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I'm not sure it should be in the game to begin with. Maybe someone else can think of a good execution of a sudden genre shift in video games, but I can't.
As someone who is regulary completely blocked off from main content by minigames I'd say yes. Or at least after you failed miserably for quite a while.
There is barely anything more annoying for me than being blocked in a game I'm decent at and enjoy because the developer thought it was a good idea to shove in a genre which i suck at for no reason and without any warning (which would've at least prevented me from buying it in the first place).
I really think any game that mixes different mechanics - via minigames or other means - should have difficulty settings like System Shock. I'm good at shooting, but I'm too impatient for stealth? Make enemies look away in those sections. The other way around? Make me a tank in actions scenes, but let me fail when I'm spotted by eagle-eyed enemies.

But what actually bothers me more if those minigames kind of come out of the blue, and aren't really connected to the game in question. There are games where it works really well, like the Telltale games, TWD, Batman, Wolf, or Edith Finch then there are games where it distracts and annoys a bit, but might be a welcome change of pace like Bioshock, or the later Bloober Team games, and then there are games where it really feels out place - the earliest example for me being Lure of the Temptress with the annoying fight scenes, and later in part FF7 or Anachronox.

I think one problem is that people who are great designing something - like RPG mechanics - are not so great at designing an action game - but think they are. The next problem is that players thinking they bought a certain things are often not willing to get into another - and that's talking from experience - if you started a strategy game, you simply might not be up to shooting game, even if you are a decent action gamer otherwise. And lastly, often the engines aren't up to the task, making the minigames a slog - you're basic AGS game won't compete with R-Type, no matter how much the dev thinks that spaceship sequence is important for the story - hell no, it's bloody frustration and ugly crammed into that engine.

So the TL;DR is know what you, the dev, are doing, and give me, the player, a choice.
There should be no "shoulds" in game design or any other artistic field. The developer can choose to do whatever they want and you are free to play it or not play it and critique it. Placing mandates on any artistic field is how you end up with everything being the same.

If a developer wants to try a game with 6 different very divergent types of play style and not make them optional, then let them give it a try. If From Software likes making games with no difficulty levels so you are forced to learn, good for them. If a dev wants to make a play style that doesn't suit some people with disabilities- I know this sounds cruel, but tough luck. Car makers don't make their cars driveable by people with every disability do they? Why should games designers have their creativity limited by such a mandate? The modern socialist mentality "if everyone cannot have it then no one should have it".
Post edited March 29, 2021 by CMOT70
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dtgreene: Yes, for accessibility reasons.

Why should a one-handed player have to play through a part of the game that requires 2 hands (or a specialized controller) to get to later content that can be enjoyed with only one?

Why should a deaf gamer have to play through a part of the game that relies on audio cues (with no alternative) to get to the rest of the game that does not rely on such?

Why should a player have to endure real-time gameplay to get to more turn based goodness (particularly if the player is not able to play real-time games, but handles turn based games just fine)?
Word to that. We ALL have differing abilities, and game design should acknowledge that. Not by dumbing games down, but by providing options like personal key-mapping, optional subtitles for everything, integral pause mechanics, different color schemes for vision impaired...etc.

Young able bodied folk should be able to play as fast and furious as they want. The rest of us deserve more respect from the games we pay for.
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CMOT70: If a developer wants to try a game with 6 different very divergent types of play style and not make them optional, then let them give it a try.
But the developer should not hide this fact, and should make it clear that that's the sort of game it is.

(Also, I really think there should be a way to skip or trivialize parts of the game via some sort of assist mode.)

(By the way, Retro Game Challenge and its Japan-only sequel Game Center CX 2 are examples of this sort of game.)
I don't care, I very clearly said what I mean and that's the end of it. A developer is free to do what they want.

Edit: that's a reply to dtgreene, for some reason it didn't go in as a reply. Shit happens.
Post edited March 29, 2021 by CMOT70