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Mellow games

Started by Famous Mortimer, 27 June, 2015, 10:09:57 PM

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Famous Mortimer

Having just failed a few times at a pain-in-the-ass FPS mission, I begin to appreciate the joy of a nice mellow game, one where you can just explore a bit, or it's fun puzzles, or there's nothing much to worry about.

Oddly, I hear good things about "Euro Truck Simulator 2" in this regard, and I have it as part of a HumbleBundle from ages ago, but can anyone recommend a good mellow game? Perhaps one of the "Civilization" or "Sim City" games on the easiest setting?

Banners

Civ V will steal your life, but is very mellow I guess, even when you're fighting with Stealth Bombers and Giant Death Robots. Enjoying Invisible, Inc. at the moment which is also turn-based, but in a very different vein.

Professor Bear

Proteus - going into it cold is recommended.
Also Flower, where you move a petal blown on the wind around various meadows.
Despite its reputation as a killing spree simulator, GTA5 is actually a great game for just knocking about - and one of the few online experiences I've had recently that hasn't sucked the faith in humanity from my bones, as it's just the regular game sandpit with other players in it somewhere or other that you can seek out and interact with or simply ignore.
My usual "brain off" games are Fallout DLCs like Point Lookout or Honest Hearts, which I find are great fun if you lower the difficulty, ignore the main quests and just go exploring, though obviously they both still involve shooting at things now and then.  There's a lot of world-building that went into them is largely unappreciated (Honest Hearts is deeply unloved because the main story can be finished in about 40 minutes), but which draws on a lot of B-movie sci-fi.

ThryllSeekyr

I want my life to be Mellow, not my games.

Some of those games sound good though, but Euro-Truck-Simulator sounds tedious and especially if you do drive one in real life. Possibly last thing you wan to do keep driving one after getting back from work.

I, Cosh

We never really die.

Link Prime

I found 'The Room' (and its sequel) on iOS to be challenging in a relaxing and atmospheric way.
As The Bear states, most large sandbox games can be quite relaxing too- just wandering around off mission.

For me, the ultimate in game down-time is a spot of fishing in Ocarina of Time / Majoras Mask.

CheechFU

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on 27 June, 2015, 10:09:57 PM
Having just failed a few times at a pain-in-the-ass FPS mission, I begin to appreciate the joy of a nice mellow game, one where you can just explore a bit, or it's fun puzzles, or there's nothing much to worry about.

Oddly, I hear good things about "Euro Truck Simulator 2" in this regard, and I have it as part of a HumbleBundle from ages ago, but can anyone recommend a good mellow game? Perhaps one of the "Civilization" or "Sim City" games on the easiest setting?
Crusader kings 2, very slow paced grand strategy game which also has a very excellent game of thrones mod for it. Don't be intimidated by all the DLC for it, you don't need it but some of it like Way of Life do add some cool features.
Kentucky Route Zero. Point and click adventure game with excellent music.

Professor Bear

In the original GTA: San Andreas, I used to drive to Las Venturas (the in-game version of Las Vegas), find a casino, and then play blackjack while listening to the in-game radio.  It was undemanding fun, but if your in-game luck is poor (because you haven't found any of the lucky horseshoes dotted around the map), you'll lose more than you win until all your money is gone, so you go out onto the streets looking for people to mug for cash, then come back and gamble it away in hopes of recouping your losses, and this process continues until you're in for 20 large with the casino and they send people after you to break your legs.  It's the most accurate gambling game ever made, really - especially when your character starts starving because he's so broke he hasn't been able to afford food for days.

I can also heartily recommend grinding to raise your skills in Skyrim as an insomnia cure, as I've conked out multiple times while working on my alchemy and smithing alone.  I also hear there are people who keep playing after they have all the trophies - wierdos! - just to keep their in-game family on the go.  They get married, build a house, adopt kids, get a family pet, open a store - that kind of thing - and barely leave the towns/cities where they settle down.

Famous Mortimer

Word round the campfire is that playing Elite: Dangerous the ultra-safe, shipping routes way is a nice mellow experience, I might give that a try.

Dandontdare

Quote from: Banners on 27 June, 2015, 11:11:33 PM
Civ V will steal your life, but is very mellow I guess, even when you're fighting with Stealth Bombers and Giant Death Robots.

I'ma civ-addict. Usually Civ5 but I still play 4 or even 3 occasionally, and can lose whole weekends to it. Often play while "watching" TV or listening to radio.

The only problem with these games is that it becomes clear fairly early whether you're winning or losing and it's not easy to swing things round.

I tend to play on the normal or slightly-easier-than-normal settings - not challenging as there's very little chance of losing unless I do something stupid, but I still find it satisfying building my empire and then raising a huge army that can sweep across the globe crushing all before it, bwahahaha.

If I play the more challenging settings where victory isn't guaranteed, it can just be frustrating - everybody seems more advanced than you and when they declare war, you just watch your forces whittled down until defeat becomes inevitable. I usually disable the culture and diplomacy victory types - culture is boring (forget the giant death robots, build opera houses and hotels to boost tourism!); and I find the AI diplomacy to be a bit shit - decisions seem to make no sense - a long-time friend and ally will suddenly denounce you for no apparent reason and responses to questions make no logical sense.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

#10
If you like Civ you should give Sid Meier's Pirates! a go. It's a fairly laid back and addictive series of mini-games that can be played several different ways.

My typical game goes like this:

1) Realise I've been playing a wee bit too long.
2) "I'll just sink this last ship."
3) "Now I've too much cargo, I'll just stop at the nearest port and sell it off"
4) "Oh dear, it's an unfriendly port, looks like I'll have to conquer it!"
5) "OK, conquering this port has tanked its economy, I'm not getting a good price on these goods, and they can't afford to buy them all anyway. I'll have to find another friendly port!"
6) Sail halfway across the map to get to the nearest friendly port, where I finally sell off all my cargo.
7) "What's that you say mis barmaid? A Treasure ship just left?"
8) Go to step 2
You may quote me on that.

Dandontdare

Quote from: Doctor Pops on 01 July, 2015, 04:44:50 PM
If you like Civ you should give Sid Meier's Pirates! a go. It's a fairly laid back and addictive series of mini-games that can be played several different ways.

My typical game goes like this:

1) Realise I've been playing a wee bit too long.
2) "I'll just sink this last ship."
3) "Now I've too much cargo, I'll just stop at the nearest port and sell it off"
4) "Oh dear, it's an unfriendly port, looks like I'll have to conquer it!"
5) "OK, conquering this port has tanked its economy, I'm not getting a good price on these goods, and they can't afford to buy them all anyway. I'll have to find another friendly port!"
6) Sail halfway across the map to get to the nearest friendly port, where I finally sell off all my cargo.
7) "What's that you say mis barmaid? A Treasure ship just left?"
8) Go to step 2

I did enjoy pirates (apart from the dancing and sword fighting bits). Lovely mechanics fro ship movement and combat, but after a while it got a bit samey. Have you tried Railroads?

Definitely Not Mister Pops

Quote from: Dandontdare on 01 July, 2015, 05:10:23 PM
Quote from: Doctor Pops on 01 July, 2015, 04:44:50 PM
If you like Civ you should give Sid Meier's Pirates! a go. It's a fairly laid back and addictive series of mini-games that can be played several different ways.

My typical game goes like this:

1) Realise I've been playing a wee bit too long.
2) "I'll just sink this last ship."
3) "Now I've too much cargo, I'll just stop at the nearest port and sell it off"
4) "Oh dear, it's an unfriendly port, looks like I'll have to conquer it!"
5) "OK, conquering this port has tanked its economy, I'm not getting a good price on these goods, and they can't afford to buy them all anyway. I'll have to find another friendly port!"
6) Sail halfway across the map to get to the nearest friendly port, where I finally sell off all my cargo.
7) "What's that you say mis barmaid? A Treasure ship just left?"
8) Go to step 2

I did enjoy pirates (apart from the dancing and sword fighting bits). Lovely mechanics fro ship movement and combat, but after a while it got a bit samey. Have you tried Railroads?

I quite liked the sword fighting, but the dancing minigame was just a tedious chore. Never played Railroads, looks like one of those Tycoon games, and I've never been able to get into them.
You may quote me on that.

JamesC

Yoshi's Wooly World has a 'Mellow' mode.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

Quote from: Dandontdare on 01 July, 2015, 04:37:29 PM
I tend to play on the normal or slightly-easier-than-normal settings - not challenging as there's very little chance of losing unless I do something stupid, but I still find it satisfying building my empire and then raising a huge army that can sweep across the globe crushing all before it, bwahahaha.


I think that's the great thing about the Sid Meier's games I've played. The difficulty settings are well balanced. On the lower settings you can play it casually, without devoting much attention to it, yet still derive a great deal of satisfaction. On higher difficulties, it's a properly frustrating hardcore challenge, and while you may not acheive as much, the victories are just as satisfying. Maybe even more so.
You may quote me on that.