Final Fantasy 7, a JRPG that everyone knows. Whether you Love it, Hate it, Praise it, or Berate it. We all know of FF7.

Let's face it, as a gamer, You have to know of certain titles. Counter-Strike, Age of Empires, Mario Brothers, Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid and heck. Let's throw Halo into that mix as well. These are titles that took what we knew of gaming and elevated that to another level, What Mario Bros. did for platforming, another game did for JRPGs.

That game is Final Fantasy 7.

Now, I'm not exactly a fan of Final Fantasy 7. I personally like its predessor better, Final Fantasy 6. But I'm smart enough to give respect where it deserves to go, and Final Fantasy 7 is one title that deserves our respect. Everyone knows it, my 8 year old newphew who wasn't even born when the game was released knows it. Maybe you've seen the CGI movie, maybe you've played the spin-off, or heck. Maybe your a Final Fantasy Tactics fan who wondered what's this spikey-haired blonde guy doing in my game?

But why? How did this game become so well-known? Some may argue that because it was the first to use animated cut-scenes to help tell the story that it's so well known. Some say it's the gameplay, some say it's the characters, the story, the music. Alot of people love this game for many reasons, and alot of people hate this game for those same reasons. Why do I think it's so famous? Because it took everything that we knew in JRPGs and raised the bar.

2d dungeons, fields, and world maps were replaced with 3d dungeons, fields, world maps. It took Sprites and replaced them with "Lego Models" as some as dubiously dubed them. Combat was made surprisingly fun, simple, and customizable. Enabling casual gamers to jump into the fray while the hardcore built super-powerful characters to destroy Ruby Weapon while barely lifting a pinky finger. It combined so many nessessary parts of JRPGs and put it together in a neat package.

That being said however, the question lies. Over a decade has passed, and many JRPGs have come and gone, Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, Persona 4, Star Ocean 4, Even Final Fantasy 7's successors. Final Fantasy 8, 9, 10, 12. Have come and gone, they are well respected yes. But none of them, none of them at all has withstood the trials that Final Fantasy 7 has faced.

Yes, Final Fantasy 7 may be critized. But it's been elevated so high to a point that seems nigh-unachievable to other JRPGs now. Will there ever be a JRPG that is considered a must-play, even 12 years after it's release? Will there ever be another JRPG that's so well-known to the gaming community that anyone lacking it's knowledge shall be scorned upon by their internet peers?

What do you think VGChartz? Will there ever be one? And if so, who and what?

Honestly? No. I don't think there ever will. Though I personally think many JRPGs that came before and after FF7 are more worth your time, I don't think there'll ever be a JRPG with the same level of impact that FF7 had.

Good point, SmokedHostage. I never even think of the Pokémon-series as JRPGs, but yeah, that series is way more influental and made more impact than FF7 could ever hope to do on it's own.

Yes, the Entire Pokemon series definately blows final fantasy 7 out of the water. But that's 4 generations of games, from Blue, to Silver, to Saphire, to Pearl and all the other pokemon games in comparison to 1. Pokemon Blue on it's own however? I think Final Fantasy 7 definately beats it. Comparing a series of games to 1 isn't exactly fair.

Pokemon Series > Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy 7 > Any Single Pokemon Game.

 Pokemon was pretty influental.. Hell if anything it popularized multiple Sku of one game akin a Red/Blue version for games like the Digimon DS and Megaman Starforce games.

It's ok If you don't think of Pokemon as a JRPG because well.. Pokemon is just..

I beg to differ. I just wrote series because I wasn't sure which single game to choose. Pokémon R/B blow FF7 out of the water. Just choosing Red or Blue also beats FF7, I'd say, for sure. There's really no competition at all.

More people know what Pokemon Yellow is than Final Fantasy VII. :P

I'd really like to say "yes, Final Fantasy XIII will". But I would be lying to myself. Final Fantasy VII came out during the golden era of jRPGs, and arguably - gaming. It managed to bring the attention of masses to the niche genre that jRPG is.

But lightning does not strike twice in the same place. It's now time for other genres to shine. We wont have another Final Fantasy VII.

When the sequel to Dirge of Cerberus comes out into JRPG form.