Recommend me a DS or PC game or a book

xa52

I've been playing a lot of WoW lately, and I'm coming up for air.

I'd like an rpg that I can play on a DS or Eee/netbook.

One thing I would enjoy is an rpg where I actually role play. I would like to make decisions outside of combat, and I would like those decisions to have some affect on the game. I'd like something more than linear plot + grinding out levels.

I'd like a game with a good setting/atmosphere and characters, a game with some charm. I'm not setting the bar too high here- it's just, a lot of games completely ignore these. For a frame of reference: TWEWY has what I'm looking for. Puzzle Quest has characters and a setting that are completely generic and one-dimensional (although it was a good game otherwise). Etrian Odyssey (again, otherwise a good game) was more like moving game pieces around on a board- it's so mechanical that the characters and setting were almost entirely abstracted away.

Any battle-style is fine- turn-based, action, strategic, etc. I'm also not too picky regarding the plot. I don't mind a clichéd plot. As long as the setting and characters work, I'll generally go along with anything.

DS preferred. I feel like once I give up on finding a DS game that fits and decide to get a PC game, I might as well bite the bullet and drop $50 on a used copy of Planescape.

Next up, books. I enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and I'm currently in the mood for some more of that. I also enjoyed the Baroque Cycle. Apparently I like unreasonably large alternate history novels with fantasy elements. I'd also enjoy a through-the-looking-glass alternate present sort of book like Neil Gaiman's American Gods or Anansi Boys.

Please help so I don't keep logging into WoW out of boredom.

vonPoonBurGer

xa52 wrote: »

I also enjoyed the Baroque Cycle. Apparently I like unreasonably large alternate history novels with fantasy elements.

Anathem would be right up your alley. The blurb on the back doesn't make it sound very historical but it's got a strong historical bent. I liked it significantly more than I liked the Baroque Cycle, and it's not like I disliked those books or something.

Maticore

Read some Harry Turtledove - he's basically the king of alternate history and all his books are unreasonably long.

xa52

Thanks for the book recommendations. I tried Anathem once before, but the library was only loaning it out for 2 weeks at a time (new release) and that wasn't nearly enough time so I didn't even try beyond the first 20 pages or so. I'll try that again, and search google for the consensus on the best Turtledove book.

Any game recommendations? If I'm playing an rpg on the DS, can I even choose whether to pick a lock or break the door down? Or am I stuck just grinding levels and reading poorly translated jrpg dialog?

Bosshog78

If you find an rpg like you've descibed on the DS, let me know cause I'd like to check it out as well.

I'm going to recommend Fallout 3 for the PC.

vonPoonBurGer

xa52 wrote: »

Thanks for the book recommendations. I tried Anathem once before, but the library was only loaning it out for 2 weeks at a time (new release) and that wasn't nearly enough time so I didn't even try beyond the first 20 pages or so. I'll try that again, and search google for the consensus on the best Turtledove book.

Yeah, I got a hardcover copy of Anathem for xmas, which is the only reason I was able to read it. Here are some alternate recommendations you can find in paperback:

• Pretty much anything by Guy Gavriel Kay. His first three books were a trilogy, very Tolkien-esque, fairly derivative stuff but well-written. Everything he's done since then has been much more creative, with a much more historical bent and a bit of a fantastical edge.
• The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. Some people dislike the ending, but I'm after reading and rereading this book half a dozen times.
• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. It doesn't have a fantasy element, but it's superb historical fiction.

xa52 wrote: »

Any game recommendations? If I'm playing an rpg on the DS, can I even choose whether to pick a lock or break the door down? Or am I stuck just grinding levels and reading poorly translated jrpg dialog?

I've been wracking my brains, and I really can't think of anything along the lines you're looking for, except of course TWEWY. If you've got a netbook, I'd say old-school Infinity Engine RPGs are probably the best way to scratch that itch.

Sentry

if you can get a copy of Planescape: Torment, it would be right up your ally.

skyybahamut

For a strategy game for the DS, I got "Advance Wars, Days of Ruin". I liked that game.

as far as the "through the looking glass" feel books go, have you tried the "Alvin the Maker" series by Orson Scott Card? The 1st book is called "The Seventh Son".