Come on all the way down to the Gold Saucer

I don’t know for those who’ve heard, however Remaining Fantasy XVI is popping out in just a few months, and producer Naoki Yoshida has had quite a bit to say about it. Yoshida, together with director Hiroshi Takai, fight director Ryota Suzuki, and localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox had a really attention-grabbing chat with Destructoid. You actually ought to go learn it.

However I’m a bit of extra excited by one thing Yoshida mentioned in an interview with Gematsu. Throughout that interview, Gematsu’s Sal Romano requested whether or not or not FFXVI would characteristic any lighter diversions from the seemingly fairly heavy principal storyline—one thing like Remaining Fantasy X‘s blitzball. Yoshida responded, “We have now some very darkish themes that the story revolves round. We have now international locations at conflict—we are able to’t actually have some blitzball matches occurring when persons are killing one another.”

Hmm.

I disagree.

Let me make one thing clear earlier than I dig into that: I don’t suppose Naoki Yoshida, director of Remaining Fantasy XIV, hates enjoyable. The person has spent the final decade heading up a recreation that’s 50% world-ending, stakes-raising depth, and 50% dress-up simulator. FFXIV options god-slaying and goofing off in equal measure. I do know plenty of of us have already heard Yoshida’s phrases and elected to color him as an anti-minigame tyrant who needs to erase fishing from role-playing video games. I don’t suppose that’s a good illustration of what he’s saying right here.

That being mentioned, I nonetheless suppose what he’s saying is fallacious. Yoshida seems to be suggesting that Remaining Fantasy XVI will likely be too bleak to maintain minigames; that taking a break to play some playing cards could be too extreme of a tonal break for the sport. Normally, I discover this tough to consider. Remaining Fantasy VII, a recreation about eco-terrorists stopping a rogue member of a company paramilitary group from destroying the planet, has a pleasant lengthy break within the center the place all its characters go to an amusement park. Remaining Fantasy XV, a recreation a couple of prince fleeing a war-torn nation, options a few of the greatest fishing within the historical past of video video games.

Loads of grisly non-Remaining Fantasy video games discover area for minigames, too. The Witcher 3‘s much-lauded Gwent, blackjack in Purple Lifeless Redemption 2—the record might go on ceaselessly. And plenty of of those video games are celebrated particularly for their phenomenal minigames.

Why can we love them?

So what’s it that we love about minigames? And why, precisely, would anybody be upset once they don’t present up in a recreation? In any case, the minigames aren’t the primary enchantment. In case you simply wished to play playing cards, you might get Clubhouse Video games: 51 Worldwide Classics for about $30 cheaper than Remaining Fantasy XVI.

I feel the reply is easy: individuals wish to be invested in a world. As soon as a recreation crosses the two-dozen-hour mark, its large, sprawling map can begin to really feel much less like an enormous world that wants defending and extra like an annoyingly massive patch of land that wants crossing. Respite makes this world imply one thing. Taking a break to play a spot of Triple Triad with a stranger or solid a line with three of your greatest pals reminds you of what you’re truly preventing for. Remaining Fantasy XIV‘s crafting and gathering lessons serve the same goal—whereas not “minigames” within the conventional sense, they’re a diversion from the core loop that enhances the participant’s attachment to Eorzea.

In fact, I haven’t performed Remaining Fantasy XVI but. Perhaps it’s an extremely miserable recreation the place nothing is value saving, and sparing a while for fantasy poker truly would kill that vibe. I doubt it, however, you understand, it’s doable. I feel it’s extra doubtless the FFXVI staff is coming at this recreation with a considerably restricted view of what a darker, extra grounded fantasy story can truly appear to be (Yoshida’s feedback on racial variety within the recreation definitely don’t assist).

I’m nonetheless very excited for Remaining Fantasy XVI. I like the franchise, and I’ve just lately been dipping into director Hiroshi Takai’s first recreation, The Final Remnant, which appears fairly good despite the truth that it doesn’t characteristic any minigames in any respect. Nonetheless, I discover myself a bit of averse to the concept there’s no room for diversion in a darkish story. The true world is regularly very miserable, and we nonetheless discover time to play Remaining Fantasy. I hope FFXVI can nonetheless wow me, however I’ll all the time be pro-minigame.