Recomend me a game for my father.

[AzureArchon]

I've been trying to get my father into gaming for a while. He's always been a really busy guy, but lately he's had quite a bit of free time. He's into story heavy stuff, and his favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption. I've tried to pick some games he'd like, but I've always said "No, he wouldn't like that one." at the last second. I need someone to recommend me a game for him, any suggestions?

P.S. First post, been on the escapist for a while, but never had an account. I'm happy to be here.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

I've been trying to get my father into gaming for a while. He's always been a really busy guy, but lately he's had quite a bit of free time. He's into story heavy stuff, and his favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption. I've tried to pick some games he'd like, but I've always said "No, he wouldn't like that one." at the last second. I need someone to recommend me a game for him, any suggestions?

P.S. First post, been on the escapist for a while, but never had an account. I'm happy to be here.

Allow me to be the first to welcome you to The Escapist.

Spoiler

If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me or another poster. We'd me more than happy to help.

Well, tell me a little more about your father. What does he like in his stories? Political satire? Moral choices? Theology?

Is he a thinker or a dooer? As in, is he like me, someone who likes to draw out a plan before doing it with a high success rate, or someone like my brother who likes to learn by going in, guns-a-blazin'?

If he's into story heavy stuff, I'd recommend an RPG of some sort. But not RPGs are equal. We might want to start him off with something basic in that regard.

 

[JesterRaiin]

P.S. First post, been on the escapist for a while, but never had an account. I'm happy to be here.

Yo !

No two people are alike, but usually older generation favor logical/tactical games that allows to take some time, think about possibilities, outcome and such. Most turn-based strategy games fall into this category.
"Penumbra" offers very good gameplay. It may seem very strange for me to suggest that, but you can try Mass Effect 2 or even 1... They offer quite good story.

Also, you may want to introduce your dad to trainers and cheats.

BTW : <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.336535-Games-for-my-dad>Here people discussed this. There are some good advices there.

 

[NorthernStar]

Heavy Rain might be a nice option? I know this game gets a lot of hate, but I loved it. It's very story heavy and I think many different people can relate to it.

That's basically the only advice I can give you, the only games my father ever played were the Flight Simulator series....

 

[Cowabungaa]

It's sorta hard to give recommendations when we know so little about your father's interests, just that he loves Shawshank Redemption. It does suggest a certain love for deep stories, so on that I'd try L.A. Noire and Heavy Rain, but other than that I wouldn't know. What's your father's opinion about war movies or violence in general? Does he like puzzles? Does he like the odd fantasy movie? That sort of thing.

 

[Greedy_Smurph]

Maybe you can tell us what console/s he has access to? Does he have any prior gaming experience? Or will he need to learn from scratch? Platforming can be quite daunting for people new to it. Anyway, here are some of my suggestions.

Portal - A great, short, engaging campaign. Reasonably forgiving difficulty curve. A good introduction to moving in 3 (sometimes 3.5) dimensions.

Halo - A pretty solid FPS. Not too difficult, and a decent story to boot. Maybe not good if he isn't into sci-fi.

Saints row 2 - Shit story, but fun and another way to give him a world to get used to moving around in. Gunplay, driving etc.

Red Dead Redemption - A good story, relatively easy.

I'll update this if I think of more.
Good luck!

 

[OneCatch]

Welcome!

I'd recommend Portal also - in fact I'm playing it right now!

Probably also COD Modern Warfare, because it's got a tutorial and on the lower difficulties is manageable for first time players. Story is pretty decent for an FPS too.

If you're going down the RPG route, I'd recommend staying away from The Elder Scrolls. They're fantastic games, but I imagine would be daunting as hell for a first time player. And there is no discernible plot unless you go looking for it. Maybe a JRPG? I don't really play them so can't recommend anything in particular.

If you want an RTS, then Empire Total War is quite forgiving on the battlefield (line infantry tactics, cavalry are nerfed compared to previous instalments). The campaign is pretty in depth, but also intuitive. Of the older people that I know, more of them play Total War games than any other franchise.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

If you want an RTS, then Empire Total War is quite forgiving on the battlefield (line infantry tactics, cavalry are nerfed compared to previous instalments). The campaign is pretty in depth, but also intuitive. Of the older people that I know, more of them play Total War games than any other franchise.

Total War is a good idea, because there are plenty of tutorials and he can pause the game at any time to get help from you I don't know whether Empire is the best one for starting, though; it's complicated for the first step into RTS territory. Maybe start with Shogun II, or Medieval if he doesn't mind crap graphics.

Also: LittleBigPlanet. Seriously, it's a great game for adults to get into gaming. It's amazingly fun to play, has a simple control scheme to help them get used to the controller, and multiplayer mean he can play with another newb while you give advice,(Usually when skilled gamers play with total novices the results are not pretty) which makes him a lot more likely to stick with it, rather than say "this is stupid" and leave.

 

[OneCatch]

Total War is a good idea, because there are plenty of tutorials and he can pause the game at any time to get help from you I don't know whether Empire is the best one for starting, though; it's complicated for the first step into RTS territory. Maybe start with Shogun II, or Medieval if he doesn't mind crap graphics.

See, I figured that Empire would be better because the battles themselves are a little less frantic. The campaign is complicated, but you have as much time as you want to take your turn. I guess it's down to individual preference, so AzureArchon will have to decide! Medieval 1 would get my vote too, if you could get it running nowadays.

Also, LittleBigPlanet is a great idea, I can't believe I didn't think of it - go with that!

 

[AzureArchon]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys!

To answer some of CM's questions, he enjoys moral choices and character development. I've thought about RPGs, but I've always thought character development in RPGs are a bit... 2-D.

He and I used to play the original Civ together, so I guess he's a bit of a thinker, he likes it when his carefully thought out strategies work right.

I would try showing him Total War, but he only uses Macs. I thought EU3, but that might be too complicated. I have AoE 3, but he didn't really like. :/

He's a little scared of Elder Scrolls games. His brother and nephew can't stop playing Oblivion and Skyrim. He's afraid that they're like "the Game" from Star Trek. He might like Dragon Age or Mass Effect though.

Hope this helps, thanks again guys!

 

[Keoul]

Maybe Assassins creed? It's got some MINOR character development there... As you said, the mass effect series is a good choice. Fable ONE is probably a good choice for him IMO though

 

[Angry_squirrel]

Heavy Rain might be a nice option? I know this game gets a lot of hate, but I loved it. It's very story heavy and I think many different people can relate to it.

Yeah, if you have a PS3, I'd recommend this. A few of my non gamer friends expressed interest in Heavy Rain while I was playing it.

If you don't have a PS3, I'd recommend something very easy and cinematic. That or a puzzle game.

 

[JCD2k4]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution may fit the bill.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

Does he like thrillers? If so, Alan Wake would be a great place to start.

Solid gameplay, story driven, not all that difficult on normal difficulty, and not too long so he doesn't have to have a load of free time to drop on a game.

 

[woodwalker]

I would recommend the Jak and Daxter Series. The first is a platformer with a good story, the second is a platformer with cars, guns and a great story. The third is not exactly my favorite, but still good.

 

[Angie7F]

My dad loved history and was into sangokushi.
It's like the movie red cliff

 

[viranimus]

Heres a different direction.

Considering its your dad, in all likelihood your dad is greater than 30 years old (IE 20 year old dad+ 10 year old kid or any combination in between) Take cues from what gaming was like when he was a kid because he was likely exposed to itto some degree as either a kid or young adult during the 80s in some way shape or form. Doing so may evoke some of his old latent gaming memories, and might get him back into it.

So look back at how game mechanics were in that era, IE your Joust, Pac man, Donkey kong, ect. Or a little later time periods with the original NES type games.

One thing thats modern that you can look at and see how it would have been easy to translate it into an 8 bit format would have been fat princess. The game is an absolute blast if youve not played it. But thats the sort of game you might want to try to show him, perhaps not your first offering but a strong second offering.

Another suggestion that focuses on modern takes on old gameplay conventions would be a tower defense game like plants vs zombies which plays on many of the same simple "plan your attack against a slow moving force" that was present in titles like Space invaders.

So rekindle potential nostalgia, and I figure story driven titles will naturally follow because you got to get em past tolerating the gameplay before they will even give the story a chance and RPGs are notoriously unforgiving to noobs when it comes to their gameplay.