Do Older People Feel Zelda Can Be a Bit Childish ?

[CelticMagician]

Quite honestly, the mere fact that most people automatically associate cartoons or cartoony things with children has always been a subject that somewhat irks me. This is most definitely a societal view, predominantly a North American one, and one which very incorrect at times.

I actually had a conversation with my sister's fiancee not too long ago which started off as a mild debate about how Nintendo was initially responsible for some of the features you find with other gaming consoles and whether or not the other consoles have "perfected" them, but ended up turning into a topic of graphics. My sister's fiancee, though I did and still do respect his opinions which he brought up during this conversation, stated that consoles for Microsoft and Sony provide more realistic graphics while Nintendo sticks to a more cartoony style, which inevitably shows that Nintendo gears all their games toward children and that the other systems are somehow "better" for providing more "adult" graphics. I honestly wanted to smack him for both the allegation and for not allowing me to argue my own point on the matter, because I do not share this view. I ultimately dropped the argument, because obviously he was not going to budge or even listen to me for that matter, so why waste my breath?

Getting back to the point of this thread, however, this is the main reason why I do not consider Zelda games to be "childish" in any sense of the word. I have been playing Zelda games since I was roughly four or five years old and now, being 23 years of age, the franchise has yet to lose its magic and appeal for me since first I played.

Perhaps I am a little biased in a way. Being both an artist and storyteller gives me a different insight into these games. I appreciate the creative and unique art style of Zelda games in comparison with the realism found in other consoles. There's more expression in the animation, more life, and therefore is much more enjoyable visually that way in my opinion. The story behind most of the Zelda games also has the tendency to strike a very deep chord in me. Of all the games I've played for various consoles, none have made me feel more attached to the in-game world than the Zelda franchise. I still get very emotional with the Zelda games and have shed tears for certain titles, as I'm sure others have as well.

There is something very deep about these games, to just focus on the superficial aspects seems just downright silly to me.

In turn, so long as the Zelda series continues to be as awesome as it has been for the past 25 years, I will never grow tired of it let alone, view it as "childish."

 

[Gizmo]

Quite honestly, the mere fact that most people automatically associate cartoons or cartoony things with children has always been a subject that somewhat irks me.

And this is why I loled so hard when I read the first horrified reactions after the South Park Movie came out XD

 

[misskitten]

It's thinking like this that made me for a very long time refuse to let people refer to me as an "adult", simply because the way the term "adult" and "grow up" with having to lose my every ability to have fun. It's very unfortunate really because so many people feel the need to divide things into age groups. My (older) siblings have said to me time and time again "you are ... years old now, don't you think you're getting a bit old for ..." whether it was playing games, buying action figures or something else entirely.

This caused two reactions in me, firstly a defiance towards being labeled as an adult and a feeling of pity towards those defining themselves as "adults". I've thankfully learned to differanciate between my own definition of adulthood and other people's.

Because, sure, we change a bit going from childhood to adulthood, our sense of humor generally changes, we get more perceptive towards language, intonation, body language etc, which changes the way we perceive what we see and experience. Like the way people talk in kids shows goes from feeling vibrant and fun as a child to simply feeling fake and patronizing as an adult.

BUT, some things are ageless and I believe Zelda to be one of those things. It's unfortunate that some people would mistake something fun and engaging as being "childish"...