Mini games and button mashing

[Walsingham]

I've just been playing two games: GTA San Andreas, and Fahrenheit*. And my keyboard spacebar has broken. This could be inferior space bar-age, but I suspect it has something to do with all the relentless button mashing required for doing training, lifting bodies, and running. It's doing wonders for my fingers strength, but is it REALLY necessary?

 

How do you chaps like button mashing?

 

 

 

*Indigo Prophecy for Americans

[Morgoth]

For button mashers, I recommend using a gamepad. You can get one already for 10

[Llyranor]

What are you talking about? It's compelling gameplay.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Mashing a single button is a step up from doing nothing, but the GTA:SA implementation was boring because there was no pressure to what you were doing. Most button mashing in console games feels frantic because you're suddenly broken out of your normal control scheme (usually in combat) and have a limited amount of time to mash before something very bad happens. E.g. Dead Space grappling, God of War mini-games.

[Shryke]

it annoys me almost as much as quicktime events

[Pop]

(psssst, QTEs are minigames)

[Gorgon]

Some gamepads have a handy repeat toggle which lets you machinegun any key.

Edited December 7, 2008 by Gorgon

[Shryke]

(psssst, QTEs are minigames)

 

haha i just took another look at the thread title

 

mini games and button mashing

 

ahem... well i feel kinda silly now...

[Pop]

Some gamepads have a handy repeat toggle which lets you machinegun any key.

They've had those since the days of the Sega Genesis. Pretty sure my old gravis gamepad had one.

[Purkake]

Mashing a single button is a step up from doing nothing, but the GTA:SA implementation was boring because there was no pressure to what you were doing. Most button mashing in console games feels frantic because you're suddenly broken out of your normal control scheme (usually in combat) and have a limited amount of time to mash before something very bad happens. E.g. Dead Space grappling, God of War mini-games.

 

I would much rather have it happen as a cutscene or not happen at all than to have some stupid button-mashing "game" so that I feel like I did something. If you can't make it look cool with the normal gameplay mechanics, it's time to go over them again IMHO

[J.E. Sawyer]

What constitutes "normal" gameplay mechanics? In the context of the two games I was just discussing, your Dead Space shooting mechanics no longer make sense if you're grappling and your God of War move set is also compromised. Something has grabbed you and you're not free to do what you normally do. If you were, there would be no point to grappling.

[Purkake]

What constitutes "normal" gameplay mechanics? In the context of the two games I was just discussing, your Dead Space shooting mechanics no longer make sense if you're grappling and your God of War move set is also compromised. Something has grabbed you and you're not free to do what you normally do. If you were, there would be no point to grappling.

 

Well in Dead Space when the tentacle grabs you, you can still use your gun. I think that this is doing it right, they kept the existing mechanic, but added an interesting twist. It would probably be pretty stupid if the monsters couldn't grab you and just clawed at you with bad animations. One solution would have been to implement a real melee system to deal with close combat. Another, worse, idea would be instant death when you get grabbed. I don't have the perfect solution, but I don't think that mashing a button is very fun, innovative, or even immersive(one bad animation for all the grappling).

 

I haven't played God of War, so I can't really comment on that.

[Calax]

at least in god of war it's a central part of gameplay compared to some of the other more recent games that just randomly drop a quick time event in your lap randomly without any sense of why.

[Maria Caliban]

When done well, it's good. When done poorly, it's horrible.

[Purkake]

When done well, it's good. When done poorly, it's horrible.

 

Got any good examples?

[Maria Caliban]

When done well, it's good. When done poorly, it's horrible.

 

Got any good examples?

 

Of the top of my head?

 

Hacking in Fallout 3.

Bar games in Fable.

That dice game in the Witcher.

Edited December 8, 2008 by Maria Caliban

[Purkake]

When done well, it's good. When done poorly, it's horrible.

 

Got any good examples?

 

Of the top of my head?

 

Hacking in Fallout 3.

Bar games in Fable.

 

I though you were talking about button-mashing and QTEs. Hacking in F3 was one of the better minigames, but it was still tedious after a while and going through all the symbols to find the "bonus" ones got really old really fast.(maybe I just suck at mastermind). I think that minigames are better as an option that adds something extra, but isn't required.

[Hell Kitty]

Is hacking in F3 ever required?

[Hurlshort]

Is hacking in F3 ever required?

 

Not really, even most safes offered the choice to pick the lock or hack a computer. And there was never anything really important in them.

 

And once your skill was high on lockpick, you could just force the lock if you disliked the mini-game.

[Purkake]

Is hacking in F3 ever required?

 

Well I meant that the minigame is required when I want to hack something. Sure I can just not hack stuff, but where's the fun in that? Hacking could have used a "force" button as well...

[Pidesco]

When done well, it's good. When done poorly, it's horrible.

 

Got any good examples?

 

Of the top of my head?

 

Hacking in Fallout 3.

Bar games in Fable.

That dice game in the Witcher.

 

The dice game in the Witcher was essentially broken, before the enhanced edition.

[Purkake]

When done well, it's good. When done poorly, it's horrible.

 

Got any good examples?

 

Of the top of my head?

 

Hacking in Fallout 3.

Bar games in Fable.

That dice game in the Witcher.

 

The dice game in the Witcher was essentially broken, before the enhanced edition.

 

Oh man, I loved that dice game. It was the one light in my otherwise boring playa/monster hunter routine.

[Calax]

For QTE's God of war is probably the best done version I've ever seen. Mainly because it was a core mechanic of gamplay when going for an instakill.

 

Prince of persia is also pretty good in that when the enemy is going for the kill (which you will be saved by Elika if you fail but they regain the last amount of health that a combo dropped off them) you are given a chance to hit a button to counter the deathblow (or other superblows that the bosses try fire off, I generally don't have the speed to get the superblows countered)

 

I think that most developers decided to put them in so as to make the cutscenes interactive, but generally that backfires and the player is watching for the indicator rather than the well choreographed battle that they are supposed to be "running"

[Wrath of Dagon]

I thought QTE's worked great in Shenmue 2, and made a lot of sense in the context. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the button mashing minigame to open locks in console Mass Effect was the worst single piece of gameplay I've ever seen, and a huge and tedious waste of time for me because of all the reloading I had to do.

[~Di]

When done well, it's good. When done poorly, it's horrible.

 

Got any good examples?

 

Of the top of my head?

 

Hacking in Fallout 3.

Bar games in Fable.

That dice game in the Witcher.

 

 

OMG, yes! Dice poker is positively addicting! I loved it! I also like Pazak from KOTOR. Once I learned the trick to hacking in Fallout 3, I got a kick out of it too.

 

Ordinarily I hate mini-games. The flying quests in Jade Empire make me want to gargle glass.