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Father Looking For Casual Game
So i was a pretty hardcore gamer playing hours on end but of course when life goes further and you get older, start a family, you have to adjust to what are the priorities.
I have just become a father and after the 7 months we have gotten into a routine for our son, nap times and so forth.
Im having a hard time finding a game i can play casually during these times, if at all.
What i am looking for is a game that is casual, F2P, that is, if possible, challenging at the same time as fun. But also a game i can play maybe 1 hour here, 30 mins there. Heck even if i have 10 minutes to login and play. But a game where i can also quickly run off or 10 or so minutes and not randomly die or effect any gameplay if i have to attend any activities.
Im open for any type of game, download or browser, to sci-fi/fantasy.
Let me know if you have any suggestions.
Thanks!
Comments
I think Gw2 suits very well for casuall playing... So does WoW...
but in general, its the attitude of the player that makes most games fit the bill casuall or hardcore.... Most games can be played in both ways..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I'll toss in SWTOR as a suggestion.
The game's very solo friendly, with most missions taking 15-30 minutes to complete, after which you can easily take a break and pick up next time.
It has a great storyline that's fully voice acted, and fun gameplay. It's also F2P as you requested.
And it's Star Wars of course!
GW2 as mentioned above is a very good alternative, especially if you prefer medieval fantasy. It'll take a small investment since it's a B2P game, but it's worth it.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
MAGA
Asbo
Given the acrimony among players and numerous threads about "the perfect game" perhaps some further understanding of casual is necessary.
In my mind casual games have lax death penalties or even no death penalties. Perhaps, most importantly, casual means I can play for an hour and feel like I have accomplished something. This , of course, is entirely subjective and thus casual will mean different things to people.
If you are simply saying you don't have as much time then you can still play almost any game. it will just take you longer to accomplish what others may in game.
With the above understanding, I would also recommend GW2 and the older game Lord of the Rings. Both games can be fun and, depending on you definition of casual, can fit such a definition.
As a father of two relatively young kids (5 and 3), I went through this exact same thing that you are now going through. Having to stop playing at a moments notice if you are needed to take care of young kids puts the brakes on gaming pretty quick. Until you actually have kids of your own this won't make any sense, and it's why I am so thrilled when I see major titles add casual content. Here are a few things I can suggest to help:
1)Find a game that you can solo in. A lot of gamers somehow think that people that want solo content are filthy casuals, when in reality all it means is it gives you the flexibility to go afk as needed. Anything that requires a group, even for only 30 minutes at a time, is a deal breaker. I was the guild main tank in WoW for years and when my first daughter was born I had to quit. I still play WoW now but I switched to a DPS class so if I have to bail on a raid it's not that big of a deal.
2)If you have a significant other that shares in child duties this helps immensely. Talk to him/her and just level with them. Say that you would like to set aside uninterrupted time to do the things that you want to do. Work out a deal where there are periods of time that you can set aside and play if you want to, and return the favor and you commit to times that you are 100% child responsible and they can have uninterrupted time to do whatever they want to do. Being "on-call" for baby duties 24/7 is nerve wracking, you need those breaks (good relationship advise too, not just for gaming).
3)It gets better. A lot of people will try to scare you and say "You are a parent for the rest of your life lol" but they eventually move out of that "Never take your eyes off of them" stage, to where they become independent and basically entertain themselves. I would say that transition happened around 3 years for the first one. I can now pretty reliably attend raids again without worrying about needing to drop everything for child duties.
With those things in mind here are a few game recommendations:
DDO - Because it's great for soloing, and if you need to go afk you can just park your character in a corner.
WoW - This kind of works here, but you can forget 5 mans or raids. If you are ok with not seeing end game this will work.
GW2 - Kind of like WoW, there is a lot of content you can do, but end game requires groups so take that however you will.
Non-MMOS - There are games that are still multiplayer but aren't MMORPGs. Diablo 3 is a great game for the casual players because everything can be solo'ed, you can go afk very easily, and you can still group up with friends if you want to. Sometimes it's nice to take a break from MMOs anyway. I went through periods where I was playing a lot of Minecraft, 7 Days to Die, Space Engineers, etc etc.
Even although you asked for a F2P game that is casual I dont think myself there is too many out there. Guild wars 2 is no doubt your best best but its a one time purchase fee. Buy the game and its yours for life no other payments needed.
There is just not that many mmorpg games out there that I myself would consider to be casual and everything you described fits into the guildwars 2 category other than the fact that if you go AFK you might die from a world event or other monster but death is nothing to worry about as its very easy to travel around the gw2 world.
The only F2P that I can think of that is more casual than the others is Defiance, and you can fast travel to a location on the world at any time for free. Some people might come and say this is not a casual game and is a grind fest, well is that not the same for almost every mmo at end game. A first time play through of this game is not to bad and you will see a lot of action.
Only have 10 minutes ? thats ok in defiance you can go to a world event have it done with a large team whos in the area and quick travel back to town when your down and you dont even need to look for a group as every one in the area contributes.
The best f2p game to play is prob Rift, but I dont have too much experience with this game so I can not tell you how casual it really is although I can tell you I had some fun on the quests. My self was able to pick up and play this game on a casual basis and even get in some quick pvp matches.
Most of the mmorpg are not casual at end game, that does not mean to say you cant have a casual experience before max lvl. Which could take some time for a casual player.
btw congratulations on being a dad, All the best.
I'd agree with this. SWTOR can be played in bite-sized chunks.
For the most part I found this a well written and reasoned replay; however, i am a bit unclear on two points specifically.
1. DDO great for soloing? Ive never played this game so, of course, I might be completely off here , but I thought DDO invovled grouping for instanced dungeon runs. No?
2. GW2 endgame? Ive been playing GW2 since launch and trying to understand what you mean by GW2 endgame. I play solo most of the time. I group if I want company or do something with my guild. I wouldnt consider this as endgame necessary grouping. I dont even know what endgame in GW2 really is.
WOW and GW2 are the best for the solo, re: casual player. I like the comments that the reason why many solo players are casual is because they have real life obligations. So, so true.
I watched 2 children grow to adulthood (with the third on her way) and I have to admit that, though I was an active partner, I was not as active as I should have been. MMO's can be addictive. My advice would be to set a strict time limit on your playing. That worked for me initially and, had I stuck to it, I would have been a better father.
Despite my failings, some of my fondest memories were when my two sons and I played WOW together. We did not last long together as they were much better at both pve and pvp than I was and soon decided that Dad was a drag on their progress. But those few weeks that we journeyed together were some of the happiest days of my life.
Asheron's call. 1-time 9.99 fee, no cash-shop, many years worth of great lore/story. crafting,pvp if you wish, can play as casual as you wish and still do fine.excellent community,very open-world type game and fun. 'Grats on parent-hood
can do solo or grouped.sucessfully.
GW2 would be your best option. You can jump online for 10 min and get a few public quests done. Their instances dungeon runs are 20-40 min and when you have a long time to play fractals are some of GW2 harder content.
P.S. I dont agree with WoW being a good pick for you. Its casual till you get to end game then your only option is rolling an alt. Unless you dont mind sticking with raid level gear and BG grinding. With GW2 you can earn end game loot with casual play time.
Thanks for all the kind replies! It has helped me really well.
I have a wife who is really understanding and we communicate with eachother about "our" time to do things that we want to do while juggling our son for parent duties. Honestly im loving the new life i have embraced but with everything, everyone needs something to keep their mind off things.
I will give a few of your choices a go. The good thing is that i do have GW2 already purchased when it first came out and did play for quite some time back then. I know it has changed drastically and might give it a go again! Did really enjoy it though! Think i quit back then because i was moving house, getting married and forgot about the game haha.
Ive played WoW to bits, and i have tried going back to it here and there but just cant muster the strength to continue playing - just a game i played where i cant play no more.
I also played SWTOR pretty heavily back when it was released, and i think its a good choice seeing its F2P now. Could try other variation classes etc.
I might try Wakfu, i remember the game a few years back when i tried it then. Forgot that the game is on Steam full release now. I do enjoy tactic games aswell so that might be a good one to look into aswell.
I am looking forward to Elite Dangerous whilst also Star Citizen as i love the atmosphere of what i have seen and the genre does appeal to me. But as you stated they in beta so i prefer not to head into that department just yet anyway.
hmm .... I know this situation :-)
I solved it with Counter-Strike (probably not the answer you wanted to see). However I tried, I could not find a suitable game for me. All are either boring as hell or require time investment that I don't have.
Asheron's Call may be a fun game, but the officials servers will be shutting down in December or soon after. There is some talk about private servers;however, it is unclear what will really happen with the game.
Well if it dont have to be a full on mmorpg then check out Path of Exile basically very similar to the old Diablo games and just as much fun.
You can play solo or team up with a few other people, you can also port back to the town at any time or if have killed all the enemies in the area then you are pretty safe to just leave your character there.
A lot of the people play it for the hardore modes but I find the casual normal modes pretty fun.
I would also say War Thunder is also a decent casual game if you are not in a rush to get to the top tier vehicles. War Thunder has planes and tanks now and both are great fun, but again this is not a mmo but a match based multiplayer game.
MMORPGs in general are not conducive to logging off at a moment's notice if you care about your character staying alive. There is no "Pause" button. Honestly, I'd pick something like Minecraft, and then work your way around to the Feed The Beast mod packs. Plenty of game, very few if any time sensitive hassles.
Single player RPGs, Survival Horror games, etc. will all provide game time, without time sensitive burdens. I had three kids and really, until they are playing games themselves you are going to regularly be choosing between abandoning/pausing what you're doing and paying attention to your kids. Since ignoring your kid(s) is (I hope) obviously the worse choice, you will be abandoning your game at inopportune times, and in MMORPGs it can get really frustrating. It can get really frustrating anyway but outside of MMORPGs (and MOBAs and online RTS) at least you have a pause button.
If you're going to play an MMORPG, then SWToR is a decent F2P game that can be played casually. I don't know about getting things done in 10 minutes, since MMORPGs aren't really conducive to getting things done in 10 minute increments, but you could play the game without worrying too much about what you're doing. Ditto for GW2 I think. It is a guarantee that you will have to choose between getting your character to a safe spot, or just letting them die. The cost of letting them die is minimal, game wise, but you should just get used to it.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Sorry for the late response, I just got out of work. I will elaborate on those two points:
1)With DDO every single "quest" so to speak is instanced off in it's own little dungeon. When you enter one of those dungeons it asks you right at the beginning what difficulty to set it to, ranging from casual/normal/hard/elite. If you select casual the dungeon is tuned for a single player. In fact if it's set to casual only one player can even be in the party. Now with that said some dungeons don't have a casual setting, and there are some raids, but some classes (monks/paladins/sorcerers/rangers) are very good at soloing content, even group/raid content. If you are average or above in skill you shouldn't have much trouble soloing in DDO for almost all dungeons, even end game.
2)I will admit my knowledge of GW2 isn't the best. I took a warrior to the level cap (and that was easily done solo)but it seemed like gear progression was leading me to do dungeons, which required a party. I recall doing the Orr continent on my warrior which seemed like it was supposed to be for solo players but even that required a group. Monsters spawns were too much and damage intake was too high for me to handle on my warrior, and I was eventually overwhelmed. The event would start in the main town, and I would follow the NPCs to make forward bases, but eventually got overrun.
Im in same boat.
Here are the games you can play where you start action quickly, every minute counts as progression, and you can leave game whenever you want without losing nothing but still having progressed
Neverwinter , Planetside 2
Also Diablo 3 (if you dont mind investing few bucks ( its on 50% discount ) , GW2
I think any would do but based on your wish list I guess Gw2 would be best match. No sub, can be played without spending any additional money besides one time buy, ... But also depend of what you like. For sure would pay 3 monthly subs for wow instead playing for free Hello Kitty. :-)