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IJBM: People recommending games that require familiarity with games as a medium to newbies

OdradekOdradek
in General
Is someone who has never played a game in their life really going to get much out of The Stanley Parable? People always just seem to choose the "games as art" candidates and not the kind of games someone who isn't good at video games might be able to play and enjoy.
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Comments

  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    Scuba diving is a rewarding experience, but you don't teach someone to swim by making them do it.
  • KlinotaxisKlinotaxis
    kill living beings
    is that... do people actually do this? really
  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    Yes
  • HexartesHexartes
    Yeah, this is a problem I've noticed too. Granted, a lot of accessible indie games draw on existing knowledge of the medium while crowd pleaser AAA games use obnoxiously insular design language.

    Like, if someone were to only ever play one game, Undertale would be a strong contender, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone's first game.
  • KlinotaxisKlinotaxis
    kill living beings
    lol ol ol ol, i mo
  • HexartesHexartes
    Did I say something funny...?
  • KlinotaxisKlinotaxis
    kill living beings
    No at the idea of recommending my dad Stanley parable
  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    You should get your dad to play Wind Waker, due to his love of Waterworld
  • DYREDYRE
    Stanley Parable in particular does have plenty of parts that are just funny even if you don't necessarily get the jokes about achievements and branching plots and whatever, plus it is like, relatively easy to play in terms of what it requires from the player.

    I wouldn't exactly recommend it to someone who's never played games before either but it could be not disastrous.
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Yeah, Undertale is God Tier but... [insert elaborate Homestuck-based metaphor about the resurrection of the JRPG here].
  • HexartesHexartes
    Odradek said:

    You should get your dad to play Wind Waker, due to his love of Waterworld

    Okay but Wind Waker is actually a pretty good choice for a first game imo
  • FossilmaidenFossilmaiden
    edited 2017-05-09 19:21:56
    image Wee yea erra chs hymmnos mea.
    Counterpoint, it starts with one of the longest stealth sections in Zelda history, and nobody likes Zelda stealth, let alone brand new gamers.
  • HexartesHexartes
    There are always caveats with video games unfortunately.

    We need more games explictly aimed at newbies. Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest gets a bad rap.
  • glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
    i wonder what the chance is that someone who knows nothing about videogames might go into undertale trying to be a pacifist, the first time around
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Fairly high, I think.
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    Nobody should play Undertale as their first game, because they won't appreciate a good bit of what's in it.

    The first game anyone should play is Super Goddamn Mario World.
  • LOAD CherryLOAD Cherry
    Splat Charger Specialist
    I'm pretty sure my first was Ocarina of Time.

    Sorry Imi.
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    That's not a bad choice either.
  • DYREDYRE
    I have never played Super Mario World and I managed to figure out video games.
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    My first two video games I played were Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast.

    Sonic R was a pretty good introduction to movement and jumping.

    (I played computer versions of these games, we didn't have any consoles when I was a kid)
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Probably one of the Jump Start edutainment games.

    In terms of "adult" games or whatever: Riven.

    Master of the Elements is on the borderline between the two because it's surprisingly hardcore for a children's puzzle game.
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    DYRE said:

    I have never played Super Mario World and I managed to figure out video games.

    how?????
    Aliroz said:

    My first two video games I played were Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast.


    Sonic R was a pretty good introduction to movement and jumping.

    (I played computer versions of these games, we didn't have any consoles when I was a kid)
    I considered naming the original Sonic as an ideal first game, too.
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    My first video game was Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse on the Sega Genesis.

    I was not a Nintendo kid.
  • FossilmaidenFossilmaiden
    image Wee yea erra chs hymmnos mea.
    your first video game should be pokémon
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    Castle of Illusion is a decent choice

    Basically I feel like someone's first game should be some kind of platformer standard. I may be prejudiced in this
  • DYREDYRE
    edited 2017-05-09 21:07:20
    The first video game I played was something on the Genesis but I'm not sure what it would have been.

    It might have been The Lion King which is probably not the best introduction to video games actually.
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Imipolex G said:

    DYRE said:

    I have never played Super Mario World and I managed to figure out video games.

    how?????
    Same.

    But I always forget to account for the hours I spent playing Pac-Man in old arcade boxes.
  • Salix BabylonikaSalix Babylonika
    https://i.imgur.com/7Iil2JW.png
    Sredni Vashtar said:

    Probably one of the Jump Start edutainment games.

    In terms of "adult" games or whatever: Riven.

    somewhere in Britain, John Walker has just awoken from his sleep in a nervous sweat
  • FossilmaidenFossilmaiden
    image Wee yea erra chs hymmnos mea.
    I can't actually remember what my first game was but it would have been some Amiga game.

    First RPG was Pokémon though.
  • DYREDYRE
    Oh I remember really liking JumpStart Kindergarten Reading.

    It had a very memorable theme song.

    Though looking it up now I definitely did not remember how bad the character art looked.
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Jane said:

    Sredni Vashtar said:

    Probably one of the Jump Start edutainment games.

    In terms of "adult" games or whatever: Riven.

    somewhere in Britain, John Walker has just awoken from his sleep in a nervous sweat
    Who?
  • thenamelesssamuraithenamelesssamurai

    I think the first game I ever played was either Mega Man X or Donkey Kong Country 2.
  • FossilmaidenFossilmaiden
    edited 2017-05-09 21:15:47
    image Wee yea erra chs hymmnos mea.
    Sredni Vashtar said:

    Jane said:

    Sredni Vashtar said:

    Probably one of the Jump Start edutainment games.

    In terms of "adult" games or whatever: Riven.

    somewhere in Britain, John Walker has just awoken from his sleep in a nervous sweat
    Who?
    British games journalist and co-founder/editor of Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Hates Myst. (Although he plays up just how much he hates it to annoy people.)
  • Salix BabylonikaSalix Babylonika
    https://i.imgur.com/7Iil2JW.png
    He hates adventure games in general.

    Personally I tend to think it falls on the wrong side of the funny/just fucking annoying divide, but whatever.
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    People who hate Myst are not worth treating with. They shall not be spared in the coming purge. 0_0
  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    (If he enjoyed Undertale I'll take that back but if not death is inevitable.)
  • Yarrun XIXYarrun XIX
    Whores! we want "poems that kill."
    Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
    guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
    and take their weapons leaving them dead
    My first proper videogame was Super Mario Bros. The original one, adapted to GBA. My first console game was Kingdom Hearts, which is probably why I love games that focus on exploration and hate it when game sequels trim out the stuff that made the original interesting. 

    My first game, period? Probably one of the dozens of edutainment games my parents bought me. I don't have a set timeline for anything before Super Mario Bros., but I'm going to guess it was one of the Cluefinders games. 
  • FossilmaidenFossilmaiden
    edited 2017-05-09 21:38:02
    image Wee yea erra chs hymmnos mea.
    Sredni Vashtar said:

    (If he enjoyed Undertale I'll take that back but if not death is inevitable.)

    He didn't write the Undertale review,. (Also AFAIK their main RPG writer is Alice O'Connor, so.)
  • KlinotaxisKlinotaxis
    kill living beings
    Backyard Baseball is the Citizen Kane of video games
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    Klinotaxis said:

    Backyard Baseball is the Citizen Kane of video games


  • Sredni VashtarSredni Vashtar
    “I'm surprised. Those clothes… but, aren't you…?”
    Fossilmaiden said:

    Sredni Vashtar said:

    (If he enjoyed Undertale I'll take that back but if not death is inevitable.)

    He didn't write the Undertale review,. (Also AFAIK their main RPG writer is Alice O'Connor, so.)
    That's irrelevant to whether we burn him, though.
  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    The first game I played was Crash Bandicoot 2, second was probably Spyro

    Simpsonskids have since informed me those are bad games, despite my actual physical experiences with them
  • DYREDYRE
    Well both of them are 3D platformers which are apparently all inherently bad except for maybe Super Mario 64 and Also Gex 3 For Some Reason???????????.
  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    Gextra Life made a lot of money for Flint Michigan, Dyre
  • Yarrun XIXYarrun XIX
    Whores! we want "poems that kill."
    Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
    guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
    and take their weapons leaving them dead
    DYRE said:

    Well both of them are 3D platformers which are apparently all inherently bad except for maybe Super Mario 64 and Also Gex 3 For Some Reason???????????.

    Mirror's Edge, natch
  • DYREDYRE
    I'm sure there are people who have decided Mirror's Edge is now a bad game even though it was great 7 years ago.
  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    People think Fallout: New Vegas: Dead Money was a better expansion than Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, people can't be trusted
  • HexartesHexartes
    If anything I think it's become a cult classic.
  • HexartesHexartes
    To be honest

    "People have decided that this game isn't good anymore!" is a take I quite dislike. I have a lot of opinions on the nature of something aging well
  • OdradekOdradek
    My dreams exceed my real life
    It's always people who never liked it in the first place though and are manipulatively using people's suspicions of nostalgia to push their dumb agenda
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