Good introductory RPG for an 8 year old?
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Try Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, it's a Gamecube game but it can be played on the Wii. It's a really good starting point for getting a kid interested in RPGs, the first one did the same for me.
If you have access to the Wii shop channel, the first Paper Mario game is also available for download.
If you have access to the Wii shop channel, the first Paper Mario game is also available for download.
To throw my two cents behind what's already been said, Costume Quest and Bastion are probably your best bets for new games, and Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger and Paper Mario for the Virtual Console.
If you don't mind soft-modding his Wii (which is a quite simple task; hard to screw up, but easy to fix if you somehow manage to anyway), drop some emulators on there and go for EarthBound, Final Fantasy III (6j), Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Mana...there's lots of good choices from that era.
Secret of Mana was my first RPG (well, closer to RPG than Zelda, anyway), and I got it in...I think 3rd grade, maybe 2nd. I'd tried playing Final Fantasy when I was four or five, but I couldn't understand what was going on at all. It wasn't until III/6j came out that I started understanding how "pure" JRPGs worked.
If you don't mind soft-modding his Wii (which is a quite simple task; hard to screw up, but easy to fix if you somehow manage to anyway), drop some emulators on there and go for EarthBound, Final Fantasy III (6j), Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Mana...there's lots of good choices from that era.
Secret of Mana was my first RPG (well, closer to RPG than Zelda, anyway), and I got it in...I think 3rd grade, maybe 2nd. I'd tried playing Final Fantasy when I was four or five, but I couldn't understand what was going on at all. It wasn't until III/6j came out that I started understanding how "pure" JRPGs worked.
If you're able to get a hold of a PS3, I'd highly recommend Grandia or Wild ARMs. Both great and fantastic RPGs with astounding quality, the likes of which not seen since Secret of Mana.
Ninja Gaiden 2 on Path of the Master Ninja difficulty is considered, by many scholars, to be the best RPG of all time. Give 'im that.
But seriously, Dragon Age: Origins.
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For an Xbox RPG to start with: Costume Quest. It was brought up earlier and for good reason. Costume Quest is awesome, and simple as all hell while still keeping up with a turn-based RPG formula.
For the Wii...well if it's on the Wii Virtual Console look for Super Mario RPG. If SMRPG isn't on the Wii Virtual Console... why the fuck not Nintendo?!
For the Wii...well if it's on the Wii Virtual Console look for Super Mario RPG. If SMRPG isn't on the Wii Virtual Console... why the fuck not Nintendo?!
Get him Fallout: New Vegas, put it on hardcore mode and blow his freakin' mind.
In seriousness, though, any Zelda game (although not technically an RPG) would be great.
Also, if he has any interest at all in superheroes either of the Ultimate Alliance games would be ideal.
In seriousness, though, any Zelda game (although not technically an RPG) would be great.
Also, if he has any interest at all in superheroes either of the Ultimate Alliance games would be ideal.
If it's on Wii, I'd recommend:
Paper Mario
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
Those are all on the Virtual Console, btw. Are the Phantasy Star games up there? If not, grab Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on 360, as it has Phantasy Star 1-4, and the Shining games. You know, Shining in the Dark, Shining Force, etc.
Paper Mario
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
Those are all on the Virtual Console, btw. Are the Phantasy Star games up there? If not, grab Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on 360, as it has Phantasy Star 1-4, and the Shining games. You know, Shining in the Dark, Shining Force, etc.
Well, when I was eight I was playing GTA 3 and Baldur's Gate.twaddle said:
OT: Well, you could try Skyrim. It's not exactly PG-13 but if he can handle stuff like Halo and CoD he certainly should be able to handle Skyrim.
Most things are fine short of old Computer RPGs. For example, even though this is hard to do you could end up with a fucked up character in KoTOR which coould ruin the game. I'd stay away from old rogue likes and rogues in general as well. JRPGs are a good place to start as ones like FF 7(was kinda designed to be easy for new comers to RPGs) & FF 9(if you have access) have a bit more rigid character development. Although as I said most WRPGs in the last two console gens have kinda removed the fail factor as far as making a character goes. So just pick ones you know are good.
Anyway my list would be FF 7, FF 9, Oblivion, Skyrim(if ok with the violence for these 2), Kingdom Hearts and Golden Sun. A lot of JRPGs but not many WRPGs that I would/could recommend for an 8 year old.
Anyway my list would be FF 7, FF 9, Oblivion, Skyrim(if ok with the violence for these 2), Kingdom Hearts and Golden Sun. A lot of JRPGs but not many WRPGs that I would/could recommend for an 8 year old.
Excellent choice, really. One of the best to start out with and it's not that hard. But the mechanics might be a little complex if he's new to action games. If not, do it. KH is one of the best choices and it's pretty darn fun and well put-together.twaddle said:
If not, Super Mario RPG, it's available on the Wii's download service. It's just a nice, mildly strategic turn-based RPG with Timing-based puzzles that make moves heal/hurt more. And it's VERY funny and has some cool music.
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 footageGhostwise said:
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.
Eh, it depends on culture, y'know.twaddle said:
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.
I would say either Pokemon (some of the older games, way cheaper) or even the old school route with Mario RPG
