There are a few RPG fans, but a lot of FF fans

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

demonfox13 said:

Words Of Wisdom said:

riecsou said:

This means to me that there are a few RPG fans, but a lot of FF fans

Go look up Pokemon's sales then point and laugh at Final Fantasy.  RPGs are, mostly, still niche outside of a few.

Honestly I do not understand what the hell people see in pokemon, unless they are 12. The very first one was fine, ok maybe the second one was still ok but it just got ridiculous to me. 

Back on topic, I really believe that alot of good and better rpg's go overlooked because of Final Fantasy. I mean look at Vagrant Story, that game was a masterpiece. Also Valkyrie Profile1, 2, xenogears, breath of fire, lunar, shadow hearts 1 and 2, Legend of Legaia, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross. I mean damn, most of those games I would beat at LEAST 2-3 times (more if it's Chrono series).

This reminds me of the classic example of Zelda on the NES when The Magic of Scheherazade was a FAAAAR superior game to Zelda 1 and 2.

BTW, does anyone remember a gem called Brave Fencer Musashi?

The original Pokemon was arguably a far advanced game for its time.  You can even argue it was an early prototype for the MMO.  A Single player MMO if you will.  But like many Japanese RPGs, it took much of its insperation from other JRPGs and other games, mostly Dragon Quest (for its battle engine and monster design) and Tamogachi as well as outside influences.

As for your other comments, there's been a lot of polls and even comments from Nintendo that show that the majority of Pokemon fans might even be between the ages of 16-25 now.  People who have grown up with the series and are still buying it.  So this stereotype that 'only kids play Pokemon' is pretty outdated.  I mean, kids can only support a game franchise so long.  Only adults can sustain sales for a series past 5-10 years, unless new kids come in to replace all those kids who grow up and 'move on' from that series.  Point is, many of those kids grow up and still play Pokemon.  The evidence is all around you.  They're still playing and talking about it online.

And really....I played The Magic of Scheherazade.  It was a fine NES RPG with some good ideas.  But like many NES titles, it tried to do things that were beyond the hardwares limitations.  The original Zelda however did exactly what the hardware could do.  Zelda II, like Scheherazade, had many bugs and gameplay limitations.  But you can't really say Scheherazade was better than the original Zelda.