Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
A game for my father
PRC_Trex
Member UncommonPosts: 5
Hi folks,
I have a very specific question for this community, its a bit a mature discussion, so I hope there is enough respect.
I moved to a different continent than my family two years ago. Around the same time, my father had a major stroke which made him literally half the workaholic businessman he used to be. He aged 20-30 years overnight. He still *can* do everything (walk, drive, discuss, etc.), but in a weak way and not for long. Basically like a really old man (but he's 60).
I have been looking for things to do with him besides skyping once a week. To expand his world a bit, his life isn't too interesting anymore. Since it worked wonderful for me and my wife when we were still on long distance, I thought of MMORPG's. Now my father is not a gamer, nor is he really into any frivolous stuff. But he's tied to the house and is curious, so maybe there is an opening.
I want to ask you all if you could help me decide on a game to propose. Here are some parameters:
- Number one factor will be immersion / game world. Being intrigued by the game world itself it probably the only hook I have to get him in. He likes euro-fantasy, especially low fantasy, and seemed intrigued when he saw FFXIV, for example.
- The game cannot be too complex to play on a casual level. By this I mean that it cannot be too intense, confusing and especially hard to control to turn him off. Depth is ok as long as its introduced slowly. We don't care at all about end game or PvP at all. PvE is must.
- Must be playable in a party of 2 for normal content. Bigger groups are not a problem in principle but hopefully not too central.
- Must be playable in chunks of an hour. His focus gets tired very fast because of the brain damage.
- In terms of specs, right now he has I think a dual core laptop; so modern graphics are an issue in the short run. But in the summer when visiting I will install my old gaming pc (i5, 500mb card, 8G ram) so we would have more options.
ANY suggestions, tips or experiences are welcome. Thanks ahead
Right now I play FFXIV, I have a hard time estimating if its a good game for this. I was thinking of Guild Wars 1.
I have a very specific question for this community, its a bit a mature discussion, so I hope there is enough respect.
I moved to a different continent than my family two years ago. Around the same time, my father had a major stroke which made him literally half the workaholic businessman he used to be. He aged 20-30 years overnight. He still *can* do everything (walk, drive, discuss, etc.), but in a weak way and not for long. Basically like a really old man (but he's 60).
I have been looking for things to do with him besides skyping once a week. To expand his world a bit, his life isn't too interesting anymore. Since it worked wonderful for me and my wife when we were still on long distance, I thought of MMORPG's. Now my father is not a gamer, nor is he really into any frivolous stuff. But he's tied to the house and is curious, so maybe there is an opening.
I want to ask you all if you could help me decide on a game to propose. Here are some parameters:
- Number one factor will be immersion / game world. Being intrigued by the game world itself it probably the only hook I have to get him in. He likes euro-fantasy, especially low fantasy, and seemed intrigued when he saw FFXIV, for example.
- The game cannot be too complex to play on a casual level. By this I mean that it cannot be too intense, confusing and especially hard to control to turn him off. Depth is ok as long as its introduced slowly. We don't care at all about end game or PvP at all. PvE is must.
- Must be playable in a party of 2 for normal content. Bigger groups are not a problem in principle but hopefully not too central.
- Must be playable in chunks of an hour. His focus gets tired very fast because of the brain damage.
- In terms of specs, right now he has I think a dual core laptop; so modern graphics are an issue in the short run. But in the summer when visiting I will install my old gaming pc (i5, 500mb card, 8G ram) so we would have more options.
ANY suggestions, tips or experiences are welcome. Thanks ahead
Right now I play FFXIV, I have a hard time estimating if its a good game for this. I was thinking of Guild Wars 1.
HIHA
Comments
As to MMO's a lot are good if you stick to the starter areas. From time to time I replay some MMO's just because I enjoy the starter areas so much. SWTOR, GW2, ESO, Aion, starter areas.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Hi, thanks. Yes of course there are other casual games, he probably still beats me in chess. But I thought of RPG because of the 'new world' part of it.
HIHA
DOS:2 is a very immersive RPG with deep story lines that is made to be played solo or co-op. Its turn based nature makes it ideal for anyone who might have issues with the frantic real time pace of most MMOs.
It is also very easy on old HW if you turn down some of the bells and whistles.
This would be a great introduction to co-op gaming for any non-gamer before they move on to something a bit more demanding.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Does your dad have/had any hobbies? My uncle loves to fish, but is getting really old. So I'm thinking about setting up World of Fishing on his computer. If you find some common ground, your dad will get into gaming easier, than introduce him to Wow or FF14. My advice would be Wow though. I got my wife into gaming a few years back by playing Wow together. It starts very simple and easy to use. Once he gets the hang of it, try FF14.
ESO = Elder Scrolls Online
GW2 is optimized very well, should run on anything. Infact my friend has a junky laptop and it runs well for him.
I tried to show him MMORPGs, but he never grew close to any of them. I think the freedom of choice is uncomfortable to someone who wants to zone out with a game.
There are two games he loves though. Titan Quest, where he loves the peaceful Greek environment and the fact that he can basically left click his way to victory. And Shot Online, which is a free to play golf game. He is not a sports fan, but that game is a great match for what he is after. He loves them so much now, to the point where he is playing Titan Quest for the third time over and is looking forward to coming home from work (something that wasn't true for a long time).
The number one barrier to entry in an MMO, for my dad, is the combat system. He doesn't like games where he has to do two things at once, so anything with an action combat is out the window. He did play Ultima Online and Everquest 2 with me at times - both of those games are relatively static in terms of casual combat.
I bought him Overwatch for Christmas, but that was a step too far. He does play shooters occasionally, but a team objective based one is too complex - keeping track of who is on your team is too challenging.
So the take home message is that my dad has very different criteria to enjoying games. To me, it's about immersion, lore, etc. And while my dad says he looks for those thing in games too, ultimately it comes down to the core gameplay loop and how complex it is.
It's a matter of taste !
I told my wife don't ever buy me a video game for Christmas or anything. For me at least, you cant put words to what I like.
Guildwars do look pretty dated but it is still a fun game for Duo play and the Diablo styled leftclick movement is rather easy to learn. The skill system is easy to learn but hard to master.
It certainly is a bit aged though, just as the second game I would suggest: DDO.
Otherwise is generally the problem that a game with a simple system so often have a simple none immersive world. A game like Forsaken world is both relatively pretty (but can still run on a low end computer) and rather simple but it have terrible quests and the world really feels staged.
Aloha Mr Hand !
I know it looks silly, but it's loads of fun
http://store.steampowered.com/app/282800/100_Orange_Juice/
and this...a fun twist on Solitaire
http://store.steampowered.com/app/463980/Solitairica/
and of course any board game you could imagine with multi-player
http://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/Tabletop_Simulator/
digital board game that is decently paced
http://store.steampowered.com/app/290340/Armello/
For someone who has never played a Civ game before and may need a decent bit of guidance this is good one to start with
http://store.steampowered.com/app/289070/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI/
Vindictus. Warframe is probably too fast and players can be impatient if you lag behind.
Co-op
Look for turn-based games
Portal 2
Early access but very positive reviews, local and online multiplayer with minimal hardware requirements.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/527230/For_The_King/
Others in similar veins; 36 pages of games
http://store.steampowered.com/search/?category3=9,36,38
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy?
Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
p.s.: I'm a chess player myself and I do love this game! Combat is often quite demanding and requires a similar mindset.
Thanks for the medical advise, but actually all he does is read, walk & do (1+ hour) of gym every day
HIHA
Some replies:
- I said Guildwars 1 because it is instanced and runs on a laptop, which I think could be an easy start. If I'm correct ESO is instanced to right?
- I like the MMO part because just maybe it sparks some sense of community. But Coop RPG is an interesting suggestion.
- I remember when I was looking a few years ago for a game to play with wife, we dismissed GW2, ESO and especially WoW (+a lot of others) because she/we didn't enjoy enormous spiders. But I guess to play with my dad I can make an exception and reconsider some of these titles.
- So yea i'm looking for both a graphic low end and a better follow up title once we get that other PC for him. Now I think about it there is also an older gaming pc already installed; it can run unreal 3 graphics on low/mid (it's windows XP though). That should open some more options.
- When I say complex, I mean essentially having to do a lot of things at once, and keeping track of a lot of things. Of course many games have depth, mechanics, etc. Intelligence is not the problem, focus is.
HIHA
I'm not thinking of your father's potential limitations when I say that. I'm mostly thinking about his lack of gaming experience and MMOs perhaps being too much to begin with for a non-gamer.
One of the things about Divinity Original Sin 2 that may also be appealing to Western fantasy fans with little gaming experience is its very forgiving "story mode" where you can enjoy all it has to offer story wise without much difficulty in combat. That's not something you can adjust in MMOs.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED