Two (or three) game suggestion requests. (Not necessarily on Steam)

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Can you suggest one or more games these ideas? The game does not need to be on Steam, or even on PC -- feel free to name games that are for any system. Games that aren't in English are welcome, too, though it would be nice if there were fan translations.


1. Something that can let me build stuff, with relatively few constraints.

Basically, I want a sandbox game, but specifically one that focuses on buildings. This sorta takes on two different subcateogories, both of which I'm interested in:

1a. Building/structure sim

Y'know how people can heavily customize their trucks in the various Truck Simulator games? Is there one that does this but for buildings? So, maybe like an architecture simulator or an interior design simulator.

Realism is not necessary (but can be nice, especially we're talking about modern architectural styles), but detail is. So, Minecraft and Terraria are too blocky. Not something I usually say, but in this case, visual detail is important.

1b. Settlement or city building sim

Here are some ideas I have in mind:
* Age of Empires, minus having to compete with other players, but with more emphasis on making your civilization more interesting. (If you get to do cooperative things, like you get more than just extra gold for linking markets by trade, then that's even better.)
* Settlement or city builder, but without having to worry about resources -- just playing with the look of things and/or their mechanical interactions. I picked up Banished a little while back, trying to get something like this, and it's a decent game, but a lot more focused on survival and resource management than I was hoping for.

Bonus points if the game incorporates energy resource constraints and/or environmental constraints, though this isn't strictly necessary.

I've heard Cities: Skylines suggested to me before. Does it treat city building as something where you can really express yourself creatively, or does it focus more on solving puzzles created by constraints? Alternative question: can I create a settlement/city atop swampland, without filling it in but by working around and on top of the water, and thus end up with things like houses on poles, houseboats, and boats as a primary form of transportation? And how much control do I have over the terrain -- can I change the distribution of mountains, plains, and water to suit my desires?


2. A game where the primary protagonist (i.e. the party leader, the first playable character you get, or at least the most important one) is a female knight or paladin. Or a similarly well-armored character class.

Do please specify whether the game allows you to choose character class/build or gender to get this result. Bonus points if both are predetermined, or if character class can be chosen but affects the story (e.g. Dragon Age: Origins, where the mage background applies to the mage class, though the noble background applies to both rogue and warrior classes).

JRPG, WRPG, dungeon-crawler/roguelike, and action RPG suggestions are all welcome. Most games that have knights or paladins will probably have a fantasy setting, but this is not strictly necessary.

[76561198162727631]

1. Minecraft.
2. Final Fantasy 13.

[GLO BOY GOAT]

minecraft?

[mellow]

1b - dwarf fortress or rimworld. dwarf fortress is free, get it with lazy newb pack

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Dwarf Fortress has an ASCII UI, right? I'm normally fine with that -- I play Nethack with an ASCII UI too -- but in this case I'm specifically looking for something with fine visual detail. Finer than Minecraft, for that matter. Rimworld, unfortunately, seems to fall into that category, as interest as the store page's description is.

[OldGoldie]

Just out of curiosity, why female protagonist? What makes a male or female protagonist game any better/worse?

[mellow]

Originally posted by Quint the House Gecko:

Dwarf Fortress has an ASCII UI, right? I'm normally fine with that -- I play Nethack with an ASCII UI too -- but in this case I'm specifically looking for something with fine visual detail. Finer than Minecraft, for that matter.

ya, but you can get texture packs to make things look nicer

and rising world is like a minecraft clone, but like breaking blocks is like, diferent. like it depends where you hit it for how it breaks

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by an lol mellow:

Originally posted by Quint the House Gecko:

Dwarf Fortress has an ASCII UI, right? I'm normally fine with that -- I play Nethack with an ASCII UI too -- but in this case I'm specifically looking for something with fine visual detail. Finer than Minecraft, for that matter.

ya, but you can get texture packs to make things look nicer

and rising world is like a minecraft clone, but like breaking blocks is like, diferent. like it depends where you hit it for how it breaks

I'm looking more for visual detail than mechanical simulation. So, for example, I don't mind being able to add beams to my house out of nowhere, and I'd probably prefer that than having to go mine the materials to do it.

Originally posted by Paul Blart Mall Cop:

Just out of curiosity, why female protagonist? What makes a male or female protagonist game any better/worse?

This was sort of more of a curiosity at first, because I came across some nice fanart of a generic (i.e. not from any specific story/setting) female paladin character one day, and I started coming up with the beginning of a story starting with that character, and so I was thinking, "Next time I play D&D or Pathfinder or somesuch, I'm gonna create this character."

Unfortunately, this means either writing the adventure myself, or finding a friend to do it for me and then playing it, and I have neither a complete story in mind nor space in my schedule for a regular tabletop gaming session.

So I was like, can I play this character, very roughly, in a videogame?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

So here are a few of the more relevant suggestions I've gotten here and/or in other places, or games I've run across that come somewhat close to what I'm thinking of, for the second request:

Dragon Age Origins
Helen's Mysterious Castle
Phantasy Star 1
Valkyrie Profile
Final Fantasy XIII
Fire Emblem 8: the Sacred Stones

I wonder if this list may help people to make more suggestions along the same lines, if you have anything else in mind.

[RRW359]

1a: You probably already have at least one of them, but the Sims series is a good one. You can design lots without people before moving them in in 2 and 3.

1b: I think you are supposed to play with others, but that's the way I play Stronghold 2. Also, if you want more of an AOE clone, try 0 AD.

Info on Skylines: If you have played any of the Sim City series, but it's basically that but it combines the best ideas of the games.

2: If you count Jedi as knights, the Knights of the Old Republic series allows you to be female. It is a choice, and while it doesn't effect the story much, later in the first game, you have a heterosexual love interest who might become a Sith. Your gender decides which character it is. I haven't played much of the second, so IDK if gender effects anything or not.

Availability/platforms:
-Sims 2: PC and Mac (PPC). There are console versions, but I don't think they are the same game. It can be bought physically (offline CD key) or off Origin, and I believe there is a Steam version as well.
-Sims 3: Same as 2 but with higher requirements (doesn't really matter unless your PC is REALLY old) on PC and is X86 on Mac. It's also on different consoles but again, I think it is a different game on them. It can be bought on Steam, physically (Origin activation needed), or through Origin.
-Stronghold 2: Only on PC. Available on Steam as part of a collection of other Stronghold games, and is available physically (offline CD key).
-0 AD: Free from their website. Google 0 AD game and it shouldn't take long to find it. On PC, X86 Mac, and Linux.
-Skylines: On PC, Linux, and X86 Mac. Available off Steam and I believe there is a physical version available in some regions (Steam activation needed, not region locked but may be hard to find online and take long to deliver).
-KOTOR (both): Available on PC, Xbox (360 compatible), and PPC mac (obviously KOTOR 2 has higher requirements on PC and Mac, but is old enough for it not to matter on PC). Is available physically (offline CD key needed on PC/mac) and on Steam. It's a Bioware series, so it may also be on Origin.