From mahjong to BG. Spam appreciated.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:38 am

So, my own mumsy having bought a laptop 2 years ago is having her first ever gaming crush. A while ago I got her into solving the newspaper Sudoku's on the computer instead, and.. now she's totally hooked to playing Mahjong.

What consecutive series of games would be the gentlest progression from Mahjong to Baldur's Gate?

I am an evil, evil son.

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:01 am

Hmm... what about Company of Heroes?

Kidding. But if you want my opinion to progress from Mahjong to BG and eventually other games, I would suggest her to try out a couple of old DOS and Win95 games like the Lost Vikings, Jazz Jackrabit and Lucasarts' adventure games to name a few.

Starting to sound like a game recommendation thread, eh? :laugh:

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:32 am

Tricky wrote:So, my own mumsy having bought a laptop 2 years ago is having her first ever gaming crush. A while ago I got her into solving the newspaper Sudoku's on the computer instead, and.. now she's totally hooked to playing Mahjong.

What consecutive series of games would be the gentlest progression from Mahjong to Baldur's Gate?

Try seeing if she'll play any of the casual, lighter tycoon games: lemonade tycoon, coffee tycoon, fairy godmother tycoon, etc. (Those are actually three of the better ones.) Or Outpost Kaloki. I think you want to get her interested in more complex games with some background, before pushing her into an RPG.

I am an evil, evil son.

Your point?

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:40 am

DesR85 wrote:Starting to sound like a game recommendation thread, eh? :laugh:

I did think of that, but I kinda expected this would play to people's imagination. So, SYM.

The Tycoon games are good, Fable. I need one intermediate game that links decidedly between puzzle games and those light RTS/planning games.

endboss · Post by **endboss** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:15 pm

The Sims and Sim City?

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:21 pm

I'm with Endboss; Sim City, an older one I think, they are a bit simpler; or how about Lemmings if you can get it for the PC?

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:32 pm

SimCity 2000, if still can be found, otherwise SimCity 3000. Also, how about Transport Tycoon? There is a project called [url="http://www.openttd.org/en/"]OpenTTD[/url], which brings new life to old Transport Tycoon Deluxe (of course, you have to have the game itself).

And perhaps at some point before actual BG2, how about some story -oriented games? Would soften the impact a bit.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 3:45 pm

Good suggestions. Isn't it a bit strange we have to go back so far in our memories to think of intermediate game? Heh. It's like going back branches of the evolution tree.

I thought about Simcity 5 minutes before I reopened this thread. That would be definitely on there.

It has come to my attention that I can't think of a puzzle game that bridges the gap between icons that don't signify anything (the symbols on the mahjong cards) and something that's maybe still a puzzle game but uses symbols to gain an extra layer in gameplay. Any clues?

The point here is that from abstract puzzle maps and symbols being used to a purpose, it's a relatively short walk to real, non-computerized tabletop D&D. And from there, Baldur's Gate. I'd just have to find some kind of computer D&D game that depicts the feel of the P&P closely enough. That is to say, not something overly graphic like modern games and not something that is mostly ascii number crushing.

This could be a fun little project for the next year.

Ode to a Grasshopper · Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:04 pm

Tricky wrote:I am an evil, evil son.

Naw, a truly evil son would give her Return to Zork.
Lost Vikings or Lemmings would be a good intro to the roles aspect, though Lost Vikings can be pretty fiendish and unforgiving.
Sims has that human interest factor and seems to suck everyone in.
Maybe one of the Harvest Moon series?
Some of the old Sierra games might be worth a try too, the only one I played was Lost Secret of the Rainforest but it could work.

If I ever have a son (FSM forbid) I can but hope he points me to something as cool as BG. Best of luck.

BlueSky · Post by **BlueSky** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:15 pm

There is also some kind of D&D type of game on Facebook...

my daughter has been playing it and when her husband pointed out it was D&D, she laughed and said she would take back all the things she had said about him playing BG and the Elder Scrolls series.......

She now wants to try Dragon Age......

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:34 pm

Ode to a Grasshopper wrote:Maybe one of the Harvest Moon series?

I don't recall seeing Harvest Moon series being released on the PC. The last time I checked, they're mostly on the PS/PS2.

Oh yeah, another recommendation that just comes to mind is the Oddworld series. Haven't played them myself, but I've heard that they're pretty good games.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:41 pm

Another thought: the Monkey Island series. It's simple to play, great fun, and should get her engrossed in characters on screen.

Moonbiter · Post by **Moonbiter** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:05 am

fable wrote:Another thought: the Monkey Island series. It's simple to play, great fun, and should get her engrossed in characters on screen.

Agreed. Adventure games. What was the comic games with the luckless and clueless wizard again?

If you give your mom only shopping and micro-management games, she'll get both bored and insulted. She's been doing that for most of her life. It's called being a mom.

BTW: To my left there's an add for a site called gog.com, which sells drm free versions of old games. Anybody tried them?

endboss · Post by **endboss** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:19 am

GOG rocks. No DRM and you get full manuals. It's like heaven. The name is a bit of a misnomer though, because not all of the games are good, and not all of them are old.

For the Monkey Island recommendation, I'll suggest Curse of Monkey Island. It's like playing a Disney cartoon and is still, IMO, one of the BEST looking and sounding games of all time. It's also a bit more user friendly than the previous two games.

Curry · Post by **Curry** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:03 am

Kipi wrote:
And perhaps at some point before actual BG2,

Who said anything about the sequel ?