Game Recommendations: Stress Relief?

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So, as a gamer, I admit that I pretty much suck. My reflexes are slower than molasses and I tend to turn to walkthroughs and guides way too quickly.

However, ToEE is one of my favorite games for one reason: creating a new party, cheat-coding some ridiculous stats, and running around smashing everything that dares to attack me is one of the best stress relief methods I've ever found. (It also helps clear up my writer's block, and since I write for a living, that's pretty much like a cheat code to life. I used to do the same thing with Age of Empires 2 when I was a kid by spawning viper cars.)

Unfortunately, I've replayed ToEE to the point where it's not so much fun anymore, so that leaves me searching for a new game. Web searching has produced about two dozen suggestions. Since this is the site I came to most often for the best and more awesome ToEE mods, hacks, and guides, I was hoping maybe you awesome people could give me a recommendation of what to buy.

I tried some free online rogue-likes, but they were a little too complicated and visually unsatisfying to scratch my itch. Kingdom of Loathing was awesome but so addictive I had to force myself to quit after a month.

Basically I'm looking for a ToEE-like game that's easily cheat-ed and contains many things to rampage over like an orc on steroids. Turn-based would be preferable, but really as long as there's no need to rely on reflexes, I'm happy.

Many thanks in advance for any recommendations!

 

I would say any of the Infinity Engine games would be good, because they have a pause and play mechanic that can be set up to make them psuedo turn based. Even without setting up an auto pause game you have the option to pause the game at will, so you can sit and consider your next attack orders for as long as you like.

I would agree with Tal's suggestion of Icewind Dale, these games are the most straight-forward, combat oriented games in the Infinity Engine family. After IWD, I would suggest the Baldur's Gate series, but probably would steer you away from Planescape Torment. Torment is an awesome game, but it's EXTREMELY roleplay/story based, and it's not always clear who you should make enemies with, and who you should stay on good terms with... and such choices can drastically alter the way the game plays out. If you're looking for some straightforward gameplay, this is not the game to go with.

You can install thebigg's Widescreen mod with any of these games, which allows you to run them in modern resolutions, drastically improving their appearance. I wouldn't install any other mods for an initial runthrough.

If you want a much more modern game, you can do a lot worse than Dragon Age Origins. Combat is pretty straight forward, with a few tougher boss fights thrown in. You can always play on the easy setting to minimize combat difficulty. Go with a fighter if you really want to make it easy on yourself, and let your companions use their tactics settings to back you up. You can pause this game at will too, so you don't need quick reflexes.

Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 would be next on my list of suggestions, again, because you can pause the game to your heart's content. I've played both Neverwinter Nights games and all of their respective expansions. Neverwinter Nights 2 is a signficantly better game than the original in most respects, and it's fairly straight forward and linear. There are a few tougher battles thrown in... but you can play on an easy gameplay setting. I also believe that there are console commands to beef up the power of your character.

 

Sticking close to ToEE, the IWDs are a likely canditate, and the BG series to a lesser degree. Of the BG series, I'd recommend BG2 + ToB over BG1 because the high level powers lend themselves more to powergaming. What I often do in BG2 is to create a multiplayer party, take them through the game, and then replay the game with them again but with a different character as the protagonist so they can all recieve full benefits and gear. It's great fun to walk a lvl40 cleric into Bodhi's layer and turn on the Turn Dead ability.

DA:O I wouldn't recommend so much, because even if you cheat, I find the combat still very boring.

NWN is ok, but also not a very high recommendation. This is probably because most of the fun for me is to create a build that I like. Though if you do manage to get the right powergaming build, you should be able to waltz right through everything. Or use the console to set all your stats to 255 and waltz through everything, works either way. Make sure you get the expansions, and enjoy the higher levels provided by Hordes of the Underdark. Also play HotU, not the OC.

Other ways to relief stress:

• Play through a couple of levels of Painkiller. It's not really difficult, even at the hardest difficulty, and just bunnyhop and frag away. Just enjoy the well designed maps, the varied weapons and even more varied enemies. It's almost zen-like in its FPS purity. This is what FPS games should be like
• Play Supreme Commander on a skirmish map and build as many experimentals as you like (Cybran with the Soulripper are my favorite), save the game, then rip through any enemy bases with them. Reload savegame, rinse and repeat.
• Get Saint's Row 2, and play the minigame Insurance Fraud. I assure you that all stress will be laughed away as you watch your character get hit by a car and get launched into the sky and halfway across the map. This is just hilarious to watch and do.
• Prototype is basically just a squeeze ball poured into game form. Don't think too much about it and just enjoy all the many, many different ways to cause mayhem.

It all depends on what sort of game experience you would like.