I want to get into gaming (I have a 3DS and a kinda old PC, and I have access to a PS4) but all I've ever played is Pokemon games and Mario Kart. Where should I start? I just think I need a new hobby.
If you liked those, that's a great start! They're games. What kinds of things interest you about gaming? What are you interested in? Do you want suggestions for things to try out and see how you like them?
There's a lot of different kinds of games out there, so the best place to start might be to try a few things and see what you like; once you have at least a couple examples of things you know you enjoyed or didn't enjoy, it becomes a lot easier to look for more things that fit your tastes. Are there any games (or genres of games) you've heard people talk about that sounded like they might be fun or interesting? You could try grabbing one or more of those and seeing how you like them. Alternately, you said you've played Pokémon and Mario Kart; how do you feel about those? Would you be interested in games similar to either of those/are there particular things you like or don't like about them?
Seconding everyone else re: genre preferences/what you like and dislike about the games you've played, but here are some games for the 3DS and PC that I personally enjoy! YMMV on all of these, obviously, but yeah. :P I'm gonna explain game terminology here because I don't know how much you know about all that. I promise I'm not trying to be patronizing! Anyway, here are some personal faves. If you check any of them out, let me know what you think! c: Undertale (PC): I'm admittedly not finished with this one, but I'm loving it so far. It's like a combination RPG (Role Playing Game), bullet hell game (bullet hell being this thing where you have to like...dodge shit), and puzzle game, with an interesting plot, some neat features (without spoiling anything about the plot, one cool thing is that you don't actually have to kill a single enemy), and lovable characters. It should run fine on even an older PC, I think? Ace Attorney (3DS): A really good visual novel series--admittedly not quite a game per se, really, but very much worth checking out--about lawyers, spirit mediums, and a lot of weird murders. Yes, really. It's a good combination of poignant, engaging, and fucking hilarious. The first three games (bundled together), as well as games 5 and 6, are available through the Nintendo eShop--the fourth game is only available for the original DS (idk why it's not in the eShop yet, at least last I checked), but it can be played on a 3DS as well. Again, not much of a game, but I'll stan it forever. :P Basically any Mario game (3DS): Mario games are just fun. A lot of them are platformers (the kind of games that involve jumping across platforms and such and defeating or avoiding enemies as you go), and those are probably my favorites. Super Mario 3D World is probably a good place to start if you wanna check them out! Steven Universe: Attack The Light (phone/tablet): This one isn't a console game, but it's available for both Android and iOS and is super fun (and very affordable--last I checked it was like, three bucks). It's another RPG, with a fun little story written by none other than Rebecca Sugar herself, and is super fun while not being too difficult (although there is a hard mode, if you want a challenge). There's also a sequel, Save The Light, which is available for both the PS4 and PC (as a digital download, in both cases), and which I have yet to play but have heard good things about! (That one was kinda buggy apparently, but my understanding is that all the major bugs have been patched.) I hope that helps a little. Like I said, without knowing about your genre preferences and such I can't really help that much, but these games are all worth checking out--and as someone who enjoys both Pokemon and Mario Kart, I can vouch for them all being good, at least in my opinion. :P
Re: Acey's recs, I'd also clarify in case it's not clear from the description: what she means about Ace Attorney is that it doesn't have action/fighting gameplay like you probably think when you think video games, not that it has no gameplay at all. Ace Attorney's gameplay is mystery solving, basically—you play a defense attorney trying to prove your clients' innocence in court, Perry Mason style, so the main gameplay consists of using your evidence and knowledge of the case to find logical contradictions that prove when witnesses are lying or mistaken and uncover the truth. In between court sessions, you spend time investigating, searching for evidence and trying to gather information. To clarify some game terminology in case you don't know it—a visual novel is a genre of game that's primarily text-based. Some visual novels are purely story presented in the form of a game with sound/graphics/etc. which you just click through (these would be the ones people would most likely mean if they say something has no gameplay); some have limited interactivity similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure book, where you choose how the story proceeds at specific decision points; some combine or alternate between pure VN story sections and other forms of gameplay. Ace Attorney is the latter kind—I'd probably call it something like a puzzle game (for the mystery-solving parts) slash point-and-click adventure game (for the investigation parts) slash visual novel (for the focus on story/dialogue and the format the story is presented in).
That’s all very true, and I appreciate you clarifying because I didn’t do a great job explaining tbh!
Thanks for all the suggestions! As for games I like, I really like the creativity/different game stuff you can get in Pokémon depending on what kinds you catch, and I like role play— not sure about first person shooters.
Seconding the rec for undertale! And adding a rec for my favorite game, Don’t Starve. It’s a game where you try to survive as long as you can in a world filled with hostile, neutral, and occasionally helpful creatures. A lot of gathering resources, crafting items to help you survive, and exploring the world. It also has a really cute artstyle, and it’s probably going to be on sale in December because there’s a new DLC being released then! If that sounds like it might be your jam, you should check out some of the trailers on Klei Entertainment’s youtube channel.
Okay, cool! Those are definitely things you could look for more of if you want to. I'm not the most widely-played person around, so I'm unfortunately short on specific game ideas right now, but here's a couple features or genres of game that you could look for? If you like the creativity of building a Pokémon team, you might like other games that give you lots of choices of characters to use. There's definitely other games besides Pokémon that let you recruit or create different kinds of characters for your party and use whichever you want; someone else in this thread might be able to suggest some? (The first thing that would normally come to my mind is Shin Megami Tensei, the original "catch monsters and enlist them to fight for you" series, but most SMT games are known for being extremely difficult, so I don't recommend them for a beginner. Also extremely tonally different from Pokémon, haha.) There are also games that don't let you catch or design your own characters, but have very large casts of characters to choose between; I'm not sure if that's really what you're looking for, but if it is, games like that are also out there—off the top of my head, there's things like Suikoden, a series of fantasy RPGs where you can recruit over a hundred unique characters for your army. Another thing along similar lines that you might like, re: creativity, is games with a high level of character customization? There's a lot of games that will let you build your main character (and sometimes other characters) however you want in terms of stats, abilities, etc., like choosing pokémon's moves but more in-depth. Which, along with what you said about role-playing, makes me think you might want to try Western RPGs*? WRPGs often give you a lot of freedom to role-play—most have very customizable main characters (in terms of both stats and appearance/personality), and they usually emphasize giving the player choices about what to do, where to go, or how to resolve problems. They're usually available for both PC and PlayStation systems, too. I haven't played enough WRPGs to give you specific recs, but I bet a lot of people could if you're interested. (And if you like having a lot of freedom to decide your game experience, like being able to freely explore the world and find/choose things to do rather than having the game direct you, you could look into "open-world" or "sandbox" games specifically.) * Feel free to ignore this if you're not interested, but if the terminology is confusing: Western RPGs/WRPGs and Eastern RPGs (also called Japanese RPGs/JRPGs) are two sub-genres of RPG. The names originally meant what they sound like, but nowadays they refer more to genre than where the game was made. Loosely speaking, Western RPGs tend to put more emphasis on player freedom and role-playing, and are more likely to feature things like protagonists whose stats/appearance/personality the player can decide, freer reign given to the player to explore the world and choose what to do, and many choices given to the player that can affect how the game or its story turns out. Eastern RPGs tend to put more emphasis on depth of story and characters, and are more likely to have mostly or completely linear stories and protagonists with predetermined identities and personalities. (Modern Western RPGs also mostly use real-time battle systems, while Eastern RPGs are just as likely to have turn-based combat like Pokémon.)
You might also enjoy something like Dragon Age or Mass Effect, given your liking for in-game choices and role play. I realize you didn't say anything about platformers but I do have to recommend, to everyone I talk to about games, Ori and the Blind Forest and Unravel 1 and 2. Best games I have ever played. Ever.
You said no shooter games, but what about swords and magic? The elder scrolls series is open world, and the character creator has lots of choices and details you can work with to get very personal with your character. Id start with Skyrim first if it looks to be to your interest. Minecraft is fun too, its also open world and has relaxing music as you build and combine and cook and many other things. It has a very friendly multiplayer mode as well, no extra struggling to make it fit.
I also second Ori, although it is quite hard-it's an absolutely gorgeous game where beating the game with less than a triple-digit death count is very unlikely on your first playthrough. You might want to check out Steamworld Heist? RPG where you play as robot space pirates. I reccomend getting the DLC, for the extra character and content, but that extra character's my favourite character so I am biased.
Oh shit, yeah that's true. Depending on how old it is that would go Poorly for you. It already has a hard enough time when I want to stream for my fiance over discord. And my computer is brand new.
Oh shit, I can’t believe I forgot to mention Animal Crossing! It’s a sandbox game (I think? Lmk if that’s not the right term y’all) where you move into a town populated by anthropomorphic animals, and you basically just...get to do whatever. The one for the 3DS is called Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and it’s easily my favorite in the series so far—it fixes a lot of the frustrating aspects of the earlier games, and you get to be the mayor of the town, which is a LOT of fun. A few things worth noting: The character customization is fairly limited, and SUPER counterintuitive—I strongly recommend looking up a guide if you decide to get it before you actually start playing, lest your character end up with a face you hate. HOWEVER! There’s a HUGE amount of clothing and accessory options that you can combine to your heart’s content—and you can even design your own clothes using a sort of pixel art-type interface! (The palettes available are limited, but there’s still a ton of room for creativity.) You can also download outfits other people have designed through a QR code (and you can share your own!). You only have eight slots for your own designs but tbh I’ve never needed any more than that. You can also customize your home in fun ways! As a warning, if you go for like...a week or more without playing at all, your town will start to grow weeds and such, and your character will need to get their hair done (unless you like the messy look, which...tbh I love messy hair on mine). Thankfully, it’s pretty simple to just pick weeds (and since your town is fairly small in size, it doesn’t usually take too long to pick up all of them). You’ll also get a bit of annoyance from your villagers the first time you talk to them again, but that’s not actually a huge deal. This is the one aspect of the game I find super frustrating, but I can personally look past it because aside from that it’s just a cute, fun, relaxing game that I really enjoy! YMMV though.
I was going to say a lot of what Keltena said, but they beat me to it, heh. :::PPP I'm a turn-based JRPG fiend, but unfortunately a lot of what I play I wouldn't rec to beginners for one reason or another (difficult, Grindy Dungeon Crawl Slog Hell, nearly as old as me and showing it, overly complex and confusing, only viable way to get it is piracy and emulation, all of the above...). Buuut... Seconding the Gay Lawyer Simulator Ace Attorney rec. The same developer who made AA also made Ghost Trick. It's an adventure game where you play as a ghost trying to figure out who he is and why he was killed. He has the power to possess and move objects, and when he possesses a corpse, can rewind time to 4 minutes before the person's death. It has the same off-the-wall sense of humor as Ace Attorney, one of the twistiest plots I've ever seen, and one of the major characters is a Pomeranian. At one point you have to stop someone from being crushed to death under a giant fiberglass roast chicken. It's fantastic, is what I'm saying. It was originally on DS, so if you can get that you can play it on your 3DS, and I think there's a mobile version. Speaking of DS games, I'd also recommend seeing if you can score a copy of Chrono Trigger DS. It's one of those "nearly as old as me" ones, because the original game was on the SNES. It's one of the classics of the JRPG genre, and it's held up incredibly well. The player characters accidentally fall through a series of time portals and discover that the world is going to end 999 years in the future, and they have to go back and forth through time to prevent it. It's a ton of fun, and your party members include a cavewoman, a robot, a teenage inventor with a ray gun, and a knight turned into a frog. The DS version did add some postgame content that ranges from "mediocre" to "terrible" and goes all grimdark on the ending to try to bridge the gap with the much darker sequel, but you can just... not do it. Etrian Odyssey Untold and Etrian Odyssey II Untold. The EO series as a whole is one of those things I'm not reccing. It's about assembling teams of adventurers to travel through "the Labyrinth of Yggdrasil," with the additional gimmick that you have to draw the map yourself as you go. The reason I single out these two in particular is that the Untold remakes A) have an easy mode and allow you to adjust the difficulty at any time, and B) have a Story Mode with a premade party, so you don't have to stress about what's going to be a viable long-term team right at the start of the game. Both are 3DS. I believe EO2U has a demo in the 3DS store, if you want to get a feel for how you'd feel about the general gameplay. This is my special interest and I've evangelized it so many times over the years that at this point I feel kind of embarrassed about doing it, but: Radiant Historia. Another DS JRPG, and another one about time travel. The main character has the power to go back along his own timeline and redo his own life, changing certain decisions; as you play the game you have to jump back and forth along two different timelines to make your way towards a history where the entire continent isn't going to be a wasteland inside of a decade. Will make you cry. The true end is nearly impossible to find without a guide, but worth it because you'll cry even more. Also you can make the world end with bad decisions literally dozens of ways, it's hilarious. There was a recent 3DS remake, but I highly recommend finding the original if you possibly can, for a long list of reasons I won't go into. I'm bitter. Ara Fell. Another JRPG, this one indie, and thus much shorter and more lightweight than the ones I've been talking about. Not much to say on this one: it's cute, it's fun, you fight vampires, it's on Steam for $10 and occasionally goes on sale. Keltena mentioned Suikoden; Suikoden I through III are on the Playstation Network, while Suikoden Tierkreis is another one in my pile of DS RPGs. Tierkreis is divisive in the fandom for a number of reasons, and in some ways it's a better game if you're not familiar with the series as a whole. It happens in a totally different world and setting from the rest of the series, but follows the same general outline of "gather 108 player characters to fight an evil empire." The voice acting is hilaribad, but only parts of the game have it. Recettear, an indie game about running a RPG item shop selling stuff to townsfolk and adventurers. Control adventurers who explore dungeons for you! Fleece the rich girl who thinks she's your rival by charging her three times the base price because she never notices! Experience the heady power fantasy of actually being able to pay off all the debt you have! $20 on Steam. Portal and Portal 2. Not RPGs, amazing! These are super-famous, so you've probably seen the memes. They're first-person physics puzzle games where the main character has a gun that shoots portals, and she has to use it to go through a series of "test chambers" under the command of an... idiosyncratic AI named GLaDoS. "The Enrichment Center promises to always provide a safe testing environment. In dangerous testing environments, the Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice. For instance, the floor here will kill you. Try to avoid it. :)" This is just from a quick skim of my game box and Steam library; I've got plenty more.
For a newish-to-games player friendly experience with options to customize, be creative, and do some light roleplaying, I recommend Stardew Valley. You're someone who has inherited a run-down farm and it's up to you to clean it up and run it how you'd like, and in the meantime you have a whole village of people to learn about, befriend, and with some of them, even date and possibly marry. The gameplay is pretty forgiving, there's lots to do, the game atmosphere is modern day-ish with fantasy twists (not unlike Pokemon, in a way) but overall very chill, and it's a very kind game without being childish or sickly sweet. It also has cooperative multiplayer available, but in no way required. It looks to have pretty low system requirements, and it's also available on the PS4.
OH! You could also try Monument Valley. It's for your phone. It's a puzzle game which plays with perspective and impossible geometry, it's REALLY cool.
