when someone says RPG , i think of FPS's.

Actually, I think of Spring Awakening faster than Phantom of the Opera crosses my mind. 

In current times, FF is long from being the standard though. Most gamers nowadays know, or care, about RPG's mainly due to MMORPG's, be it by paid subscriptions, or the thousands free ones. WOW is more popular than FF these days.

And i'm speaking as a FF fan and as a person that truly loathes and despises WOW. 

FF had a time when it was the RPG series to top, when it was the RPG series to be compared, when every JRPG developer wanted a piece of the success that FF's where having, and that time was during the PSX- early PS2 era.

Completely off topic, but I saw Spring Awakening when it came to town (Dallas) a few months ago and I could not have been more disappointed.  I've been listening to the sound track for more than five years and have loved it to death.  You could imagine how happy I was when I heard Lea Michelle was going to be in a new TV series and even happier when Jonathan Graff came on.  It finally came to town and it was just a horrible experience.  The venue had sound problems, the actors just weren't that good, the stage direction was just odd and not good, and all in all it just felt like amateur hour.  I still love the music, it's just a shame the show was just so bad.

And until some other series comes out as the king of RPG's like FF did during the PSx/PS2 era, it's the standard.  There have been many great and better RPG's than FFXIII, FFXII, and FFX in the last few years, but they still haven't hit the mainstream yet. 

Hell, I can't even think of another RPG that has had a commercial in the last five years other than Final Fantasy except Mass Effect.  If anything was going to dethrone FF as the standard, I would probably actually say Mass Effect.

As popular as Mass Effect is though, FFXIII still holds that standard as the traditional RPG.

As much as I love Dragon Quest, it isn't the first thing to come to my mind when I hear "RPG".  In fact, my hatred of WRPGs is the first thing to cross my mind.  Not that I feel they are bad games (I really like some), but they are taking the RPG genre in what I feel is the wrong direction (Mass Effect anyone?).

Then Dragon Quest crosses my mind and it makes me happy again :D!

Wizardry.  Sir-Tech we salute you!

You put a J in front of that and I think Suikoden.  Put a W in front of it and i think Daggerfall.

That is not what "standard" means.

And I think of Dungeons and Dragons, like any decent, God-fearing nerd.

Actually I felt that ME1 was a step in the right direction, and ME2 took a step back. It was a better game, but not a better RPG.

I actually found ME2 to be a superior RPG, too.

Different definitions of the same word. 

When I hear someone say standard, I think of the thing that most people think of.  In the case of RPG's video games, I think Final Fantasy.  When I think role playing games, I think DnD.

By the way, completely random questions-- is there a magic item in 4th that lets you communicate between long distances?  I remember there were rings in 3rd that let you do that but I can't seem to find them in 4th.

Breath of Fire and Dragon Quest. Traditional RPGs in midieval times with dragons and dungeons. Those type of games defines an RPG for me.