Vainglory.
Well, I guess Vainglory is the answer! Simple indeed.
Galcon or one of its sequels.
It's stretching the definition of real time, but there a zillion ports of great board games on iOS.
Not really what you are looking for, but somebody has to try Wakie and report back. It's an alarm clock that works by having a random stranger call you. You in turn get to call strangers to wake them up. Could be fun.
I didn't know Sartre had moved into mobile development.
But I'd be afraid that someone would forget to call and I'd miss a meeting.
Since nobody knows the answer to the OP, can I ask a related question?
What would be the modern equivalent of something like Baldur's Gate or the other DD-inspired ones? Ideally, not too violent for a nine-year old. I'm trying to wean said nine-year old off the free games with a similar structure that are driving me nuts.
9: This is coming from a slightly different place, but Square Enix has ported quite a few of their classic games--a bunch of the early Final Fantasies, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy Tactics, most of the Dragon Quests--to iOS, Windows, and maybe Android.
What would be the modern equivalent of something like Baldur's Gate or the other DD-inspired ones?
There's a remastered Baldur's Gate for PC and iOS. But the short answer to your question is Pillars of Eternity, which is also made by Obsidian and very much in the BG mould, with an isometric 2D view and pause-heavy tactical combat, though not using D&D rules.
The story might be a bit dark for a nine year old though.
Most of the kid-friendly RPGs aren't in the D&D vein - they're mostly JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest or are inspired by them. There's the great Mario and Luigi RPGs, and on iOS the very similar Steven Universe game, but they're not even remotely D&D inspired.
What brings this about is my son started talking about how you go to a tavern and you find an archer, a warrior, a wizard, and a thief. I don't know where kids pick up this stuff.
For what it's worth, that's pretty much the original Final Fantasy (1989ish). Or Dragon Quest IX (2010ish) if he has a (3)DS.
He's not abused. Of course he has a 3DS.
Okay, then I have a bunch of mostly original DS JRPGs that I'm not playing anymore that he can have if you'd like.
I don't understand the 3DS. If I look at the top screen, I get queasy. If I look at the bottom screen, I don't understand what is happening. But I may take you up on that.
Supposedly the new one has a better 3D screen that actually improves the experience. But I have the launch model so I usually turn it off. Having two screens lets things that would usually be hidden in a menu be immediately apparent, which in theory lets play go more smoothly.
Anyway, I'll send you an email about it.
Has anyone played Age of Empires: Castle Siege? (I am guessing not as it was Windows phone-only before but has just now come out for iPhone/Pad). For a few years I was an Age of Empires fan (original and Rise of Rome--I thought AoE2 was not nearly as good too much attention to the graphics). A great game played by mostly assholes--ripping up a bunch of Hittite catapults with fully upgraded Egyptian Scythe chariots (33% HP bonus) was about as much fun as I've ever had on the internet.
I guess should just download it and give it a go. (Are there other current games that have the flavor of the original AofE?)
This maybe seems like the right thread to ask what sort of video game system (if any) I should get my nine-year-old, who I'd like to stop borrowing my ipad for game playing. His own gaming tablet? Or a 3DS type thing? Or something like a wii? (It would be nice if he and his brother could play together, which would be possible on a wii maybe moreso than a tablet/3DS. (I think?) He doesn't have a good idea himself about what he wants, and will really be happy with anything as long as it plays lots of games. I'm also open to the suggestion that getting a game system of any time for a nine-year-old isn't a good idea, and I should instead just keep letting him use my ipad for a few hours once a week or so. Signed, Dad Totally Out of Touch With Games Played By Kids These Days
You can, I'm told, play two person games if you have two DSes. We love our Wii, but it is really very seriously dated technology by this point.
20: Or I should just figure out how to play the original somewhere. At some point I think of my kids told me that it was still big in Vietnam. Spinal Tap-esque.
will really be happy with anything as long as it plays lots of games
Case in point, for a while I was letting him borrow my 1989 original Gameboy and he was perfectly happy with that. But the LCD on that thing is going bad and I can't figure out an easy way to fix it.
23: AofE 2 is on Steam. I don't know about AofE.
22: well, I guess I meant wii U, or whatever the current one is, not the dated one. (Unless the current one *is* the dated one?)
12 - given that the first town location has dozens of decaying bodies hanging from a tree, I'd say more than "a bit" too dark for a 9-year-old. I'm enjoying it but it's quite dark.
We did set a ten dead body maximum.
urple, I confirm that a very dated Wii can work well with a 9-year-old and you can also do streaming Netflix etc. that way. The Just Dance games are a huge hit and not necessarily girl-centric, great for working out energy on rainy/snowy days and parents can play too. We only do those and the Wii Fit and Sports-type games. Tried Cooking Mama and my brother gave us some Mario Soccer thing, but those are too hard and end in tears or anger or both.
Maybe I shouldn't care that it is dated. The Wii is quite certainly the best entertainment value/$ I have ever spent.
Wii Lego (whatever) was great, but now he's tired of it. And, even though I don't use the Fit anymore, I did pretty greatly improve my flexibility by using it.
Age of Empires N suffered from being roughly contemporaneous with Rise of Nations, a similar game that is, IMO, the finest computer game of all time.
20: Don't bother. It's just another one of these F2P timer based games like Clash of Clans. It's nothing like real Age of Empires.
Nor is the DS version of Age of Empires, but it is a really good turn based strategy game in the style of Advance Wars. There aren't many good games in the style of Age of Empires on iOS. Though you might like Autumn Dynasty Warlords, which has a strategic layer combined with real time battles.
Urple, if you don't want to get him an iPad (Mini), just get him a PS4. 3DS is great and everything, but kids these days don't care about them (and it's going to be superceded in a couple of years). Do not get him a Wii-U unless he absolutely loves Nintendo games - there are basically no third party games coming out for it and it's very much a dying platform, even though there are some great Nintendo games on it.
32: Rise of Nations was shown in 2008 to improve a variety of "critical cognitive skills", most prominently working memory and task-switching ability, in older adults.
Will check it out. It even comes with a good cover story per Wikipedia: Rise of Nations was shown in 2008 to improve a variety of "critical cognitive skills", most prominently working memory and task-switching ability, in older adults (actually my wife and I already use that to justify to ourselves time spent playing online boggle).
33.1,2: Thanks.
34: People of goodwill will ignore the cut and paste lossage in the previous comment.
Rise of Nations seconded. Truly phenomenal blend of Civ and AoE. And it got a remaster last year which makes sure it works on modern machines and at high resolutions.
There are great games out for the Wii U right now, even if they aren't third party games - Splatoon, Smash Bros, Captain Toad, Mario Car 8. True that its toward the end of its run as a platform.
A PS4 does make a certain amount of sense, especially because at some point you should be able to get the Project Morpheous VR headset.
Oh sure, I love my Wii-U as a Nintendo game platform. You forgot to mention Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World, and Smash Bros if you're into that sort of thing. The new Zelda should be awesome too whenever it eventually comes out. But as a platform for your kid to grow into, it's very hard to recommend. They're not going to be happy when all their mates are playing Call of Creed Gears 5 and they can't.
Actually, you didn't forget Smash Bros, did you?
I thought Playstations were generally too violent for younger kids.
We're housesitting in a place with a Playstation. I haven't had a gaming system thing for more than 30 years and it turns out I cannot handle it AT ALL. It turns out that you can just sign up for an immersive world in which you drive around all day, solve quests, and murder people without consequence! Or be an assasin who goes around stabbing dudes. So, why not do that as much as possible? My wife had to hide the game discs after she found me playing at 5:15 am (after staying up all night) on a work night.
It's a piece of plastic. Your kid can probably handle it.
There are plenty of violent games, its true, but plenty of non-violent ones, especially indie games and of course sports. And the console has parental controls. Set yourself up with a PS Plus subscription and you'll get a "free" game every month (more if you own other Sony platforms), most of which are non-violent. The most recent one was Rocket League, which is football with cars.
We've finally found HalfordÃsmo's one weakness.
Halfordismo is stronger than Halford.
Well, these were goddamn shitty answers (vainglory excepted; downloaded, played, a bit too complicated for me). Games I play at the moment are Soccer Stars, which is more strategic than it seems, and fun for seeing where the people you're playing live (Turks seems to love the game), and agar.io, which isn't really all that great, but made acceptable by the fact that I'm playing against other people, and not a computer.
Nothing else like that that you folks play? I just can't get into games where I'm not playing against another human. (I also played Letterpress for a while.)
World of Tanks Blitz. The learning curve is very, very steep but it's the best multiplayer game for iOS.
I'd never played a MOBA before, and so Vainglory had a pretty steep learning curve for me. Nonetheless, now I spend way too much time playing it. (It's also better on iPad than iPhone.) But it's definitely the least casual option on iOS (I think the word in videogame journalism is "core").
The main problem with Vainglory for me is that the games are too long, in that if RWM wants to do something and I'm partway through a game, it's awkwardly long before the game finishes. I don't understand how grownups play regular MOBAs which take even longer.
Yeah, that's a big factor. I might have ten minutes or so to play and like a game that ends quickly or I can just stop. (Also used to play FIFA, but that was too hard on my old eyes.) Will check out the tank game, thanks.
I have a bunch of friends who are into playing Civilization 5 online together.
Oh my God I hate you for making this thread and I hate everyone who suggested vainglory. I just lost my entire day to it. My neck and shoulders hurt. Uninstalled, will now try to forget.
QuizUp isn't bad, although it can turn into a reflex test. It takes like two minutes to play a game.
||
Quick blog question. Gaius Publius, who blogs with Digby and elsewhere. I just found a couple essays of his or hers that I really like and want to discuss. Is that a known internet personality? Is that someone with an active controversy that I should have an opinion of if I'm going to approve of a couple of his or her posts?
|>
51: and we were so close to having an unfogged guild.
I'm just not good at emotional labor.
Only tangentially related: in our current living room setup, the couch is about 15' feet from our 42" TV. All of the PS4 games seem to use incredibly tiny text--to the point where my wife often sits in a kitchen chair positioned halfway to the TV to read the text. Her solution is to propose a larger TV. Is there some simple way to adjust font sizes? [Witcher is the worst; she doesn't get a lot of the text in Destiny, but she's played long enough not to need it much anymore.]
Her solution is to propose a larger TV. Is there some simple way to adjust font sizes?
Why are you trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?
Is there some simple way to adjust font sizes?
Nope. Some games have UI scale settings, but they're few and far between. You may have some success by forcing a lower resolution on your TV, but that's getting into cutting-off-your-nose territory
60: We're the reverse of stereotype that way. She's very into short lived tech things, while I'd rather read a book most of the time.
A big tv doesn't actually stop you from reading a book.
But we have only a 48" tv. Because I'm an environmentalist.
63: well, fine, but the truth is your wife is right about this one: your tv is objectively way too small. Based on a 15' viewing distance, your tv should be a minimum of 115 inches and preferably would be 150+ inches.
I think maybe those standards might be a bit based on the self-interest of the manufacturer.
15' is a very long distance to be reading text, though. My similarly sized TV is maybe a third as far away.
67: no. If you read the article you'll see that the author thinks the recommendations haven't kept up with improvements in picture technology and consequently they understate the ideal size.
68: Based on your prompt, I measured and it's still something like 12'. TV show text is fine, it really is just video games that are illegibly small.
Actually, on a recent play of Destiny, she bemusedly noted that some of the symbols and buttons were patterned--she'd just seen them as flat from her normal play distance.
Here is an article that says you could probably get by with an 80 inch screen.