Historical hallmarks of the JRPG genre

[Violent By Design]

Is there anything that FFT did that Tactics Ogre didn't do two years earlier?

Make people play it.

That's funny, so did Chrono Trigger.

In fact, CT had sold over 2.65 million units by 2003, with an additional 790,000 on Nintendo DS by 2009 and an unknown quantity for the mobile phone, Virtual Console, Android, iOS, and PSN ports. Final Fantasy Tactics meanwhile had only sold 2.4 million units by 2011. Even taking into account CT's 3 year lead time, it has evidently been more popular than FFT.

FFT and Chrono Trigger are different genres, FFT is probably more popular relative to Tactics RPGs than CT is to turnbased RPGs.

FFT was by far the most popular tactics game of its time when it came out, and while it only sold 2.4 million - what other tactics games have surpassed it in sales? Perhaps, the latest 3DS titles(Fire Emblem and what not)?

Chrono Trigger was also ported to the DS - I don't think FFT got that advantage, just its spinoff games.

[MrPopo]

FFT was ported to the PSP.

[Ack]

Do you really think anyone would have tried it if it didn't have "Final Fantasy" in the title? It came out six months after the FF7 juggernaut. It's also plagued with issues and effectively rehashes things already appearing in the subgenre. If something like Chrono Trigger isn't considered because it "brought nothing new" then why should FFT get a pass? People merely playing it does not make it a historical benchmark.

[Violent By Design]

Do you really think anyone would have tried it if it didn't have "Final Fantasy" in the title? It came out six months after the FF7 juggernaut. It's also plagued with issues and effectively rehashes things already appearing in the subgenre. If something like Chrono Trigger isn't considered because it "brought nothing new" then why should FFT get a pass? People merely playing it does not make it a historical benchmark.

I don't get why this is relevant? It sold a lot because of branding, yes - that goes with a lot of video games that we're talking about.


People playing it would make it an historical benchmark, because it obviously influenced a lot. You're also critiquing the game by mentioning it was plagued by issues (okay, what PSX game wasn't?).


I just get a vibe that you just think FFT is not that good or overrated, thus it is not important. I don't get how Chrono Trigger and FFT are even similar scenarios.


FFT is essentially a Tactics Ogre game that became really popular - if it sold as much as it did with out the FF branding, would you still be arguing?


FFT is much more synonymous with its genre than Chrono Trigger is - are you really debating that?


For its genre, FFT is pretty damn important. Chrono Trigger isn't an SRPG...

[PartridgeSenpai]

Do you really think anyone would have tried it if it didn't have "Final Fantasy" in the title? It came out six months after the FF7 juggernaut. It's also plagued with issues and effectively rehashes things already appearing in the subgenre. If something like Chrono Trigger isn't considered because it "brought nothing new" then why should FFT get a pass? People merely playing it does not make it a historical benchmark.

I'd agree on the grounds that FFT didn't do for SRPG's what FFVII did for JRPG's. People mainly bought FFT because it said "Final Fantasy" on it. While I'll admit it was popular, a large portion of those people didn't start seeking out more SRPG's to play.

Maybe we need to have a sub-list of grudgingly allowed footnotes like FFT and Skies of Arcadia

[Violent By Design]

Also, I never said Chrono Trigger wasn't important, I just said it wasn't the most important RPG of the 16 bit era...big difference. CT isn't distinctively more important than FF6, much less FF4.

Comparing FFT to Tactics Ogre just does not make a lot of sense. Yes, Tactics is essentially just an Ogre game, but the amount of exposure is totally different. Even hardcore gamers do not know what Tactics Ogre is to this day in the West, FFT is so known that you can look at top 100 list, and it'll be the only SRPG on the entire list.

Is it because of branding that FFT is more popular than other Tactics games? Yes, probably. Coca Cola is a pretty damn important drink, and people drink it because of marketing, not because it is the best tasting soft drink.

FFT was ported to the PSP.

The DS userbase is literally more than double that of the PSP's, and the PSP suffered much more from piracy than the DS did.

Chrono Trigger's sales benefited a ton from the Nintendo DS. It sold like a million copies, which pretty much doubled it's total sales.



EDIT: my bad if i dropped some condescending language in my post, I'm typing in a rush and can't really nuance my post too much.

[Ack]

I just get a vibe that you just think FFT is not that good or overrated, thus it is not important. I don't get how Chrono Trigger and FFT are even similar scenarios.

Actually I adore Final Fantasy Tactics and have spent somewhere in the realm of 500+ hours playing it over and over again. But I think you feel this way about Chrono Trigger, and that is why you have been discounting it. After all, you admitted early on that you were a SEGA kid in a SEGA town and had no love for CT.

I have no issue with considering Final Fantasy Tactics important or admitting that I love and adore the game(much more than Chrono Trigger in truth), but is it really so historically important as to beat out Tactics Ogre? No, I really don't think so. Tactics Ogre held influence on other tactical RPGs to come out between the two, such as Energy Breaker, Monstania, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, etc. In fact, Final Fantasy Tactics was developed by multiple former members of Quest who left after developing TO and then joined Square, so likely there would never have been an FFT if there had not been a Tactics Ogre in the first place.

[pierrot]

Front Mission released eight months before Tactics Ogre.

[Exhuminator]

Front Mission released eight months before Tactics Ogre.

It did. And FM also had isometric battlefields, with individual unit configuration, and battlefield dialogue cutscenes, and many other similarities. But the end turn direction facing of the units didn't matter. If it did, we'd really have a solid argument on our hands.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Wait, why is dragon quest 5 in the list?

Still curious as to this games inclusion.

Brilliant use of the generational "chapter" type design.

Tweaked and expanded my list a little. I have thirty games. A bit long, but I think it works pretty well. Nothing here released past the turn of the millennium. Modern games just ain't my thang.

The Dragon & Princess
Bokosuka Wars
Dragon Slayer
Hydlide
The Black Onyx
Mugen no Shinzou
Xanadu
Dragon Quest
Ys Book I & II
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei
Final Fantasy
Phantasy Star
Fire Emblem
Final Fantasy IV/VI/VII
Dragon Quest V
Shining Force
Secret of Mana
Chrono Trigger
EarthBound
Fushigi no Dungeon 2: Fuurai no Shiren
Tales of Phantasia
Guardian Heroes
Sakura Wars
Grandia
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Skies of Arcadia
Phantasy Star Online