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OS X New gamer seeking some game recommendations!

T

thankyouterror

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2013
8
0
Hi all,

I apologize if there has been a similar post; I did a search but didn't find anything. I'm taking a computer programming class and I love it, and I'm interested in learning about game design potentially. The kicker is the only computer games I've played are the Sims and Doom, back before I had a mac. I figured what better place to get suggestions than on a forum of gamers? I'm a little short on money so I can't buy anything that's above $40, unless I could find a used version or a rental. I read about a games called Gone Home and Amnesia that I might look into getting later on. How do people keep up to date on games and are older games obsolete with newer macs? I have a 15" macbook pro, 10.7.5. I would greatly appreciate ANY game suggestions. I'm really interested in fantasy worlds and I'm not very interested in gaming violence, which is why I haven't played much before.

Thanks,

Kieran
 
Arcen Games:
http://www.arcengames.com/w/

Excellent indie games, and they offer both steam and non-DRM versions with cross-compaitable CD-Keys.

Civ V for Mac has also become much more playable after a few updates, so I can recommend that now.

Any of Trine series makes an excellent time-killer.

Too be honest, if you can boot camp it just bootcamp as you get significantly better performance. The only reason why I have games on my Mac side is for convenience, since I do everything(Productivity, web surfing, liesure) on my mac side besides windows games and Bentley Microstation for Civil Engineering CAD work.
 
Everything from Spiderweb - Avernum series and all

Torchlight

Trine series

Batman Arkham Asylum

Victoria 2

Tropico series

Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2

And for true classics, try Gog.com - although most of them are crappy Windows versions (particularly in terms of screen resolution/definition), you can find a lot of nice/cheap options there.
 
If you want to learn about game design - I'd recommend checking out either a 3DS or Wii U and see what Nintendo's creativity and design is like.

Their games continue to impress me - not on the Mac of course - but great game design if you have some money to drop on the hardware and software.
 
As someone who is new to gaming, you have some great, cheap options because there are many older games that can be purchased for very reasonable prices. As oiuh151 recommended, check out the steam store. My advice to you is to buy games on sale. Steam puts together a sale near the end of every year with many of their best selling games. If you wait for about 2 months, you will be able to buy some great games for at most 5$ a piece, and each game alone can have 100 hours plus of original content. If you don't like video game violence, the portal series is very fun, and it runs well even on low end macs. Again, I would wait for a sale, as you can probably get both games for under 10$ total. Check out some indie games also. They tend to be fun, retro, and many don't have violence. Steam has a very friendly GUI, so once sales come up, sort through the games and read user reviews. Almost any game that steam puts up for the winter sale will be great, and if you are a picky gamer, they make it pretty simple to sort through the games with trailers, screenshots, system requirements, and user reviews all posted on the same page.
 
Already mentioned I know, but the Portal games are wonderful and deserve the praise they get. They're non-violent and demonstrate some brilliant game design that gets you thinking. Both are excellent and the 2nd is particularly rewarding when played cooperatively. It encourages logical thinking, puzzle solving and communication between both players. I'd check out Steam and wait for a sale.

You may also want to keep an eye on Humble Bundles which offer incredible value with a 'choose what to pay' type system for various bundles of games. Worms Reloaded is in the current one (I love a bit of worms - scratches bum).

Humble Bundle

I don't really use my Mac for gaming much so I've little to suggest but there's various titles in the Apple Store with varying prices. Race Driver Grid is an very enjoyable racer (played the xbox 360 version) as is TOCA Race Driver 3 if you can still get hold of it (it doesn't look as pretty but is a huge game).

I know it's violent but Halo still plays quite well and has a place in gaming history :)
 
OP specifically stated an interest in fantasy and not violence/FPS type games.
Oy.
OP, which MBP do you have? There are a few that would match your description with different capabilities.
Somebody mentioned Torchlight which I have not played myself but heard is good. Personally I prefer strategy such as Europa Universalis series. Heroes of Might and Magic has more of a fantasy touch but still violent.

You know, there are some good free games at sites such as
newgrounds
armorgames
notdoppler
kongregate

Some of their fantasy RPG or fantasy strategy games can be fun, though lots end up being turn-based strategy or "defense" style games which get repetitive.




oiuh151 said:
http://store.steampowered.com/browse/mac/

My personal recommendations:
Half-Life series
Portal series
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
Team Fortress 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Killing Floor

and good indie games:
http://store.steampowered.com/searc...t_order=DESC&category1=998&genre=Indie&os=mac
Click to expand...
 
The OP clearly stated that violent games is NOT a priority....

Anyhoo.... some good recommendations would be some adventure or story-telling games. Most of them do have occasional violence or confrontation scenes at some point, but mostly you make role-playing decisions which affect the storyline and game outcome. Violent fighting becomes secondary in these "storybook" type games.

Telltale Games have solid storybook-like games:

The Walking Dead (chapter based adventure story game)

The Wolf Among Us (a surrealistic fantasy-fable, think of Grimm's Fairy Tales teleported into modern New York City)

Tales of Monkey Island / Secret of Monkey Island


Also the "simulator" type games are good, and outright violence is minimal. Tropico, you simulate a banana republic island dictatorship (e.g. you are like a fictional Fidel Castro trying to make your little communist island succeed). The Sims 3 would fall into this category, but TS3 runs very badly even on the most powerful Macs (so buyer beware that TS3 is a terrible Mac port). The new Sim City also.

Sid Meir's Railroads
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Limbo, Nihilumbra, The Cave
 
Thanks everyone, I really really appreciate that you took the time to give me suggestions!! I looked at/bookmarked all the links and I am looking into all the games.

This will make me sound completely gaming-illiterate but I didn't realize you could buy/download games online; makes compete sense since that's what we do with music/shows now. That's definitely convenient

----------
MacLC said:
OP specifically stated an interest in fantasy and not violence/FPS type games.
Oy.
OP, which MBP do you have? There are a few that would match your description with different capabilities.
Somebody mentioned Torchlight which I have not played myself but heard is good. Personally I prefer strategy such as Europa Universalis series. Heroes of Might and Magic has more of a fantasy touch but still violent.

You know, there are some good free games at sites such as
newgrounds
armorgames
notdoppler
kongregate

Some of their fantasy RPG or fantasy strategy games can be fun, though lots end up being turn-based strategy or "defense" style games which get repetitive.
Click to expand...

Going off my "about this mac," it's 4 GB, 1067 MHz, 2.66 GHz processor. I think I got it at the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011. RPG are definitely a primary interest. Thanks for those sites, I hadn't even considered free games, that's awesome.
 
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