I'm a fairly new player but I've tried most things in Gold Saucer. Let's take a look 
Minigames: okay tier.
You put in little time, you win little, and you have control over your fate if you time it right. These are scattered about, but for example "Out on a Limb" can be found south of Chocobo Square.
Mahjong: haven't tried this one. Seems to be ~poor tier, from what I've read about other people's experiences. Apparently a very long queue, very long game, and harsh rating system. Main area at Wonder Square East.
Fashion Report: very good. You interact w/ the player community, figure out what works, and spend <10 minutes actually obtaining items and presenting yourself for 60k MGP/week. Can take Wonder Square East and jump down, or southeast from main aetheryte.
Lord of Verminion: good tier. A real-time strategy, testing your micro more than anything. Micro is more important than minion completeness, so a newer player can be fairly competitive. You can practice and master matches against AI , and progress your achievements without RNG. It appears the main long-term reward comes from four tourneys with at least 10/15 wins for an exclusive penguin minion. Completed just one tourney so far and found that the initial time sink of maybe 7minutes per match with no reward can eventually turn into over 90k MGP reward for placement. There are also challenges (not sure if one-time?) for additional rewards, as well as the weekly challenge log -- 5 plays, win or lose, for 27k MGP. Unfortunately, the one tourney I played in had obvious wintrading:
The wintrading makes me disappointed, and laughably even the 5/15 wintrader scores higher than tough 15/15 AI grinding. In case you're not aware, playing solely against AI gets progressively harder with each win. Your multitasking will most definitely be tested -- mine was! I'm only writing this much because I care! Minion Square.
Continue reading...
Minigames: okay tier.
You put in little time, you win little, and you have control over your fate if you time it right. These are scattered about, but for example "Out on a Limb" can be found south of Chocobo Square.
Mahjong: haven't tried this one. Seems to be ~poor tier, from what I've read about other people's experiences. Apparently a very long queue, very long game, and harsh rating system. Main area at Wonder Square East.
Fashion Report: very good. You interact w/ the player community, figure out what works, and spend <10 minutes actually obtaining items and presenting yourself for 60k MGP/week. Can take Wonder Square East and jump down, or southeast from main aetheryte.
Lord of Verminion: good tier. A real-time strategy, testing your micro more than anything. Micro is more important than minion completeness, so a newer player can be fairly competitive. You can practice and master matches against AI , and progress your achievements without RNG. It appears the main long-term reward comes from four tourneys with at least 10/15 wins for an exclusive penguin minion. Completed just one tourney so far and found that the initial time sink of maybe 7minutes per match with no reward can eventually turn into over 90k MGP reward for placement. There are also challenges (not sure if one-time?) for additional rewards, as well as the weekly challenge log -- 5 plays, win or lose, for 27k MGP. Unfortunately, the one tourney I played in had obvious wintrading:
The wintrading makes me disappointed, and laughably even the 5/15 wintrader scores higher than tough 15/15 AI grinding. In case you're not aware, playing solely against AI gets progressively harder with each win. Your multitasking will most definitely be tested -- mine was! I'm only writing this much because I care! Minion Square.
Continue reading...