I have a buddy on PSN and GOG who is tired of grinding in Warframe. I'm not a fan of grinding, either. Neither of us wants to pay a PS Plus (or any other) subscription just so that we could play with each other, and I play mostly single-player games on PS4. So, I'm looking for a game that we can play together on PC (compatible with Mac) or Android, even.
We first met in White Knight Chronicles on PS3 and then hung out on PS Home until it shut down, and we've been playing Warframe on PS4 since. (It's free to play and doesn't require a PS Plus sub) I did not move on to WKC 2 because I absolutely hated the grind on WKC1, but he did, and had rather poor experiences with it. The problems that he has with a game like Warframe is the lack of content for those who just want to enjoy the core gameplay, the difficulty spike of mid-end game content including the story quests and star chart missions without the right gear or know-how, the fact that you have to look up the wiki to find out how to get something like parts to build a warframe, and the rather tall grind walls alongside freemium items like exp boosters that don't last indefinitely as well as inventory slots to store more gear like warframes and weapons (you could also trade valuable in-game items with other players for the premium currency, but that's not what either of us likes to do). It's not pay-to-win, it's pay to progress faster, or not pay anything and move at a snail's pace, unless the RNG gods bless you with a free booster. WKC was similar, but is a full-priced game with little to no microtransactions, and the grind was much worse in the post-game, multiplayer content.
I thought I might try my luck at Android, because it is loaded with games, we could play games together anytime and anywhere, and he has an Android phone but no gaming PC; just a Macbook. I'm also looking for games that we can play together on both Mac and Windows and not require beastly specs, but I'm sure Steam Play is available for Mac OS as well as Linux.
I know that a lot of Android games are free-to-play, but I'm looking for one that is multiplayer, a load of fun, and not too heavy on the grind or microtransactions (if there are any). He doesn't want to play a game as intense as Fortnite or PUBG, or heavy on system hardware, either. It could be a full-priced game, even, or a legacy game ported to the platform. Better yet is one that we could play on an Android emulator for Windows/Mac with a mouse+keyboard or a USB game controller so that we could still play together when our phones are running out of juice and are recharging. (My previous phone is broken)
Any recommendations? Thanks.