No Mini Games please

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Nikola515
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Post by Nikola515 » Sat, 3. Feb 18, 22:15

If they do add some mini games I hope they are something similar to Bioshock (hacking). I think that was the only mini game I liked :P
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Lord Dakier
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Post by Lord Dakier » Sun, 4. Feb 18, 18:31

No mini-games. Little short of gambling, space racing, eliminating the most enemies in a patrol, an arena and on purpose police chases from sector to sector I wouldn't have much interest in any forced games. Ones similar to those just listed could be a nice little way of making money if you're bored or want to try something different while you pass time.

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Post by Requiemfang » Sun, 4. Feb 18, 22:14

If there are mini-games... none of the tedious BS we had to deal with in XR.

Station scanning, small talk I'm looking a you. Highway one was also annoying and served no purpose but to tick off the player. Hacking mini-game from XR I didn't mind so much but it could have been done better.

They should be engaging but not take away from the game, not make the game tedious.

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Post by Honved » Fri, 9. Feb 18, 17:07

The worst way to do a mini-game was how Oblivion implemented lock picking. Your lock picking skill had ZERO effect on the difficulty, and only served to reduce the consequences of failure. You make a Thief character, pump all sorts of points into Lock Picking, and in the end it doesn't matter one bit. If your motor skills as a player are sub-par, the character is going to fail at even simple locks. If you're good at the mini-game, your ham-fisted and totally untrained Orc barbarian will pick even difficult locks with relative ease.

The Sudoku puzzle in one X3:TC mission forced me to go online, look up the mission walk-throughs, then look up what a Sudoku puzzle was, learn how to do one, and THEN solve the puzzle. That was a lot of needless hassle just to advance the plot, because there was NO way that I'd have resolved that puzzle without recognizing it as a Sudoku puzzle and knowing how to solve one.

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Post by lyubarskiy » Fri, 9. Feb 18, 19:25

BlackDemon wrote:I think if they went a bit more in depth with a minigame like for conversations or hacking it could be much more interesting and stimulating, but there is always a problem of making it too "difficult" or frustrating for some players, whilst being taxing and challenging for other players.

The password hacking minigame in Fallout was quite good fun imo:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/ckL1M.jpg

Or something akin to Deux Ex where they had you find a route through a bunch of gates that resembled computer circuitry without tripping the alarm:
https://altplusenter.files.wordpress.co ... king-3.jpg

These were mildly fun minigames that weren't tedious, and could be suitable in X4 if they were in-depth enough. The key thing with the Deus Ex one is that your in-game skills in hacking could increase and made the minigame easier / less frustrating / less time consuming so eventually you could be a master hacker and blast through it. That made the player feel like they had truly mastered the system, but then you'd need it on some complex hacks where the node system was absolutely huge.

I think the main issues for Rebirth which should be avoided for minigames in X4 were; the absolute simplicity of the minigame being quite boring, the fact that it was impossible to "skill up" to improve your ability to win at it (e.g. a way we could have increased the 'pink zone' area for easier 100% hits), and what someone else mentioned that it was absolutely frame-rate dependant which is a big no-no!

If it was thought about carefully, and avoiding those pitfalls above, I'd definitely be up for more minigames for certain tasks like hacks etc. :)
I feel like any mini game that you are required to do indefinably will become quite boring and intrusive. No matter how fun it is, after 100th time it is just annoying. Even a small and useful one like lock picking in sky rim got annoying.

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Post by lyubarskiy » Fri, 9. Feb 18, 19:27

Killjaeden wrote:
BlackDemon wrote:I think if they went a bit more in depth with a minigame like for conversations or hacking it could be much more interesting and stimulating, but there is always a problem of making it too "difficult" or frustrating for some players, whilst being taxing and challenging for other players.
[...]
If it was thought about carefully, and avoiding those pitfalls above, I'd definitely be up for more minigames for certain tasks like hacks etc. :)
I agree with that, BUT, considering there are already so many interesting gameplay systems i don't think it's worth to spend considerable time on designing minigames, when the core gameplay (trading, fighting, management,...) has so many things that could be improved and added and also requires design work to make it good. Minigames are not worth it in comparison imo. I rather have some RPG player or NPC stats and RNG elements in things like conversations (ala Morrowind) and hacking than repetitive minigames. While not player skill driven, it at least allows to have notable progression and no matter what - still offer uncertainty (-> cross reference to "more ways to lose").
Agreed. Looking at other X titles, I never felt like something was missing, in terms of mini games. Looking at XR, i felt like mini games were unnecessary and bloaty without adding anything to core of the game or it's enjoyment/.

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Post by lyubarskiy » Fri, 9. Feb 18, 19:30

Greenhorn wrote:Hmmm,i don't know players,.. Minigames are a good distraction ,,too get away from it all,from basic stuff like, repetive stuff like, trading/ building/ manging fleets/fighting..i wonder what do you do this time, walking in stations, ((benard said )) on twitter.something along the line of, being on an station will have purpose, not likely to be rebirths way with nothing to do ..I would like the ,((bbs lottery )) back,((black jack)).Getting mission to find a floating crate in space.,i would kinda see this on ,pirate stations.cartell stations.A player, thinking to himself that he can be in a station to feel safe, from trouble near by, while playing games, and during that time, watch the money role in from your auto trading npcs/stations factories projects,and training marines too. doing a couple of things while your not there? maybe. just some thoughts, what do you think?, do I have a point?.players and devs.bye all. :)
No, not side quest or other things to do. I mean, to unlock a terminal, please guess a password, make this line follow through gates to hack a computer. Stuff like that.

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Post by lyubarskiy » Fri, 9. Feb 18, 19:31

Lord Dakier wrote:No mini-games. Little short of gambling, space racing, eliminating the most enemies in a patrol, an arena and on purpose police chases from sector to sector I wouldn't have much interest in any forced games. Ones similar to those just listed could be a nice little way of making money if you're bored or want to try something different while you pass time.
Agreed but those are not mini games. Those are otehr things of core gameplay to do.

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Post by gbjbaanb » Sat, 10. Feb 18, 15:44

So basically NO Minigame at all but side-quests are fine.

Isn't that how X3 was - little missions to do X or Y, if you wanted to do and had the capability.

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Post by lyubarskiy » Mon, 12. Feb 18, 20:22

gbjbaanb wrote:So basically NO Minigame at all but side-quests are fine.

Isn't that how X3 was - little missions to do X or Y, if you wanted to do and had the capability.
Precisely. Game with features and missions and shit to do, but don't make me speed up or slowdown in the highway depending on who I am following for no apparent reason other than to make a "mini game of sorts".

Mini games are like those "press buttons" at specific times during a a fight for something to happen type deal that always suck.

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Post by Slashman » Tue, 13. Feb 18, 13:38

lyubarskiy wrote:
gbjbaanb wrote:So basically NO Minigame at all but side-quests are fine.

Isn't that how X3 was - little missions to do X or Y, if you wanted to do and had the capability.
Precisely. Game with features and missions and shit to do, but don't make me speed up or slowdown in the highway depending on who I am following for no apparent reason other than to make a "mini game of sorts".

Mini games are like those "press buttons" at specific times during a a fight for something to happen type deal that always suck.
Those are called quick time events.
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Post by Skeeter » Tue, 13. Feb 18, 16:15

Ew for quick time events. I tryed a game called farrenheit it was suppose to a Adv game but was full of quick action events I couldn't enjoy the game. Never again.
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Post by lyubarskiy » Tue, 13. Feb 18, 19:25

Slashman wrote:
lyubarskiy wrote:
gbjbaanb wrote:So basically NO Minigame at all but side-quests are fine.

Isn't that how X3 was - little missions to do X or Y, if you wanted to do and had the capability.
Precisely. Game with features and missions and shit to do, but don't make me speed up or slowdown in the highway depending on who I am following for no apparent reason other than to make a "mini game of sorts".

Mini games are like those "press buttons" at specific times during a a fight for something to happen type deal that always suck.
Those are called quick time events.
Thank you! I knew there was a name for it.

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Post by spankahontis » Tue, 13. Feb 18, 23:17

Requiemfang wrote:
xapoc wrote:Add mini games to stations such as slot machines, poker, etc, that you can earn some extra cash from.
:o why though? I mean really it's easy to make credits in X-series games. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out either.

Because, not everyone wants to be a Miner, or a Pirate, or do the Stock Exchange.
Everyone has a preference, not everyone hates mini-games.
If done right? They can entertain, Rebirth was an example on how NOT to do it.
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Post by Requiemfang » Wed, 14. Feb 18, 05:27

spankahontis wrote:
Requiemfang wrote:
xapoc wrote:Add mini games to stations such as slot machines, poker, etc, that you can earn some extra cash from.
:o why though? I mean really it's easy to make credits in X-series games. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out either.

Because, not everyone wants to be a Miner, or a Pirate, or do the Stock Exchange.
Everyone has a preference, not everyone hates mini-games.
If done right? They can entertain, Rebirth was an example on how NOT to do it.
Finally someone responded! and yes that is very true, if minigames are done right they entertain and improve the game as a means to taking a break from the fight, trade, think, build part of the game.

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Post by Cabrelbeuk » Wed, 14. Feb 18, 11:06

If done right. As said, mini-games in Rebirth were boring.

It is actually a tough thing to design as :
-it needs to remain simple, but not too much and especially not to repetitive (otherwise it is boring).
-it needs to not be too present. It is a mini-game, not a core feature. Is not a thing that player will look for, but something to make some task more interesting.
-it needs to be correctly inserted into game. Not breaking the immersion. A mini-game during a discussion doesn't make any sense (Only QTE does, but it works only on plotted discussion and have to get a logical impact (stop the conversation, make an action, etc which make the situation evolve)).

A good example of a correct mini game that could have been inserted in Rebirth would have been a short (doesn't mean easy !!!!!!!!!) puzzle game during hacking missions.


Anyway, now i would like first the mains cores features to work fines than seeing those kind of things added badly.
You can add it in a DLC once the core game is settled (as Ego doesn't have the resources to add it in the vanilla game).
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Post by ZaphodBeeblebrox » Wed, 14. Feb 18, 12:29

If I recall correctly there will still be some kind of hacking available in X4.

Hacking from my viewpoint will need some kind of mini-game.

Now hacking may require some level of skill (the more you hack the more skillful you become.) There may be different levels of hacking target that require you to acquire better skills, tools, hardware and software to be able to perform the hack.

So if hacking is anything like Rebirth, then station production, station storage,
station defences could all be potential hacking targets.

The hacking of ships might be something similar, disabling engines, weapons, shields, communications or ship storage.

So it might be more interesting if you could pick a target for a hack. So on a ship, disable the communications and then the engines. So that you have a ship unable to communicate or move ready for boarding say.
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Post by Slashman » Wed, 14. Feb 18, 13:46

Some examples of mini-games that I think fit well into the games they were designed for are the Detective Mode crime scene investigations in the Arkham Games as well as the ones involving reviewing camera footage for evidence.

I think the once I liked best though were the mingames involving the tricorder in Star Trek Elite Force 2. They REALLY fit the theme of the game and integrated with it in a natural way. I have yet to see similar min-games since in other games.
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Post by lyubarskiy » Wed, 14. Feb 18, 20:04

ZaphodBeeblebrox wrote:If I recall correctly there will still be some kind of hacking available in X4.

Hacking from my viewpoint will need some kind of mini-game.

Now hacking may require some level of skill (the more you hack the more skillful you become.) There may be different levels of hacking target that require you to acquire better skills, tools, hardware and software to be able to perform the hack.

So if hacking is anything like Rebirth, then station production, station storage,
station defences could all be potential hacking targets.

The hacking of ships might be something similar, disabling engines, weapons, shields, communications or ship storage.

So it might be more interesting if you could pick a target for a hack. So on a ship, disable the communications and then the engines. So that you have a ship unable to communicate or move ready for boarding say.
Problem with hacking mini games is that if you are forced to do it every time it's get annoying and tedious. No matter how much fun they are at the start. This is especially true in an an open ended sandbox game such as X4 series where you could spend thousands of hours. I would rather spend my time building fleets and controlling retrospect than playing the same mini game over and over.

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Post by Nanook » Wed, 14. Feb 18, 20:41

Cabrelbeuk wrote:...
A good example of a correct mini game that could have been inserted in Rebirth would have been a short (doesn't mean easy !!!!!!!!!) puzzle game during hacking missions.....
Only if it's an optional way to complete the task. Mini-games should never, I repeat NEVER, be a part of the core gameplay. They should only be something that the player might like to do, not something the player is forced to do. And that's where Rebirth went so wrong.
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