History Main / NoobCave

* RollerCoasterTycoon: The first scenario in each title[[note]]Forest Frontiers and Leafy Lake in the original, Arid Heights for ''Loopy Landscapes'', Electric Fields in ''[=RCT2=]'', Vanilla Hills in ''[=RCT3=}'', Captain Blackheart's Cove in ''Soaked!'' and Scrub Gardens in ''Wild!''[[/note]] provides the player with enough cash and attractions to get started, straightforward objectives, and a solid start on research.

** In both ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'', there is a cave that precedes the entrance to the central dungeon, respectively the Temple of the Ocean King and the Tower of Spirits. The early rooms of these dungeons themselves count as well.

* The River of Heavens in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}''.

** The Impact Site from the first game. There are no enemies (well, aside from the Mamuta, Goolix and the Pearly Clamclamps, but they're a safe distance away from the landing site) and there are a lot of pellets nearby to grow more Pikmin.

* The first cave in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'' had no monsters in it. And in every subsequent game, the first cave is usually full of smiling blue Slimes. Most of said first caves don't even have a boss, and they're usually just connecting tunnels out of the hometown.

* ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'' has one on the spaceship Toronto right at the beginning in the form of a less frequently visited area of the ship that you're not supposed to go to. There are no enemies, only puzzles and seemingly harmless cleaning robots. (Much later, you will find that these are actually Killer Cleaning Robots [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of Doom]] that could each flatten a battalion of demons, but at this point they don't attack.) This dungeon is optional and easy enough to miss.
** There is also the Hunter Clan's supply cellar that holds some decent loot and money to get you started. The strongest monsters in the cave are a Skrinn 2 and a Krondir, both of which are regular enemies outside the city walls, but at this level, even a few of the lesser Skrinn can be dangerous.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' has Tephra Cave, which interestingly doubles as both this and a BonusDungeon, in that a second, '''[[BeefGate MUCH]]''' tougher portion opens up in the last fifth of the game. It's completely optional but involved in a fair few late-game sidequests.

* ''Dungeonmans'' started every new world with a newbie dungeon to the east of the Dungeonmans Academy called the Convenient Scrobold Warren. It's only three levels deep and most of the enemies are easy to beat up with your basic skills.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfSeasons'' has the ridiculously easy "Hero's Cave" where you find the sword. In ''Oracle of Ages'', [[DualWorldGameplay the Maku Path serves this purpose two times in a row]]. In the present, it's a straight line with a few press-switch-to-open-door puzzles. When you go to the past, you're introduced to the slightly more complicated collect-a-key-to-open-a-door-in-another-room puzzles. Should you be playing a Linked Game, both areas will have a much harder BonusDungeon added on top of them.

** ''Pikmin 2'' has the Emergence Cave, which only has the weakest enemies, as well as no bosses or hazards. It is also where you first get Purple Pikmin and has only 2 floors.
* The High Elves from ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'' are this, though it's unknown if this was intentional. They start on Ulthuan which could fairly be called "noob island" thanks to its isolation from the other continents. Generally you'll only have other High Elves for company - meaning it's easy to make friends and you're less likely to be attacked. Their roster will be the most familiar to players of other VideoGame/TotalWar titles but new to the fantasy setting, consisting of a core of spearmen, archers, and heavy cavalry (unlike other factions whose idiosyncrasies may be more unusual). Their economy is similarly conventional: build up your cities to develop trade and industry to earn money. Even their aesthetic is comfortingly pleasant (traditional good guys: green fields, shining knights, white marble cities etc.)

It may surprise players by being involved in the InfinityPlusOneSword or being the entrance to the BonusDungeon. The designers obviously thought it clever to put the hardest challenge here, WhereItAllBegan.

* ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'': CascadeCavern is the first true dungeon. It's filled with water and has waterfalls on both the outside and inside, but the resident monsters aren't much of a threat, even despite the limited amount of party members upon entrance.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' has Cobblestone Tor, which is the first dungeon that mostly serves as a tutorial and is filled with easy enemies.

* Inverted with ''VideoGame/MortalKombat''. Noob's Dorfen in Mortal Kombat 3 is literally a Noob Cave, in that it's a cave like area, where you fight a character called Noob Saibot. But it's a hidden area where the requirements to get to it are difficult. And despite the implications of the name, Noob himself actually has [[NintendoHard a very tough AI]], in which you would have probably needed to mildly mastered the game already before being able to defeat him.

* The High Elves from ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'' are this, though it's unknown if this was intentional. They start on Ulthuan which could fairly be called "noob island" thanks to its isolation from the other continents. Generally you'll only have other High Elves for company - meaning it's easy to make friends and you're less likely to be attacked. Their roster will be the most familiar to players of other Total War titles but new to the fantasy setting, consisting of a core of spearmen, archers, and heavy cavalry (unlike other factions whose idiosyncrasies may be more unusual). Their economy is similarly conventional: build up your cities to develop trade and industry to earn money. Even their aesthetic is comfortingly pleasant (traditional good guys: green fields, shining knights, white marble cities etc.)

* The High Elves from ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'' are this, though it's unknown if this was intentional. They start on Ulthuan which could fairly be called "noob island" thanks to its isolation from the other continents. Generally you'll only have other High Elves for company - meaning it's easy to make friends and you're less likely to be attacked. Their roster will be the most familiar to players of other Total War titles but new to the fantasy setting, consisting of a core of spearmen, archers, and heavy cavalry (unlike other factions whose idiosyncrasies may be more unusual). Their economy is similarly traditional: build up your cities to develop trade and industry to earn money. Even their aesthetic is comfortingly pleasant (green fields, shining knights, white marble cities etc.)

** The High Elves from ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'' are this, though it's unknown if this was intentional. They start on Ulthuan which could fairly be called "noob island" thanks to its isolation from the other continents. Generally you'll only have other High Elves for company - meaning it's easy to make friends and you're less likely to be attacked. Their roster will be the most familiar to players of other Total War titles but new to the fantasy setting, consisting of a core of spearmen, archers, and heavy cavalry (unlike other factions whose idiosyncrasies may be more unusual). Their economy is similarly traditional: build up your cities to develop trade and industry to earn money. Even their aesthetic is comfortingly pleasant (green fields, shining knights, white marble cities etc.)

* In a somewhat bizarre "real-world" example from ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings II'', Ireland has this reputation. It's rather isolated and unlikely (due to the game mechanics) to be bothered by the outside world for a while, giving beginning players a chance to learn the mechanics. Also, the starting situation lends itself to a sequential conquest for players, starting as either a duke or a count, and unifying the Kingdom of Ireland makes a good end point for the "tutorial". Mind you, this only applies to the island in the later start dates; before the conversion of Scandinavia, you might just have some trouble from [[HornyVikings certain neighbors]].

* [[FanNickname Chateau (de) Irenicus]] in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate2'', the dungeon you start the game in and must escape from. Known for being so reviled by long-time players that a mod was eventually made just to let people skip it. On an unrelated note, Noob Cave or not, it's easily the thematically darkest dungeon in the whole game, including "Hell".

* ''VideoGame/EYEDivineCybermancy'' starts you off waking up in a cave, with maybe ten enemies between you and the exit. On the way you're forced to take advantage of your various abilities, you're taught how to hack and you're automatically guaranteed to level up at least once. And if you know where the secret exit is, you can skip all but one of the enemies. Although doing so also skips the levelup...
** If you got all [[spoiler: the Gate abilities, you can enter the final area that leads to [[GainaxEnding the hidden ending]]]] from this cave.

* ''VideoGame/EYEDivineCybermancy'' starts you off waking up in a cave, with maybe ten enemies between you and the exit. On the way you're forced to take advantage of your various abilities, you're taught how to hack and you're automatically guaranteed to level up at least once. [[spoiler:And if you know where the secret exit is, you can skip all but one of the enemies. Although doing so also skips the levelup...]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' had the Tiny Woods which had only three floors, and was an extremely feature-limited version of the rest of the dungeons in the game. You were also unable to recruit new members there. The sequel had Beach Cave, which was equally short and happened to be one of the best places for finding useful items such as Stun Seeds.