Good introductory RPG for an 8 year old?

[Jack and Calumon]

POKEMON

WHY HAS NO-ONE SAID POKEMON YET!

It even features the perfect balance of balancing levels of your Pokémon, similar to balancing stats in any other RPG!

Pokémon is perfect, get 'im hooked.

Calumon: ...Yeah I guess it's okay...

 

[Firetaffer]

POKEMON

WHY HAS NO-ONE SAID POKEMON YET!

It even features the perfect balance of balancing levels of your Pokémon, similar to balancing stats in any other RPG!

Pokémon is perfect, get 'im hooked.

Calumon: ...Yeah I guess it's okay...

The OP said that he doesn't have a DS anymore.

However I still say Pokemon, grab another DS, give it to him, and pokemon pokemon pokemon! It's perfect for someone like him.

 

[Gabanuka]

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?

 

[yuval152]

You should try pokemon or jedi academy.

 

[RustlessPotato]

Go with Dark Souls. Yeah ! And if he succeeds, that means The Chosen One has come.

 

[Bertylicious]

One of my earliest (and nostala-riffic) RPG gaming memories was playing Moraff's World on my Dad's PC, though I think I was 12. Never finished it mind. I guess Legend of Grimrock is the closest analogy to it these days?

I'm not sure what I was even doing when I was 8 years old. I think I was using a ZX Spectrum and I was just pleased when one of the games would load. God, the past was awful.

Anyway your newphew sounds much better than me at his age so the Fable series seems the way forward.

 

[NoeL]

I would suggest Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon was one of my sons favorite games when he was 8, I think that is down to the continuing purpose - it's not like you have to defeat bosses, you have to produce good vegetables and fruit, look after cows, be a little farmer and get married, have kids. It might seem a bit tame, but really it's a very challenging game under the surface.

I'd recommend one of the Rune Factory titles (probably Frontier) instead of Harvest Moon. It's got all the same farming/girl-wooing that Harvest Moon does, but also has dungeon crawling. It would be a better introduction to RPGs whilst still having the good ol' Harvest Moon guts.

If you want a great kid-friendly RPG why not go with one of the greats: Chrono Trigger! I'm playing through that again now actually Though it might be a little complicated for his first RPG... maybe try a Paper Mario title.

 

[tehroc]

Costume Quest

 

[DoPo]

Costume Quest

Ah, damn ninjas! I came here to suggest it myself. But yeah, Costume Quest is amazing and fun. It's like it's designed to be "baby's first RPG". Basically, the premise is that a kid goes trick or treating with his sibling but also monsters have come out on Halloween to steal candy. And they steal the kid's sister, so the kid must find costumes, which give him special powers and friends (party members) to fight the monsters and take back the candy. And the sibling.

 

[The White Hunter]

Pokemon, easy to get into for kids and easy to wrap your head around the basics of the game, just rebuy a ds lite for like £30.

 

[DeltaEdge]

Pokem-- JK, I actually read the OP.
Um, I think Pretty much any of the Tales of series games should do nicely. If he has somewhat of a shorter attention span, and doesn't like 2D games, then the 3D ones should work just fine. They always have interesting stories, a nice graphical aesthetic, and the combat system is real-time (linear motion battle system + additions with each game) so if you think he might be wary of menu-based combat, this would probably be a great start. I would recommend Tales of Vesperia(360), Tales of the Abyss(PS2)(my favorite btw), Tales of Graces(PS3), and Tales of the World: Radiant mythology(PSP). If he likes to customize his own character, then go with Radiant Mythology because it's the only one where you get to customize the character.
Also, the Summon Night Swordcraft Story series for the GBA. I'm talking the first and second one, and the 3rd one if you can find it english patched since it never came out in the US.
Edit: Here are some links to gameplay footage from some of the games.
Tales of the Abyss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIH4D_xc_jQ
Tales of Vesperia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUe5eG7wRTY
Tales of The World: Radiant Mythology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqXY6xP5zQk
Tales of Graces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrISJnjwrsk
Summon Night Swordcraft Story 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZChz88gZU
Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKTm249jcho

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

Pokemon is a good shout, but personally I'd recommend any of the Mario rpg games. The slapstick humour and more immediately involving combat system makes them seem a far better fit than any traditional rpgs. There are Wii games, Gamecube games, and a few on the Virtual Console in the series.

Costume Quest is a decent call too.

 

[twaddle]

Kingdom Hearts. Enough Said

 

[M0rp43vs]

I'll have to chime in with Harvest Moon as well. Friends of mineral town was and still is my favourite PS1 games and is one of the few PS1 games I still play today. Taught me about commerce, that farming is really easy, bribery being the best way to make friends and taught me to go into nature and scavenge when I'm low on cash and food. That and throwing stuff into rivers and waterfalls will cause Kappas and Goddesses to appear before you.

If not, as long as you think his eyes can take the early 2000's graphical assault, try Morrowind. It has a hell of a lot of inertia but in my opinion, it's way more addicting than either of the later two titles. And it does work on kids(I got into the game when I was 12 and got my little brother addicted to the elder's scrolls games at age 9 thanks to the game)

Another good series is the Monster Rancher series. It's a bit pokemon, cute monsters with deadly powers, mixed with Rocky, with the whole training angle and the fact that the later fights will leave you broken, destroyed but alive( like the end of the first movie) and will require several training montages to even come close to beating(like every other movie in the series)

And if that fails, try some SNES era RPG's

I'd recommend one of the Rune Factory titles (probably Frontier) instead of Harvest Moon. It's got all the same farming/girl-wooing that Harvest Moon does, but also has dungeon crawling. It would be a better introduction to RPGs whilst still having the good ol' Harvest Moon guts.

I have heard about that series. How does it blend the two gameplays together and how well does it do it?

 

[NoeL]

I'll have to chime in with Harvest Moon as well. Friends of mineral town was and still is my favourite PS1 games and is one of the few PS1 games I still play today. Taught me about commerce, that farming is really easy, bribery being the best way to make friends and taught me to go into nature and scavenge when I'm low on cash and food. That and throwing stuff into rivers and waterfalls will cause Kappas and Goddesses to appear before you.

If not, as long as you think his eyes can take the early 2000's graphical assault, try Morrowind. It has a hell of a lot of inertia but in my opinion, it's way more addicting than either of the later two titles. And it does work on kids(I got into the game when I was 12 and got my little brother addicted to the elder's scrolls games at age 9 thanks to the game)

Another good series is the Monster Rancher series. It's a bit pokemon, cute monsters with deadly powers, mixed with Rocky, with the whole training angle and the fact that the later fights will leave you broken, destroyed but alive( like the end of the first movie) and will require several training montages to even come close to beating(like every other movie in the series)

And if that fails, try some SNES era RPG's

I'd recommend one of the Rune Factory titles (probably Frontier) instead of Harvest Moon. It's got all the same farming/girl-wooing that Harvest Moon does, but also has dungeon crawling. It would be a better introduction to RPGs whilst still having the good ol' Harvest Moon guts.

I have heard about that series. How does it blend the two gameplays together and how well does it do it?

I've only played the Wii titles (Rune Factory Frontier and Rune Factory Oceans) and didn't get terribly far into either of them (~10 hours with each, if that), but they seem to blend the two ok. The farming is a bit more confusing in Oceans - I played for hours before figuring it out - but you can choose how much time/energy you want to spend pursuing farming or dungeon crawling. It's pretty basic/generic stuff, at least initially, and it often feels more like grinding than actual "fun" (but what Harvest Moon game doesn't, amirite?). I think the main selling point is that you get a "Cheap Hoe" amongst your starter equipment. Gave me a good giggle.

 

[mental_looney]

Costume Quest! Very kid friendly and shows all the basic mechanics of rpgs in an easy to understand way.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

My first was Final Fantasy IX. Light of tone (or light enough for an 8 y/o) simple to pick up the controls for, nicely paced, difficulty for a beginner player is at the right level, but can be enjoyed as a harder game, good story, interesting characters, and as I hear it available on the PS3 store online.

So yeah, I recommend FFIX.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well Skyrim doesn't beat around the bush with violence but as mechanics go it's pretty perfect for a kid, and for someone so young and eager to have this huge open world to explore... he would probably be quite enthralled.

 

[In Search of Username]

Fable! The humour in that game would amuse kids just as much as adults, I think. And hell, the game actually starts you out as a child.

 

[Sperate]

Rune Factory Frontier for the Wii. It is the Harvest Moon series taking on more dungeon crawling and general RPGness.