331–340 of 342 posts
This captures a lot of what I've been feeling lately. I can't stand most games, they just make me anxious and I will quit playing them after a few hours or even minutes. Too much stress and surface experiences has had me looking in the other direction. Take, for example, GTA 5. I've probably spent more hours riding cars and bikes in GTA5's beautiful countryside and outback than playing actual missions. Just hours and…
This captures a lot of what I've been feeling lately. I can't stand most games, they just make me anxious and I will quit playing them after a few hours or even minutes. Too much stress and surface experiences has had me looking in the other direction. Take, for example, GTA 5. I've probably spent more hours riding cars and bikes in GTA5's beautiful countryside and outback than playing actual missions. Just hours and…
Simple - don't buy AAA (apart from very few select titles) because 99% of those is rehashed garbage and cliches Buy gamess from small studios, made by a few people or even one guy, usually a lot of them are in Steam Early Access (yes, it is risky, some of them get abandoned or just never improve much) For me this is like a reneissance in gaming. Have a look at Factorio, Starbound, Rimworld, Banished, Pillars of Etern…
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This list is incomplete if you don't include Minecraft, the canonical sandbox game. Play in creative or in peaceful mode, and you don't have to do any fighting at all (though some resources are still best collected from mobs). Other categories of nonviolent or non-FPS games would be puzzle games like Tetris or Candy Crush. Also, video games can reproduce or make single-player versions of the classic board, card, and…
> the canonical sandbox game is GTA, really.
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It's funny that every single game you mentioned is a "theme park" open world game, and exactly zero of them are "sandbox" open world games.
The ability to create or change objects is not what defines the limits of player agency within a game. Is my ability to go on a relaxing drive through fictional terrain any less meaningful because I didn't first build the road and the car? In the end, playing games labeled with either "theme park" or "sandbox" doesn't change the fact that you are still playing within the confines of someone else's world; I can't crea…
This is where table-top role-playing games really shine. You can totally do that in, say, GURPS (among a great many other games, a tiny fraction of which I discuss below).
N.B. Forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir, or if you're simply not interested. It's currently NaGaDeMon (National Game Design Month), and I've been swimming in TTRPGs lately, spending nearly all of my free time researching, playing, philosophizing, and designing a TTRPG of my own for the past week... I've really got to hand it to my anti-depressants, as this time last year I couldn't find the passion nor the energy to do this :)
Perhaps GURPS is too focused on realism for your tastes. How about Robin Laws's HeroQuest? where the probability of success doesn't depend on an action's difficulty in the "real world", but rather on which results produce the most cinematic and exciting stories? Or Fate [Core]? which emphasizes characters being larger-than-life and doing larger-than-life things in larger-than-life situations? These sorts of "narrativist" games are pretty popular lately, and not without good reason.
And then there's Apocalypse World, which focuses more on characters: the interactions between characters, their histories together, co-operation as well as conflict. Experience points are awarded for developing your relationship(s) with the other characters, rather than for slaying foul demons or hoarding precious loot. It's a game where the players are expected to be involved as much as the the gamesmaster in creating the game world and driving the narrative. Its mechanics reflect that, making the game difficult for a gamesmaster to railroad. As an added bonus (imho), the book itself is written in a very casual, conversational, vernacular style, which I find refreshing compared to the too-often sterile, textbookish style of these rulebooks. There are quite a few other games that come from the same school of design as AW, as well has plenty of third-party "rules hacks" — adaptations of the core system to other settings and genres, sometimes with very different goals than AW's, other times with surprisingly similar ones.
That's not to deride demon-slaying or loot-hoarding, though! The "Old School Renaissance" is now! Tons of games, ranging from free to cheap to pricey, all attempting to emulate that old-school early-to-mid-80s (sometimes even up to the mid-90s, by some accounts) TTRPG feel. If that's your bag, [Revised] Mazes & Minotaurs is quite well-designed (and free!), whereas something like Labyrinth Lord or Lamentations of the Flame Princess prefers to mimic old-school Dungeons & Dragons, complete with its quirks, much more closely. Then there's Monsters & Magic, somewhat unique amongst the OSR games, in that it's very much a new-school game that nevertheless is readily compatible with all (yes, all) of those old fantasy splatbooks from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, with any necessary conversion happening on the fly. Oh! and Tunnels & Trolls recently had an 8th edition published through Kickstarter, if you want to play something actually old-school ;)
Or how about a game where the rules themselves are as customizable as the fictional universes they power? Something like Fudge (free), or even Basic Role-Playing? Games which are as much toolkits or frameworks for creating a game of your own as they are games in and of themselves? (Fate Core (also free) leans a bit in this direction, too, though it's noticeably less flexible than Fudge in many ways, despite being similarly modular).
Maybe something more middle-of-the-road is more your style, and games like True20 and its successor Dragon Age/Fantasy AGE can give you a nice balance. They manage to be traditional but with some modern mechanics carefully blended in: a little more gritty than the likes of Fate or Apocalypse World but not so much as GURPS or the typical OSR game, and they balance cinematics with simulation pretty elegantly. Traditional yet casual, these games feel mellow and relaxing to me somehow, with less demand to constantly be table-consulting and jurisprudently brilliant than more classic-style games, and less demand to constantly be super-creative and imaginatively brilliant than many of the more modern-style games. (I tend to recommend this type of game for players about to embark on their first long-term campaign — usually after they've had a few one-shots with a nanogame (see below) or two under their belts, though that's hardly necessary).
Or maybe you just want to grab a few beers and shoot the shit with your friends. Nothing drives out boredom like a good one- or two-page "nanogame" RPG, such as Everyone Is John, Police Cops 2, or Lasers & Feelings (free, free, and free).
I introduced a few friends to TTRPGs at my bachelor party a few years ago, in which we grabbed a cozy table at a cigar & whiskey bar, busted out a d6, and played a few hours' worth of Everyone Is John. They all said that they had a blast playing it (as did I), and a couple of them have since picked up "the hobby" themselves. The "rules" and the "setting" are just tools to help you maintain direction, to occasionally introduce complications that make the fiction more engaging, and to enable the group to engage in a shared imaginative experience. And those rules and settings are not sacrosanct — tweak them to your heart's desire, or do away with them and substitute your own. Do whatever you think is fun, or awesome, or epic, or interesting, or amusing, or cool, or funny, or... really, just anything you want. Let loose t̶h̶e̶ ̶k̶r̶a̶k̶e̶n̶ your imagination, and set your creativity free!
Compare that to a video game, where you can do literally anything the developers decided you could do (and had enough time to implement before the deadline...). Not to hate on video games (gods know I enjoy a good video game myself), but TTRPGs are a totally different experience. —"Wow, did you hear that Dragon Age Inquisition has over 100 hours of gameplay? And it's still only $60!" —"Cool. I dropped $40 on the Dragon Age TTRPG, which has literally ɪɴꜰɪɴɪᴛʏ hours of gameplay. INFINITY. (Plus it looks pretty damn cool on my shelf, to boot... quite possibly the prettiest book I own, and I own lots of books...)." Of course, video games have the advantage of single-player mode(s) — despite Tunnels & Trolls featuring many popular "solitaire" modules, the experience is so different that it feels like a totally different game, even if all the rules and mechanics are the same. Whereas video games can actually be (and often are) fun to play solo, I don't think I've ever had much fun playing a TTRPG solo (though, full disclosure, I've only ever played two solo adventures before I lost interest). So grab some friends and some dice!
There's even a decent amount of "open-source" TTRPGs, if you care about licensing terms & conditions :)
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P.S. If you're really hung-up on Star Wars, there have been some half-dozen officially-licensed Star Wars TTRPGs (West End Games's original back in the 80s being rightly considered a classic, and Wizards of the Coast's early 00s version providing the mechanics for Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic, while Fantasy Flight's current trilogy has been generally well-received despite requiring strange, custom dice (grr...)). As you can probably imagine, there have also been tons of fan-made, unlicensed Star Wars TTRPGs as well, usually provided as splatbooks for existing sci-fi/space-opera games or generic/universal systems, not to mention plenty of "Star Wars with the serial numbers filed off" games/splats, such as West End Games's D6 Space (now free), which they produced after they lost the IP license. Both types of game/splat are easy to find on the Internet. Of course, if you and your party are comfortable enough with the Star Wars setting, you can just grab an appropriate game/system and just wing it (Traveller being the classic sci-fi game, while just about any game mentioned above would work (most of the OSR games, nanogames, and Apocalypse World would be considerably more work to adapt than the others, although Uncharted Worlds is a space-opera game using a slightly modified AW system (PbtA—"Powered by the Apocalypse"), so at least that work has been done for you already), as would a great deal of others).
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> Sure, you can run around causing mass chaos and deaths; but you can also do none of those things No, you literally can't. You have to kill people en masse from the very start of the game. And, if you want to progress far enough to unlock the various features of the game, you have to do downright reprehensible things . I've played, and enjoyed most of, GTA5 (though I think the developers, at this point, should fuck…
And I quote: "Once you reach a point in the game, I forget how far into it, you choose what to do." Once you have reached that point, you can do pretty much anything you want. Yes, I understand you have to do bad things to get to that point. That's why I agreed with the comment about if you still have moral objections to the game, then that's cool. I personally would prefer they allow you those options from the start…
One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels kind of like work, but doesn't seem to offer much in return. They'd rather spend their time socializing or doing something that will improve them in an obvious way. A personal anecdote - I loved single-player video games until I was 18, but I stopped cold at tha…
This is exactly how it is for me too. When I was younger I would feel so connected to the game world, and the wonders of exploring the game world were real wonders to me. Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. A finder of something. If it was important in the game world then it was important. These days it falls out just like you wrote: if I try to play a game, I mess around fo…
Neither. Your interests have just changed as time has passed.
Now, I'm in the same boat as you and GP, nowadays not really enjoying the same types of games that I used to. However, there are some things I still enjoy, and there are new things I've discovered that I enjoy. Any psychologist will tell you that your waning interest in something is only a problem if your interest is waning in general, and that as long as you still have something you're still interested in, not a problem. Otherwise, it may or may not be a sign of depression, burnout, or other malady, in which case I'd urge you to see a counselor or therapist, perhaps even a psychiatrist.
That said, it's important not to think of media consumption as "wasting time", per se. There's a point where it can become a problem, but for most people playing games or watching TV is a vital source of stress relief. I myself have fallen into (and am still in...) the trap of feeling like if I'm not constantly doing something productive, I'm wasting my time. It's important to slow down once in a while and give yourself a break when you need one, and to take care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, etc.
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Nope. Its "growing up", most people who did skateboarding at their teens don't do it after growing up; saying "people change" is too vague, if you say "growing up" you are clearly pointing out that it was something they did as youngsters but not any more; and language exists for the sake of clarity and communications, so "growing up" is a good choice here.
Alright. In that case you are simply wrong. I know plenty of mature people with great families and careers who appreciate games like Fallout 4 and many others. Nothing to do with youth.
The point isn't that only youngsters can enjoy video games, nor that video games are inherently immature, nor that the act of growing up necessitates that someone lose interest in gaming, nor that adults can't enjoy games.
The point is that video games are something the poster enjoyed as a youngster but no longer enjoys as an adult. That's all "growing up" means. You could s/video games/*/g, and it would still just be part of "growing up".
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And I quote: "Once you reach a point in the game, I forget how far into it, you choose what to do." Once you have reached that point, you can do pretty much anything you want. Yes, I understand you have to do bad things to get to that point. That's why I agreed with the comment about if you still have moral objections to the game, then that's cool. I personally would prefer they allow you those options from the start…
IIRC, the only required part of GTAV was a single introductory mission representing a flashback of two of the main characters pulling off what was seemingly their last heist. Took like 10 minutes to finish. After that, free reign of the city. There are also some non-violent missions you can accept, like filling in as driver for your friend's tow-truck service and repossessing cars. They're actually pretty fun.
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I've been playing XCom2 a lot recently, and it occurred to me that I was caring waaay too much about my soldiers. Then it occurred to me that actually the part of the game I was enjoying most was looking after my soldiers. I have a sniper that never hits anything, ever, and I've started having little pep talk with her before each mission, trying to get her to buck her game up and be a useful member of the team. Shoot…
If caring for your incompetents is fun, then dwarf fortress or the genre of DF-lite will be for you.