Good introductory RPG for an 8 year old?

[Kekkonen1]

I can say that Ni no Kuni coming out early next year will be perfect for him. If you dont know what it is it is a collaboration between Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away and other animated movies) and Level 5 (Rogue Galaxy, White Knight Chronicles). It is incredibly beautiful, colorful and loads of creativity and fantasy.

The thing is, I couldn't stand the game in the end. I Played about 10 hours of the Japanese version that is already out, but the game is clearly aimed towards a younger crowd, with an extremely bright and simple story of good and evil where all the good characters are incredibly good and all that is wrong with the world is the work of the villain. Even the Japanese characters (kanji) has so called furigana over it to show how they are read, something I rarely see in other Japanese games and that also show it is aimed at a younger audience.

So anyway, I think he might like it. I didn't, but then I am a bitter bitter man that like my games to reflect this bitterness and Ni no Kuni was just too much ghibli-happiness for me to handle.

Trailer: http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/01/ni-no-kuni-innocent-strength-trailer-e3-2012

If you only got 10 hours into it I think you did the game a disservice. It gets way more complex and extremely dark from some of the dev interviews and gameplay footage I've seen. Sorry to necro this...I was looking for an RPG my 6 year old might want to play lol.

Considering that it hasn't even shown a HINT of complexity of story or "darkness" in the first 10(!) hours (yeah sure there is some aim at darkness in the very beginning, but it never feels dark or sad, just contrived crap in order to drive the story forward), and that it is a game from ghibli, notorious for making upbeat-movies (with some often brilliant exceptions), makes me quite confident of my decision to abandone it. At least I base my decision on 10+ hours of actually playing the game, and not dev interviews and gameplay footage

Also, what I didn't mention in my post, the game is simply not that fun to play. The battle-system is boring at best, battles are easy to win but I never once felt that I won due to my own skill. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with the music, it is very ill fitted with what goes on on the screen and I often had to turn it down since it was just a short pompous tune that looped in eternity while I was questing. The graphics are good, but the jumps between animation and ingame-graphics are quite jarring, more so than other RPGs I've played. Well yeah as you can see I just didn't like it that much, and I do feel that 10 hours is enough time to make an educated decision =) With that said, 6 year old might be a bit young (unless he/she is incredibly good at games), but give him/her a few years and it will probably be perfect for his/her age.

 

[Danceofmasks]

How come everyone that keeps recommending these games seems to keep forgetting the fact that this is supposed to be a game
FOR AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD CHILD?

Eh, it depends on culture, y'know.

If you're chinese and have any sort of aristocratic background, an 8 year old boy who can't deliver lethal flying kicks while playing a violin concerto is probably more than a little slow.

 

[crazy_coug99]

I would say either Pokemon (some of the older games, way cheaper) or even the old school route with Mario RPG

 

[Roxas1359]

I think the Kingdom Hearts series is a good one to start with. I started with Kingdom Hearts as a kid as well as Final Fantasy X. Other than that I'd recommend the Paper Mario series which is also really good.

 

[DioWallachia]

In order from the lowest kind of RPG to the highest/more cerebral one:

Off by Ghost Mortis
Final Fantasy VI
IJI (Action RPG, mind you)
Planescape: Torment

Alternatively, you can ditch the RPGs and play ALL the games made by Treasure:

Alien Soldier
Gunstar Heroes
Mischief Makers
Ikaruga
Stretch Panic

 

[sextus the crazy]

Honestly the only one is Pokemon at that age. Games like KOTOR could work but they're a nightmare to run on modern systems.

Also don't listen to anyone who says Dragon Age, its not up to me but do you really want an 8 year old playing an 18 rated game?

Thank you captain sensible. Even supposing the kid's okay with violence, there's all sorts of other stuff that he's not old enough for or to understand.

 

[scorptatious]

Oh hey! It's my old thread!

Well, last I heard from my nephews, they just got a new 3DS, so Pokemon is no longer out of the question.

 

[twaddle]

How come everyone that keeps recommending these games seems to keep forgetting the fact that this is supposed to be a game
FOR AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD CHILD?

Eh, it depends on culture, y'know.

If you're chinese and have any sort of aristocratic background, an 8 year old boy who can't deliver lethal flying kicks while playing a violin concerto is probably more than a little slow.

ummm i think this picture will sum up my feelings on your comment nicely...

 

[Smeggs]

I'd like to try to get my nephew into RPG's. I was thinking of either Xenoblade or The Last Story, but I wasn't sure.

He has a Wii and a 360. If he still had his DS I'd have him play Pokemon, but he doesn't have it anymore.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Wha...go buy him another DS then.

He's 8, do you think that he'll even comprehend the story or have the attention span to finish them?

A regular DSLite is barely any more expensive than a new game these days. I'd start him off on Soul Silver or Heart Gold.

 

[scorptatious]

I'd like to try to get my nephew into RPG's. I was thinking of either Xenoblade or The Last Story, but I wasn't sure.

He has a Wii and a 360. If he still had his DS I'd have him play Pokemon, but he doesn't have it anymore.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Wha...go buy him another DS then.

He's 8, do you think that he'll even comprehend the story or have the attention span to finish them?

A regular DSLite is barely any more expensive than a new game these days. I'd start him off on Soul Silver or Heart Gold.

I just posted that he got a new 3DS. :/

But yeah, you do have a point. The two games I mentioned are both pretty story heavy, I'm not sure he could comprehend a lot of it. Of course I posted this thread back when I was really into both games, so I guess wasn't really thinking about it at the time.

With Pokemon though, that won't be a problem. I was personally thinking of starting him off with Black or White, but Soul Silver and Heart Gold are more than likely cheaper, so there's that.

 

[Danceofmasks]

How come everyone that keeps recommending these games seems to keep forgetting the fact that this is supposed to be a game
FOR AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD CHILD?

Eh, it depends on culture, y'know.

If you're chinese and have any sort of aristocratic background, an 8 year old boy who can't deliver lethal flying kicks while playing a violin concerto is probably more than a little slow.

ummm i think this picture will sum up my feelings on your comment nicely...

My sister just got an iPad for my nephew.
He's 7 months old.

The very fact that you think my comment is racist, makes you racist.

 

[twaddle]

How come everyone that keeps recommending these games seems to keep forgetting the fact that this is supposed to be a game
FOR AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD CHILD?

Eh, it depends on culture, y'know.

If you're chinese and have any sort of aristocratic background, an 8 year old boy who can't deliver lethal flying kicks while playing a violin concerto is probably more than a little slow.

ummm i think this picture will sum up my feelings on your comment nicely...

My sister just got an iPad for my nephew.
He's 7 months old.

The very fact that you think my comment is racist, makes you racist.

Um...what does the fact that your nephew got an iPad have anything to do with you thinking you thinking that an upperclass citizen of Chinese decent should know how to simultaneously be able to play violin while being able to perform kungfu or some other martial arts at the same time? Would you please clarify, because if not, my comment still stands.

 

[Danceofmasks]

How come everyone that keeps recommending these games seems to keep forgetting the fact that this is supposed to be a game
FOR AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD CHILD?

Eh, it depends on culture, y'know.

If you're chinese and have any sort of aristocratic background, an 8 year old boy who can't deliver lethal flying kicks while playing a violin concerto is probably more than a little slow.

ummm i think this picture will sum up my feelings on your comment nicely...

My sister just got an iPad for my nephew.
He's 7 months old.

The very fact that you think my comment is racist, makes you racist.

Um...what does the fact that your nephew got an iPad have anything to do with you thinking you thinking that an upperclass citizen of Chinese decent should know how to simultaneously be able to play violin while being able to perform kungfu or some other martial arts at the same time? Would you please clarify, because if not, my comment still stands.

It's a question of expectations.

I was punching trees when I was 6. Why? Because of course 6 year olds can destroy trees.
Getting a B in school? Incomprehensible. It wasn't even in the realm of possibility for me to have been so stupid.
(and yes, if I had got a B, I would not have heard the end of it)
Wanna hear a silly story? I broke a ming vase at my grandfather's when I was 2. I still get reminded of it occasionally. It was something I did, at 2 years old, in 1977.

The same applies to games.
Where you would probably think "he's 8. How can he play Skyrim?!"
I think "he's 8. How could anyone possibly think he can't play Skyrim?!"

Because culturally, I was expected to be able to do everything, all at once, at ages that the west seemed to think was far too young.
The result?
I happen to think, and rightfully so, that most people are dunces.
'cos if you were not made to learn learn learn when your brain was developing, you never catch up.

 

[twaddle]

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Thank you for clarifying. Now allow me to do the same. I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion on depending on the culture. What I was commenting on was my offense toward the generalization you made regarding affluent children of Chinese decent. You being of Chinese decent or not, that comment is slightly racist just like if i made a comment about how it is expected that if your a 10 year old person of African decent it is expected for you to know how to play basket ball and to enjoy hip hop music and fried chicken. Just trying not promote stereotypes among different people of different cultures.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Ummm I would say probably Fable The Lost Chapters.

 

[shwnbob]

The Death Spank series. Seriously, those games are incredibly goofy and their cheap too. I think you can get them on the 360...

 

[Verzin]

all of the suggestions by the persons above me, and also Baldur's gate/Planescape.

 

[Haefulz]

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Thank you for clarifying. Now allow me to do the same. I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion on depending on the culture. What I was commenting on was my offense toward the generalization you made regarding affluent children of Chinese decent. You being of Chinese decent or not, that comment is slightly racist just like if i made a comment about how it is expected that if your a 10 year old person of African decent it is expected for you to know how to play basket ball and to enjoy hip hop music and fried chicken. Just trying not promote stereotypes among different people of different cultures.

You can recognize culturally influenced skills and traits without being racist. His example of being able to do flying kicks while performing a violin concerto was just an exaggerated joke. I thought it was pretty funny.