"Second: Most JRPG stories are terrible, and they're told terribly. Tons and tons... and tons... and tons... of non-interactive text and cutscenes. Your average WRPG can at least tell a story competently - through branching dialogue trees, for example - even if the story itself isn't that great."

Actually it is the other way around branching dialogue trees just take away from the games by giving players too much choice in which direction they go. They don't allow one to experience the unified vision of their creators in the way that the best films and jrpgs do. Romeo and Juliet has simply not been the same play when directors have made the choice of allowing the star-crossed lovers to live at the end of the play.

Ill have to say that i agree. Theres no other RPG series as important as Pokemon simply because there are more people buying these games than FF. The Gamerankings/Metacritic comparisons aside,simply a much larger no of people enjoy Pokemon games.

"Ill have to say that i agree. Theres no other RPG series as important as Pokemon simply because there are more people buying these games than FF. The Gamerankings/Metacritic comparisons aside,simply a much larger no of people enjoy Pokemon games."

Are Justin Timberlake's albums more important than Tom Waits'?

Not fair flaming Pokemon when you've never played it Paul.

Twesterm, lol, you know I'm passionate about FFXII! I know you hated it bro, but I'm letting you know, I found something in that game that you missed.

Anyway, opinions are always gonna differ. There is no possible evidence either way. Metacritic doesn't matter(if it did, FF fans would pwn all of you with that evidence).

So, what matters, really, is sales. I think that this gen, with the PS3 jrpg drout(which may or may not be relative by the time XIII comes out) and the fact that the game is multiplat with the 360, might yield some really high sales for the series.

I'm already in love with the main girl, so here's my comments, lol. Haters can take a hike! Rawr!

Day 1 preorder, Day 1 purchase!

 Tom what?

The stories in the sandbox type WRPGs like Oblivion aren't that good.  However, WRPG stories can be good if the game itself is story driven i.e. Mass Effect, Planescape Torment

@Garcian Smith

About that "JRPGs stories are terrible" thing.  The way you said it makes it seem like you one of those gamers that think linear stories have no place in video games.

Here are a list of JRPGs that have stories that are atleast decent IMO:

Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII, X

Kingdom Hearts I, II, CoM

Chrono Trigger, Cross

Star Ocean 3

Earthbound

I don't play every JRPG that gets released so forgive me if my list is short.  Also, I would like to include FFXII but I want to beat the game before I decide on a concrete opinion on the game's story.

...except games aren't plays. Nor are games movies or books. Games are games. A game can still have the "unified vision of its creators" with branching story paths. In fact, I'd venture to say that it takes a far more visionary developer to create a game with branching dialogue trees and such than it does to create a wordy cutscene-fest. There's a reason why there's so many of the latter and so few of the former.

And a wordy cutscene fest is bad how?  Do the way a story gets told in a video games really affect the quality of the story that much?  MGS series, for example, works better with cutscenes than with dialouge trees. 

BTW, aren't most of these cutscene fest games coming from Japan?

I'm not someone who thinks that linear stories have no place in video games. A linear story, told well via utilizing the advantages of the medium, can be a wonderful thing. I just finished Half Life 2: Episode 2 tonight, for example; completely linear, and completely amazing.

At any rate, most of the games you listed have middling stories at best, and the fact that they're all overly talky doesn't help at all. And, yes, I've played all of them to some extent. The only ones that I'd consider to have decent stories are Earthbound and maybe Final Fantasy VI (though it's been a long while since I've played the latter), and then, none of them can measure up to something like Planescape: Torment or Half Life 2.

Is Final Fantasy important anymore?

I would say the reaction from Microsofts E3 conference from Both Sony and Microsoft Loyalists says alot about how important many people still think it is.

Personally, I think it is important. Like Mario for platformers, like Halo for FPS and like God of War for Action, Final Fantasy is the giant that every JRPG wants to knock off. There may be better games then FF12 out there (and there are) but since none have reached the heights of critical acclaim and sales, FF still stands as King.

Until FF is comprehensively outsold and outreviewed by another series, it'll still be important (if only as a benchmark).