stigant
Level: Smitemaster

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Registered: 08-19-2004
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Ok, my wife is a softcore gamer. She enjoys video games, but she's never going to be obsessive about them like I am. Her tastes are somewhat different from mine as well. For instance, she enjoys adventure style games (ex: Myst) provided that the puzzles are not too difficult (She tried the demo to Myst 4 and gave up within 20 minutes). She has also shown interest in MMORPGs. We used to play Asheron's Call and Dark Age of Camelot together (infrequently since I was always willing to put in several orders of magnitude more time than she was, so my characters quickly outpaced hers). She downloaded the DAoC demo yesterday to try it out again and spent several hours walking around doing quests and generally enjoying herself. Of course, the downside of these games is that the casual gamer will never be able to compete with the hard core. And she likes the Sims.

I thought she might like a single-player RPG game for Christmas. These games usually combine elements of the MMORPG (questing) and Adventure (puzzles) that she enjoys, but without the downsides (difficult puzzles, hard core players etc). Can anybody recommend a title that she might enjoy? It doesn't (shouldn't) need to be too long (perhaps 20-30 hours of gameplay... she'll never get through one that's much longer than that). It doesn't have to be particularly "female oriented" or anything like that. And it needs to be playable on a decent Windows XP laptop.

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MeckMeck GRE
Level: Smitemaster
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Registered: 01-03-2005
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Gothic 3 would be suitable (Even its a little longer then 30 hours).
Beyond Divinity (or the classic Divine Divinity) is also nice, and shorter/more simple then Gothic 3.

Oh, and most female players get addicted to Sims (2), so dont go for this one.

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[Last edited by MeckMeck GRE at 11-28-2005 06:46 PM]

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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The Avernum games are not too demanding as RPGs go, and put more emphasis on story and plot events than monster hunting and levelling up. Any of the Avernum RPGs will take hundreds of hours to finish, so if it's important for the game to finishable in 30-40 hours, then I guess cross this one off.

For an RPG that is closer to a logic puzzle, try the classic Tower of the Sorcerer.

-Erik

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The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
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[Last edited by mrimer at 11-28-2005 07:47 PM]

Alneyan
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My standard recommendation is going to be Planescape: Torment, if she a *lot* of dialogue and story in her gaming. The game is probably longer than your figures, but a big part of the game is optional (and I have found the latter parts of the game to be poorer than the earlier areas).

Somewhat on the same lines are games like Arcanum (fantasy during the Industrial Revolution) or the Fallout RPG games (set after... well, a fallout). Again, these have a lot of optional content (you can finish either Fallout in a few hours, if you so choose), and the story is still relatively important.

In the field of multiplayer games, I have been told that Guild Wars isn't nearly as much focused on hardcore players as all other MMORPGs, as there is a low cap on the maximum level you can reach (there is also no monthly fee). Neverwinter Nights may also be of interest, with a variety of modules available, so short adventures should be easy to find. You could also play the game together without the hardcore factor kicking in.

I would particularly recommend Blades of Avernum at Spiderweb Software, for pretty much the same reason: the game is organised in scenarios rather than in a big chunk, with each scenario not taking a lot more than a few hours (well, perhaps more than a few).

Lastly, you might be interested in checking the Thief games (I can only speak about the first two ones, though). While not strictly RPGs, they feature a good amount of exploration and end up being not unlike adventure games. They do come in the shape of a FPS though, but violence is an option rather than a necessity.

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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In terms of MMORPGs, I would heartily recommend World of Warcraft. A casual player without much time can easily progress in the game, and the quests are very user-friendly. I would definitely recommend it over Guild Wars, unless you're allergic to subscription fees. WoW also has lower system requirements, so should run better on a laptop (it ran well on my 2-year-old laptop, which can't even run EverQuest, and that game is 7 years old now).

Game on,

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Mattcrampy
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Although I have to say that the end-game isn't hugely friendly to casual players, as it almost entirely consists of PvP and giant coordinated dungeon crawls.

That and I had a whole bunch of games I'd bought but hadn't finished already, so that monthly fee was really starting to irritate me.

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Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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I almost addressed that, but...a casual player (such as myself) doesn't care about the end game. If you get to the max level and don't want to PvP or raid, either make a new character (I have a full roster of 10 characters on my server) or quit (which I have pretty much done as well). A casual player (such as stigant's wife) can get many months of enjoyment before hitting the max level and stagnating. I'd say that's worth the fee and the time.

Game on,

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"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

SKWERLL
Level: Delver

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Alneyan wrote:
I would particularly recommend Blades of Avernum at Spiderweb Software, for pretty much the same reason: the game is organised in scenarios rather than in a big chunk, with each scenario not taking a lot more than a few hours (well, perhaps more than a few).

I would say that if one wanted to make scenarios with it, I would go with Blades of Exile instead, because it's quite a bit less confusing to use.

Also, I think there are more BoE scenarios than there are BoA scenarios.

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Sarngate
Level: Delver

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Registered: 01-09-2004
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I don't want any PC games for my wife. In fact if you take her, I'll throw in a few games as a bonus!

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