Back when I played Pokemon (over a decade ago) there were a few mechanics I never bothered to learn.

EVs, IVs, and other hidden values. You know what this game for children ages 6-10 needs? A competitive metagame, mass breeding programs, abandonment issues and worse. I understand the base idea but I'm not going to demean myself to such madness. Ties in nicely with:

Shiny Hunting: You know what else needs to be in this same game? A 1/8000~ chance of the creatures you collect coming in an alternate color. And in the earlier games, screw you, there is no way to make it better. Later games introduce methods which range from arbitrary and stupid "chain battle this many for increasing chance" to just plain illogical. "Breed two pokemon from a different country than yours."



Final Fantasy is fond of minigames. Many of them are completely optional, and ignorable. Right until FF6. Where it all became MANDATORY. From various party splits that ranged from logical to completely mad, to having to participate in an opera, Final Fantasy 6 is largely where it all began.

Now, Final Fantasy 9 has a card game, Terra Master. It's rather opaque. There's numbers that don't seem to mean anything, hidden properties, and all and all, it doesn't make for a good time. It is mandatory to play though a few rounds for a tournament, and there's the nice snag that when you lose, you lose a card. Which could be anything from losing a goblin that only had 1/1/1/1, to losing that rare collectable Airship Card.

Minecraft: Most anything after Gamepedia just turned into yet another branch of Fandom. Let's be blunt here: Minecraft is kinda terrible at explaining internal mechanisms. I was already losing interest after the hunger update back in 1.8, and it's been on a slow decline since.

The Witcher 3's Gwent.
An immersion breaker totally out of place for the setting. At least it is not mandatory and Gwent missions can be easily ignored.

Game Mechanics you just can't be bothered to learn.

I find it absolutely bothersome, if a game requires me to use some mechanic which I abhor.

So, as long as that mechanic is not needed to play the game, and is something I don't enjoy using - I'll simply don't bother.

Crafting in Neverwinter Nights games.

Actually, prior to FF6, there weren't *any* minigames, at all, with the exception of FF1's 15 puzzle, which was hidden in a manner that you won't know about it unless you read about it somewhere, and it doesn't give much, if any, reward. (FF2's concentration mini-game was not in the original version.)

In terms of minigames, I'd argue the FF6 wasn't *that* bad, but FF7 was. It's one of the many ways in which FF7 took the worst parts of FF6, doubled down on them, while throwing out the good parts. Like the stealth sections in Zelda games (though my main issue with these segments is the punishment for slipping up even slightly).

Mini games are the worst aspect of every game they're in, more so when they show up in RPGs. I play RPGs to talk to NPCs, smite evil, level up, and collect treasure in no specific order. Anything else the game wants to throw at me is going to be something that I don't want.

Since Final Fantasy 6 was mentioned, I am going to say that this game is not an issue. Anything that could be considered a mini game is just an extension of stuff you're already doing. Obtaining Gau's rages is just more combat while the Opera scene is just a dialogue intermission. Likewise I don't have an issue with all the social links in Persona 3 (and onward) as these are just dialogue while the optional dungeon and optional boss battle are just more combat.

While Final Fantasy 7 is where I started to object to mini games, it's Final Fantasy X-2 that made me really hate them. All the mini games in Final Fantasy X were outright awful but in X-2, mini games were taken to the level of dominating the game and make me feel like most of my playtime involved doing exactly what I didn't want to be doing.

Super Mario RPG, I'd say, is where the minigames really started.

Chrono Trigger also had some minigames, but there's only a few times you have to play them, and most of them you don't need to win them. Unfortunately, there is one part where you *have* to mash a button in order to continue the game, and that one part is enough to ruin the game for me.

Then again, it's worth noting that there's a mandatory minigame in Ultima 1.

On the other hand, I'd argue that minigames are appropriate in games that are all about minigames. For example, in a game like WarioWare, minigames, or microgames as they're called in that game, fit perfectly into the game, as they're not invading a genre in which they don't belong.

I agree with the 2nd post. I didn't touch Gwent inside Witcher 3. I didn't even realize how I won the tutorial match! Of course I don't want to play the separate Gwent game either. I totally don't like the game. I preferred the dices in the first two Witcher games!

Obviously I should learn some RTS mechanics related to troop skills, but quantity over quality!

Sometimes that's just how it is. But strategic grouping can help a lot as well. But I'm a turtle kind of player.

I started to play Path of Exile just a week back, damn theres lots of things to learn.

I never bothered to play Caravan or Roulette in Fallout New Vegas. Whenever I gamble, I just stick with Blackjack and sometimes slot machines.

While I use fusions in Persona 3-5, I honestly don't fully understand how it works. I usually just pick combinations based on which abilities I need and which personas I haven't yet added to the compendium. For tasks that requires a specific persona and abilities, I usually just go online for help instead of fumbling until I get what I need.

Any game mechanic that requires the purchase, rationing and use of consumables are left by the wayside for me, temporary buffs and the like are just not worth it.

You can still play most of Ultima 1 without playing that minigame; the only thing you'll miss is the final boss and ending. (And the minigame, of course.)
I've been trying to move away from this mindset, but it's hard. It helps whenever:
* It's always possible to get more of the consumables. (In other words, it helps if the game gives you an infinite or respawning source of said resource.)
* The effect is either really powerful (like instantly killing bosses, like in Final Fantasy 5), or is something you can't easily get by other means (Restore Magicka potions in TES: Oblivion, particularly if born under the Atronach birthsign, or healing in some games).
* Using the resource permanently boosts the skill associated with it (like Alchemy in TES: Morrowind through Skyrim, or alchemy in Secret of Evermore).
* There's no alternative (SaGa 1 and 2 (though you can dodge this by not using humans), most Fire Emblem games).