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Looking for a good “starter game” for my girlfriend. Any suggestions?
- Thread starter ToddBonzalez
- Start date
Obvious choice is modern adventure games: Broken Age, Telltale Titles ( The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, etc), Life is Strange, Night in the Woods, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Etc. But the classics are worth visiting too in the Lucas Art Remasters like Day of the Tentacle Remastered, etc. or modern but retro style like Thimbleweed Park.
For more challenge that is still entirely at your own pace, I'll suggests some simple story heavy turn based RPGs like Banner Saga, and them maybe full blown turn-based WRPGs and JRPGs.
edit: maybe also Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales? I haven't gotten to it yet, but I heard great things about the story, and it kinda counts as turn-based.
For more challenge that is still entirely at your own pace, I'll suggests some simple story heavy turn based RPGs like Banner Saga, and them maybe full blown turn-based WRPGs and JRPGs.
edit: maybe also Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales? I haven't gotten to it yet, but I heard great things about the story, and it kinda counts as turn-based.
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The Sims? Those are pretty easy to get into. Life is Strange or Telltale games (but Idk if you can get those games anymore tbh). Lego games are pretty easy to get into.
Edit: just thought of Her Story. Its pretty cheap normally and has a pretty interesting narrative.
Edit: just thought of Her Story. Its pretty cheap normally and has a pretty interesting narrative.
I'd say i'd try to get her to branch out from mainly liking narrative heavy games maybe she could take a liking to other type of games. Could even go retro with an older mario game, or a kirby game even. (like superstar).
Maybe some of the recent lego games + being in coop it could be fun for you both.
Maybe some of the recent lego games + being in coop it could be fun for you both.
I get nauseous from fast paced first person shooters but never had a problem with either portal. You can mostly take your time and not get the spins.
I recommend Detroit OP. My gf likes adventure games and plays it all the time.
Any post recommending a game that you PROBABLY want to play with dual analog or precision aiming or control is really underestimating how easy it is to grasp the hand eye coordination you have to build for that stuff. Yeah, we all learned it as kids and it was easy, but if you find an adult that hasn't used an analog stick to move something around an environment before, it is NOT easy. Even 'easy' games like Mario Odyssey are not fucking easy in that context, you want something that gets them used to moving around without it feeling punishing. For instance my Mom loves Pokemon Go and that meant Let's Go was able to get her over the hump of getting used to controlling a 3d character in a space, but I think using the second analog for a camera would still cause her brain to just shut down. It's a calm, slow game that you can kind of run around at your own pace, which makes it perfect.
Any game like that, Telltale etc, would be a great starting point.
Any game like that, Telltale etc, would be a great starting point.
He's trying to get his girlfriend into games, not turn her away from them.
My wife has very low patience for video games and she loves Celeste. She even made celeste her alarm recently, which made me very confused one morning. Just have her use assist mode.
Life is strange is also very good.
Lately we've been playing through Ace Attourney (both of our first time) and its a really fun story based game.
Life is strange is also very good.
Lately we've been playing through Ace Attourney (both of our first time) and its a really fun story based game.
Repeating what a lot of users have said already: Telltale games (personal favs being The Walking Dead S1, Tales from the Borderlands, The Wolf Among Us), Life Is Strange, Night in the Woods, and Oxenfree. Possibly Stardew Valley? If you've got a Switch, maybe some Final Fantasy games - FFVII/FFIX/FFX/FFXII?
It's a shame she gets nauseous from first-person POV, as I'd love to rec Until Dawn, Firewatch, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Soma (with safe mode on for someone who's more of a newcomer to games). If it helps, I also used to have a similar nausea problem with FP POV/FPS games - it did get better in time, and now I very rarely have the issue.
Also great ideas! UC4+TLL's lock-on is great, and Journey is a comparatively gentle introduction to dual analog controls, etc.
It's a shame she gets nauseous from first-person POV, as I'd love to rec Until Dawn, Firewatch, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Soma (with safe mode on for someone who's more of a newcomer to games). If it helps, I also used to have a similar nausea problem with FP POV/FPS games - it did get better in time, and now I very rarely have the issue.
Also great ideas! UC4+TLL's lock-on is great, and Journey is a comparatively gentle introduction to dual analog controls, etc.
Gone Home would be perfect so it's a shame she gets motion sickness from first person perspective.
If story is a crucial reason for wanting to play games, I feel like The Last Guardian would've also been a perfect starting point if only it felt good to play and the interaction mechanics between the main character and Trico weren't so esoteric. But at some point it might be one worth playing.
Also any of the following:
- The Last of Us (especially since she's a horror fan)
- Uncharted
- Ico
- Tearaway
- Breath of the Wild
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Journey
- Dreams (especially once the official story modes are done)
- Okami
- Rez: Infinite
If story is a crucial reason for wanting to play games, I feel like The Last Guardian would've also been a perfect starting point if only it felt good to play and the interaction mechanics between the main character and Trico weren't so esoteric. But at some point it might be one worth playing.
Also any of the following:
- The Last of Us (especially since she's a horror fan)
- Uncharted
- Ico
- Tearaway
- Breath of the Wild
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Journey
- Dreams (especially once the official story modes are done)
- Okami
- Rez: Infinite
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Your best bet would probably be the adventure genre. The adventure genre is focused on the narrative and puzzles, not really any kind of fast paced or twitch actions.
I would suggest two of the best ones,
These are two of the most highly acclaimed adventure games out there, both have wonderful storeis and great female protags, both are third person as well.
I would suggest two of the best ones,
These are two of the most highly acclaimed adventure games out there, both have wonderful storeis and great female protags, both are third person as well.
Stardew Valley gives new players a good opportunity to learn the basic controls and conventions in video games. It is a very free-form game that is patient enough to let players learn at their own pace every in-game day. There's a ton of uniquely 'video game' concepts & mechanics introduced in SDV that will help new players should they decide to play something else. And best of all, the way it's structured will organically nudge players into discovering all of this stuff, when they're ready.
Also helps that it's hella fun.
Also helps that it's hella fun.
Yep. My partner has a really hard time with the right stick. It's just not something you can pick up and learn very quickly, both mechanically and conceptually.
Telltale is a great choice. I think any third person adventure games would work well.
Wow there are so many horrible replies to this thread.
Games are riddled with UX nightmares and getting started with games as an adult in 2019 can be rough. Be prepared for anything you pick to not click for any number of reasons.
I'm in a similar boat and I can share some experiences with titles listed.
- Gone Home: No
I know this is off your list.
She didn't like the first person controls and hated opening cupboards. She felt uncomfortable with rummaging.
- Life is Strange: Yes
We took turns controlling this, but later on she had me control the waking around bits because she didn't like the controls. I had to remind her to rummage in bins etc, and she found this very impolite. We played through this to completion and she loved the story.
- Minecraft Story Mode: Mixed
She tried this while sick and the controls and interface were generally fine, but the story itself wasn't enough for her to want to play past chapter 1.
- Oxenfree: No
She really disliked the teens and characters immediately, and stopped playing quickly. Controls seemed okay though. Worth a try.
- Uncharted: mixed
She hated how much combat there is even on the easiest settings, and failed at any boss like situation.
Suggestions:
- Frog Wares Sherlock Holmes games. She watched me play these and on the easier settings you can rely on the checklist to focus on the narrative.
Games are riddled with UX nightmares and getting started with games as an adult in 2019 can be rough. Be prepared for anything you pick to not click for any number of reasons.
I'm in a similar boat and I can share some experiences with titles listed.
- Gone Home: No
I know this is off your list.
She didn't like the first person controls and hated opening cupboards. She felt uncomfortable with rummaging.
- Life is Strange: Yes
We took turns controlling this, but later on she had me control the waking around bits because she didn't like the controls. I had to remind her to rummage in bins etc, and she found this very impolite. We played through this to completion and she loved the story.
- Minecraft Story Mode: Mixed
She tried this while sick and the controls and interface were generally fine, but the story itself wasn't enough for her to want to play past chapter 1.
- Oxenfree: No
She really disliked the teens and characters immediately, and stopped playing quickly. Controls seemed okay though. Worth a try.
- Uncharted: mixed
She hated how much combat there is even on the easiest settings, and failed at any boss like situation.
Suggestions:
- Frog Wares Sherlock Holmes games. She watched me play these and on the easier settings you can rely on the checklist to focus on the narrative.
I don't know if she'd like the vibes and style of that game and how much time she got on her hands but a while ago I gave Dragon Quest XI to a girl who had never played an involved game before and she loved it because she could take her time with the gameplay decisions. A game like that should also ease her into navigating a character in a 3D-third-person environment pretty well
She gets sick with first person games. Danganronpa's first person sections would be horrible for her.
Honestly I couldn't deal with this even as an experienced player. I would recommend against any point and click type thing too, including Broken Age.
This is a good list.
A lot of the ones being suggested (Odyssey, Animal Crossing) aren't Narrative heavy at all.
A thing you can totally do with a keyboard is play Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons each controlling one of the boys.
My roommate (a woman in her early thirties) was into Age of Empires back in the day, but she stopped playing games until relatively recently. She was brought back in by Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, then 3D games like Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn. Both of those are intriguing narrative-focused (to an extent) games that are very forgiving on their default difficulty levels. Also Overwatch but if first-person is a no-go then it won't be something she enjoys. Give Diablo 3 a try as well; it hooks people.
These aren't narrative focused at all.
No first person, heavy narrative focus, no dual analog.
Her Story
Ace Attorney Trilogy
Limbo and Inside (horror)
Journey (to learn dual analog controls)
You can also try turn based games like Final Fantasy, Child of Light, Steamworld Heist.
Her Story
Ace Attorney Trilogy
Limbo and Inside (horror)
Journey (to learn dual analog controls)
You can also try turn based games like Final Fantasy, Child of Light, Steamworld Heist.