JRPG's with non-teenaged protagonists?

Heres a question for you guys,

I've been having a urge to play some JRPG's(Chorno trigger-Final fantasy-Suikoden style), was even considering installing "The Last Remnant", but then I remembered there was a bunch of pretty shitty teenager melodrama so I had to take a pass on installing what massive game, so do you guys know of any decent ones hopefully from this generation of games that are any good that doesn't feature teenagers(kids) as the main characters?

Lost something, I think?

Nier and SMT:Strange Journey immediately come to mind.

Lost Odyssey had adults. But, eh, it's not really relevant whether they're technically teenaged or not, it's more about whether or not they're melodramatic, innit? No idea in regards to Lost Odyssey, in that case.

Persona 4 has teenaged protagonists who don't act like shitty teenagers.

@believer258 said:

Lost something, I think?

If you are thinking of Lost Odyssey, that game has two of the most annoying child characters I've seen later in the game. I haven't played too many JRPGs though, so there could be worse.

Vakyria Chronicles, Nier, Lost Odyssey, Resonance of Fate, Shin Megami Tense Anything. Hell, even FFXIII-2.

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden

Tales of Vesperia. Neir. The Phantasy Star games on Genesis and Master System.

Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario series, Mario & Luigi RPG series.

Loophole! Japanese RPGs must contain teenagers except when they already contain Mario.

I think it's more on the melodrama than the teenager angst. Protagonists in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise feature teens, but don't act as such and aren't sterotypes of that kind.

Other JRPGs that come to mind are Lost Odyssey, Valkyria Chronicles, and Radiant Historia.

FFVI and XII focus largely on adult stories. Earthbound and Mother 3 star children, and in the latter's case has adult protagonists as well. Xenogears stars adults as well, but if your motivations stem from what I think they do it'll be way too Japanese. I'd also like to say that the Persona series has very well written and mature characters, and might be in line with what you're looking for more than something like Lost Odyssey, which has very immature characters. (Don't get me started on FF XIII).

@Little_Socrates said:

Lost Odyssey had adults. But, eh, it's not really relevant whether they're technically teenaged or not, it's more about whether or not they're melodramatic, innit? No idea in regards to Lost Odyssey, in that case.

Persona 4 has teenaged protagonists who don't act like shitty teenagers.

There are some themes--growing old, for instance--that teenagers obviously can't know about. You think of other genres, stealth action for instance, which has produced two solid examples of protagonists aware of their own aging--Snake and Sam Fisher. Can't get at that with a fifteen year-old.

@AmatureIdiot said:

@believer258 said:

Lost something, I think?

If you are thinking of Lost Odyssey, that game has two of the most annoying child characters I've seen later in the game. I haven't played too many JRPGs though, so there could be worse.

Well, I was under the impression that the main character, or at least a fair number of the characters, weren't kids. However, I have never played the game, nor do I really know what it's about, just that actual adults are involved in doing something.

For a JRPG I have played, though, Final Fantasy XII.

"Whoa, Believer. Are you smoking something? Don't you remember Vaan?" Yes, I remember Vaan. I also remember Balthier, and he was pretty damn entertaining for the most part. But I also never finished that game so maybe he stopped such a genre-savvy magnificent bastard at some point.

Anyway, it seems like you can't find many JRPG's these days that don't have too much of the melodramatic teenagers thing.

@jakkblades said:

@Little_Socrates said:

Lost Odyssey had adults. But, eh, it's not really relevant whether they're technically teenaged or not, it's more about whether or not they're melodramatic, innit? No idea in regards to Lost Odyssey, in that case.

Persona 4 has teenaged protagonists who don't act like shitty teenagers.

There are some themes--growing old, for instance--that teenagers obviously can't know about. You think of other genres, stealth action for instance, which has produced two solid examples of protagonists aware of their own aging--Snake and Sam Fisher. Can't get at that with a fifteen year-old.

Well, yes, of course. But the OP isn't asking for games about getting old or losing a spouse, he's asking for games that don't star teenagers because he doesn't like teenage-emoted drama. And it doesn't matter if everybody in Lost Odyssey is 35 years old, they can still whine like the cast of Final Fantasy VII because anime. Final Fantasy XIII is a perfect example of this; Snow and Lightning are definitively "adults," but they're more teenage drama-y than anyone in Persona 4 or even FFXIII's primary teenager, Vanille.

Tales of Vesperia. Yuri is a boss.

OP is asking for a lot.

For people who answered Valkyria Chronicles. Snipped from the wiki:

Alicia is the 19-year-old heroine of the game.

Isara is Welkin's 16 year-old adopted sister who cares greatly for her comrades.

Edy is a 17-year-old militia shocktrooper.

Homer is a kind and pretty 15-year-old boy with a frail constitution who serves in Squad 7 as a engineer.

Susie is a 19-year-old scout.

Though, I guess outside of Alicia, the other characters aren't really what I'd consider main protagonists.

FF7

Some of these responses seem to be pretty off to me. I'm having trouble thinking of something in the Chrono trigger/FF style that doesn't have tennagers being dramatical. But you know what is an RPG from Japan that doesn't have teenage melodrama? Dark Souls.

That shit's agism. I think your problem is less with how old the characters are and more to do with being tired of shitty characters. Persona 4, despite being filled with teenagers, has an excellent cast and touches on a lot of things most western games wouldn't poke with an extraordinarily long stick. Hell, the game is about fixing the petty ideals of typical teenage melodrama.

Asking for something from the "current generation" drastically limits your choices. There's stuff like Xenoblade and Nier, but those aren't turn based JRPGs. Otherwise you'll need to bust out a DS for pretty much anything with an Atlus logo on it. Stuff like Strange Journey and, my own personal favorite, SRT: OG Saga Endless Frontier. I hear Radiant Historia is good too.

@Turambar said:

Vakyria Chronicles, Nier, Lost Odyssey, Resonance of Fate, Shin Megami Tense Anything. Hell, even FFXIII-2.

pretty sure the character from SMT 1 was a teenager

@Zippedbinders said:

That shit's agism. I think your problem is less with how old the characters are and more to do with being tired of shitty characters. Persona 4, despite being filled with teenagers, has an excellent cast and touches on a lot of things most western games wouldn't poke with an extraordinarily long stick. Hell, the game is about fixing the petty ideals of typical teenage melodrama.

Asking for something from the "current generation" drastically limits your choices. There's stuff like Xenoblade and Nier, but those aren't turn based JRPGs. Otherwise you'll need to bust out a DS for pretty much anything with an Atlus logo on it. Stuff like Strange Journey and, my own personal favorite, SRT: OG Saga Endless Frontier. I hear Radiant Historia is good too.

I can vouch for these games, especially Radiant Historia. That game is pretty awesome.

Costume Quest. Not a single teenage protagonist there.

@Turambar: FFXII-2 is centered on teenagers. FFXIII deals with adults. Lightning and Snow are both 21, and Sazh is 40. Cloud was 21 in Final Fantasy VII, and Cid was 32.

Let's be honest, though. This isn't about teenagers/adults with regards to numerical age of the character. The ages of Final Fantasy characters are mostly arbitrary. Squall is 17, but you could have said he's 28 and no one would have questioned it.

Here is the best response:

@Zippedbinders said:

That shit's agism. I think your problem is less with how old the characters are and more to do with being tired of shitty characters. Persona 4, despite being filled with teenagers, has an excellent cast and touches on a lot of things most western games wouldn't poke with an extraordinarily long stick. Hell, the game is about fixing the petty ideals of typical teenage melodrama.

Asking for something from the "current generation" drastically limits your choices. There's stuff like Xenoblade and Nier, but those aren't turn based JRPGs. Otherwise you'll need to bust out a DS for pretty much anything with an Atlus logo on it. Stuff like Strange Journey and, my own personal favorite, SRT: OG Saga Endless Frontier. I hear Radiant Historia is good too.