Unless we're talking about extremely young kids; like, Teletubbies-age kids, I'm not sure I agree. Yes, kids will absolutely eat up garbage, but that doesn't mean they should be served it. I'm firmly of the belief that the best content for kids, be it television, books, movies or games, can be looked at by an adult and found to be quality.
And believe me, I'm no stranger to consuming content for kids as an adult; I was on-board the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic train for like half a decade.
I kinda was tbh, but not exclusively — sorry for the confusion.
But regardless, "adults don't like it"
still doesn't mean "garbage". Playing through a Balan, there's a lot to like about it lol. Gameplay isn't even terrible. I think it's easily the worst part of the package, but even then, it's not
garbage. It's just, idk, inoffensive?
fr lol — there's no way in hell this game is "Sonic '06" levels of bad. The game is
functional, for one.
People are understandably disappointed. It definitely did
not live up to the expectations that the advertising set for us.
But objectively, divorced from expectations
(and yes, I understand games shouldn't necessarily be judged in a vacuum, especially with how this game was being marketed), the game is... fine. Not great, maybe not even good. But it's not offensive, or "garbage". Y'all need to pick up Sonic '06 again for a reminder of what that's
like.
This argument sucks when it shows up with animated movies because there are plenty of animated movies that appeal to kids whilst also not insult the intelligence of adults that are sitting with them as well, with stuff like Disney's Backlog, Pixar's Backlog, Studio Ghibli, Cartoon Saloon, etc. etc.
Not every piece of media has to go out its way to indulge adults if it's meant for kids.
Expecting every piece of children's media to also entertain adults sounds hella entitled tbh. Some stuff is for solely kids, and that's fine.
Plus, Disney, Pixar, and Ghibli are all hella high bars to set, anyway. I don't expect everything to be on that level. And as an aside, wasn't the Cars franchise, like, super successful?
It double sucks when you talk about video games and you compare it to stuff like Mario, Kirby and Animal Crossing.
Wait. What argument do you think I'm tryna make here lol. That Balan is on the same level as that stuff? Or?
So you are aiming to appeal for young kids. Sure, sure. We'll accept that. You can also keep adults entertained as well.
Yeah idk. Like this sounds super entitled to me sorry lol.
and let me stress, all the examples you gave are media that I love, and would totally let a kid consume.
But if they wanted to play Balan, like, what's the issue, exactly? That it's fun for them and not you???
I get it y'all. You don't like the game lol
Kids like better games than you give them credit for
sure they do! And some kids don't lol. Doesn't mean they're stupid or anything. And of course, it's also possible for someone to like a mix of super esteemed games and not-so-well-received games. iunno what the issue is
Lots of kids grew up with, say, crummy licensed games, for instance. Some of them are handily worse than Balan in terms of gameplay, art design, etc. And they still look back on them fondly, because they were kids and it was fun. Like, it's a thing that happens.
