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Game Recomendations for a Would-be Gamer with the reflexes of a potato.
retlok
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
I apologize if there is an archived thread that covers this... I couldn't figure the magic combination of search keywords to find it. I don't often post in forums, but this seems like a good way to solicit some advice.
My wife grew up in a home where no science-fiction or fantasy was allowed, so she snuck it in on the side. As an adult, she's taken to geek culture with gusto. She reads comic books, lines up for midnight showings of the movies and all that. She wants to play videogames, is intensely interested in them. However, she really does have the reflexes of a potato (in all situations, not just game related). She also doesn't have a lot of the skills that those of us who have grown up gaming take for granted. She doesn't understand min-maxing stats, to hit the start button and look through menus when you get stuck, or to just press buttons in different combination to figure out to do things.
Because of this she dies frequently and gets frustrated with games. She gets interested in a game, but quits them because she loses her progress or can't get past a point. Then she's just irritable because she's interested in the story and to her credit, she has zero interest in watching someone else play.
So I'm looking for suggestions for games that fit the following criteria.
* Reaction speed and hand eye coordination are only loosely connected to survival/completion. The less reaction the better.
* Making split second decisions should kept to a minimum.
* Causation should be clear and intuitive. IE, "How did that guy do that?" should be easy to figure out or explain.
On top of those criteria, there are a few loose guidelines.
* We have a Wii, Game Cube, Xbox, Xbox 360, older laptops and a high end gaming PC.
*Old and newer games are both fine.
* Games with strong narratives would be preferred over abstract "game" games.
* Not looking for "girl" games exactly. She would be happier with a horror or play the bad guy game than a princess type one.
I've been trying to remember games that might fit these qualities, but I haven't had a lot of luck. I suggested Harvest Moon, which bored her. She's been more interested in Fallout 3, Eternal Darkness, and GTA4. Any suggestions you guys could make would be great. Thanks in advance.
My wife grew up in a home where no science-fiction or fantasy was allowed, so she snuck it in on the side. As an adult, she's taken to geek culture with gusto. She reads comic books, lines up for midnight showings of the movies and all that. She wants to play videogames, is intensely interested in them. However, she really does have the reflexes of a potato (in all situations, not just game related). She also doesn't have a lot of the skills that those of us who have grown up gaming take for granted. She doesn't understand min-maxing stats, to hit the start button and look through menus when you get stuck, or to just press buttons in different combination to figure out to do things.
Because of this she dies frequently and gets frustrated with games. She gets interested in a game, but quits them because she loses her progress or can't get past a point. Then she's just irritable because she's interested in the story and to her credit, she has zero interest in watching someone else play.
So I'm looking for suggestions for games that fit the following criteria.
* Reaction speed and hand eye coordination are only loosely connected to survival/completion. The less reaction the better.
* Making split second decisions should kept to a minimum.
* Causation should be clear and intuitive. IE, "How did that guy do that?" should be easy to figure out or explain.
On top of those criteria, there are a few loose guidelines.
* We have a Wii, Game Cube, Xbox, Xbox 360, older laptops and a high end gaming PC.
*Old and newer games are both fine.
* Games with strong narratives would be preferred over abstract "game" games.
* Not looking for "girl" games exactly. She would be happier with a horror or play the bad guy game than a princess type one.
I've been trying to remember games that might fit these qualities, but I haven't had a lot of luck. I suggested Harvest Moon, which bored her. She's been more interested in Fallout 3, Eternal Darkness, and GTA4. Any suggestions you guys could make would be great. Thanks in advance.
retlok on
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(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Torment is a great suggestion. I didn't try Baldur's Gate, but 2 was overwhelming and I didn't play that one.
Civ4 is a pretty good suggestion too, she played it at a friends house and liked it. I'd just forgotten about it. Same friend tried to get her into WOW, which she didn't care for fortunately.
Any additional suggestions are always appreciated.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The new Prince of Persia would be another good one. Bot the combat and platforming are much more about timing that reaction. The timing is pretty wide open, and the reload mechanic is immediate and simple enough that you don't tend to get frustrated even if you do die a few times in a row. You might think it was too easy, but she could enjoy it.
Also, what about stealth games like Splinter Cell or Thief?
Also, adventure games like Grim Fandango, the classic Sierra online games like King's Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest. Also Monkey Island.
http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=5678
Real Myst.
Syberia and its sequel
Those games all have a sci-fi vibe and any potato wife would enjoy them but the first would be my pick.
Monkey Island is some awesome adventure series. And if she liked fallout 3,maybe she would like S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Then this:
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
*cough*POTATOWIFE*cough*
STALKER would be far too complicated. A noob's first FPS should be Doom or Halo.
Stealth games like splinter cell are still probably too twitchy. Stalker is probably out of her league for now too, Fallout 3 is one of those games she'd like to play but has gotten frustrated with.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
It is also one of the best games of recent years so ideal all round. It got any number of GotY awards.
If you're not averse to Turn Based Strategy, I'd definitely recommend King's Bounty: The legend. As strategy games go it's got enough complexity to make it fun, but it's also very accessible. It can get hard though, I'd suggest playing mage first time through. Read details and grab demo from thread here:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=69973
Next I'd recommend World of Goo. Impressively awesome indie puzzle game. It's got a lot of heart and creativity, and it's got a very Tim Burton feel to it. Grab the demo here:
http://2dboy.com/games.php
Wii version also has 2 player co-op if you're interested.
Just to reiterate: the LOTR mod for Medieval II is pretty awesome
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Disciples 2 is a good choice - I think there's maybe two or three timed missions in the entire original game but she can just skip them. There's very little messing about with resources or stats, and combat is more or less the same as an FF game only it's 100% turn based and requires virtually no messing around with stats or equipment. You basically walk around the map lvling your units up until you're strong enough to go smash a particularly strong enemy. I mean technically there's stuff like wards, immunities, thieves/assassins etc. but you don't really have to learn any of it unless you play on higher difficulties.
If you're going to go for the TW series I'd recommend going for Medieval/Shogun rather than anything later, as the strategic map is much simpler (it's just a RISK board, with each unit only able to move across one ajoining province at a time, which is considerably simpler than what's used from Rome onwards). Then again if she doesn't mind learning all the stuff you need to play Civ 4 then it's probably not much of an issue.
edit: I just read where you said she likes GTA4 et al. I dunno, I kinda thought that was almost the opposite of what she had the patience for.
Real Myst is a pain to get a legal copy of. If you want one with the box and everything, it is $80. Since it really is the definitive version of Myst, it is a shame.
As for "horror" type games, most of the ones that I can think of require reflexes to be honest. There was a really good indie horror adventure game called "Scratches", but unfortunately the company that made it is defunct now and it's difficult to find.
It's pretty old school and puzzle based, but I have to admit I found it really spooky. It's based around an author who moves into an old estate sometime in the 1970's. The place has a rather unpleasant history to do with the murder and suicide of the previous owners. You spend the course of the game puzzling out the history of the Blackwells and what took place there.
Like I said, it's very old school. Movement is in first person, but happens in "blocks", like the ancient RPG's before Wolfenstein 3D and Ultima Underworld came out. If you can get past that the story really was intriguing and the atmosphere really did creep me out. Well worth looking up if you can find it.
The Colonel's Bequest
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father
If you want to go crazy old school: ZORK
Shenmue 1 and 2
And how about World of Warcraft? You can do whatever you want and set your own pace. You don't have to go all crazy with custom panels and stuff. Just exploring and doing a little questing is quite straightforward.
If you're only going to play it once, I think gametap still has it in their catalog.
Start her off with Secret of Monkey Island : Special Edition. Same brilliant writing as the original with modern interface touches.
After that she can start on the early 90's Lucasarts stuff, or the new Telltale stuff if modern graphics matter.
After that you could introduce her to Super Mario Sunshine all the fun of a 3d Mario game with the jetpack f.l.o.o.d. unit to help if there is a misjudgment.
Also after some time is invested with helping her reflexes you might want to introduce the Legend of Zelda Link to the past. It is pretty good about letting you know where to go next with minimal effort.
This is a good choice. Strategy RPGs give you as long as you like to make your decisions and the Fire Emblem series is one of the better ones out there and can run off your Wii.
I would recommend Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance to start with though, the Game Cube entry to the series. It is much easier initially than Radiant Dawn (on the Wii) and has a fairly extensive tutorial to explain how the game works. It also has the advantage of being able to carry across all the characters from the GC game to the Wii game once she has completed it.
Also echoing all the recommendations for the Lucas Arts point and clicks on Steam, along with Civ 4 and King's Bounty.
Definately agree with world of goo, A slow paced tower defence game like maybe defence grid could work. Check out gratuitous space battles too, but it is a bit complex number wise.
Beneath a steel sky is an excellent adventure game, and is freeware.
Professor Layton would be my number one.
Also Sims, Spore, Bejeweled (and its variants), Peggle and my favorite Plants vs Zombies (wow I'm a sucker for Pop cap ><). SimCity 2000 for PC is a great classic.
Of course these are games with zero narrative.
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So I'd suggest RPGs. Most of my favorite RPGs are on the playstation, but there's always Bioware's PC RPGs (though these are real time RPGs and, while not difficult for an experienced gamer, don't hold your hand either). If she isn't really picky about modern graphics, you could pick up Secret of Mana on the Wii virtual console and play it with her, that game will always be awesome. Alternatively, I think the newer Final Fantasy games are available on XBOX 360.
I'd also recommend any and all Lucasarts adventure games, particularly Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
Especially the final chapter. Hoo boy.
Dokapon is a great suggestion, but I'd never play it with anyone I live with.
I call it the Diplomacy rule.
Though honestly if it wasn't for the relationship breaking aspect I'd really like this suggestion as Dokapon is a really simple game to learn.
How about Legend of Zelda:Four Swords? That's a nice simple game, and if you got the proper supplies you could play it two player.