Games That Travel Well 317
hipernoico writes "Wired has a summary of good portable RPG games for the end of this year. 'What better way to travel than in the company of a dragon-slaying knight? ' " I've travelled thousands of miles playing various Game Boy Pokemon titles. Although lately WarioWare Touched and Meteos have taken the place of my usual RPG travel companions. What games will you be playing while dreading arriving at your parents house?
Break out the Pokemon (Score:5, Insightful)
Who knew that you could log hundreds of blissfully silent hours playing various Pokemon titles?
R
Re:Break out the Pokemon (Score:3)
Re:Break out the Pokemon (Score:4, Funny)
Um. Pretty much everyone, circa 1999... I never did quite catch 'em all.
Re:Break out the Pokemon (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Break out the Pokemon (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Break out the Pokemon (Score:4, Funny)
When my husband determined that
A girl on slashdot? Or do you live in Massachusetts.
Re:Break out the Pokemon (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Break out the Pokemon (Score:2)
Uuuuh... (Score:5, Funny)
This is Slashdot, I live at my parent's house!
Re:Uuuuh... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Uuuuh... (Score:2, Funny)
Dread arriving at my parents' house? (Score:3, Funny)
Just kidding, I don't live in my parents' basement... I live in the attic.
Re:Dread arriving at my parents' house? (Score:2, Funny)
Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:3, Informative)
One can only play Hangman four to five times before boredom sets in.
Tic-tac-toe is amusing two or three times.
Crossword puzzles are only entertaining for a maximum of 1.3 hours.
Video games can be entertaining for 20+ hours straight.
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:2)
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:4, Funny)
Because that's how long it takes for you to realize you just spent 78 minutes doing a dull, monotonous crossword puzzle.
And that's not 78 minutes for the trip. Its 78 minutes for your whole life.
Yeah, pen and paper games don't really seem like such a good idea to me. It seems like another extension of those lame car songs they sang in all those Chevy Chase National Lampoon movies. I can see what would happen:
"Take that pen out of your sister's eye, or so help me I WILL STOP THIS CAR!"
"The window is not a sketchpad! Don't think that I can't take this belt off while driving."
"No, you can't get high off the ink. I don't care if you drink it. We're not stopping to get you a coke."
"No, the dog doesn't like it when you put a pen there. DON'T PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH AFTER THAT!"
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:2)
A mathematically reasonable description of why I get bored with crosswords.
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:3, Informative)
Amen. There are even some more advanced games that can be played on the go. Ghoulash [ghoulash.com], for example, only requires two printed sheets and two pencils. Scenarios take about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, and you can pause at any time.
I've also heard of people taking printable board games like Battle for Moscow [grognard.com] and mounting them on thick cardboard sheets. They're then able to put pins through the pieces to keep them in place at all times.
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:2)
"Honey, I have a great idea. Let's arm the kids with sharp objects before we put them in the back seat for the trip this year!"
One word : Dramamine
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:2)
OTOH, if you have your 12 year old and 15 year old in the back seat, they're probably old enough to handle a few pins.
I know someone was working on a magnetic version, but I don't know how that turned out.
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:2)
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:2)
There's also a game I used to play as a kid on pen and paper. The way it worked was that each person had three battleships drawn out on a base on an edge of the paper. There were islands in the middle. On each persons turn, they could opt to move one battleship 5 spaces or move one battleship 3 spaces and then shoot at an enemy ship. The spaces were just dashes on the paper and shooting i
Re:Save the batteries...Pen AND Paper Games... (Score:3, Funny)
Recharge the batteries, save the trees.
"tic tack toe"
The only way to win is not to play.
"crossword puzzles"
Yeah, throw a twelve-year-old kid today's New York Times crossword puzzle and see how many they're actually able to complete before "I don't understand any of these, this sucks, are we there yet?"
Advance Wars (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Advance Wars (Score:2, Informative)
And you can also unlock extra stuff if you insert the GBA titles in the DS's GBA slot.
Re:Advance Wars (Score:2)
DS version well worth it. (Score:4, Interesting)
The have the new dual-strike CO mode + CO swaps, which adds a whole extra level to the gameplay. You can really save yourself from a tight spot. On the flip side, it makes the COM tougher in some situations. Careful strategy still wins the day. The extra units are kinda neat, although the new tank is silly
Pocket PC maturing nicely.. (Score:5, Informative)
Adventures: With scummvm - http://www.scummvm.org/ [scummvm.org] you can run any old lucasarts adventure perfectly:
And modern PocketPC's are starting to have 'doable' processing power too.. Dell Axim X51v has 640x480 screen plus a true 3D accellerator, for example. I bet PSX-1 emulators will start to work soon enough...
Ah there already is one.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ah there already is one.. (Score:2)
Re:Pocket PC maturing nicely.. (Score:2)
Beats of Rage [senileteam.com]
It's pretty fun.
Super Mario (Score:5, Insightful)
But when I get bored of those I usually play a Metroid game or a Zelda game.
A massively in-depth RPG would seem to me to be a poor travel game. They require too much time and memory (your memory) to be able to jump in whenever you wanted.
Re:Super Mario (Score:2)
Re:Super Mario (Score:3, Funny)
I have a game (Score:5, Funny)
Imagine it is like slashdot, but without moderation and only between two or 3 people. I had a feeling it would supplement and even replace gaming and web forums, but I don't think it will catch on.
If you try it some time, remember that is might be trademarked or patented, so be cautious who you do it around.
Re:I have a game (Score:2)
Re:I have a game (Score:2)
Re:I have a game (Score:4, Funny)
So, you repeat yourself every so often and at every new topic one of you shouts "FIRST POST!!!"?
Re:I have a game (Score:2)
Re:I have a game (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I have a game - Is it called Eliza? (Score:5, Funny)
How do you do. Please state your problem.
>> I spend too much time with computers.
Why do you mention computers ?
>> You are one.
Does it please you to believe I am one ?
>> Yes.
You seem to be quite positive.
>> I suppose I am.
How long have you been ?
>> 31 years.
I'm not sure I understand you fully.
>> Join the club.
Please go on.
>> You don't make too much sense yourself.
We were discussing you -- not me.
RIAA & MPAA Cease And Decist (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I have a game (Score:2)
Or is that Girls.Oogle.com?
Re:I have a game (Score:2)
You can get it from this place [friendshos...online.org], but you have to get it yourself.
What? (Score:2)
What games? (Score:5, Funny)
Obviously, Need for Speed Underground 2 [eagames.com] .
No, not on a game console. I mean fighting my way through holiday interstate and city traffic.
GBA/DS Games (Score:5, Informative)
Fire Emblem and Advance Wars (DS or GBA) are games that make journeys appear to pass in a flash: I've nearly missed stations on the train because I was too involved in the game. They're both turn based and easily suspendable, so interruptions don't matter.
Re:GBA/DS Games (Score:2)
Golden Sun 2 is also excellent - but I'm a bit lost right near the end...
Re:GBA/DS Games (Score:2)
How about RPG's for Laptops? (Score:2, Informative)
So far I have found:
Diablo II runs well
NWN runs ok if you turn everything down
Re:How about RPG's for Laptops? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How about RPG's for Laptops? (Score:2)
Re:How about RPG's for Laptops? (Score:2)
Definitely, NetHack! (Score:5, Informative)
(Of course, it helps to have the portable hardware to carry it around on...)
R
Re:Definitely, NetHack! (Score:2)
Re:Definitely, NetHack! (Score:2)
Oh... and most of these devices have software keyboards, so if you really need it, it's there.
Re:Definitely, NetHack! (Score:2)
A Blackberry is a pocket device with a sufficient number of buttons.
Re:Definitely, NetHack! (Score:2)
Re:Definitely, NetHack! (Score:3, Insightful)
Just FYI, that's an urban legend.
Screw brain dead games (Score:5, Insightful)
Both of which keeps them somewhat quiet except for real interaction that should be welcomed by any parent. And teaches them valuable skills.
Otherwise I could simply load up on dvd's of cartoon-network recordings and let them waste their brain on the built in DVD player.
Re:Screw brain dead games (Score:2, Funny)
What tense was that in, again? Your future kids? (Score:4, Insightful)
My kids will be armed with digital cameras and a handheld GPS back there. They will be encouraged to track our progress on the GPS as well as find waypoints as well as taking photos of a list of items.
Both of which keeps them somewhat quiet...
Your tenses are inconsistent, but I'm getting the distinct feeling that your kids are hypothetical, or at least that their potential game playing days are in the future.
I'm a single father of 12-year-old boy/girl twins, having raised them alone since they were born. On long car trips -- we do a 17-plus hour drive from Minnesota to our Colorado cabin every summer -- you find a balance of things to do and think about, or to sometimes zone out over. Not everything has to fit the program. Kids will not fit your program anyway.
Concentrate on providing them with positive stuff to do -- and helping you figure out the map is a great one -- rather than laying into anything they enjoy that doesn't meet your standards for edutainment. The kids'll be much happier, they won't regard learning as a burden because you'll have lured them to it rather than cracking down and forcing it on them, and you're going to be oh so much saner.
With respect to video games in particular, I would suggest that borrowing a gameboy sort of thing for long-distance trips isn't such a bad deal.
In all seriousness, the only parent I know well who actually attempts to constantly make every experience into an educational wonderland actually is a control freak whose child is pretty miserable. Kid has a reading disorder of some sort, and the father is unreal about it. It's sad to be around.
Just my advice based on experience in the past (and present).
Cards. (Score:2, Insightful)
On top o
Re:Cards. (Score:2)
It's perfectly legal to play poker in the US, even for money. The only time you may run afoul of the law is if the house collects money from the players or rakes the pot. IANAL, but I do have a regular game going so I've investigated this a bit.
I think geeks who haven't tried it should try playing some Hold'em. A lot of it is calculating od
Women in MMORPGs (Score:2)
A summary containing only 3 games? (Score:5, Informative)
Basically the article boils down to this: Final Fantasy IV is good for the GBA. Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time is good for DS. PoPoLoCrois is good for PSP.
Any other
I find the summary quite lacking.
Re:A summary containing only 3 games? (Score:2)
Personally, I think you'd be better off transcoding some video to take with you if you've got a PSP.
I've got it all figured out (Score:2)
*twitch*
I can feel the withdrawal symptoms manifesting already.
Sudoku (Score:3, Informative)
What games will you be playing? (Score:5, Funny)
As always my saving strategy is to drink heavily, hopefully inconspicously, while waiting for the Good Mother, the Saintly Daughter and the Rigtheous Father to fall asleep and allow me to spark up a phat doobie on the deck and watch the ocean rock the Christmas lights strung on the masts of the sail boats.
Toys R Us (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Toys R Us (Score:2)
TETRIS! (Score:3, Interesting)
Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks (Score:2, Interesting)
Dice. Paper. Pencil. Playing the game properly: which means making every roll and resisting the temptation to 'go back' to the last location if I made the wrong choice. For an old-school, dice-
Good Rpg's for Xmas Travel (Score:2, Informative)
Castlevania: Sorrow series (Score:2)
Travel Jenga (Score:5, Funny)
RPG? (Score:2)
I always take the DS for my mother (Score:2)
I have trouble playing any games in the car but I did take the DS with me on a cruise last week. That was only to play Animal Crossing though. The
GURPS? (Score:2)
DS or GBA? (Score:2)
GBA looks like it's winning so far with Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy Tactics, Advance Wars 2, Fire Emblem, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.
But, the DS also has Castlevania (forget the name) and Advance Wars 2, but I don't see any Final Fantasy on there.
So, keeping in the realm of good travel games (a
Re:DS or GBA? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:DS or GBA? (Score:2)
Is the screen on the DS that the GBA games play on any bigger/smaller than the single screen on the GBA? Meaning, is there any compromise in playing quality when playing a GBA game on a DS?
Re:DS or GBA? (Score:2)
Personally, I also always had nagging guilt that I should be playing a native DS game rather than a GBA game, and I don't like that feeling.
Re:DS or GBA? (Score:2)
The DS can play GBA games on either screen (selectable in the system options). Each is slightly larger than a GBA screen in terms of size and pixels, so the DS puts a thin black border around the game when playing to keep it pixel-perfect. It's quite nice, really.
Re:DS or GBA? (Score:2)
NBA 2006 (Score:2)
thankyouthankyouI'llbehereallweek...
I've got Rogue and Hack on my GBA. (Score:2)
Dreading parents house? (Score:4, Insightful)
This year my family are coming to my home. If I need some space, I will do what I would do if I were visiting my own parents: go and meet some friends in the pub. The time together will be great though: we will talk, eat, play board games, visit other family and friends, go to the movies, go skiing, go and see Body World II, etc, etc.
Don't forget: time with your family is precious and you can't get back the time you waste today. If your parents are still alive or together, maximise the time with them. Life passes too quickly and they're only getting older. You dread seeing them - how would you feel about your own children having that sentiment?
Re:Dreading parents house? (Score:4, Insightful)
There can be a variety of reasons why people dread being around family, and a lot of them can be rather legitimate. If your family is functional, and isn't a pain to be around, that's great. But realize not everyone has the opportunity to have such an experience.
Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:DS or PSP (Score:2)
Re:DS or PSP (Score:2)
Re:DS or PSP (Score:2)
Then you've already made up your mind, haven't you?
Re:DS or PSP (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Gotta agree about FFIV (Score:2)
FFIV Advance for the win.
Re:Playing on the road (Score:2)
Re:Read a book. Plenty of games there (Score:2)