RPG recommendation

[ravenish]

My 10 year old son has played and enjoyed both KOTOR games and I'm looking for something similar for him. Can be any setting, what I specifically want is:

-A good story with lots of dialog driven interactions
-simple combat, so not a FPS with rpg elements to it
-cool environments
-the less scripted and more open the better, the more he can play it his way versus having to check off each mission and item in order, if you know what I mean
-not over the top gory, evil, or scary

Some names in my mind are Oblivion, NWN 2, or The Witcher but I'm not familiar with any of them. Or if you want to recommend a non-rpg that is slow paced and not overly complicated, maybe a trading game like Patrician? I've never played any of these so I may be way off base, these are just games I've heard about.

 

[gorcorps]

Dragon Age Origins is the very obvious choice. Also a Bioware game with lots of dialog, and has similar but not identical combat styles. It's relatively open in some parts where you can choose which major missions to go to first. Not really too scary, but darker overall than KOTOR.

 

[MrWizzard]

lol, 10 year old son playing The Witcher......yea........

Maybe Jade Empire...

 

[rivan]

NWN1/2 would both be good, maybe Baldur's Gate? Oblivion's a pretty good choice too.

I've only played a bit of the Witcher and what story I saw was pretty gory and perhaps a bit scary for a 10-yo.

 

[Dryst999]

NWN1/2 would both be good, maybe Baldur's Gate? Oblivion's a pretty good choice too.

I've only played a bit of the Witcher and what story I saw was pretty gory and perhaps a bit scary for a 10-yo.

Lets not forget the sex minigame with the nude card collectibles... basically you get to bang chicks in game (Lots of them) and afterwards you get a nudie card to remember them by. Have fun filling your son's first spankbank if you buy him the Witcher haha.


Mount & Blade is an amazing open ended game... combat is super fun and there really isn't much of a story, just build your army and take over castles/towns.

 

[shortylickens]

Baldurs Gate.
Its the only real Role-Playing Game on Windows.

 

[Dankk]

Hmm... it's hard to say, but I would have to agree with Mount & Blade. Specifically Mount & Blade: Warband. (Don't bother with the first one. I hear the new one is OK, but not as good as Warband.)

It's awesome and would be good for a 10 y/o. It's not very dialogue driven, but everything else fits your criteria, and it's a blast.

 

[brandonb]

Oblivion. Fable.

Fable you can have sex with NPCS but it would probably be hard for him to figure out how. But its not graphic (screen goes dark). But there is a chick with a british type accent which says "You're so nardy." (Rather than Naughty)... Thats about as dangerous as it gets as far as that type of content.

But both of those have a bit of FPS type combat. Like click your mouse button to swing a sword/cast a spell. But atleast with Oblivion you can turn the difficulty slider all the way down, so it would be really easy even if he isn't so good with the FPS type games. And you can create mage pets which beat things up for you. He's just have to right click the mouse to cast the spell to create the monster of his choice.

I have Fable which I already beat sitting on my desk. I was going to let my 5 year old play it, but he can't read yet, so it would just be collecting dust until he can. I also have oblivion without any expansion packs that I would never likely play again. I can ship it to you if you are in the USA for the price of postage if interested, send me a private if you are.

 

[GundamW]

Jade Empire
Mass Effect
Morrowind
Fallout
Freedom Force vs the Third Reich

 

[you2]

for a 10 year old? Maybe wizadry 8 (he might find it difficult); ice wind dale; nwn or nwn2.
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I would start with the older games that have good text but not the best graphics; also maybe planescape torment. At 10 a game like oblivion will probably destroy interest in more complex games.
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Also divine divinity is not bad.

 

[Martimus]

Baldurs Gate.
Its the only real Role-Playing Game on Windows.

No offense, but the original Baldurs Gate kind of sucked. The nostalgia on this must really rose tint many glasses, because it is mediocre at best, and no better than any other RPG I had played in the 80's/90's.

Stay away from Mass Effect and The Witcher, as both have very adult storylines (read both are rated R). Especially the Witcher! Both are good RPG's, but neither are appropriate for a ten year old.

I don't see any issue with Oblivion though. It is a very engrossing game, and I lost hundreds of hours in it. It isn't too mature, and isn't too tough. It gets monotonous after a while, because the enemies scale with you so you never fight anyone that hard or easy. But I can't see any reason a ten year old wouldn't like it.

Neverwinter Nights 2 is another one that isn't too mature, and also is very fun. It is much closer to KOTOR gameplay wise as well, so it may be easier for him to get into it. I found it very fun, although it doesn't have as much fan made content as NWN1.

 

[KaOTiK]

Lots of great recommendations in here. My only advice is. Start with the older games first. For a kid that young, graphics will be a big thing so having them jump into like Dragon Age or Oblivion will totally kill it for them when they then go to play like Neverwinter or Icewind Dale.

The older games are generally better anyways

 

[Ganeedi]

i think a 10 year old would love "Beyond Good and Evil". Its age appropriate from what i remember and a great story.

Controls might be frustrating for a young-in though... i remember some issues there. Should be plenty cheap if you want to give it a go.

 

[datalink7]

Baldurs Gate.
Its the only real Role-Playing Game on Windows.

Planescape: Torment > Baldurs Gate (though Baldurs gate is good).

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Fallout + Fallout 2 (not fallout 3 or tactics).

You could load up an SNES emulator and have him play FF6, or a playstation emulator and ff7 or ff9 although you can't make dialog decisions they're still fun.

 

[mmntech]

Dragon Age Origins is the very obvious choice. Also a Bioware game with lots of dialog, and has similar but not identical combat styles. It's relatively open in some parts where you can choose which major missions to go to first. Not really too scary, but darker overall than KOTOR.

Umm, not Dragon Age for a 10 year old. A lot of the games being listed are M-rated. Adult themes and blue alien sex ahoy. Final Fantasy or Pokemon sounds more his speed. Oblivion wouldn't be too bad either.

 

[zinfamous]

Fable would be perfect for him, were it not for the sexing.

Mass Effect is a bit too mature, too, and probably too close to FPS for what you are asking.

what about Morrowind/Oblivion?

I like the Fallout 1 and 2 suggestions. They are $5-10 each on GoG.

 

[zinfamous]

definitely not RPG--more strategy and turn-based, and sometimes quite hard, but check out the King's Bounty series. super fun and clean. They aren't terribly open, though.

 

[Thatspro]

Elder scrolls games would be good

Fallout would also be a suggestion, but there's quite a bit of gore in it, so heads up there.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Elder scrolls games would be good

Fallout would also be a suggestion, but there's quite a bit of gore in it, so heads up there.

My memories shaky, but I think it can be set to gore light.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

Go old school and download him dink smallwood.

http://www.rtsoft.com/pages/dink.php

Apparently they made an hd version.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Planescape: Torment, Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 (PC version, console version is an entirely different game)

 

[AFurryReptile]

World of Warcraft.

You'll never have to buy him another game again...

 

[zinfamous]

My memories shaky, but I think it can be set to gore light.

Unless he goes for the bloody mess talent.

:hmm:

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Morrowind, Oblivion
Baldur's Gate series
Planescape: Torment
Neverwinter Nights
Icewind Dale series

Never played Planescape, but NWN, IWD, and BG series are all real-time but can be played as turn-based RPGs so you can play as 'fast' or slow as you want. The Elder Scrolls are more real-time based, but not as much as Fallout 3. I did not like Dragon Age at all, in all quantifiable aspects the most I could liken it to was NWN with better graphics, but I never managed to get into it.