Hi guys,

So some of you may remember me from a thread....oh about a year ago now I guess, about a girl that I asked out to breakfast and got shot down. Well, to make a long story short, I didn't give up, and now she's my fiance! We're getting married on Friday, May 13th. But this thread isn't about that, let me elaborate.

The girl I'm going to marry is very much a non-gamer. She's actually only played 2 games in her life. The first being Wii Sports, the second being Red Dead Redemption, that I had her play to show her the power of the 360, she has been to Mexico on mission trips, so I let her ride a donkey around the terrain, she loved it. Right up until someone rode up and started shooting her (We were online). She panicked, I tried to show her the buttons to fight back but she died pretty quickly...that was the end of that play session lol.

Now that we know we're getting married, and she knows that I'm a serious gamer, she wants to game with me. We're looking for a second computer for her to play online games with me, and I have a 360 with a few games, But right now I'm wondering what would be good games to get her going? She's very excited to play games, I think she's looking forward to getting out and experiencing some things that I enjoy. (She was very sheltered growing up, but that's another story).

So what do you guys think? What should I get her playing first that will help her develop her gaming skills?

Here are some of my ideas, And some great suggestions from you guys:

Final Fantasy 7
Morrowind
Oblivion
Sims 2
The Sims 3
Viva Pinata
Final Fantasy 10, 12
World of Warcraft
Harvest Moon: BTN (Emulated)
Little Big Planet (1 or 2)
Fable 1-3
Various Mario Games
Spore
Planescape: Torment
Deus Ex
Battle for Wesnoth
Aquaria
Dear Esther
Alien Swarm
NetHack
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
Audiosurf
Sins of a Solar Empire or X3:Reunion


I'm leaning towards FF10, because I think that it has a great story, she loves books and whatnot, so I think that will appeal to her. Also it's not an "Easy" game, so I can help her through (It will be my...4th play through) and it will introduce her to many JRPG mechanics that carry over to a lot more games. She also wants to play wow with me, because it's something we can do together, leveling and whatnot.


EDIT: I should add that she won't play like Fallout 3 or NV, or Bioshock...at least not yet. She doesn't like swearing or alot of excessive gore in any type of media...Maybe she'll play them someday, but I'm trying to ease her in.

EDIT EDIT: For now games that are on these consoles: PC, 360, Ps2, would be best, I can buy a new system, but I'd rather find something she likes first

Morrowind or Obivion? You could help her mod it to her taste. Making it easier/harder or just adding things she thinks is neat.

Morrowind/Oblivion. Clothes mods. Gurls love to shop.

Hmm that's interesting, I never even considered them. I'm kind of leaning towards console games, because I think they're much easier for both of us to experience so I can help her, Although they DO both have console versions...hmmm....very interesting sir

There is enough clothes and jewelry without mods. Besides, you don't always have to be fighting. She can explore and fight when she wants to or has to.

Keeping in mind, mods for those games are PC only.

Truthfully, get an SNES and play co-op games on that, they are simple enough for non-gamers to have fun with very quickly.

Then step up to things like Mario Kart, Mario Party, ECT.

Then Little Big Planet on PS3.

Then Strategy games like Starcraft or Cammand and Conquer.

Then shell be ready to game with you.

You should start with Oblivion. Morrowind could come off as too 'intense' to non-gamers.
And Sims 2 instead of 3.


I thought you were talking about IRL :facepalm: Scared me a little.

Yea that's what I was getting at Echo I don't know how much she would enjoy Morrowind, I remember when I was an adolescent and my brother got me that for Xbox...not being the gamer I am today I felt directionless, just ran around marveling at the terrain and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. Now that I know there's more to the game I love it, but back then it got a little stale. Oblivion on the other hand might be a good fit.


@Zark: Hmmm, I don't really want to buy 2 new systems lol, even though SNES are cheap. I'm not sure how much she would enjoy RTS games....ultimately it will be up to her what she enjoys, so I won't throw them off the table though

@Ayumi: That's what I was thinking about Morrowind too. Why Sims 2? And I LOL'd

FFX?! Are you joking? That would be like teaching an infant to swim at the deep end of the pool. Start off simple. As suggested show her Morrowind and oblivion if she likes lore and fantasy kind of stuff. Try to be like a wine connoisseur offer her different flavors. Show her different types of games. For example she might not like Oblivion but if she were to try mario she might discover she loves platformers.

Hmmmm I thought FFX has a deep enough story to keep her driving through....maybe it's a little to much though lol

I'm not exactly a fan of the series, but the Fable games (specifically three and two) are very simply, with almost no consequences for dying and simple controls, iirc. They could also be a good stepping stone to the similar-enough but much more complex Oblivion.

Getting married on Friday the 13th... Interesting...

Anyway; every girl gamer I know has some good experience with Sims series; so that's the best bet. Girls like the life simulator thing; I guess.. :shrug:

But it won't improve her gaming reflexes like CoD would, or anything. It won't exactly make her a through-and-through gamer; just a Sims fan..

Hmmm, I do have Fable 2, AND my Ex-GF used to play the crap out of that game. I'm surprised I didn't think of that one...might be a perfect fit. The only thing I don't know about those games is that she's not really a fan of "High Fantasy" so I've been trying to think of other types of games. I know that's hard because most slower paced games are fantasy...most modern realism games are shooters....I'm sure she would try Bad Company: 2 with me lol, but it wouldn't end well

@Holy: Yah we're daredevils lol, testing the myth so to speak I think she would genuinely enjoy Sims games....but like you said that doesn't transfer well to other games. I want to familiarize her with a controller.

You don't really have to give up on final fantasy completely. Introduce her to FFVII which is the all time classic FF game. Tell her what its about, how it works, what the story is if shew likes it, play it together

Mmm if I had to choose between the two I'd probably go with FF10, She wouldn't really care about the bad graphics (I WOULD ) but I think the lack of voice acting would be strange for her. Maybe not though, I'll put it in the list!

What about Spore?

As Holy Assassin said, Sims games won't really teach her much about how action/adventure games work. So if you want her to get into the stuff you like Sims might be a bit redundant.
There's minimal use of hotkeys and no reaction time whatsoever.

She's pretty religious, doesn't believe in Evolution, but I think she's objective enough to see a game for what it is. I personally didn't like Spore...the creator was kind of fun, and the galaxy stage was neat for a while...the rest was meh imo...I'll add it to the list, thanks J'sar!

@El: Yea....it certainly won't get her prepared for pwning fools in Black Ops...I was just thinking to get her interested in gaming in general. World of Warcraft might be better as far as that is concerned...she gets the social aspect (This can be good or bad, if you know what the WOW community is like lol), And depending on how good you want to be you can use as few or as many keys as you want, same with the game, can be as easy or as difficult as you want...leveling alts, or raiding...

What about the likes of http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/planescape_torment/? Very strong story, fairly simple combat, and dying once or twice isn't a problem.

When you get the FPS's, give http://store.steampowered.com/app/6910/?snr=1_4_4__13 a try; it gives plenty of options for completing the missions, and has a has a decent story, too.

Maybe look up some of the ol' point-and-click adventures, such as Beneath a Steel Sky or Flight of The Amazon Queen (pretty sure both those examples are now free to play ).

http://www.wesnoth.org/ is a good (and free) TBS.

http://www.bit-blot.com/aquaria/ is a nice indie game that'd be worth having a look at, as are Introversion's offerings. http://store.steampowered.com/app/70400/ may have appeal. http://store.steampowered.com/app/12900/?snr=1_4_4__13 is pretty much a must-try :nod:.

If you have HL2, give http://www.moddb.com/mods/dear-esther a bit of a spin.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/ would be an option for playing together (starting her on the lowest difficulty level, of course), and is another free one.

Oh, and I am compelled to mention http://www.nethack.org/ .

EDIT: Looking back over this post, I don't think it'll surprise anyone that I don't even own a console of any sort, and never have :hehe: (have nothing much against them, simply don't have them ).

'S a lucky number.

Yeah, some aspects are not great. But since you just need creativity to enjoy it, rather than über FPS reflexes, I would consider it a decent starting point. And you're welcome.

Sins of a Solar Empire or X3:Reunion.

Wow 1Samil....you've got some pretty obscure game tastes lol, I've never heard of any of those. (I assume that's why you provided links ) I think those are sweet suggestions for ME too lol, (BRB GUNNA PLAY RECETTEAR ) Thanks

Edit: I'm stupid, I've obviously heard of Deus Ex and Planescape lol....It was the others that I was talking about

@TES: Hmmm, when I think "Person who has never played a game for more than 5 minutes" SSE isn't the first game I might have them try lol, BUT, I have yet to play that and it has always interested me, so maybe I can play it for a while and try to get her involved? Thanks for the suggestion

Haha, I was joking.

As for Torment and Deus Ex, whilst they're BLOODY AWESOME, I wouldn't recommend to a first time gamer.

You're very welcome, I'm pleased that you like the list :happy:. I wouldn't really call them obscure, myself (well, maybe BASS, FOTAQ, and Dear Esther). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Hack (and http://dungeonhack.sourceforge.net/ ) is what I'd start calling obscure :shrug:. I probably can think up some more, if you want to extend your own to-play list .