Video game protagonist ages and culture

[Loki Laufeyson]

So like, i was reading a thread in Awakening board (scary, i know) and was talking to another member here about it. Theres like, this weird thing with Japanese games/stories and age. 30 seems to be considered rather ancient in JRPG Worlds. In FE13, we have Cherche declare she is too old for marriage but shes not really older than 25. Gregor appears to be almost 50 but theres a solid argument for him being closer to 30. Then theres Nowi... This just happens a lot in games. 17 year old protagonist is pretty much a norm. In quazi-medieval settings, this actually does work. Due to how lifespans worked in medieval society, a 17 year old is basically a grown-up. So Chrom in FE13 as a 19 year old (estimate) would be like, right at an ideal.

But when we get to more modern settings like some FF games and Ace Attorney, and this is applied, it gets weird. Is this whole thing relative to Japanese culture perhaps? Cuz Western culture paints the prime as around 30.

Weebs, help a god out here.

[Nobody]

Chrom is 21, IIRC, with Emmeryn being 25 and Lissa 15 or 16.

EDIT: Never mind, while Lissa's and Emmeryn's ages are correct, Chrom is apparently 19y/o before the time skip and 20y/o after

Edited March 31, 2014 by Your Mother

[Cowboy Karimov]

Chrom is 21, IIRC, with Emmeryn being 25 and Lissa 15 or 16.

EDIT: Never mind, while Lissa's and Emmeryn's ages are correct, Chrom is apparently 19y/o before the time skip and 20y/o after

I thought it was a two-year skip.

[Acacia Sgt]

Yes, there is cultural clash involved here. Take Cherche for example. The whole "Old for marriage at 25" refers to an old custom of not eating Christmas Cake after the 25th since it was considered too late for it to taste good. This is why unmarried women at 25 or older are considered "Christmas Cakes". Although from my understanding, recently the age had been bumped to 31 (in reference to New Year Eve's instead) for the "too old" limit.

I could be wrong here since I'm going by memory, but the gist of it is correct in any case.

[Junkhead]

It's alright, Chrom is 18 at the start of FE13.

And Gregor does NOT look like almost 50. I'd say mid 30s or early 40s AT BEST.

[Nobody]

I thought it was a two-year skip.

Is it? I haven't played awakening in a while.

Then Chrom would be 18/20 or 19/21

[Rewjeo]

Due to how lifespans worked in medieval society, a 17 year old is basically a grown-up.

Not really. Living to 60 in the middle ages was not some outrageous thing like people think it was. And most people got married in their twenties. The confusion comes from the difference between average lifespan (includes all the people who die as babies) and life expectancy (how long people actually tended to live if they got through infancy and weren't killed violently) for the former and, for the latter, from nobility tending to marry children very young for political reasons. I mean, a 17 year-old was more grown up than now (where you can very reasonably be in school into your mid-twenties and beyond) but it's not like that was middle-aged back in the Middle Ages.

Anyways, I'm not really sure what's up with this, since my understanding is that in other ways the west has more of an obsession with youngness while the east tends to think of age as a good thing.

[peener weener]

because videogames are for children

[Junkhead]

yes they fcking are

[Rehab]

Fill me in on the age dissonance in Ace Attorney, I don't much remember any

I remember Phoenix being mid-20's, at least in the English translation, and I don't remember a lot of dialogue about marriage generally

because videogames are for children

well yeah but so are a lot of things that have 20, even 30-and-beyond somethings as protagonists

Edited March 31, 2014 by Rehab

[Loki Laufeyson]

It's alright, Chrom is 18 at the start of FE13.

And Gregor does NOT look like almost 50. I'd say mid 30s or early 40s AT BEST.

Oh man, you should see the people in their late 40s these days. They look pretty nice. Gregor looked past 45 easy. The way the other characters talk about how old he is and everything.

[Ciarre]

Ace Attorney? Phoenix starts off as like, 23 and is 34 by Dual Destinies. Considering he's fresh out of law school by the first game, I think that's pretty realistic in a real world setting. :o (but yeah, you also have people like Franzy and Edgeworth who started practicing law ridiculously early, so that's sort of a thing)

[Esau of Isaac]

JRPG protagonists tend to be young because JRPGs tend to be targeted towards a teenage demographic. And the tendency for women in Japanese games to be talking about being too old for marriage reflects a stereotype in Japan, and for that matter most of Asia to my knowledge. Women that make it to a middle age without being married are apparently seen as damaged goods and it becomes much harder to enter into a long-term relationship.

[Knight]

I've heard in Japan that what is considered "old" is much lower. That's really all that I can think of, although there are many Japanese games that avert this.

[Integrity]

JRPG protagonists tend to be young because JRPGs tend to be targeted towards a teenage demographic.

itt: things star characters aged to their target demographic

(every response can be cut down to this line)

EDIT: (and yes of course there are exceptions)

Edited March 31, 2014 by Michael Hurst