Which game should I play over the other, for now?

PC, if you haven't played:
Subnautica, Stardew Valley, Factorio, Spelunky, MGS 5, Hitman 2.
If you only have a PS4, The Last of Us would not be a bad choice I guess.
Minecraft Story mode though, avoid that.

I voted Last of Us because I don’t know what you like and can’t think of anything to suggest. All I know for sure is that Minecraft Story Mode is very bland so keep away from that.

This might sound dumb, but I played Stardew Valley on Ps4, and it wasn't fast paced enough to keep my interest.

MGS 5, and Hitman 2 seem to require that I play the prequels. I'll check the other two games out though. Thank you for your post.

Hmmm... I don't want a horror game with things constantly jumping out at me, tbqh my doc doesn't recommend that sort of stuff for me.

Any action-adventure game is cool, even 2D is cool. FPS is great, but I want to play video games that "smart people play in their free time". So I want some story in there somewhere. But if I'm not thinking of trying to be a smart alec, a more simplistic game like CoD is probably not my cup of tea either way, although I've never owned one, but I'd be willing to check it out if you want to recommend me one.

Thank you for your post.

Your motivations to play seem a bit confusing to me, more confusing even than your selections for the poll, so it's harder even to make a recommendation. I did vote for The Last of Us, because I would vote for it in such a poll almost always no matter the competition, as I absolutely love it and is one of my all time favourite games, but I have no idea whether this was a good vote for you or not.

What games have you played and liked? If action-adventure games are cool, then the Uncharted series may be a better choice that The Last of Us. No jump scares there and a lot of story in them, too.

What does "games that smart people play in their free time" mean? I'm pretty sure I'm making assumptions here, but Minecraft Story Mode wouldn't be the first game to come to mind with that description. Or maybe it would be! Because smart people may play whatever in their free time. As far as I'm aware, video game preferences are not associated with intelligence (unless we're talking learning disabilities here, in which case there may be, but probably more to do with ability above all. But I digress).

If what you mean is games that require you to think and solve mental challenges and problems instead of relying on your reflexes and dexterity, maybe try Braid? The Witness? Portal 1 &/or 2? Or check out Catherine, just to suggest something a bit more out there!

My motivations for gaming is to play a game that I can finish, enjoy, brag about (that I finished it) and possibly ruminate about in the future and write the story on my own, like a fanfiction, or alternate reality, etc. or discuss that sort of timeline with other people on the internet.

And for the puzzle games you recommended I'll probably pass, but I'll look up the gameplay on them. Why I added Minecraft storymode is because it had Minecraft lore in it, which sort of interests like the creepers and spiders or whatever that come out at night.

I'll look into Uncharted, but it looks a little hard, but nothing I can't look up online from walkthroughs if I can't figure out the puzzles thrown at me on my own. But Last of Us might do the trick in capturing my interest, I do like me some zombie apocalypses.

And thank you for your response.

The Last of Us is a must play.

Uncharted games are quite easy on the easy difficulty, and their puzzles are usually very simple, with the game giving you all the in-game hints and clues it can without actually spelling out the solutions, so I'd encourage you to not be intimidated by them. Having said that, I'd probably skip the first one of the PS3 trilogy, as I don't think it's very good, not anymore anyway.

How about RPGs? Do you have access to the Mass Effect trilogy? Again, you can play them on easy to experience the story. The 3rd one even has a "story mode" difficulty, if you find the combat to be too hard (although that seems to contradict your motivation to brag about finishing a game), and you'll most certainly have a LOT to think and talk about after, including material and inspiration for fanfiction. Just, whatever you do, stay away from Andromeda. You'd be better off writing some fanfiction of your own and playing it in your head instead of playing this game :P

What I said about the Mass Effect series goes doubly for the Witcher series. These are also quite self-contained stories, so you don't need to start from the first one. It would add to the flavour and your immersion, but you don't really need to know what's happened in the previous games to play either 2 or 3.

@a_z: If you found Stardew Valley to be too slow, maybe Subnautica will have the same problem.
It's perfectly fine to start with Hitman 2 and MGS 5 without having played the previous games.

I'll keep that in mind, with a grain of sugar. JK. :p I'm just getting some bland reviews on IGN on the game, but nothing wrong with liking it, I liked the first "part" of it on PSNow, definitely not a bad game.

Alright I'll check out Uncharted.

I only have a Ps4 and laptop, so I'll check out Mass Effect, hopefully I don't have to get a last gen console to play it. And I'll be sure to stay away from Andromeda.

To be clear, I'm not good at writing fanfiction, but I'd still like to discuss alt. universes with fans, friends and online people who have played or are playing the game. But thanks, your advice is amazing!

Does Witcher 1 suck like Uncharted 1, and is it boring to play (Witcher 1) compared to the other games in its series?

I have a similar question to what I asked Vole, are the previous games in the series interesting enough to play?

I voted other, because almost anything would be better than those games listed.

Well then..! Okay. :) I understand though.

It plays very differently, at least when it comes to combat. I know some people who prefer it, to 2, but I'm not one of them. I find the actual combat very clunky and in some ways it's just a series of quick time events (basically, you click your mouse on the enemy to initiate an attack and then you need to time your clicks to when the cursor or your sword - depending on the difficulty you're playing on - turns red to keep the combo going). It's got different combat stances, which add some interest to it, and the whole preparation for combat is a bit more methodical and needs planning, as you can't chug potions mid-combat, but I'm not sure that balances out the rest, at least not anymore. Outside the combat, though, the game is still very interesting, so I wouldn't call it a boring game to play, because you don't just fight enemies. If you can, maybe give it a go for a few hours, at least until you're in Vizima past the prologue, and see for yourself? I think it's one of those games about which you need to try it to make up your mind, because it may very well be the case that the atmosphere and storytelling and roleplaying will make up for however weak the combat is. Or, if you're into that sort of thing, you can watch a Let's Play by someone?

I hope that helps.

It's been ages since I last checked what was on PS Now. Is Mass Effect on that service? I had a look recently, and the physical edition of the Mass Effect trilogy is quite expensive and hard to find, and it doesn't even include the DLC (nor does the digital version, but at least that goes on sale at times), which I find quite unacceptable. Unsurprising, considering it's EA, but still unacceptable.

For Mass Effect it may not be a bad idea to try it out on PC, even with a laptop. I played all 3 games on my old laptop from 2011 just fine. You could pay $5 for a month of EA Origin to see if they run/play all three. Even if they don't run, there's likely something in EA Origin's catalogue that will run and be worth the $5.

@a_z: About the older Hitman and MGS games:

Hitman: Hitman 2 is by far the best Hitman game since you can play Hitman 2016 inside it. That is if you haven't played any of the older ones before. So, no need to go back to the older ones. Personally I have a sweet spot for Blood Money, but that's because I loved it back in the day. And the first Hitman for that matter.

MGS: MGS 5 Phantom Pain is too different to compare with the older ones. It's possible to love MGS 5 and hate the older ones, and the other way around. I'm not that traversed in them, so can't recommend for or against.