Re: mahou shojou final fantasy

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
elsie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>How do y'all feel about those tournement mini-game type games like the card
>game and blitzball and now sphere break? What purpose do they serve within a
>RPG? What's the rationale for including them? I agree, they get in the way
>of saving the world, and the pay-off isn't usually necessary to the whole
>game.

Almost none of those mini-games make any sense.

For instance, in FF9 (where at least the card game doesn't get you any items)
the game involves going all over the world playing cards *without being told
all the rules*.  You're supposed to believe that your character goes up to
people and challenges them in card games without knowing how to play the game.
Not knowing the rules is only meaningful when you think of it as player vs.
computer rather than character vs. character.

(Come to think of it, that's a big gripe of mine about a lot of RPG video
games in general.  The games refuse to tell you something, like what classes
are prerequisites for others in FF Tactics, or what the effects of some special
items are.  They want the player to buy the hint guide, though geeks can
always go to Gamefaqs.)

And of course there's FF10's 3D Blitzball game that's actually played in 2D.
And isn't it convenient that there's a worldwide teleporter system that is
useful only to get you to the Blitzball tournament, but useless otherwise?
-- 
       Ken Arromdee / arromdee_AT_rahul.net / http://www.rahul.net/arromdee

"How pleasant it would be if only we lived a hundred years ago when it was
easy to get servants."
"It would be horrible...  We'd be the servants." -- Isaac Asimov