In the late 90's, it was all the rage, but now it seems times been changing. Now, people are now sick of cut scenes in games, Jrpgs have a bad reputation in the west for being crappy,  and western games have really taken off in the last 5-6 years. Games like Guitar Hero, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Insomniac games, and etc.  The last really big Final Fantasy game to come out was FFX back in 2001. That was a long time ago and people most, not all,  of what Square Enix makes now has both dismal sales and game reviews. Has the Final Fantasy brand kept up with the changing times? Can any Jrpg ever get WW long lines again?

I'm sure FF13 will based on brand name alone. But who knows? It'll most likely fall short of the hype, and only the true fans will be able to fully appreciate it.

Final Fantasy still matters. IGN said FFXII was the PS2 Game of the Year for 2006 ahead of Okami and Guitar Hero. Besides, I prefer stories and movies to games and if no more great, epic stories are produced in games, then I'll go back to mainly reading and watching films in my free time.

Final Fantasy PEAKED at VI, so no it's not important anymore. Final Fantasy VII only sold on shock value. "Oh my god, a 3-D Final Fantasy not on a Nintendo Console? The world is ending!"

Final Fantasy XII came out in 2005 not 2006. It was also the worst selling Final Fantasy game post Final Fantasy VII.

It only sold 210k less then FFIX (assuming that the numbers are 100% accurate, which they might not be)

Also, If you look at the pattern of the past two generations, the first game sells the most then sales go down from there, with the final game selling a decent amount less then prior games. Part of this might be the fact that it is the end of the generation and some people had moved on to newer consoles, part of it might also be piracy and burning games lessening the overall sales. There were a lot more people with modded PS2's in 06/07 then there were in 01/02.

However, based on your post history, your comment does not surprise me.

Then why did FFVIII and FFX sell 8M+

Also, FFIX, X-2 and XII with 5M+ is hardly poor sales

FFXIII will sell at least 7M on the PS3/360

u r all full of it. I like FF6 just as much as the next FF6 fanboy, but to say that FF don't matter anymore is ridiculous. FF 10 was one of the best in the series (IMO), and although I didn't like FFXII, I give it credit cuz I know many people loved it, instead of saying it's irrelevant.

final fantasy games are like the Olympics. When it comes out everyone is all hooked on it and watches every event even though they never even heard of that sport. Then after the 2 weeks are over everyone no longer gives a shit for another 4 years when they are on again.

The only difference is it seems we might have to wait longer than the Olympics for final fantasy games. And the games can be beat in shorter time. Oh and the final fantasy games have been getting worse in my opinion lately.

I had the impression that the amounts of gamers sick of cutscenes were a minority.  Also, that JRPGs have a bad rep thing is not true.