I'm playing Paper Mario right now. It's a delight. But it's a game designed for children.  The time of my life where I could be classifed as a child has long past.

I occasionally remember when Casey Loe and Nick Des Barres were talking about how they were in Japan once interviewing the director of the Tales series.  They both speak Japanese fluently, so they were able to converse openly with him.  As enthusiasts of the series they had a bunch of questions that cut to the essence of the themes of the game.

As they spoke with him they realized that in his answers he was making it clear that the target audience for the game were pre-teen children.  And here, they were, two grown men, engaging with him as if they were discussing the literary career of Sherwood Anderson.  By their own account they felt a bit sheepish.

Which is how I've started to feel about these games from Japan that are in a zone where they are not children's games as we usually think of them (games based on licences like Dora the Explorer or Barbie) but are not really intended for adults either.  It was when I started to really feel a distance between the JRPGS I was playing.  Yes the stories all suck, why? Because they are simplified for children.

So why am I playing them? (That's rhetorical).

Posted by aspro Wed, 05 Sep 2012 07:54:16 (comments: 14)
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Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:54:31
bugsonglass said:

The problem is that in the West most things targeted at children make the assumption that children are retarded.

But they are retarded! The mistake people make it to assume that they stop being retarded once they grow up!

bugsonglass said:

Shin Megami Tensei and Persona?  Would say target audience for those is at least teenagers.

Xenoblade, Xenosaga, Xenogears, Baten Kaitos?

 
Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:13:41
Iga_Bobovic said:
bugsonglass said:

The problem is that in the West most things targeted at children make the assumption that children are retarded.

But they are retarded! The mistake people make it to assume that they stop being retarded once they grow up!

bugsonglass said:

Shin Megami Tensei and Persona?  Would say target audience for those is at least teenagers.

Xenoblade, Xenosaga, Xenogears, Baten Kaitos?

In truth, most of them are.  And yes, they do grow up to be retarded adults.

It's still a shame though, for the few ones that are not though.  Hopefully they find access to good books early enough though (and grow immune to peer pressure)

 
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:51:09

lol ur kids. Go play the nintendos.

 
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 22:03:30

Hmph, there's no way you'd catch me with that kiddie stuff. *Goes back to reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*

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