My first game was Final Fantasy 10. I can't say I like it at all in retrospect, but I must admit that it was a perfect place to start. It gave me a relatively leisurely pace to learn how to move using analogue sticks. Most of the rather simplistic combat also gave me plenty of times to learn mechanics and conventions, and the difficulty level was pretty low. It also prepared me for bad writing, unlikeable characters and anime-dub quality voice acting. The entire adventure felt like a linear style over substance endeavour. In short, I feel like FFX prepared me for a lot.
It did foster enough interest in the potential to make me want to check out other games though, and I didn't actively dislike the act of playing it. If I have to recommend a game to a newcomer, a turn-based RPG would be a good fit.