Recently I came across my first CoG game, The Mysteries of Baroque and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have an habit of playing rpgs, time and resource management types of games but I still found a little bit of a challenge to adapt myself to and at times I found myself frustrated. Granted, I haven’t had much time to fully immerse myself but I still want to play the games in the meantime.
My question would be, which games have a more simplistic approach so I could acquaintance myself better and then work my way to more intricate stories once I have more time?
So you mean games with simpler stats management?
For me these were games where I didn’t feel the need to check my MCs stats every few pages:
CoGs: Psy High, Dinoknights, A Midsummer Night’s Choice, Tally Ho!, Choice of the Dragon, 7th Sea, Choice of Kung Fu, Sorcery is for Saps, Star Captain
HGs: So, You’re possessed!, Wayhaven Chronicles, Totem Force, Fatehaven, Vampire House
Edit: And the newest HGs, One Minute Mysteries’s description leaves me with the impression that it’s supposed to be simple and not at all time consuming to play. Tho I can’t say for sure, I didn’t play that one myself.
There’s a HG title called My Day Off Work that is extremely streamlined and simplified, and provides a fun sandbox to play in and get used to choice-based stories.
The earlier CoG games, like Choice of the Dragon, would be the games I would point you to.
The earlier CoG games concentrate on the core values and mechanics of Choice Script games. I would stick with CoG games to begin with because HG games often break the basics in order to accomplish specific goals.
In addition to Choice of the Dragon, I’d focus on: Choice of the Ninja, Choice of Kung Fu, Slammed and Affairs of the Court. Once you feel comfortable with Affairs of the Court, you’ll be ready for any title in both libraries …
I think Creatures Such as We has one of the simplest approaches to stats, especially since they aren’t really that important in the main story. Hollywood Visionary is a game that also has an elegant way of using them: the MC selects what aspects of film-making they’re good at from the start, and then have to balance their pros and cons as they try to make their own picture. You won’t have to juggle any numbers, and it is pretty replayable.
While Tally Ho! and A Midsummer Night’s Choice have plenty of stats, they’re mostly comedy games, and failing a check in both will just cause a new branch in the story. Maybe you’ll find that to be up your alley.
