I have to ask, how much talking does Child of Light have? I wanted an RPG originally b/c of many dialogues most of them have. An ordinary action game won't be an equally nice present for her, even if it's very good.

The game is a love letter to JRPGs, although all the dialogue are in rimes (that might be a minus depending on the person). The protagonist comment about location and people she encounters. There is also a voiced narrator. There are dialog with various NPCs, written stuff and even companions too. You can also look at a let's play on youtube (part 2 has more dialogues) to see if that fits what you are looking for (all the people doing let's play have to speak out load the dialogue, can be annoying lol).

It's not a very long game though (15-20 hours).

Elel >> Maybe Grandia?
The main character is 14 (I didn't play the whole game, but the beginning seemed really "kid-friendly" to me).

EDIT: as already mentionned, the characters of Pier Solar are also pretty young, but I think that the hero is more 16/17 than 12/13. Otherwise, I played the game and don't really remember parts not appropriate to children (but the combat are really hard, and random encounters really numerous, which can be frustrated for a kid).

ANOTHER EDIT: I also remembered of Gurumin. I've never played it, but it seems for kids! (it also exist on the PSP)

EDITS NEVER DIE: And what about Pokémon?

Great suggestions. Thanks!

Pokemon! Gah, why didn't I think of that??

Resurrecting an old thread just to say that I did choose Fortune Summoners. It looked very cute and kiddy. And…. it turned out that it's totally hardcore! Dark Souls with cute kids and lots of dialogues. I had to play it myself, haha. That was tough…

I'd never heard of Fortune Summoners, so I had to look it up. It seems interesting, something that might appeal to me more if it were only turn-based instead of straight-up action. It also looks like it might have some platform elements, though I'm not sure on that.

It's got jumping, but I didn't find any difficulties with that. It's not like, say, Prince of Persia on NES. But fighting is difficult. At first it was deceptively easy, until I met the very first boss. It was unbeatable by just by attacking it. I had to learn to block and time my own attacks. Btw, if it sounds stupid that I wasn't doing that before, well that's how all action games play, you never need to bother blocking or thinking about strategy. This is why action games are mostly relaxing in a dumb serene state of mind. Well, not this one. Even simple trash mobs can kill you unless you fight them with a brain turned on. There's later more complex stuff.

But it's not like I recommend this game, unless you like things like that. I've seen this game compared to Ghouls & Goblins, if that tells anything to anybody.

It's basically an RPG with a side-scrolling perspective, with a linear story and rather tough battles. I'd say it's rather deceptive that the story is about a very young girl ( a kid), but the fighting is… like that. :) It's surely refreshing, I just wish it was advertsed as a difficult game, lol. Most people who bought it probably expected it to be an ordinary click-without-thinking action-RPG.

I looove the Trails saga. Can't wait for Cold Steel III to release on PC. I heard they're bringing back Estelle and Joshua back in the fourth one. I literally screamed when I first read the report!

What about Prince of Persia 2008. Gorgeous art, interesting characters and a rather simple combat mechanism?

It's not jRPG with kid.

Wow, that's really excellent, if both Estelle and Joshua are going to return in the Cold Steel series!! When that hits the computer market, it just might wind up being a day one purchase for me.

And I'm still having a great time once again replaying the Trails in the Sky series. I'm about ten hours into the third game and trying out a different squad than I used previously, just to learn more on strengths and weaknesses.

Oh right.

Well there is Huniepop. Not sure if RPG, though. Has a character progression system ( well, sort of).

FF Tactics Advance. From Wikipedia "The game's story centers on four children; Marche, Mewt, Ritz, and Doned."

Hmm, the thread is a couple years now so I suppose Elel may not be looking for suggestions anymore. Oh well :)