# Gaming for beginners?



## mx wcfc (May 5, 2017)

I've never done gaming, but the telly is so bad these days, I'm thinking about giving it a go.

If a complete beginner was looking for a PC game, not too difficult, not on line, to sort of dip my toes in the water with, what would you lot recommend?

I'm not going to get a console (assuming that's what xboxes and PSs are) and I don't want to spend a lot of money, not until I work out whether or not I'm going to like it.  And my pc has a disk drive if that'll help me get something cheap in a charity shop.  

Theme wise, I'm more into sword and sorcery, or early the medieval period (saxons and vikings rather than knights jousting), rather than future worlds or world war two tank battles. 

or does the fact that I'm rubbish at computers and getting on a bit mean it's hopeless and I should just stick to spider solitaire?


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## Gromit (May 5, 2017)

Skyrim


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## JimW (May 5, 2017)

mx wcfc said:


> I've never done gaming, but the telly is so bad these days, I'm thinking about giving it a go.
> 
> If a complete beginner was looking for a PC game, not too difficult, not on line, to sort of dip my toes in the water with, what would you lot recommend?
> 
> ...


If you've never gamed then you can have fun playing some of the classics that are now dirt cheap of Steam, loads of role-playing games there and viking era stuff - they have what they call curators Steam Curators who rate and suggest classic games and they tag them all so you could search by medieval. e.g this oldie ahd a viking invasion add on that's included here Medieval: Total War™ - Collection on Steam 
Definitely dated but still fun


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## Kaka Tim (May 6, 2017)

Sid miers pirates. Get it off steam for a £5.oo i think. Fun, easy to get into and you get to be a pirate.


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## Kaka Tim (May 6, 2017)

Mount and Blade is good fun as well - medieval universe where you wander around twatting people with a range of fun weaponry like a Bastard Sword or a double bladed axe. Again - should be pretty cheap on steam.


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## Fez909 (May 6, 2017)

mx wcfc said:


> or does the fact that I'm rubbish at computers and getting on a bit mean it's hopeless and I should just stick to spider solitaire?


100% not.

My granddad was in his late 60s when he got his first PC. He used to play Medal of Honor and loved killing Nazis. He ended up joining a clan and getting fully into online gaming.

He wasn't great at it, but he wasn't too old, either.

How old are you?


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## Wookey (May 6, 2017)

Never too old! I'm excited on your behalf! 

I'd second Skyrim,  it's a work of art and utterly engrossing,  and totally fits your desired area of play. 

I only play it on Xbox console though,  I use PC for Simcity only as its point and click with a mouse. Must have a console for first person yomping games imo.


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 6, 2017)

This is  tricky

Most  will just say their favorites  or a popular new game.	this isn't totally wrong but laks nuance

games are like movies.   what really matters  is your own personal taste.	

RTS fans  are  not going to love  visual novels  and   players of FIFA soccer  are not going to wax lyrical about  Mario Galexy

So  what  i need to ask you  is  what draws you to gaming  and  what  have you enjoyed before?


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 6, 2017)

From the medivel   fantasy  idea   Skyrim isn't a bad chocie.

Skyrim is  big  LOTR  style  epic choice fantasy

if  you want  a very down to earth almost simultor   you may prefer mount and blade.  


also  are you more   want to be  ion the first person  or   perfectly happy  almost  reading a story


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 6, 2017)

for honour  is getting some  hype nowadays


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 6, 2017)

Also if  your  a fan of dudes in armour   you may even want to explore  dark souls

dark souls   has a reputation of being hard   but   actually  more  that  just  being  difficult  it is acually  a game  of beuty  and depth  and  all about  persaverance.  

It's  not a walk in the park  but  it's  not  just  a  money eating  bullshit arcade game

There is a reason i have a solaire  t-shirt



So  many  people  may thing  i'm trolling.   I really am not.	Sure   DS  isn't  classes as an easy game for beginners   but  i want to class it  as  a  deep game that will draw newbies in


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## Johnny Vodka (May 6, 2017)

I like the vibe of Dark Souls but gave up trying to tackle that thing on the bridge.  Didn't stop me buying DS2 though...


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## mx wcfc (May 6, 2017)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> This is  tricky
> 
> So  what  i need to ask you  is  what draws you to gaming  and  what  have you enjoyed before?



tbh, I'm just looking for something to waste an hour or so in the evening.  

I used to like pinball, and was quite good at an arcade game called Centipede!


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## mx wcfc (May 6, 2017)

Thanks all, I will take those comments and have an explore.  Steam has cheap and free games so that looks like a good place to start.


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## Chilli.s (May 6, 2017)

A second hand Xbox One and Skyrim


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## Johnny Canuck3 (May 6, 2017)

H1Z1 | King of the Kill | Just Survive


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## Magnus McGinty (May 6, 2017)

Take some of the suggestions given here and then search for them on YouTube to see if the ingame footage gets you excited.

It also depends on what style of game you want to play. If it's real time strategy/war then Age of Empires might be what you're looking for. If it's first person explore/quest then it's skyrim or one of its predecessors like Oblivion.


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## Magnus McGinty (May 6, 2017)

mx wcfc said:


> tbh, I'm just looking for something to waste an hour or so in the evening.
> 
> I used to like pinball, and was quite good at an arcade game called Centipede!



Skyrim will zap more than an hour an evening. 

You can get all the old arcade games like centipede for free nowadays with a MAME emulator.


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## hegley (May 6, 2017)

mx wcfc said:


> tbh, I'm just looking for something to waste an hour or so in the evening.
> 
> I used to like pinball, and was quite good at an arcade game called Centipede!


Limbo is on Steam at the moment for £1.74 (and has a free demo too, which, annoyingly, lots of games don't have). Really beautiful, creepy game with straightforward gameplay and not a huge time sink. Worth a look.


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## Steel Icarus (May 6, 2017)

Settlers 2


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## keybored (May 6, 2017)

Portal Portal Portal Portal Portal Portal!


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## YouSir (May 6, 2017)

Mount and Blade, runs on most computers, lots of mods, easy to get into.

Or Football Manager, because you don't need a life.


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## Vintage Paw (May 10, 2017)

Diablo III - about as easy as you can get, sucks you in with the kill-loot-upgrade cycle, interesting enough story, fun, quirky, plenty of different fighting styles, lighthearted. Torchlight 2 for the steampunky version.

Definitely Skyrim, although the complete freedom of an open world can be overwhelming and daunting for someone who is new to gaming. I came _back_ to gaming after having done it a decent amount but not having done so for quite a while and one of the first games I tried was Fallout 3 (same developer, same type of game, different setting) and I hated it. Even GTAIV (which was my first proper sit-down get-immersed play-the-whole-thing game after returning) kept me more on track with its narrative, and that's open world too, but Fallout 3 was just too open and formless for me at that point. Now I've found my feet I love that kind of game. So, yes, Skyrim is excellent and it crossed a lot of traditional gaming divides and got a lot of different types of people interested in it, but just a warning that if you don't gel with it it might be because as a first game it's a bit too free, iyswim.

I would have recommended Portal too, but since you said fantasy rather than sci-fi... but Portal is bloody great.

If you like narrative, the Dragon Age series. So far each of the three games are distinctly different in gameplay and style, while being sort-of continuations of each other based in the same world. Dragons, warriors, strong characterisation, magic, lore, swords, rogues, political intrigue (sort of), lore, awkward sex scenes, so much lore, role-playing, golems, dwarfs, elves, religion, moral quandaries, lore, and lots of gay. Start at the beginning with Dragon Age: Origins.

Fable - I don't think 2 is on PC (can't remember), but 3 is. I think 2 is better, but 3 is good as well. Fun, irreverent, easy mechanics, lively, humorous, good story to follow while you can still explore at your leisure.

Perhaps Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning too. Feels a bit like a half-way house between the more traditional fantasy rpg games and Fable/Diablo. Fun combat with plenty to choose from, interesting story, easy-going style.

And of course for the strategically minded, Civilization. Your choice of where to start - makes sense to go with 5 or even 6 (the newest), but there's a certain charm to the earlier ones, and they're a bit easier to get your head around too. I adore Civ III, others swear by Civ IV. Civ II is still the old school classic but we're talking proper old school by today's standards. It's not a fantasy game, but rather you control a nation and build it up from prehistoric to space age, tackling the other nations you encounter along the way in whichever way you see fit. Mind out for Gandhi, he's a right cunt.


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (May 10, 2017)

I'd definitely second Fable (and particularly Fable 2) for a beginner. It's fun, atmospheric and has a good story but is very easy. Skyrim is great but might be a bit overwhelming for a new player especially if they haven't got a spare 100 hours. 

I love Dark Souls but you can't seriously recommend it for someone who's new to games!


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## Gromit (May 10, 2017)

I said Skyrim cause he said Saxons and Vikings n stuff. 

The Nord are basically Norse. 
Plus we have romans n shit.


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## Magnus McGinty (May 10, 2017)

Crusader Kings II for a real time strategy game which has vikings in one of the many many expansions.


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## tommers (May 10, 2017)

Banner Saga if you want Vikings.  Beautiful game, reasonably simple and great story.

The Kingdom Rush series are brilliant Tower Defence games.  Frontiers is on Steam.

Dark Souls and Portal are some of the best games ever made. 

Skyrim gives the solution to any puzzle on the wall right next to it, which is handy.

There are a whole colony of roguelikes if you want to play them.  Try Dungeon Crawl : Stone Soup, or Tales of Maj'Eyal. 

If you want strategy then Crusader Kings, Total War series.

Battle Brothers is a decent tactics game.  (X-Com is great but is sci-fi not olden days).

Mount & Blade is cool but looking a bit basic now.  There isn't really a story it literally just dumps you in world and lets you get on with it.

There are thousands of shoot em ups, blockbusters (not played Horizon but people say it's good), Titanfall 2 is a great shooter, or the Battlefield series.  Nier: Automata is supposed to be brilliant.

Divinity Original Sin is a great "traditional" RPG, there are a load of those around at the moment: Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2 - all made by the studios who did them 20 years ago.

It all depends on what you want - shooters, strategy, a casual little game that you can play for 10 minutes, whatever.  There are loads out there and you can pick a lot of them up for like a fiver or something.

What a time to be alive.


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## DotCommunist (May 10, 2017)

Orcs Must Die! is a good game, very arcadey. Keep the hordes of orcs away from the portals by building elaborate traps then when they come at you the traps will mince them, and you get weapons. Ogres are in it as well, doublehard bastards


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## Cid (May 10, 2017)

You can crank the difficulty down to walkover on Skyrim can't you? I'm echoing that because thematically it's absolutely spot on the op's choice. 

Also think VP's suggestion of Diablo III is good - as I recall the skill tree was very simplified, and therefore well suited to beginners. I love Path of Exile (which has the advantage of being free), but fuck me the skills can get confusing. And yeah, fables... Though fable maybe better if you get an xbox controller, they're pretty cheap and easy to install. And then you could get 'A tale of two brothers' which is a nice little story.


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## Magnus McGinty (May 10, 2017)

Skyrim is open world but there's linear pointers also so I don't reckon it's overwhelming. It just means you'd be guided to the main quest rather than piss off and do your own thing like those familiar with Bethesda do.

But isn't that how it's set up to teach people?
How else would you get into skyrim other than playing it?
Other games aren't going to ease you into it. It's the finest game. Start with that if you're pc will run it, I say. 

Crusader Kings is way more overwhelming but you won't get to learn that without playing it, either.


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## yield (May 20, 2017)

Kaka Tim said:


> Mount and Blade is good fun as well - medieval universe where you wander around twatting people with a range of fun weaponry like a Bastard Sword or a double bladed axe. Again - should be pretty cheap on steam.


Mount & Blade is free on gog.com for the next 24 hours. 

Mount & Blade


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## Who PhD (May 21, 2017)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> for honour  is getting some  hype nowadays



Don't bother.

Get Crusader Kings 2 instead and watch your brain slide out your nose 

Or just play whatever tickles your fancy


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## snadge (May 21, 2017)

I'll second path of exile (PoE), free, not pay to win ( a bane of even pay to play games, PoE makes their cash by selling cosmetic items, eg flaming arrows) and a damn good game to boot.

And you don't need the latest and greatest computer to play it.


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