There’s a strong argument to be made for Final Fantasy 7 being the most influential JRPG ever made, but influence and importance don’t always translate to high-quality. Final Fantasy 7 might have been a pioneer of the JRPG genre, but it’s been outclassed by a number of other titles.
While Final Fantasy 7 was a smash hit, becoming the second best-selling PlayStation game and making the franchise go mainstream, there are aspects of it that have aged poorly, making it hard for modern audiences to appreciate in the same way that kids did back in the ’90s. Luckily, through its influence, Final Fantasy 7 opened the door for even better games to come.
Persona 5 Royal Is The Most Highly-Acclaimed JRPG Ever Made
Like Final Fantasy, it took a long time for the Shin Megami Tensei franchise to find an audience outside of Japan. Atlus had to wait an extra generation, as it was Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne and Persona 3 on the PlayStation 2 that attracted the JRPG crowd, one that was hungry for challenging gameplay and more adult themes.
Persona 5 is often considered the peak of Atlus’ JRPG library, with a story of young miscreants who gain the ability to enter the minds of others, using that power to punish evildoers and make them pay for their crimes. It had an incredible neon-infused aesthetic, lightning-fast gameplay, an amazing hyper-jazz soundtrack, and a roster of unforgettable characters. Anyone who spent countless hours with the Phantom Thieves of Heart was sad to let them go, as they knew that a once-in-a-generation experience was behind them.
Or at least, that’s what they thought at the time, as a few years later, Atlus released Persona 5 Royal, an updated version of the game that added a brand-new semester to the end of the game, meaning those who continued past the original story could experience a different ending. Persona 5 Royal also added a new member of the Phantom Thieves of Heart, shuffled around story scenes to give characters more screen time, and included a ton of new combat mechanics and side activities.
Final Fantasy 14 Is The Best-Selling Entry In Its Franchise
Final Fantasy 7 may not have scored as well with critics as other entries in the franchise, but in the end, its sales that matter the most. Fans can preach to the high heavens about how Final Fantasy Tactics was the better entry, but it sold nowhere near as many copies, nor was it as influential.
For the longest time, Final Fantasy 7 was the best-selling entry in the franchise, selling over fifteen million units worldwide, and only being outsold by Gran Turismo on the original PlayStation. However, there’s one other entry that has outsold it, and is often cited as keeping Square Enix afloat, thanks to its constant influx of cash.
Final Fantasy 14 was once Square Enix’s biggest bomb, an MMO so bad that it was considered an embarrassment for the entire franchise. However, the company didn’t give up on the land of Eorzea, and it was thanks to the hard work of Naoki Yoshida and his team that the game was reborn. When Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn was released, the fans came flocking, and when the Heavensward expansion hit, the game’s quality reached new heights. As time went on, Final Fantasy 14 became one of the most popular MMOs ever.
Chrono Trigger Was Named The Greatest Game Of Its Era
Chrono Trigger is often cited as the greatest video game of all time, being a product of some of the greatest JRPG developers of the 16-bit era. Unfortunately, it missed mainstream attention by a narrow margin, launching at the end of the SNES’ lifespan, just before fancy new 3D visuals took attention away from the older hardware.
Time has been kind to Chrono Trigger, with many still preaching about its quality to anyone who will listen. The fact that it’s a lot easier to play in the modern era, thanks to its Nintendo DS and Steam ports, makes it way more accessible to modern audiences. Chrono Trigger also made waves in the early emulation scene, as people who missed out on it at launch were able to play it on home computers, inspiring many creators.
The love for Chrono Trigger is just as strong in Japan as it is worldwide, to the point where it received a huge accolade. In Japan, there are eras determined by the reigns of Emperors, and the period of 1989 to 2019 is referred to as the ‘Heisei Era’, marking the reign of Emperor Akihito. When Emperor Akhito abdicated the throne in 2019, Japanese video game fans voted Chrono Trigger as the greatest game of the Heisei Era, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ranked second, and NieR: Automata voted third.
Pokémon Red & Blue Killed FF7 In Sales
Final Fantasy 7 may have introduced mainstream audiences to JRPGs, but that’s only because it launched before Pokémon Red & Blue. As the Gen 1 Pokémon games launched in 1998, the gaming public had a year of Cloud Strife’s adventures to introduce them to turn-based battles before a certain yellow mouse stole the spotlight.
It’s unfair to say that Pokémon Red & Blue became so successful based on the video games alone. Pokémon has always been a multimedia entity, with the anime, card game, and merchandise helping to get as many eyes on the property as possible. It was the adventures of Ash Ketchum in the Pokémon anime that helped sell the games, as everyone wanted to go on a Pokémon adventure with a character who knew what they were doing.
Pokémon Red & Blue‘s success was made even more impressive by the fact that they launched on the original Game Boy, which was considered antiquated in 1998. Final Fantasy 7 had the benefit of launching on new and powerful hardware, while the Gen 1 Pokémon titles were running on grey bricks with yellow and green screens.
The numbers don’t lie, however, and Pokémon Red & Blue sold over thirty million copies, doubling Final Fantasy 7‘s sales. The two franchises were key in helping JRPGs find an audience in the west, but of the two, it’s Pokémon that has had the more enduring legacy, staying in the public eye through regular releases that have created lifelong fans.
Vagrant Story Beat FF7 In Famitsu Score
Famitsu magazine is considered the most trusted video game publication in Japan. One of the greatest accolades any video game can receive is a perfect 40/40 score in Famitsu, where four separate reviewers give it a 10/10. It took until The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for a game to receive a perfect score, and only thirty games have been given the honor in total.
Surprisingly, Final Fantasy 7 never received a perfect score in Famitsu, only landing a 38/40. Perhaps the Famitsu team isn’t as reliable as gamers thought, as the first Final Fantasy to ever get the perfect score was Final Fantasy 12, followed by Final Fantasy 13-2. To date, they’re the only entries in the franchise to get a perfect score.
The only Square Enix game to receive a perfect score during the original PlayStation era was Vagrant Story, an excellent action RPG that fused turn-based combat with precise movement and evasion. Surprisingly, Vagrant Story is still locked to the original PlayStation, and it’s in dire need of a remake or a remaster for modern platforms, as its visuals haven’t aged as well as its gameplay.