Recommendations for video games - good plot, not much fighting

[AuroraBorealis]

I find open research very daunting, so I was hoping that someone here could point me towards some games I could check out.

I mainly play Nintendo Switch, but would also be open to computer games. I much prefer single-player games over multi-player games.

I like games with an interesting and elaborate story-line, ideally with some sort of psychological component. I love crime-solving games (I loved the Professor Layton series). I enjoy both games that are set in a fantasy setting, as well as games in a realistic world setting. If there's fighting, I'm okay with it, but I'd like it to be limited to certain places within the game, as I prefer to explore places and talk to all the NPCs and solve quests without expecting an attack at any moment.

(Nintendo) games I played throughout my life and most enjoyed:
- Pokémon (trainer, ranger, mystery dungeon explorers of darkness), several editions - I especially loved mystery dungeon, since it had an awesome story-line
- Professor Layton series
- Dragon quest ix
- Mini ninjas (the music was awesome)
- Animal crossing

I also played others, but those were my favorites.

I tried "Life is strange" a while ago, although my laptop wasn't quite up to it, but I enjoyed the plot itself - although it stressed me out that you had to decide all the time on one way to respond or act, and then the other options would be gone - I love exploring all possible options in a game and explore places I missed later on. "Life is strange" made me wonder constantly over the alternative options I missed.

I started playing Zelda Skyward sword but got stuck on one of the bosses. I'll continue at some point. The landscapes and graphics generally are great. But I dislike there that you can't really explore the beautiful forests in peace but that someone will attack you all the time. Like - each time you come back after you left the place, all the creatures will be back and you have to fight them all over again. If I have to fight my way through somewhere, I'd like the enemies to stay gone so that I then can explore in peace. You notice - I much prefer to explore over fighting.

Maybe someone has a suggestion? I've been replaying my old games over and over again, and I'd like to try something new, but as I said, trying something new with no guidance feels daunting.

 

[honeytoast]

I'm unsure if this would fit what you are asking for, but would you be interested in playing Stardew Valley?

It is a farming sim, but you can go into the mines/dungeons (which are completely randomized) and fight enemies/mine for items.

I also want to ask if you know how to use and are comfortable about game emulators on the PC?

 

[Metalhead]

A good plot video game that I would recommend is TellTale's The Wolf Among Us.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Untitled Goose Game. It’s a fun and surprisingly relaxing game where you are a Goose that causes chaos in a town full of people. No violence and you get to steal things and go unpunished because you are a goose!

Animal Crossing New Horizons is also an excellent game. You can play at your own pace and however you wish to play.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I'm unsure if this would fit what you are asking for, but would you be interested in playing Stardew Valley?

It is a farming sim, but you can go into the mines/dungeons (which are completely randomized) and fight enemies/mine for items.

I also want to ask if you know how to use and are comfortable about game emulators on the PC?

I don't know if that one has some sort of plot or story-line? I'd really like that.

Uhm... I don't know what that is. So I would guess that I am not?

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Untitled Goose Game. It’s a fun and surprisingly relaxing game where you are a Goose that causes chaos in a town full of people. No violence and you get to steal things and go unpunished because you are a goose!

Animal Crossing New Horizons is also an excellent game. You can play at your own pace and however you wish to play.

Does the goose game have a story, an adventure?

I have Animal Crossing New Horizons It's one of those games I play if I want absolutely no nerves. I like it a lot, but now I'm at the point where all the major steps have happened and you're supposed to just "be there", plant things, expand your house and stuff, and that's when I get a bit bored. I guess I need some form of ongoing story.

 

[Misery]

I dont know if you use Steam at all, but if you do, a quick look at the "story rich" tab will bring up about 5 billionty options for story-heavy games, with the many popular ones filtered to immediately show up.

Anything I personally could suggest for PC out of my own library would be horror themed and probably short, I dont know if you'd care for that sort of thing. But there's so many options for something that is different from that. And on Steam at least, chances are, they cost very little.

I've got one possibility for you though that I'm directly aware of. Some of what you say you like sounds like it's right out of Shenmue, which is not horror-themed and DEFINITELY not short. Ever heard of that one? I dont know if that's on consoles or not, but it absolutely ticks a lot of the boxes for what you're looking for. You do need some patience with it though. It is quirky. But it's got a long-time following for a reason. It's an old game though; originally on the Dreamcast. There's remastered versions on Steam, they cost very little. I see them sitting at $6 to get both the first and second games in a pack. #3 (which is not old) is like, $2. Fans of that series tend to be like, REALLY into it. I've never played it myself though, it'd be beyond my patience limit, that one.


I wish I could recommend something guaranteed to be on the Switch for you, but my Switch generally hangs out in a corner collecting dust, I dont have the patience to deal with Nintendo's online shop. Dont know how anyone is supposed to find stuff on there.

Uhm... I don't know what that is. So I would guess that I am not?

An emulator is essentially a program that is capable of running old games, which you would download in the form of ROM files. There are different emulators for different consoles & devices. Even arcade games can be played on an emulator.

Like if you were wanting to play games on the old Super Nintendo or SNES, you could just get, you know, ALL of them in one download and run any of them through the emulator. Or any old console, pretty much all of them, even weird esoteric ones most people have never heard of, have been emulated.

I use emulators a lot myself, half of my PC's drive is focused on an emulation archive.

 

[Outdated]

I enjoy both games that are set in a fantasy setting, as well as games in a realistic world setting. If there's fighting, I'm okay with it, but I'd like it to be limited to certain places within the game, as I prefer to explore places and talk to all the NPCs and solve quests without expecting an attack at any moment.

I'm very much the same, I want games that test my intelligence, not my reflexes. For the past 12 months I've been heavily in to The Elder Scrolls Skyrim but I play it in God Mode and with AI Detection turned off. I'm not interested in the fighting aspects of the game in any way but a lot of the quests are also complex puzzles to work out. 12 months and I still haven't found everything yet.

 

[Kitsuna]

I second Stardew Valley and Untitled Goose Game. And yes- U.G.G has a loose storyline. Everytime you go into a new area, you’re given a list of tasks that sometimes require strategy, but it’s laid back and fun!

If you dislike sudden fighting, I don’t recommend Zelda. The graphics are definitely great, but I’m working my way through Breath of the Wild on Switch and the amount of times I’ve suddenly found myself accidentally in the middle of a camp of monsters who attack as a pack is annoying.

 

[TBRS1]

If you want to look at the past, the puzzle solving adventures of the Myst series is fun.

The early games are stylistically badly outdated (but still fun), while the later games are somewhat less outdated.

 

[noodal]

I find open research very daunting, so I was hoping that someone here could point me towards some games I could check out.

I mainly play Nintendo Switch, but would also be open to computer games. I much prefer single-player games over multi-player games.

I like games with an interesting and elaborate story-line, ideally with some sort of psychological component. I love crime-solving games (I loved the Professor Layton series). I enjoy both games that are set in a fantasy setting, as well as games in a realistic world setting. If there's fighting, I'm okay with it, but I'd like it to be limited to certain places within the game, as I prefer to explore places and talk to all the NPCs and solve quests without expecting an attack at any moment.

(Nintendo) games I played throughout my life and most enjoyed:
- Pokémon (trainer, ranger, mystery dungeon explorers of darkness), several editions - I especially loved mystery dungeon, since it had an awesome story-line
- Professor Layton series
- Dragon quest ix
- Mini ninjas (the music was awesome)
- Animal crossing

I also played others, but those were my favorites.

I tried "Life is strange" a while ago, although my laptop wasn't quite up to it, but I enjoyed the plot itself - although it stressed me out that you had to decide all the time on one way to respond or act, and then the other options would be gone - I love exploring all possible options in a game and explore places I missed later on. "Life is strange" made me wonder constantly over the alternative options I missed.

I started playing Zelda Skyward sword but got stuck on one of the bosses. I'll continue at some point. The landscapes and graphics generally are great. But I dislike there that you can't really explore the beautiful forests in peace but that someone will attack you all the time. Like - each time you come back after you left the place, all the creatures will be back and you have to fight them all over again. If I have to fight my way through somewhere, I'd like the enemies to stay gone so that I then can explore in peace. You notice - I much prefer to explore over fighting.

Maybe someone has a suggestion? I've been replaying my old games over and over again, and I'd like to try something new, but as I said, trying something new with no guidance feels daunting.

Yonder: the cloud catcher chronicles!! I was completely obsessed with this game. Absolutely no villains but a wonderful story and open world to explore with creatures, mysteries and lots of little quests. Cannot recommend enough. Same people made grow, song of the evertree which is also worth a look but yonder is hands down the best.

 

[UFO]

Disco Elysium. No fighting at all. Except one violent confrontation at the end of the game, but even that is more of scripted skill check than fighting. The world and the story are just great and have strong scent of philosophical satire in them.

Disco is spiritual descendant of now rather ancient Planescape Torment, which is my all-time favorite of story-heavy CRPGs. Thought it has turn-based fights which are really annoying (not hard, but annoying) especially somewhere in later half of the game. Bonus from the fact that dying is actually recommended

I also like walking simulators What Remains of Edith Finch and Firewatch. They might suffer from short play time (only couple of hours) and have little to do outside following the story telling.

"Life is strange" made me wonder constantly over the alternative options I missed.

I think that comes with about all games that have story decisions. Whole genre practically requires two or three replays with different choices to get all major variations of their story - and that means watching hours worth of same animation sequences again and again and again and again and again...

Do you prefer linear stories instead? Or games where choices don't really matter? Thought Life is Strange -games actually are like that while especially later games from below mentioned TellTale have more variance in events following different choices.

A good plot video game that I would recommend is TellTale's The Wolf Among U

I would also recommend the Fables-comics that the game is based on

Anything from TellTale is good choice. Some of their games were mediocre I admit, but never bad or outright stupid. Tales from the Borderlands is said to be actually better than actual Borderlands-games. Both of their Batman games (Batman and sequel The Enemy Within) were awesome.

But if Aurora was turned off by Life is Strange, then TellTale or similar adventure games of the genre are probably no-go as well. Especially if their save game system sucks as much as TellTale's system did...

 

[UberScout]

MINECRAFT

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Does the goose game have a story, an adventure?

I have Animal Crossing New Horizons It's one of those games I play if I want absolutely no nerves. I like it a lot, but now I'm at the point where all the major steps have happened and you're supposed to just "be there", plant things, expand your house and stuff, and that's when I get a bit bored. I guess I need some form of ongoing story.

Untitled Goose Game’s plot is simple: You’re a Goose and it’s your job to cause mayhem for the humans of a small town. You have a checklist of tasks to complete before the next area is opened up and after you clear enough of the main tasks g go or every area, optional tasks are given to you. You can drop items in the river and lake, make a boy trip and lose his glasses by sneakily untying his shoe, and scare a man by ringing a giant bell that is behind him.