I wrote this for Reddit:

Final Fantasy is usually fun, until you get to that one part where the game is difficult just for the sake of being difficult. For most people, this is when the game starts becoming “anti-fun”.

The community favorites for the “anti-fun” category are FFX’s mini games, but they don’t have to be just those. For example, I’m playing Crisis Core right now and the “Very Hard” missions consist of just overwhelming the player with bullying tactics. The JRPG strategy is usually in the set-up to help you endure the pain, and so far I’ve been managing. But in the event I lose, it’s right back to the start. Crisis Core’s stories (and generally the missions) are fun. But sometimes, they are aggravating.

What anti-fun part in Final Fantasy have you encountered?

Note: Final Fantasy as a whole is still fun, so this isn’t a slam against the series. This is just a little something to help players blow off a little steam on those frustrating parts 🙂

And by the sheer number of people who commented, they agree. Final Fantasy X’s mini-games are just not fun to play. Don’t get me wrong, but of the fun is beating the challenge. And Final Fantasy X is still a fun game. But I’m not the only one who thinks Final Fantasy X’s minigames are just awful to sit through. Why are they so anti-fun? Well, they’re tedious. They feel like chores. The challenge less about skill and more about a test of patience.

Chocobo Racing

Some people believe, ‘just don’t get hit by the birds and you’ll be fine’. But the birds slam into your Chocobo like idiots. And it’s way too hard to control your stupid Chocobo! Go right! RIGHT! Got hit by a bird. But if you try to get a balloon, you’ll get the bird. Even weirder is the timing. You have to get a 0.00.00 time score. It’s pretty counter-intuitive, which only adds to the frustration. And if you don’t get the perfect score, you have to do it all over again.

Lightning Dogding

The goal of this game is to avoid the lightning strikes. Remember the jump roping game in Final Fantasy IX? The game where you had to press a button 1000 times? Here, you only have to press a button 20% of the time, but it doesn’t make it more fun. All you’re doing is timing your jumps to dodge a random bolt of lightning. And if you get hit with one strike, you have to start all over. Has anyone had to start over after getting up to 199 dodges? Yes…ME! Sometimes I get excited when I’m so close to the goal and mess up. Even after finding the sweet spot at a certain crater, who wants to stare a screen for 20 minutes to press a button with every flash?

Butterfly Hunting

It’s not as bad as catching balloons in Chocobo Racing. Of course, you have to catch ALL of the butterflies. While avoiding the red butterflies. Until a time limit. You can cheat by pausing the game and search for the butterflies to give you a clue for where to go. But if the game were fun, why would you have to do this?

Blitzball

This is the worst. This is like playing Tetra Master in story mode. I know some people like both games. But it’s too much. A turn-based sports game?

What about the Gold Saucer? What made them less tedious? Well, they were short. Take the snowboarding mini-game? You had to avoid trees and snow boulders. The controls were really loose. But the game was fast and exciting. Same for the Motorcycle motorcycle. And the Basketball shooter. And the weird Rock-Paper-Scissor Boxing game.

What about Final Fantasy VIII? Triple Triad could be over in less than a minute and had several different variants.

But hey, maybe you like all of the mini-games? What do you think? Which was your favorite?