Aug 072015
Gamescom didn’t leave us with much Final Fantasy XV news, so let’s talk more about Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn instead. One of the primary reasons Final Fantasy XIV became my first MMORPG is because I fell in love with that haven of mini-games, the Gold Saucer.
While FFXIV’s Gold Saucer has several fun mini-games already, including Triple Triad and Chocobo Racing, I’d love to see more added. Here are some mini-games from Final Fantasy’s past that would make the Manderville Gold Saucer even better.
G Bike
Final Fantasy VII’s motorcycle scene hasn’t held up well, but polished controls could make it a lot of fun. For those of you who haven’t played FFVII, the basic idea of this mini-game is that you ride a motorcycle down a highway and attack enemy riders when they get too near.
It’s popular enough to get a mobile game based on it, so it should be a successful addition to Final Fantasy XIV.
Snowboarding
Similarly, the Final Fantasy VII Snow Game needs to be refined, but many players would love to snowboard down an obstacle-strewn mountain slope collecting balloons. It also received a mobile tie-in, so there’s clearly fan interest.
Ghost Hotel
There’s nothing weird at all about having a haunted house section in Final Fantasy VII, right? FFVII’s Gold Saucer has a single inn–the Ghost Hotel, a haunted house environment with creepy denizens, spooky scenery, and Kefka’s laugh.
Not only would the Ghost Hotel be an amusing change of mood for Final Fantasy XIV’s Gold Saucer, but it’s perfect for GATEs. Just imagine the sorts of special events you could have in a haunted house. It may not be a mini-game itself, but I’d love to see it added.
Plays
We’ll be done with FFVII’s Gold Saucer soon, I swear, but first let’s consider the play. During part of Final Fantasy VII, you are chosen to participate in a play at the Event Square. You get to choose your lines when it’s Cloud’s turn to speak, and the lines you choose determines how well the play goes.
Whether it uses dialogue options or emotes, this could be a fun step up from FFXIV’s The Time of My Life GATE, where you mimic NPC actions. Maybe it could even incorporate shout-outs to Final Fantasy VI’s famous opera scene, or the play from Final Fantasy IX.
Blitzball
I’ll be honest, I hated Blitzball. I know lots of Final Fantasy X fans loved it, though, to the point where some put more hours into Blitzball than into the main game. For FFXIV, players could join teams, or maybe each Free Companies could have a team. Practice bouts, matches, and tournaments could make Blitzball a Gold Saucer mainstay.
Tetra Master
While not as famous as Triple Triad from Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX also had a game in which you placed cards on a grid to capture your opponent’s cards. Each card in Tetra Master had four stats (power, battle class, physical defense, and magical defense), and these stats determined the card’s success in challenges.
It’s more complicated than Triple Triad, but quite fun. Square Enix attempted to make Tetra Master a standalone subscription-based online game, which failed, but maybe it’s not too late to bring it to fans in Final Fantasy XIV.
Chocobo Hot and Cold
One of my favorite Final Fantasy IX mini-games was Chocobo Hot and Cold. Your Chocobo would make different sounds (well, more enthusiastic forms of “Kweh”) to let you know how close you were to buried treasure. Then you could try to dig it up.
A FFXIV variant would probably have you digging up MGP instead of items, and a few little tweaks like that could make it a perfect match.
Well, those are my candidates for the Manderville Gold Saucer. What mini-games and events, from past Final Fantasy games or otherwise, would you love to be added to Final Fantasy XIV?
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