If you’ve not yet played through the Kiseki (The Legend of Heroes: Trails) series, I highly recommend them. They are very story heavy. You’d definitely want to begin with the Trails in the Sky series since every game in the series is connected (and if you want to get the whole picture and experience the greatest impact from the events that happen throughout the series).
I have had that one in my steam wishlist for a while, starting with Trails. Never pulled the trigger. I’ve heard that it is very much a slow burn, but ends up being a favourite for a lot of RPG fans. Accurate?
I'm a big fan of the series and would consider it to be my favorite JRPG series, not just for the story but because I enjoy the gameplay it offers as well.
It's a fairly "cheap" series to try out and see if you're into it. The entire series is a singular, continuous story, so the recommended place to start is Trails in the Sky First Chapter, which can be picked up fairly cheaply on Steam, especially during Steam sales. It's not as long as future games in the series, and is fairly representative of the pacing and storytelling format that later games will follow (though it is considered one of the slowest-paced games in the series). Basically if you're not a fan of Sky FC, you're not likely to be a fan of the future games in the series either (especially given that the substantial improvements to gameplay over the series' 20 year history likely won't have much appeal to you).
There are also demos available for some of the newer games in the series (e.g. Trails of Cold Steel III), and while I would not recommend actually playing through those games out-of-order, they may serve as a quick/cheap way to see if the format of the games is right for you.
I will say that while the combat of the games is rarely very difficult, and the game provides difficulty modifiers to make it even easier if you'd like, that the combat system is still fairly fleshed out and quite good casually IMO, but if you're really not into doing it even at easy difficulties, one option (PC exclusive) may be to download completed game saves and play through the games on New Game+ and completely trivialize the combat.
I’d say that is accurate. It is a slow burn to start, and it took me several tries to actually get into it. Once I did, I ended up plowing through all of the games. :) They are all excellent. The series is really something special. Trails to Azure is actually one of my most favorite games of all time, too.
Not scifi or fantasy, but have you heard of Pentiment? It's by Josh Sawyer, lead designer of New Vegas. You're an artist in 1518 Bavaria completing your masterpiece at a monastery, when someone gets killed and you must collect evidence. There's much more to it than that, of which I can't speak without giving anything away. However, I can tell you that the game has no combat, it's just exploration and dialogue. The whole game looks like an illuminated manuscript, and you walk around engaging in some of the most captivating conversations ever to be in a video game. The character creation is extremely unique; in the beginning, you pick where you spent your year abroad, what you do in your free time, what you got your Master's degree in, and what your favorite subject was at university. All of these determine your attitude on and knowledge of pretty much every subject in the game. It has one of the most unique speech check systems in any RPG, with entire conversations counting toward convincing someone, showing you what you said right and wrong at the very end. Masterpiece.
You sound a lot like me, and probably get annoyed with a lot of grindy mechanics. Especially when you have limited time to play games.
Sea of Stars and Chained Echoes will really scratch that Chronotrigger itch.
Outer Wilds is also incredible (don’t read spoilers, just go in blind). It’s mini space exploration with cartoon-arcadey newtonian physics.
Sword & Sworcery is also great, and a good point-and-click adventure with an amazing soundtrack. I’d almost argue it’s better on a tablet or largeish phone through. It’s very touch input focused, which is OK with a mouse, but I think is better with a finger (as intended)
Others I enjoy :
Kentucky Route Zero (point and click with a wild vibe)
Firewatch (walking Sim with pretty low poly art)
Dishonored 1 & 2 (gritty fps with stealth and magic)
Inside (short puzzle platformer)
Abzu (undersea exploration, relatively chill, but I never completed it)
The Invincible (more recent than the rest, a very pretty walking sim in a retro-future sci-fi setting (Stanislaw Lem) that kept me pretty engrossed and occasionally worried)
Horizon: Zero Dawn. (Absolutely adored this world and story. Story mode combat was good, but I just used cheats for a lot of the basic pickup/crafting stuff. Yes, I can take 30 minutes to run around and gather basic materials, but I don’t have that kind of time irl.)
Thanks for the recs! Already played Chained Echoes and quite liked it. Wish it was longer haha. Seen Sea of Stars reviews saying weak on story and dialogue and such, so I backburnered it, but maybe it’s worth it for the exploration elements alone?
Never played Outer Wilds. But seen it recommended before and it’s on my radar. Should it be played on console, do you think? Or is the steam version fine.
I’ll look into the rest when I have time. I appreciate all the details :)
Re: Outer Wilds, either console or Steam is fine but I would recommend a controller in either case. The flight mechanics can be a little tricky with a keyboard and mouse, but I had no issues getting it with a controller.
Abzu (undersea exploration, relatively chill, but I never completed it)
@troyunrau Abzu isn’t an RPG, but I’d still second this recommendation, as it’s very chill to play, has zero combat, and has a lovely story to it. Would also recommend Spirit of the North for the same reason. No dialogue in either, though - the story is very much in the visuals, music, and atmosphere rather than words.
After some plays it got frustrating when you’re going along fine but a massive monster spawns right next to you and kills you with one hit before you have time to react
Microtransactions aside, if you’re trying to protect your kids from creeps online you’re gonna have to ban every platform that supports interactions with strangers. This includes several other games you’ve mentioned in the comments including Minecraft.
Personally, instead of banning it I just play it with my kids on a regular basis. There’s plenty of actually decent games on Roblox and it enables game ideas that otherwise wouldn’t see the light of day. My favourite is the Ikea survival game.
Was he interested in developing games in Roblox or just playing them? If he was interested in development, consider showing to him Godot. Do a simple tutorial together, maybe a multiplayer that he can send and show off to his friends.
Minecraft seems like the obvious choice for kids who liked Roblox. Terraria is another. If they can only play on a server that one of them hosts, then no need to worry about outside users.
Good on you and the other parents for getting that shit out of there, kids don’t need addiction machines trying to pressure them into spending money.
Oh, I’m sure we’re all great parents here. I applaud you for admitting a mistake and having the humility to ask for advice, both excellent parenting skills in my opinion.
I believe the answer is always culture. Once better videogames are discovered it’s likely that they will hardly go back to the bad ones (so that the problem of prohibitionism - which is only a temporary solution - can be solved).
I dunno if you want him playing a true mmo at that age, but old school RuneScape is currently as popular as ever. Specifically old school though, RS3 has the same sort of problems with micro transactions etc.
Coincidentally they got banned from Roblox at the same time! One of them dumped $50 in an afternoon on the game then had the audacity to ask for more money. So his whole social circle got booted from that cesspit on the same day. Me and their parents are trying to find good substitutes.
This is some good context. I’m not too familiar with roblox but I understand it’s more of a platform than a single game. How are they accessing microtransactions? If that can’t be prevented than that’s a bigger problem.
From my understanding, that kid was given an apple giftcard so it didnt actually hit his parent’s credit cards. I monitor my kid’s microtransactions and I give him opportunities to earn money he can use for microtransactions of his choosings.
Wait so you let them use the money how they wanted and now you’re mad at them for spending it how they wanted and how you told them…?
That’s a fucked up lesson and a half, you clearly didn’t learn your lesson and are now teaching the kid they will be punished for following instructions.
My kid didn’t do the microtransaction fuckup. He just got addicted to a shitty game that me and his friends’ parents also hated. One of his friends burnt a pile of cash which instigated all of us saying that it is time to end it. I mentioned this several times now in the thread.
Yeah you mentioned the kid spent their gift card how they wanted with permission from their parents, and you do the same thing, and is now being punished for it. Thats shitty parenting, you’re not banning them because they spent a little money.
This was just the excuse you needed, be a better parent and don’t make up shit.
You started you post off just making fun of the game, we know your biased intent here.
You said a kid blew a gift card, and you let your kid spent money on microtransactions already. This is called a parallel, you don’t seem to comprehend you let your kid already do this as well…. What difference does the game make? You already let it happen, fornite, Roblox, Minecraft no difference. Yet you took offense to one single game.
The issue here is your parenting, it has nothing to do with the game, you said it yourself lmfao.
That other commentor is a child or clearly never grew up. The internet is definitely not the same as when I was younger, kids don’t have the understanding of money or knowledge of predatory psychological techniques that are used to make vulnerable people, or children, part ways with what they have earned.
You sound like a great dad who’s taking an interest and involvement in your kids hobbies and I love that. There needs to be some sort of course, or game would probably be better, designed to teach children about the sort of things we see these days.
Personally I’m pretty susceptible to that sort of stuff so I use adblock and try to shy away from gacha type things. Microtransactions are hell.
Roblox is a money-grubbing cesspit filled with manipulation. Even if you do close off the MTX route, it opens the door for someone to send a virus and say it'll get you free Robux (the Roblox in-game currency)
That kid is now known as the kid who got Roblox banned among their group of friends, not a nice thing to known for. This will be seen as a punishment by them regardless of how you frame it especially once the other kids at their school become aware of it.
Ouch. Good luck navigating this one as your kids get older.
I’m still confused as to why you guys don’t just ban the spending of money on micro transactions and not the game itself? Every game is jam PACKED with mtx these days, from CoD to Fortnite to Forza.
It builds character! Lol but, yeah phasmo is too intense for many of my adult friends, even.
Out of curiosity, do you generally know what he was doing on Roblox? I’ve heard of several horror games being remade within Roblox, such as Iron Lung. I’ve wondered what the limitations are. I definitely remember stumbling into some intense things when I was around that age, but the landscape is so different now
He was wasting time playing shitty games because his other friends played those same shitty games. I was taken aback at how mind numbingly shitty those games were. We were in the same room as an Xbox with gamepass and a Nintendo Switch and he chose to play some seriously bad games instead because his friend was addicted to it. Then he became addicted to it. Luckily, that whole friends group will now have much, much better games to play.
Personally, I want my kid to be able to buy a few things every now and then. Roblox got the axe for multiple reasons - mtx was only one aspect. He gets a vbuck or two with his allowance if he wants to earn them. It helps him get a healthy view of how little mtx are really worth, but a cosmetic here or there is kind of fun.
Oh duh. Also, I forgot you said it was because you didn’t feel the gameplay/game itself was quality enough, which is fair enough, but I’m not too familiar with Roblox as I’ve never played it.
peer pressure. I fell for it in my TF2 days in high school. A buck there a few bucks there, all for a hat with particle effects that I never got. All because one of my friends I was playing with had one, and I wanted one too.
I learned a valuable lesson, but I was also 15/16 and had the ability of self reflection (and wanting to get Skyrim for $5 instead of a key). Can’t expect this level of self control from most teenagers, let alone a 10 year old.
Roblox is well-known for predatory practices aimed at children, and predatory behavior from other users who may or may not be looking for children to abuse.
Banning Roblox entirely seems like a very reasonable thing to do IMO.
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Aktywne