Do you think the FF series still has an impact on the genre?

[Wolf Kanno]

In the past no one would argue that Final Fantasy was the leading force of the JRPG genre and other games of the genre often emulated the series style for better of for worse. Nowadays though, with JRPGs returning to their niche reputation, do you feel FF still matters or have other series taken over its mantle?

[Christmas]

Graphics wise, I think it pretty much takes the lead.

[Pete for President]

Good question. I'm sure a lot of major rpg developers keep an eye on whatever Square is doing, but I don't think they have that big of an influence on the genre anymore.

[Psychotic]

I really don't think so, no.

[maybee]

These days I really enjoy the Tales Series and Zelda games so much more than FF 13 etc

[Bolivar]

JRPGs were always niche. Even in the glory days, no one was able to live up to the magnitude of FFVII or VIII. Japan can't afford to match the production values and polish of FFXIII, so they won't even bother failing in the attempt.

Although I think some of Square's lower budget games are obviously influencing the market.

[Wolf Kanno]

I honestly feel they lost it, XIII borrows too much from other games (Persona 3 specifically) so it feels more like FFI in a way except it failed to bring anything new to the table. XIV I hear is great but I've also heard its a WoW clone. I feel FFXII certainly tried to move the genre in a new direction but I feel the genre really didn't know how to handle it as games like White Knight Chronicles kind of fail to live up to what it was trying to do while Xenoblade succeeded much better but I still feel the game suffers from borrowing too much from MMO design.

I can't really think of a game after XII that has really shaken up the genre and I feel stuff like Tales and Persona are starting to drive the market more. In the Indie scene I think we see some of the FF love but I also feel it is more about 16-bit RPG design combined with updated and expanded ideas from later titles that are driving those games as opposed to it being simply "hey, they totally are trying to do FFVIII right!". Hell, I honestly feel that FF pretty much killed the AAA JRPG because they simply have the finances to outspend their competition in terms of graphics and audio design which is why we saw so many franchises implode in the PS2 era while the smaller series that focused more on niche concepts have survived because they are not trying to take SE on in a technology arms race cause they would lose and to be honest I feel SE has sort of reached a dead end in terms of audio/visual/filmmaking design that they popularized with VII.

[Ayen]

I haven't played many JRPGs outside of Final Fantasy, so I couldn't say. I feel JRPGs have sadly taken a backseat to WRPGs in recent years and Square seems more focused on trying to compete with that and failing horribly in the process. Then they act surprised when a game in the genre that put them on the map in the first place is successful.

[Dat Matt]

Generation 7 of the consoles focused either on the MMOs, or the 13 franchise which is why Square has been under fire for a while. Maybe with the release of FF XV and Kingdom hearts 3 this might recapture the fanbase.

Tales of games are the leading go to RPG for me now.