Girlfriend won't play OoT

My girlfriend has terrible arachnophobia... I mean TERRIBLE arachnophobia. Seriously, she'll see a spider on TV, and she'll be shaking for about half an hour. One time there was the tiniest spider on the windowsil next to my bed, so we had to sleep on the floor for the next two weekends.

Anyway, as a Zelda fan, I'm always raving on about how OoT is my favourite game. I'm always talking about timeline theories and Triforces, and it bores her to death. Anyway, she was interested to see what all the fuss was about. I fired up OoT on the Collector's Edition, and tossed her the Gamecube controller.

She loved the game! I couldn't have been happier! She loved all the cute little Kokiris and for some horrible, horrible reason, she thought that Navi was cute. She loved the puzzles and looking for Rupees, and she got Saria's Song stuck in her head after taking a wrong turn into the Lost Woods.

Then came the Great Deku Tree's dungeon. And what lies inside the Great Deku Tree? Yes... Skulltulas. Oh dear. I was reading some Shakespeare - as we British people do - and she said, "Where's this noise coming from?"

'What noise?' I wondered. *Scratch scratch scratch*... Skullwalltulas. Oh no. I had completely forgotten that spiders were in Zelda! Even if they were skulls on legs! And when she discovered, she almost cried. Anyway, after I got her the slingshot and killed the things, she bravely soldiered on. Then, she reached the top of the tree. A great big Skulltula dropped from the ceiling and blocked her path! She screamed, and almost had a heart attack.

She's now too scared to play the game. I've recommended that she gets hypnotherapy for her rabid arachnophobia, but she refuses... because they make you touch spiders. I myself am disappointed, as I really want to get her into the cartridge-contained glory which is Ocarina of Time! She hasn't even gotten to the ReDeads yet, and she's scared of being in the same room as the game. What can I do?

Wow, I don't know what to tell you. Jesus, and I thought that I had bad arachnophobia. The only time I've ever been scared to play Zelda was in the Temple of Time in TP. Anyways, I have no clue what you can do about that. The only thing I can say is to just maybe warn her when there will be spiders and then try to kill them for her? Might be kind of hard though, since Skulltullas have a nasty habit of showing up in every dungeon in the game. Man, that's... I don't even know. I'm sorry, man. I can't come up with anything else.

Are you worried about her not playing the game, or her phobia?

Originally Posted by Kitsuné

Are you worried about her not playing the game, or her phobia?

Both lol.

Take Aralith's advice for the former, and talk to her and see if she want to get over her fear [for the latter].

I say if she doesn't want to play, she doesn't have to. I get how you want her to play the game you really like, but is it worth it to have her be scared to death?

Aye, I have tried. I did get her past the Deku Dungeon, and promised her that there were no spiders for a while. She said she might play next time she's here! We'll just have to wait and see!

The thread was mainly just for the sake of storytelling, though, lol!

Originally Posted by 3pic

Aye, I have tried. I did get her past the Deku Dungeon, and promised her that there were no spiders for a while. She said she might play next time she's here! We'll just have to wait and see!

Just remember that if you ever have her play TP, you play the Temple of Time for her. Being an arachnophobe myself, I can tell you from experience that it scared the bu-jesus out of me. I was playing at like 3:00 in the morning and I was alone. I had to set the controller down and turn the game off when I got to the boss and waited for the next day when it wasn't dark and I wasn't alone. So, your girlfriend, having it even worse than I, might just die of a heart attack if she saw that thing, so I'd recommend playing that temple for here if she ever decides to play TP.

Hah... I think I agree with you there. Armorgohma or whatever it was called scared me... too spider-like to be a gohma. Ugh.

The best way to get rid of fears is to face them. Though, after reading that, she will likely not try it.

Maybe it might help if you comment about how stupid and pathertic they look?

Just don't have her play OoT, it's rather simple, there are certain games I don't play around my gf, thats just the way it is.

Hmmmmm maybe if you make her play Resident Evil, she will outgrow her fear of spiders amd become afraid of zombies instead! Okay...maybe not.

Originally Posted by heroman

Hmmmmm maybe if you make her play Resident Evil, she will outgrow her fear of spiders amd become afraid of zombies instead! Okay...maybe not.

There's giant spiders in Resident Evil lol. Anyway, if she's scared of zombies, what're we going to do about the Shadow Temple?! God knows the ReDeads are scarier than any Resi zombie! Lol!

Ditch the flinch. Let's play Zelda.
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In seriousness, I feel sorry for the two of you.
Well.... Really her.

Here's an idea:

Tell her that the Skulltulas are so afraid of her that they have to hide under skulls!

Reverse psychology kinda thing. And failing that, tell her that aren't really spiders, it's a game after all.

Originally Posted by vambat

Ditch the flinch. Let's play Zelda.

HAHA! Wow, that's horrible

I'm surprised that you wanted her to play it. I learned with my last GF that unless she already likes the game, don't worr about it. She may just be tryin to share an interest, which then leads to her always wanting to play it. I know it sounds awsome! "My GF loves Zelda!" WRONG! Once she astarts walking off the same egde 20 times in a row and gigling the whole time, you will want to shoot your self!

yeah that sucks but even i have serious arachnophobia but thats life right

Originally Posted by JTIZLE

yeah that sucks but even i have serious arachnophobia but thats life right

For some.

Not me.

You know, now that I think about it, I can kind of know the feeling. I have realy bad vertigo, and I get a little uneasy feeling when I jump off a high ledge in any game, but It isn't that big of a deal for me. Mayby she just has to get used to it, after all, what's better then getting to fire arrows and seeds at your fear?

Yeah you do have a point