Originally Posted by
Aussie2B
It's all relative. I would argue that RPGs in general still aren't mainstream. We are not the norm. Gamers who get on online gaming message boards in general aren't the norm. The norm is stuff like Halo, Madden, Gears of War, etc. etc. Western RPGs are still basically a niche of the computer nerd stereotype. Japanese console RPGs are still a niche sector of console gaming as well. Final Fantasy VII may have sold a lot better than the RPGs before it and it may have been heavily hyped in some magazines of the time (like PSM), but it's not what made the PS1 a huge success in the US. It may have attracted some more mainstream-type gamers to give it a try, but they didn't suddenly become huge RPG fanatics buying up everything. Almost all of the other RPGs on PS1 were still exclusively the territory of hardcore gamers. Same goes for most on PS2 and so on.
Looking at singular titles, I'd say the most mainstream RPG for computers I guess would be World of Warcraft and for consoles it would be Pokemon. But, again, in the majority of cases of those who play those titles, they didn't suddenly become huge RPG fans buying stuff like Shin Megami Tensei and what have you.