Panzaer Dragoon Saga....o yeah the PS1 didn't have that awesome game! Well...FFVII is a great game but you don't own a playstation for the RPGs right?

Quote from LuzZelenia on October 28, 2012, 17:29
I think people bash it just for the sake of bashing it. It's become pretty the stereotypical overrated game and in my opinion, that evens it out again if you thought it was too overrated in the beginning. Whether or not you liked FFVII, you have to give credit where credits due and realize that if it weren't for FFVII, RPGs wouldn't have gotten popular in the west and as a result, we would miss out on allot of great games that have been made since.

FFVII was a fantastic game. It left a big impression on the gaming world. It showed that video games could be used to tell theatrical story, and it showed us the magic of well-done CGI cutscenes with 3D graphics.

But to say RPGs wouldn't be popular in the west without it, I don't agree with. I feel that honor goes to Dragon Warrior on the NES. Nintendo really pushed that game, even going as far as giving it away with Nintendo Power subscriptions for a while. And it sold well even with those giveaways. After that RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, and Final Fantasy II & III (V & VI in Japan) on SNES sold well too and cemented the popularity of the genre. Sega had their own success in the Phantasy Star series, as well. And it's not like there was a shortage of RPGs on the PS1 other than FF games.

If anything, FFVII really was released at the perfect time when JRPGs were at their height in popularity following the success of those aforementioned games. A masterpiece of a game released at the peak of a gaming trend.

Quote from BurningDoom on November 25, 2012, 23:59

Quote from LuzZelenia on October 28, 2012, 17:29
I think people bash it just for the sake of bashing it. It's become pretty the stereotypical overrated game and in my opinion, that evens it out again if you thought it was too overrated in the beginning. Whether or not you liked FFVII, you have to give credit where credits due and realize that if it weren't for FFVII, RPGs wouldn't have gotten popular in the west and as a result, we would miss out on allot of great games that have been made since.

FFVII was a fantastic game. It left a big impression on the gaming world. It showed that video games could be used to tell theatrical story, and it showed us the magic of well-done CGI cutscenes with 3D graphics.

But to say RPGs wouldn't be popular in the west without it, I don't agree with. I feel that honor goes to Dragon Warrior on the NES. Nintendo really pushed that game, even going as far as giving it away with Nintendo Power subscriptions for a while. And it sold well even with those giveaways. After that RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, and Final Fantasy II & III (V & VI in Japan) on SNES sold well too and cemented the popularity of the genre. Sega had their own success in the Phantasy Star series, as well. And it's not like there was a shortage of RPGs on the PS1 other than FF games.

If anything, FFVII really was released at the perfect time when JRPGs were at their height in popularity following the success of those aforementioned games. A masterpiece of a game released at the peak of a gaming trend.

Perhaps popular wasn't the right wording, mainstream probably would have been a better word to use. Before final fantasy vii there were still well received RPGs that achieved critical and financial success however, RPGs were still a niche genre in America and they didnt really get mainstream acclaim, it wasn't until after final fantasy vii that RPGs started to really be appreciated as a genre to be reckoned with to gamers and a genre that can make money to developers. That's when RPGs really boomed in the west. I don't think if final fantasy vii wasn't made that RPGs would have never gotten popular here, but it might have taken longer and a different game to do it. Either way, things would be different for gaming had final fantasy vii not been a success in the US.

I have to disagree with you on dragon warrior. I think that was the very start of RPGs popularity in the west but if dragon warrior was never localized but final fantasy was, it would change hardly anything regarding western gaming. Dragon warrior was monumentally important for gaming in general, far more important for Japan than it was for America though. The game sold pretty well but that was mostly because Nintendo had such high hopes for the game since it did so well in Japan and gave copies away with Nintendo power subscriptions. The later dragon warrior games that were localized didn't do nearly as well. To this day, dragon quest games don't sell nearly as well as final fantasy games in the west. I think as far as gaming as a whole, dragon quest is the more important and significant game and if it were never created, things would be allot different for rpg gaming no matter where you live, but, if it was created but never localized to America, it wouldn't change much or at least it wouldn't change as much as if final fantasy was never localized.

Wild Arms. FF7 was great but I loved Wild Arms so, so much more. Sukiden was my first though (however its spelled). PS1 was so fantastic and I have many awesome RPG memories with that console.

Man, really tough call... I'll just put some of my favorites in no particular order: Final Fantasy 9, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Lunar SSSC, Suikoden... Just to name some of them. I went back and trimmed my list down to 5. 😛 But the PS1 is definitely one of the best systems for RPGs, in my opinion. A lot of variety and a lot to choose from.