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Good non-combat/non-exploration/non-dialogue gameplay

buffalo bill

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I'm looking for examples of good non-combat, non-exploration and non-dialogue gameplay in RPGs—what would typically be called a 'minigame'. I'm thinking of gameplay that has its own dedicated in-game mechanics, which rules out most puzzles (I think—though maybe deciphering the lizard language in UU should count as a minigame). The examples I can think of are pretty bad: lockpicking/hacking simulators, crafting and games of chance. One example that seems good to me is the chess-like game from Return to Zork, but that's not an RPG.

Also not sure whether things like Underrail's stealth system or UU's magic system should count, since they're both pretty highly involved in exploration and combat.
 

moraes

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Obvious examples would be Gwent (The Witcher 3), Arcomage (M&M) and Pazaak (KOTOR). But I don't understand the point of the question, take out combat, dialogue and exploration from a cRPG and you have very little else. Maybe you should look at other genres?
 

buffalo bill

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Obvious examples would be Gwent (The Witcher 3), Arcomage (M&M) and Pazaak (KOTOR).
In-game card games are good examples. Fallout 2's Tragic obviously wouldn't count, though.
But I don't understand the point of the question, take out combat, dialogue and exploration from a cRPG and you have very little else. Maybe you should look at other genres?
I agree that most of the meat of the game is in the combat, dialogue and exploration. I'm not asking because I think a game can stand on the merits of its minigames (of course it can't)—I'm mostly just interested because I couldn't find a list of good examples. I.e. I'm just curious about this.
 
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buffalo bill

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Also not sure whether things like Underrail's stealth system or UU's magic system should count, since they're both pretty highly involved in exploration and combat.
does it mean that additionally you want to add such mechanics being separated from rest of the game?

The examples I can think of are pretty bad: lockpicking/hacking simulators
what about hacking in Shadowrun donkey kong?

Do adventure game elements count, like in Heroine quest for example?

no exploration is heavy requirement as in most games any sort of special interactions are rewarded with unlocking secrets.
I haven't played the new Shadowrun games (they seem a bit too linear, but maybe worth looking into), but I was thinking of the Genesis Shadowrun as an example of a semi-decent hacking minigame. Also never played Heroine's quest, but I was thinking that maybe parts of the Quest for Glory series would count—so sure, yeah I guess. Again, I'm just asking out of curiosity, so take the question as broadly or narrowly as you please.
 

V_K

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I'm thinking of gameplay that has its own dedicated in-game mechanics, which rules out most puzzles
I would say that DM-style puzzles are very systemic as they're all built from the same basic blocks - levers, pressure plates, teleporters, pits etc.
Also, agree with lukaszek - everything in an RPG ties up to exploration, including combat and dialog, as long as it has any value for progression.
 

buffalo bill

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I'm thinking of gameplay that has its own dedicated in-game mechanics, which rules out most puzzles
I would say that DM-style puzzles are very systemic as they're all built from the same basic blocks - levers, pressure plates, teleporters, pits etc.
Also, agree with lukaszek - everything in an RPG ties up to exploration, including combat and dialog, as long as it has any value for progression.
Fair enough. I'm thinking of a minigame as a sort of a family resemblance category: sort of a "know it when you see it" type of thing. Of course a lockpicking minigame (for instance) is related to exploration (to get to new areas) and to combat (to access new combat-related equipment), but it also seems to stand alone as a mechanically distinct part of the game.
 

The Great ThunThun*

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M&B has trade and asset management as well as realm management as a minigame. XCOM has base management and the whole strategic layer as a macro game. Jagged Alliance 2 as well. Alpha protocol has hacking and lockpicking minigames. But that is something I like and you might not.
 

Derk Derm

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New Vegas has the Caravan cardgame, though I'm not familiar enough with it to make a statement on its quality.
KOTOR has its swoopracing.
If you count Sid Meier's Pirates! as an RPG, maybe you might consider the dancing as a minigame?
Way of the Samurai 3 has some minigames in it, some of which'll kill you if you lose them, Way of the Samurai 4 has some too but from the top of my memory only nightcrawling (sneaking into the house of a seduced maiden and engaging in degenerate deeds while her parents are asleep) and three torture minigames.

If you're into MMORPGs, then Age of Wushu
known as Age of Wulin in EU until it closed down and Age of Wushu got a EU server
also known as Legends of Kung Fu in Russia
also known as Nine Scrolls Manual in China
also known as 9Yin in Thailand
also known as Age of Kung Fu in the rest of South-East Asia
has a fair few minigames for calligraphy, go, music-playing, "group practice", fishing and the like, not sure how good they are and the game itself is a fucking clusterfuck but hey, minigames.
 

ScrotumBroth

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In
RPG's usually have plenty going on, so not the best genre to look for mini-games imho. I'm trying to think of something, but keep coming back to the memory card game in Super Mario Bros 3, and driving mini carts, helicopters and airplanes in Vice City.
 

Mustawd

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Torchlight 1 and 2 - Fishing
Witcher 1 - The dice game thingie ma bob
Fallout 1 - Gambling
FF7 - Tons of mini games

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
 

buffalo bill

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Maybe people could also tell me whether the minigame is difficult and/or fun by their standards? Fallout 1's gambling minigame is pretty unfun imo, for instance.
 

Mustawd

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Torchlight 1 and 2 - Fishing - fun if ur a grindr
Witcher 1 - The dice game thingie ma bob - fun for 5 minutes but there's a way to cheat it IIRC
Fallout 1 - Gambling - not fun
FF7 - Tons of mini games - Most of em are p. fun IMO

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Oops, forgot the underwater water polo in FF10. - Fun
 

Lurker47

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New Vegas has the Caravan cardgame, though I'm not familiar enough with it to make a statement on its quality.
I think it's actually pretty broken. If you have the standard, good set-up for a deck, it's really hard to lose.
 

gaussgunner

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I haven't played the new Shadowrun games (they seem a bit too linear, but maybe worth looking into)
Yeah, they're nothing but linear dialogue, setpiece battles, and atmosphere. Too easy, also. I liked them anyway, especially Dead Man's Switch; I thought matrix combat was better than the lockpicking-type hacking minigames they added in the sequels.

I agree that most of the meat of the game is in the combat, dialogue and exploration. I'm not asking because I think a game can stand on the merits of its minigames (of course it can't)—I'm mostly just interested because I couldn't find a list of good examples. I.e. I'm just curious about this.
I can't think of anything besides secondary stuff like character creation, skills, and inventory. An RPG only needs those half-dozen core systems, done competently, with decent writing and choices'n'consequences layered on top.
 

laclongquan

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Alchemy in Might Magic 8

You find reagents in game (harvest wilds, collect from corpse, buy from shops). You have three different type of reagents, whose strength are varied among different types.

You make basic potions from them, whose strength are governed by both quality of reagents and your own alchemy skill.

You pour potions of different substance into each other to create stronger potions. Failure aside, Success are limited by skill level so a success result can still blow up in your face.

Alchemy in Morrowind push it further by having many more type of quality (effect) in each reagent. So the results are more varied.

Side note: to prevent abuse, MM8 has the skill limit, but even that only do the job to a certain extent. Morrowind just give up entirely and let Alchemy broke the game balance.
Further note: to prevent abuse, we could strengthen the MM8 system by having skill thresholds (rank of skill: master, grandmaster...) and each rank has a limit of recipes they can learn or find out. Example as (presumably) applied to a Morrowind system: layman (no rank) can create basic potions by grinding basic material into potions, result is one effect type whose strength is determined by quality of reagents -5. Apprentice can create basic portion at strength = quality + skill, one effect. Master can create/learn 10 two-effect recipes and 1 three-effect recipes, additional +5 strength. Grandmaster can learn 20 more 2-effect recipes and 10 three-effect recipes, additional +5 strength. A god blessing, come from a quest, allow 30/10/2 recipes more, additional +5 strength. You dont need to ever learn all the recipes, just choose which you want to remember.
To limit abuse of potions we could implement a system of Witcher1, ie intoxification. toxic = strenght of each potion/2. Limit 100.
 
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Neanderthal

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Ultimas: Magical and spiritual rituals. Various levels of crafting from bread to Stormbringers. Language translations Futhark, Gargish, Ophidian, Lizardman. Inventory management. Moral conundrums with no easy answers. Understanding alien cultures even those who worship Mondain, Minax and Exodus or you. Environmental interactions. Whodunnits. Reagent gathering etc
 

Hyperion

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Casinos, nigga. Everyone's favorite to sit around on their ass for 2 3 4 5 6 hours, become a save scumming degenerate and walk out with tons of bling. Pretty much every Dragon Warrior has one early game, and one late game where you deck yourself out with sweet gear. Lufia II is another example that had some pretty gamebreakingly good loot to get in a casino once you get access to your boat.

Ogre Battle 64 had Birthday celebrations that would give you a gift, with a special one every 10 years, whenever Magnus' birthday passed, up to 100 years old. Obviously you had to just walk around the world map passing month after month to do it....

Nier: Automata had hacking during combat if you got hit by certain enemy attacks.

Breath of Fire II, Breath of Fire III, Xenoblade Chronicles, amongst others had a town building simulation. Dragon Warrior 7 also had a town building sim where if you recruited enough scumbags and bunny girls you would get....another casino, nigga!

Persona's known for a bunch of minigames to pass the time, most of which improve your social stats somehow, from studying, to hitting baseballs in the batting cage, and even lifting and downing a protein shake afterwards.

Cooking is another big one in lots of games, and usually has some sort of combat / social-related effect to it. Suikoden II's Iron Chef event in the base comes to mind. Suikoden was LOADED with things in each base, from the aforementioned cooking, different gambling games to play, Suikoden III's horse racing in the back of Lake Castle that would give material rewards for getting certain times, to the Lottery, which would result in literally infinite money.
 
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Jacob

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Grab the Codex by the pussy
The whole farming sim in Stardew Valley should count as a non-minigame example of this.
 

laclongquan

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Or a smith creation system (inspired from Prince of Qin) (another version is in Legend of Mana)

You can create: weapon system, armor system, and accessories system. Choose before starting the process.

Each raw material can have different type of elemental level (earth, wood, water, fire, metal). I advise 5 for ease of balance, or you can try up to 7 (light and dark). each elemental can have supportive elemental and disminished elemental: like earth support metal, but wood disminish earth. Generally in a raw material you have a group of supportive, and no disminished (because they eliminate each other)

When create item, you add all elemental level of raw materials, and basic fire (from smithing process) or whatever depend on your design of the smithing process. You let the elemental disminish all other, then support each other to a point. Let's say earth, metal, and water left in a step 1

Prince of Qin's solution is ended here, just push a random generated result from the element left. say a Great Sword (+10 metal elemental, basic 20 att point come from total of three element point, keen edge status come from metal element exceed certain ratio/points) or Long handle ceramic mace etc...
Since the step 1 can create somewhat different mix of elementa, th results can be quite varied. So a favourite reload scum tactic was used here~

Mind you, if you dont want RNG having his day here, you can add a step of eliminating extraneuous element and just remove all but the strongest element. Then create an item base on that left.

The coding from elemental chaos need to be very good. Then the coding for random item creation based on elemental also need to be very good too~
 

flushfire

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Jun 10, 2006
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There's that shmup minigame in jade empire, it was pretty bad though.

You want something good, well there's that sex minigame in Cobra Mission :lol:
 
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Covenant

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Inventory management in Jagged Alliance 2 1.13. There was something weirdly addictive about ordering $100k worth of stuff from Bobby Ray's and spending the next hour trying to find the perfect combination of straps and thigh-rigs to make it all fit onto your team without encumbering them.
 

Wunderbar

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Anachronox have a crapton of minigames.
Checker-like board games. Character-related minigames (like lockpicking, or getting your lungs ready to unleash a barrage of gibberish on npc to confuse him). Some of the story segments are done via minigames. For example, during escape from a cataclysm game turns into sidescroller where you'll have to control your ship and dodge debris. During another scene game turns into Descent-like shooter.
 

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