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Having started on FFVII I always thought some kind of global, recurring sport or game was a staple of the FF series. A kind of game within the game that runs parallel to the main story. Is this just me for starting in the PSX era or does anyone else miss this kind of thing? Was it just a thing developers were doing in the PSX/early PS2 era? I'll give a little run down.

In FFVII we get the Chocobo racing, which is much more than just a minigame. It involves breeding, catching, rivalry, lost secrets of the world, and gambling. Amazing.

FFVIII brings us the cards. They're great to play, you find them everywhere, nearly everyone wants to play, and they're vital to stocking magic more easily and of greater quality than you can get by drawing, eg Triple, Holy, Curaga on Disc 1.

FFIX has its own cards but are not as fun as FFVIII and one of the few things I was disappointed with in the game. But damn it they're there!

Then we have the GREATEST SPORT EVER!!! in FFX with its Blitzball. Which, by the way, takes the idea of a global sport running alongside the main game to a whole new level. Best use of water ever too.

And then FFXII decides to do away with anything at all like this. The fishing minigame is stripped down and isn't global so it doesn't count. The hunts could count to some people but it's just more of the same gameplay against optional bosses. FF! C'mon you were on a roll there! (Disclaimer: FFXII is my third favourite FF game and I love it to bits even if it doesn't have Death-Titan-Tennis-Ball.)

Goes without saying, FFXIII doesn't want anything to do with life outside of the long, long corridor world. No sports or games.

I haven't played FFXIII-2 but I do know there's a casino. I haven't seen anything that suggests the games are relevant outside of the casino, so I'm not counting them. But, again, I haven't played it so I can't really comment here.

So are these global sports or games that are outside of the normal mechanics of the game a thing of the past? I loved them!

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Lol love your quoting. I read the whole thing first before i realized you quoted me lol i was reading it and i thought to myself "Wow, i said the same thing." and then i clicked the link i saw the quote. but yeah one day i was playing Fifa 12 with my friend and at the same time I thought " What If they made a Blitzball game!?!?" idk about you but i would love a whole game surrounding Blitzball!

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So Zetta Slow!

Btw I do miss the sports in FF the last sport was the hunting in FFXII which was pretty cool but still...... ITS ALL ABOUT BLITZBALL!!!!

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So Zetta Slow!

I must admit, I agree with basically everything you said regarding the history of sports in the series. I also loved the FF7 Chocobo Racing sidequest, adored the FFVIII card game (in fact, I view it as one of the game's most redeeming features), and felt the FFIX card game was a bit more lack luster. Blitzball was fantastic. Much like the card game in VIII, it was one of the highlights in a game I found to be otherwise unimpressive.

I don't know what happened to it, but I know in FFXIV there's talk of racing, and other mini activities that sounded good to me. Honestly, I'm thinking of signing up for FFXIV just to craft, because I hear that's a game in itself, and I can quartermaster for my friends.

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

I personally think this about the sports:

Triple triad was fun at first, but became irritating when you started to deal with getting rid of card game rules, and needed to exploit the rng bug to get rid of rules, and deal with the card queen herself

Blitzball became boring in the end, because it was so easy to win, and there were no longer any rewards worth getting, and i was burned out in trying to get the special weapon for wakka.

I did think the chocobo races was nice, and i did enjoy the racing in ff7 to tell you the truth.

I think that these mini games in a small quantity add fun to the game, and keep the player playing the game.Whats even more important though to replayability, is adding new game+ content, and multiple endings and ways to play.

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 21st September 2013 13:03)

I personally think this about the sports:

Triple triad was fun at first, but became irritating when you started to deal with getting rid of card game rules, and needed to exploit the rng bug to get rid of rules, and deal with the card queen herself

Blitzball became boring in the end, because it was so easy to win, and there were no longer any rewards worth getting, and i was burned out in trying to get the special weapon for wakka.

I did think the chocobo races was nice, and i did enjoy the racing in ff7 to tell you the truth.

Y'know I agree with everything you put there. The cards in FFVIII weren't perfect, but damn they were close enough for me. I did get to enjoy the rules after a while. Taking all cards after a win was an essential rule for me, and I really enjoyed blasting it with a team of low cards with the Same and Plus rules. To be fair it's easy enough to cancel a game with someone who wants to use their weird, cheesy Dollet rules.

Blitzball certainly became easy and grindy after a certain point. I enjoyed keep the Aurochs original team, including Wakka not Tidus up front. Every time I did a Blitzball reset I loved getting them from hopeless to indestructible. Datto gets a speed level that makes him amazing at rushing defences and Letty becomes the best all-round midfielder in the league. I agree though I wish it was just a bit more difficult, or more balanced at least.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

FF7 had some fantastic minigames/sports, and the best thing was many of them were an integral part of the main game. For example, escaping Midgar on the motorbike, which becomes a replayable minigame later on. Then there's the snowboarding, and the submarine missions, all of which are first introduced as parts of the main narrative, and are then replayable later on. Plus, there's the whole catching/breeding/feeding/racing of chocobos, which is almost worth a whole separate game in and of itself (well maybe not a whole game but you know what I mean...). I don't think there's another FF game which has the sheer variety of sports and minigames that FF7 has.

The latest FF game I've played so far is FF12, which was quite bereft of any real sport or minigames, apart from the fishing which is one of the worst sports in any FF game - second only to the butterfly hunting in FF10...

This post has been edited by Archeosaur on 21st September 2013 23:24

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I'm never relaxed
Even when I say I am
I'm always on the alert
Looking for the problem