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Wizardry CRPG for Kids...

pippin

Guest
A kid can play any game as long as his or her parent(s) are guiding them through the process. If you just give something to a kid then it's very likely that it will be ignored and forgotten. I remember reading this guy's experiences with his daughter, they used to play Vicky 2 together, but she did like 90% of the decisions. She lost a couple of battles and got sad because she thought it was game over, but her dad told her to keep playing and she ended up winning the game in the long run.
 

Saduj

Arcane
Joined
Aug 26, 2012
Messages
2,547
My little bro starting learning to spell by playing Ultimas III-IV as a 4-5 year old. He had no chance of finishing either game (and didn't care) but the speech system taught him to type certain words like JOB, GIVE, HEALTH, JOIN, YES, NO, NAME, etc. Games also requires that you be able to recognize many other words. Hell, just to get any game to work he had to be able to type LOAD "GAME NAME", 8, 1

Games were more educational when keyboard was main input device.
 
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
4,099
Location
Chicago, IL, Kwa
Dryad and rusalki titties hell yeah!

Seriously though probably only the first game. I can see kids struggling with navigating the city and desert in 2.


The AGDI remake does a nice job of addressing those navigational issues.

I think QFG is the perfect entry point for a child. In fact it's how both I and my nephew first got really into RPGs.
 
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Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,869
I played QFG1 EGA on a black & white EGA monitor when I was 8, so it's definitely possible. It took me a few years to beat it, though... but I didn't care too much.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
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Messages
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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Betrayal at Krondor. Was ten when I played it. Nothing came close to that experience.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,869
I was a little older at 13 when I played BaK, but it was amazing. I never finished the game, but just wandering around and opening those chests was awesome. I can't remember another game that gave me a feeling of a bigger world.
 

anvi

Prophet
Village Idiot
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Oct 12, 2016
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Kelethin
I don't think I ever played an RPG before about 8 ish, I played a lot of other types of games though. Thexder, Breakout, Pong, Manic Miner, Maniac Mansion, Police Quest, Cat, Commander Keen, Midwinter etc. I grew up in the best era of gaming.

I think my first RPG was Eye of the Beholder 2 which I still think is one of the best things I've ever played. It was great for kids, some of my buddies and I loved it so much. It was extremely immersive, creepy without being scary, and it had some depth without being complex. In hindsight it wasn't perfect because it was actually too hard for beginners, requiring you to deliberately grind on early areas over and over just to survive the later stages of the game, otherwise you get 1 shotted by Beholders that cast crazy powerful spells like Power Word Death or whatever. Also there was a whole level that you couldn't rest in which was really brutal. Once you know where to go and how to beat it, you can whiz through that level in half hour, but with no maps or internet and not much gaming experience or skill, it was really hard, maybe too hard. (But not always winning first time is a good thing and rare in gaming nowadays.) Also, at the same time the game was quite shallow because melee characters just had a single melee attack, and spell casters didn't have many spells. I love mages but all they had was about several spells. Also there weren't many items in the game. As great as old classics are, some standards are higher today.

But still, I would recommend that game to anyone who wants a game to introduce kids to RPG's. It is perfect for them, especially if you can give some pointers. And if they like that, Eye of the Beholder 3 is good as well. It got a lot of hate because it was badly programmed and buggy and was released too early which wasn't common back then, but it is still a really good game. The first one is too but I find that to be too mazy and I hate mazes.

Also there are logical conclusions to this progression too. Like doing EOTB2+3, then going on to Lands of Lore, and then maybe more of those games (although I only liked the first one). And then there are lots of other games similar to that from that era. Although I would just pick a few of the best, and then skip ahead to Legend of Grimrock 1. The puzzles might be hard for kids but maybe they will like the challenge and they can always google for solutions. And then moving on to some bigger and deeper games with different perspectives, like Summoner, Neverwinter Nights, etc. Also the first Vampire The Masquerade was a cool game as well. Bloodlines gets all the love but the first one was more like a traditional RPG and was under rated.

Betrayal At Krondor is a really amazing game, but I didn't play that until much later. I really regret not playing it as a kid because it would have blown me away.
 
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deuxhero

Arcane
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
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11,324
Location
Flowery Land
How about Expeditions: Conquistador?

Being historically accurate (and telling you when it isn't) should allow lots of flexibility in the age rating.
 

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,823
How about Expeditions: Conquistador?

Being historically accurate (and telling you when it isn't) should allow lots of flexibility in the age rating.
Too bad its so boring it may actually put your son or daughter out of RPGs for life, which wouldnt be the worst thing.
 

Trojan_generic

Magister
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
1,564
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
I suppose my kid will be the larper of the worst kind because he's playing Minecraft, creating all kinds of enormous houses, dinosaurs and shit like that. Otherwise, at age 7 he's still pretty much after shiny graphics more than anything else. Which is understandable as he can't read much yet but we are getting there. He loved watching his mother play Divinity: Original Sin, so there is hope.

Just my 2 cents of reality because I know most of the people commenting here will never have kids.
 

Siobhan

Arbiter
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Feb 25, 2013
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Going back to the actual thread topic, Albion is a good choice for reading-age kids, for the same reason that SausageInYourFace recommended JRPGs: linear progression and simplistic character system, but also a gripping story, bright colors, and many hallmarks of old-school RPGs (in particular turn-based combat and fairly well-designed dungeons). The game is a little grindy, but that's usually not much of a problem for kids, they're more tolerant of repetition. Some of the dungeons could be scary to a young child, especially those with demons and the floating ghost hands, but that is also an opportunity for them to learn that they can face their fears and overcome them if they keep a cool head and prepare well.

My son had lots of fun with it when he was 7. We had to play the first Toronto dungeon together to get past the dull start, and he got bored after the first time you return from the Toronto, but that's alright, that's still about 20h of playtime. And I was just happy I could get him to read something in German --- growing up in the US, he naturally gravitates towards English media.
 

CreamyBlood

Arcane
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
1,392
PC's didn't exist when I was a kid but my dad worked at IBM and I played Adventure, Star Trek and Hunt the Wumpus on a mainframe. Also played with stacks of old computer punch cards.

Later on it was Atari 2600 stuff, Intellivision then the entire Atari line and Commodores.

I'm trying to think of RPG's but it was probably the Ultimas on C64. I also hung out with my girlfirends 9 year old daughter years later and got her into Nocturne (a horror game) and she became really good at Quake 3. Yeah, not RPG but that's my only experience with kids and games. She's in her twenties now and doesn't remember any of it, so whatever. She did kick ass though, surely struck fear into the the hearts of many online dudes and didn't know it.
 

Wayward Son

Fails to keep valuable team members alive
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Anytown, USA
If I ever have kids, I am gonna raise them on playing Wizardry, Might and Magic, Ultimas, Wasteland, old Fallouts, and IE games. My kids will grow up to be nerds and geeks.
 

Hyperion

Arcane
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,120
I would say RPG's with lots of reading, and puzzles. Started on JRPG's when I was 3 or 4. They were a blast to play, put my reading skills years ahead of all my classmates in school, made it so I never needed to study, started early on problem solving skills, and developed hand-eye coordination for use in sports.

If I'm ever stupid enough to have a kid, I would try to simulate going through games in chronological order, working our way up to modern gaming.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Developer
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May 6, 2011
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Middle Empire
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
i don't think it matters what rpg's are good for what age. let them play whatever they want to play, jesus, don't be a fuckwit parent who tries to make a mini clone of themselves.

let the fucking kid live his/her own goddamn life and make their own decisions. at most, give them all the options you possibly can, and inform them about everything, and then you let them live their own life.

that said, my first RPG was FF1 for NES. loved it!
I kind of agree. Letting the kid live his own life might be a bit too much, but you need to find a middle ground between what he wants and what you want to do.
My father tried very hard to have me stop reading gamebooks, playing board games, then RPG, then miniature games. The end result is that I am here, on the Codex.
You should introduce them to things you think are good, but not forcing them on your kids seems pretty reasonable.
My wife is worried because our elder daughter (5.5 year) is obsessed with pokemon, but the Pokemon Trade Game made her realize that throwing 10 coins and dealing damage on heads would result in 5 damage on average, and helped her grasp multiplications by 10 (she realises that 5 10 damage markers are like 50 points, and that 10 are required to kill a pokemon with 100 HP), so I think it is a good way to push them forward. Plus if she is introduced son enough to the complete rules, she should be able to make good trades in high school.
 
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Deleted Member 16721

Guest
You should introduce them to things you think are good, but not forcing them on your kids seems pretty reasonable.

Right. Show them what you like but don't force it on them, see what happens.

Strangely enough I just happened to stumble upon RPGs when I was really young. The original Zelda on NES was big and I liked it a lot at the time. A few years later I'd walk to the local mom and pops game store to rent games and I was always attracted to the games that looked medieval, or had warriors with swords and magic, etc. Once I found the early Final Fantasy's and Chrono Trigger, it was over. RPGs changed my life.

Took me a long while to get a hold of Chrono Trigger, too. The one copy they had was always rented, so finally I figured out they could reserve the game for me and call me when it comes in. They didn't see the game back for an entire month. :)
 

eric__s

ass hater
Developer
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
2,301
Man, thinking back on it, I'd beaten a bunch of Wizardries, Dungeon Hack, Stonekeep, Blade of Destiny and Fallout by the time I was 8. Give your kid Blade of Destiny.

Actually Stonekeep could be a great game for a kid. Pretty simple, no complicated stats to keep track of, lots of fun exploration. It distills RPGs into some of its most fun and simple pieces. A kid could really love it.

That said, there's no fucking way I'm letting my kids play video games.
 

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