I’ve got to recommend Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. One of the most legendary games in the series for its sheer amount of content. It might feel a bit dated if you’ve played World or Rise, but still good

Remind them every, single, turn.

“Really? Your dagger? Not your cantrip?”

“Oh yeah, I always forget about those”

If they prefer to use it for thematic or aesthetic reasons, they’ll tell you and the mystery will be solved. Maybe there’s a class that does what they want and you can push them towards it. Or maybe they really are just that forgetful and they just need to be reminded every turn. Consider giving them a character sheet that more obviously shows what they can do. Action cards, spell cards, stuff like that might help too. But ultimately, just don’t let them make a dagger attack. Just stop them and present the better option EVERY TIME. You’ll learn one way or another what they want because they’ll go with it or resist it

And I’m not necessarily saying to find a new group (although it seems like you’ll have no choice since you’re moving). I’m just saying, I cant imagine how you could keep playing with this person and no one at the table is making suggestions on how to play their turns. My players strategize about each others’ turns constantly. It’s a bit meta-gamey, but they’re newer and don’t know all the mechanics well so I never stop them. In fact, I try to help them find the course of action that will make them feel the coolest or the most useful without outright telling them what to do

I can see where you are coming from but OP assures us that this player knows about games and specifically makes caster characters. This isn’t one sorcerer with a quirk in their backstory about never using their magic, this is multiple characters in a row. I play with new players all the time. Maybe an occasional person will take others’ suggestions as law, but if they do the same thing too many times in a row or force themselves to use the move you recommended when it still doesn’t make sense, you just keep guiding them.

“Don’t forget you have other cantrips too. Using fire bolt was a suggestion. In this fight, you could try using your shocking grasp to get away. Or you could use your magic missile for some guaranteed damage on that heavily-armored hobgoblin. It uses one of your slots, but now seems as good a time as any. They’re no good to you when you’re dead.”

The DM and even the other players should be chiming in with suggestions on other players’ turns. It can get annoying when you know how to play and others are telling you what to do, but if you had a fighter player who just stood in combat and took a disengage action every turn, wouldn’t you eventually speak up and suggest they try a dodge or an attack instead?

There’s really no right answer here and I don’t think it’s something that we can work through without that player involved in the conversation. It’s not that they don’t know better, it’s not that you haven’t helped them, it’s not that you haven’t made suggestions, and they’ve been doing this for 3 YEARS??? I’m sorry, but this is above my pay grade. I am almost certain there is some detail that I’m missing because this makes zero sense. I have played with veterans of all walks and ages, new players who are 8 years old, new players that are 60 years old, and everywhere in between. It just doesn’t make sense unless there’s more to it.

Sit down with the player again. Ask why they don’t use cantrips. Leave the leveled spells aside for now (saving them forever is a problem, but an understandable one). Continue to remind them every combat, every turn, every time they take out their dagger. I know you said your group doesn’t know the rules well, so maybe it’s time to learn (3 YEARS???). Cantrips and weapons work exactly the same, so I don’t know how “not wanting to engage with the mechanics” has anything to with it. There’s something going on and I can’t be sure what it is without talking to this player themselves

“I run up and stab it with my dagger!”

“Are you sure? As a wizard, your dagger is very ineffective and puts you in harm’s way. You could cast fire bolt from where you are standing. You’d have a better chance to hit, do more damage, remain safe, and play to your character’s strengths more. Do you want to do that instead?”

“I’m trying to save my spells for an emergency”

“Well fire bolt is a cantrip, so it never runs out and you can use it every turn like a fighter would use their weapon. Cantrips are the ‘auto-attacks’ for spell casters”

I can’t understand your situation OP if the exchange I described above isn’t the solution. I play with newbies and first timers all the time and we constantly strategize in combat so they can learn how to play as we go. Would your player really say “no, I don’t care, I stab them” after being presented with that option? If so, I think they are doing this intentionally because they think it’s funny or interesting, not because they don’t know better

Monster Hunter is a great example of a series with quality sequels. They always add some new, interesting mechanics, trim the fat from the previous iteration, and add new content while still keeping the core gameplay exactly the same. There have been some exceptions, but generally every MH game before they split the dev teams had been an improvement on the last. Even when they cut the swimming from 3U to 4. It was a system that most players didn’t enjoy, and 4 had so many great new additions like mounting that it hardly felt like anything was missing.

That said, one of the main criticisms you’ll hear from players is the “ultimate” edition being the same game with just some new hunts tacked on. Or even that the base version isn’t worth it and the ultimate version is the “real” game. Nowadays they do expansions instead, which I think players generally find more palatable

TCP is when you don’t get your package because you weren’t there to sign for it and now you have to wait until tomorrow for them to try again. You were home all day and no one rang the bell but you still keep finding a “sorry we missed you” slip in the door. Eventually you have to go to the package center and get it yourself.

UDP is when you get 50 packages per day thrown on your doorstep. Some of them are probably yours and some of those are probably what you ordered, but they show up fast and often

I’ve been watching some GPW3 gameplay, but I also would probably not be able to play it lol. I just beat Jedi: Survivor yesterday. I waited a while to pick it up because of all the performance issues and it really did run like crap, but at least I got it on sale and it was still quite fun.

I’ll probably either go back to Sea of Stars, which I only played for a couple hours so far, or maybe I’ll play The Messenger, which I bought at the same time in a bundle.

Also, with the release of the Rivals 2 Kickstarter, I’ve been playing a bit of Rivals of Aether with friends. It’s one of the greatest platform fighters out there, but I feel like it’s still very underrated

You could check out Freedom Planet. It didn’t quite do it for me, but it has a decent fanbase

Notice that Q14 still allows for commercial tournaments but only if they acquire a license first. This is something Nintendo has been pushing since at least last year. That’s the debacle that killed Smash World Tour and the hill that Panda Global died on.

Not saying I agree with it. In fact, it’s so stupid, but there is still a path forward for now if Nintendo continues to give out those licenses. The real question is, what absurd rules will TOs need to adhere to in order to get a license?

I’ve been pretty psyched for this as someone who consumes a lot of 2D Mario content including Mario Maker and SMW ROM hacks. Glad to see basically everyone saying it feels solid

However, this quote from Digital Spy,

Instead, Wonder’s strongest moments are when it takes a breather, taking the time to set the scene while letting the platforming do the talking.

Is something I was kinda worried about as well. The wonder effects that were shown seem cool, but I really want the platforming to take the lead role. SMW ROM hacks show us that pure platforming can still be creative as hell. I wonder how SMBW will stack up to the likes of, say, GPW3

If you don’t Rock and Stone, you ain’t going home

First I’ve heard of this but it looks like it definitely has some Chrono Trigger DNA and Yasunori effing Mitsuda involved in the music department! I will absolutely have to check this out

The game’s size on PC is 139.84 GB. It’s 100.19 GB for the Standard Edition and 117.07 GB for the Premium Edition on consoles, which also comes with a digital artbook and soundtrack, skin pack, and the Shattered Space Story Expansion (when it becomes available).

Preload for Steam users will start on August 30 and require 125 GB of free space

First one I saw was the YouTube algo showing me the Lanky Kong vid a few months back, but yeah, he has a unique, slightly dark sense of humor. The RPG one had me rolling though. An absolute gem in my book. Thanks for sharing this one. I hadn’t seen it

Love this guy’s videos. They are hilarious. You definitely need to watch the RPG series if you like this one. Other honorable mentions are the Curious George one and the Lanky Kong one

Adventure awaits! Huzzah!

Yeah it gives you and your opponent 6 random Pokémon each, but the moves and abilities are pulled from a small list of potential “competitive” move sets for that Pokémon. Then the levels of Pokémon are adjusted so that stronger Pokémon are a slightly lower level to balance things out.

It’s very fun to sit down and be in a battle within 10 seconds, but it can take a little bit of practice to get used to quickly reviewing your available moves for your whole team.

You can even play without even making an account and then you can create the account later if you want to save your progress

That’s awesome! Great to hear

Super Auto Pets is simple and can be played for free in a browser. It’s a team building game that puts you against other players’ teams, so it’s competitive in that regard.

If you like Pokémon and consider that simple enough, Pokemon Showdown is a free online battle simulator for competitive battles against other players. You can even do “random battles” that just instantly throw you into a match without requiring you to make your own team

Great to hear! I’ll be sure to give it a try at some point, then