What is the problem with the game being largely luck based?

1. Previous Mario Party games required some skill in winning,using and setting the right items at the right time, and getting great benefits for winning minigames players were good at, making one feel good when they beat their opponents- because they used their items and skills at mini-games to win, and not because Bowser uncharacteristically gave ten mini-stars to them for being last repeatedly.

2. The luck based mini-games take up 1/10th of the total minigame inventory (8 minigames), as well as a few board events. Previous Mario Party games, while they undeniably also had luck-based minigames, kept the number down to 2 per installment, maybe even 3.

3. The dice are rigged to always give last place the best rolls and first place the worst rolls. In other words (and I cannot stress this enough), it makes the players equal through no volation of their own. Heck, the game has a mini-Star handicap option anyway, so what’s the point with this awful rubber-band programming? Worst of all, this mechanic is also in Solo Mode. Imagine if, in Street Fighter 4, the losing player had their strength doubled until they were winning again, at which point the power seep would switch, this mechanic was in every mode, and there was no way to turn the option off?

4. Shy Guy and Magikoopa/Kamek cannot be unlocked in any mode except Solo Mode, which has the exact same boards as Party Mode, only allows one human player, and keeps the luck based elements. Even worser is that the player has to do at least 4 of the luck-based minigames I mentioned above. I honestly dare you to say the luck-based elements are fine after playing through Solo Mode, complete with no laughs to be had from playing with data.

5. Everyone is equal. In other words, the players never know if their little cousin truly could have won with his streak of mini-game wins, playing as hard as he or she could, yet kept losing half his or her Mini-Stars due to luck rather than skill. In other words, this luck punishes players of ALL AGES, frustrating their attempts to play through Solo Mode. In others words (WARNING: cliché alert), Nintendo’s attempt to please everyone (skilled and non-skilled gamers) ended up pleasing far fewer (because the game makes sure everyone is equal WITHOUT ASKING).

And you know what? Despite the more skill-based elements of the previous Mario Party games, everyone playing still had a fun time because they were always in control as players. They knew it was their own fault if they lost, and they still had a laugh.

But then Mario Party 9 comes along and forces luck on everyone, dumbing down a great franchise, and more importantly, wresting control away from the player, which also wrecks half the fun of the game. Both control and fun in a video game is what players want, not just one or the other.

CelesEsperIce3 posted... the counterargument to my grievances as to why I don't like this game.

Alright then, here's my official rebuttal'n'compromise:

0. Well, the post did ask why it was such a problem for this game to be largely luck based in the eyes of those who did not agree with such a direction, and so I shared my reasoning, along with everything that comes with sharing personal preference.

1. If there was no skill involved in previous Mario Party games, then explain the Orb system from Mario Party 6/7, or the MiniMega system from Mario Party 4. It’s just I don’t want to be a COMPLETE slave to the dice, and want SOME in-game way to subvert the dice and opponents’ expectations- the special dice allow some subversion of fate, but not as much as previous games. I never get a sick sense of pleasure from beating a HUMAN player in minigames, and always have fun when my friends and family have fun doing various things with me. Plus, implying my attitude to be bully-like? That actually cracked a little of my heart. And I enjoy a good challenge, as long as I see who the puppeteer(s) is/are, and as long as I know everything is as it seems.
That last thing…true. Depressing, but true.

2. I double checked the number of luck-based minigames in the Mario Party games, and in the case of MP9, we were both wrong- there were 4 completely luck based minigames here (Mecha Choice, 10 to Win, Pier Pressure [the fishing minigame], and the mid-boss minigame on the sixth board). There are also 5 other minigames that can depend on luck, but can be altered just a little. As for the previous games, MP1 had only one half example, the second game had two full examples, MP3 had at least five full examples, MP4 had three full examples, and MP5 had a whopping 6 examples of luck-based minigames. I'll update for listed names of every game if one would so like. So I guess I looked back at the originals so much that I sprained my neck.

3. Funny you should mention that, for I found the claims here on Gamefaqs a few days after buying and loathing MP9 (in other words, I’m indeed not the propeteer of that finding), and, struggling on the last board, I adapted to this strategy. To my complete lack of surprise, adapting to the theory helped me to win. And I did try using what dice I had in circumstances that called for it (4-5-6 Dice to avoid 2 malevolent spaces within half a roll while there being one bad space in the back three, 1-2-3 Dice when the Bob-omb could be triggered with a roll of a 3, 0-1 to assist doing the same thing), and when in first, they would still be very likely to cause the worst possible roll to happen. Admittingly, the "bad-to-first and best-to-last" doesn't happen all the time, but it's there. I unfortunately got no chance to play this with any human players, for I detested the game so much that I brought it back after seven days and accepted what I got. See point 5 for why that is…right after this apologetic break.

4. Well, it’s good to hear that you got more out of the game than I did. Maybe I worded the original point number 4 a little too aggressively- no wait, I was definitely too aggressive with wording number 4. And there was at least one time where I legitimately screwed up a minigame by my own folly (the looking minigame) and I wasn’t mad or negative.

5. I never said I had a problem with the new non-luck skills used in the minigames, per se. And I never actually played against a human player, for the example I used wasn’t to illustrate a real occurrence where I got mad at a younger cousin, but to illustrate a hypothetical situation with MP9 where the younger cousin is getting infuriated by the game’s rubberbanding. I’m never mad when I lose to my friends at my own games or their games, either- I'm actually quite happy when they beat me at my own games. The problem was never me playing and having a good time or my friends and family playing, winning and having a good time. No, the problem is the possibility of my friends and family playing and having an awful time, since if someone’s sad during a fun time, then everyone’s sad during a fun time. I sold this game back because I didn’t think it would be something my friends and family would enjoy playing in the long run, with the luck being more skewed than usual. Having said this, I see that there are GameFaqers who did have a fun time playing MP9 in a group setting, and that's always a good thing.