??

This isnt Wind Waker where it becomes popular later. FFX was popular from day one so the new games had no influence.

Err...no. It was criticised since day one for beeing linear and slow paced, also doing away with the explorable world map and a combat system that wasnt as intricate  as previous entries.

 It is sort of like wind waker, because the criticism was forgotten with time as we got worse installments making it look better. 

Not to say the game wasnt popular, but for many it marked the begining of the series downfall, and in a way i agree with that.

I dont disagree with some of its hate but those people didnt change their minds. The game is still the love/hate game it always was.

Also everyone who talks it down for linearity and then hates on FFXII sucks =P

Edit: and for the downfall of the series those sales held damn strong.

Combined PS360 sales of FFXIII places it in 4th overall

You should add "that I've played" to the topic.  *edit*  Like what Nem stated, most people consider FF10 the best because they've only played PS2 RPGs and after.  They haven't played any of the better PSX RPGs or those truly great PS2 JRPGs that were mostly ignored selling 50k or less.  

Final Fantasy 10-2 has the best combat in the series, which that alone makes it a good game.  If people played more than 20 minutes of it before deciding it was a bad game they'd change their opinions of it.

WHY??

They are some of the greatest RPGs of all time. To some their may be greater but that dosent take away from how great these 2 are.

If FF10 was the only JRPG you've played.  Then sure, it makes it great.  More than likely that's not the only RPG most people in this thread have played, but many RPGs don't have the name brand recognition for people to attempt them.  Look at Persona.  Most of the "Persona fans" didn't even know thte series existed until Persona 3.  There are several amazing series that people may have heard of, but probably haven't played simply because of the lack of name recognition.  There's several people haven't ever heard of.  Everything was overshadowed by Final Fantasy on the PSX and PS2, and unless you were a hardcore RPG fan, you more than likely would have ignored most of the software on each system.

Also.  When it comes to "some of the greatest RPGs of all time," out of how many, 10, 50, 100, 500, etc?  Everything is based on opinion and everyone has their own opinion, but your opinion isn't as well defined if you've only played, say 30 JRPGs, 15 of those being Final Fantasy something or another(spinoffs etc.)  So the topic should be "Why Final Fantasy X/X-2 are some of the greatest RPGs of all time(that I've played!)

Everything is opinion (unless its fact =P), you shouldnt really have to state it.

Also I didnt know the series existed until Persona 4 Golden and now Im uber hyped every time I hear the word =D

What does Yuna have to do with anything.

The real meat in FFX is the post-game stat maxing and that's best done with Tidus, Wakka and Rikku

I've just got to the end of the game in 38 hours (I did get distracted for a few hours when I got the airship to do some hunting, Caldabolg (I probably spent an hour on that stupid chocobo mini-game), Godhand and Attack Reels). But I know I've probably got another 80 hours if I want to do everything and beat Pennance

It does everything right where XIII does everything it tries wrong. (it feels like XIII tried to 'copy' X)

I am currently playing X and the music and pace of the story completely make up for the linearity. I never even realised it was this linear...

Can't wait for the end game content though.

To mention it just once more... THE MUSIC IS FREAKING BRILLIANT! It just accompanies the story and gameplay, not trying to stand out as in the latest FF's.

I agree, you shouldn't have to, but who knows when someone will attack your post by not stating it.