It says a lot about the culture of games that 'skip cutscene' is standard but 'skip this challenge' is not.
@rkniner that rules! do you know what game? I can always use examples!
@kevspace It was one of those Sierra adventure games, the VGA remake of Police Quest. The mini-game was a poker tournament you had to win to progress, twice. Both times, the game asked if you actually wanted to play, via three-quarter dialog box (play, skip but win, skip but lose)
@rkniner oh that's useful, thanks! Often adventure games will add minigames to break up the pace or add 'excitement' but offer no way to avoid them. That always struck me as unintentionally cruel because they often require skills far beyond the regular mechanics, and there's no genre that's more reliant on the player's desire to see the end of the story.
@kevspace was an improvement from the original game (along with a simpler driving system that didn't require lightning-fast reflexes at highway speeds)
@kevspace Most instances of the latter are a lower difficulty level, which I think is the best way of doing it - it makes the challenge trivial but still has you play through it. An alternate idea would be the Super Guide in modern Marios, where the level is beaten for you (although it skips special collectibles and ignores secrets).
@MeimuHakurei it's better than nothing but still does not help many who physically or mentally cannot perfom all the tasks required.
A good but not perfect compromise is the 'Mellow Mode' in Yoshi's Woolly World, which lets you retain control of an enhanced near-invincible flying Yoshi who can also have extra buffs or shields added with badges you can buy. Making it the first Mario branded platform game my girlfriend (who is not disabled) could ever beat. Which is why she bought it at all.
@kevspace @MeimuHakurei Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale Enhanched edition have the "Story Mode" which makes all your characters invulnerable and do very high damage, essentially letting you skip the combat portions. Afaik you can't die in NWN on very easy but I don't know for sure.
@Shotagonist @MeimuHakurei ah nice. PC WRPGs are a knowledge gap of mine so this is helpful, thanks!
@kevspace @MeimuHakurei Sunrider has the "Visual Novel Mode" to a similar effect, Danganronpa: Another Episode has the Genocide Mode which allows you to summon a character at any time to kill all enemies present for you, MGS 3 gives you the EZ Gun which makes you almost invisible and has unlimited ammo and unlimited silencer. Fighting Game Toshinden has the "Stress Relief" easy mode which has enemies barely fight back at all.
@Shotagonist this is great stuff, thanks again! Do you know how many of those are available to the player from the start, as opposed to being unlockable bonuses?
@kevspace Those are all freely available. MGS 3 allows you to bring the EZ gun to higher difficulties as new game plus bonus however.
@kevspace they should announce important information at the end of some cutscenes to fuck with people who do that.
@thurloat heh. I have a feeling that type of player would then praise it for 'letting the player discover things on their own' and comment with phrases like 'doesn't hold your hand'
@kevspace now I'm remembering a game from the 90s that let me skip a mini-game with the option of continuing the story like I won, or like I lost…