exploration, though) and HakoX in Episode III.
I couldn't get into any of the witcher games, and when 3 got huge I gave it a try too, I have my reasons why it's not for me, but goddamn I felt more like playing gwent than being geralt dealing with all the characters in that cynical hellscape of a fantasy world. That was a fun easy little addictive card game to learn. Minigames are dope.
I get your point, but for me, minigames, like side quests, usually hurt my immersion in the main story. Like, the main character just had a conversation about the ancient evil that is about to wake unless they do something about it and then they spend in game days traveling miles and miles collecting balloons in order to receive a cool ring as reward.
I usually do it, when it is fun to play, but the narrative loses all its weight.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time playing poker in Red Dead Redemption 2 just walk away with $5
My favorite Minigame is by far Spherebreak in FFX-2 and Blitzball in FFX, they are just so fun.
Final Fantasy 16 did burn me out by the end of it with the story after it would progress a little it would give you a daunting wave of side quests and then you progress a little again to get another. Side quest stories in RPGs tend to be detours that hurt the pacing of the main game and tend to just involve the same gameplay like you said in the video and sadly like FF16 the 'side' quests tend to make up a bigger bulk of the game than the main game it self. I loved X's blitz ball and I loved how X-2 cleverly turns it into a manger game where you recruit people around the world. I do think it's important that mini games can be done at your own pace. I don't they should be missable like they can be. The side quests in 16 where missable and thus it made you feel like you had to do them when you got them. One thing I would say though is that their are some mini games I hate like the Cold Steel fishing mini games. I hate fishing mini games like the last Tales of game and Final Fantasy XV's fishing mini game. If they are gonna put a mini game in there, then they have to try make it decent otherwise you might worry that your missing out on something by not doing them.
I think with FFXVI they were so focus on making the game "dark and mature" that they forgot that it had to be fun. I just tried to replay it a few weeks ago and it is unbereable. Which it's something that never happened to me before. Not even XIII was this boring to replay, probably because it was neither as miserable and bleak. And the worst part is that it doesn't even pay off; the story is not even that good and it has massive tone shift problems (apart from the abysmal pacing).
I love the minigames like Justice Monsters Five and fishing in FF15 or target practice in RE4 and RE4 Remake.