RPGs go mainstream in the west

[G-Boobie]

Lets see;

Infocom Games
Ultima
The Bard's Tale
Wizardry
Might & Magic
SSI Gold Box PGs
Fallout
Baldur's Gate

We've always loved good RPGs and they certainly existed around here before Final Fantasy came along.

So what got me into RPGs? The first game that I remember playing that got me into adventure and RPGs was Adventure for the Atari. At the time I used to always buy Electronic Games magazine with money that I made from mowing lawns or shoveling show as a kid and I would always be amazed by the previews and reviews for the computer game RPGs since they wee such an upgrade over my Atari. (I kind of consider Infocom games as early RPGs). Once I finally made enough to purchase an Apple iic there was no turning back I was hooked on adventue and RPGs. This was back in '83, before there even was a Final Fantasy.

This is the truth, right here. Richard Garriott made enough money in the course of his pre-Final Fantasy VII career that he could afford to build himself a castle in Texas and also go into outer space. Final Fantasy VII is the game that arguably introduced American gamers to the JRPG, and made that genre worth something for the course of a console generation or two, but that's as far as it goes.

And where did Richard Garriott (and the SSI Goldbox guys, and the Wizardry guys, and so on) find their inspiration? Dungeons & Dragons, which by the time of the NES was already a household name in the United States.

And most people playing those games probably haven't ventured outside of those. Specific games can be pretty mainstream, but RPGs as a genre can't be considered mainstream when the vast majority of them are only bought by diehard RPG fans.The typical guy that buys Skyrim or Pokemon probably isn't buying Sakura Wars, Mana Khemia, Ar Tonelico, etc.

So what? TEN MILLION COPIES OF SKYRIM. Three million Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Five million of the Dragon Age games, for better or for worse. It doesn't get any more mainstream than that. To argue that my little brother, who put two hundred hours into Morrowind and Skyrim, and is starting New Vegas too, isn't an "RPG fan" because he didn't also buy Growlanser: Generations is ridiculous. That smacks of elitism. "You're not as big a fan of RPG's as me: I bought Phantom Brave and all the Falcom PSP games. All YOU bought was Dragon Age and Pokemon, you poseur".

Yeah, RPGs were hugely popular on Apple 2, C64 and A8 as the above mentioned already, SSI sold vast amounts of RPGs on those platforms. Same with Origin, Sir- Tec, EA and so on. FF VII sold the equivalent in comparison but certainly didn't mainstream it.

Does anyone else remember being told at a very young age that Dungeons & Dragons was the "work of the devil?" I sure do. Consequently, as soon as we were able, we bought the books and played the game.

This, I think, is a generational thing more than anything. The folks who discovered role playing games through Final Fantasy VII will certainly remember that as the catalyst of the RPG revolution here in the U.S.; it's worth noting that this is pretty much a strictly console based phenomenon however(excepting Anachronox and the shady VII port). Meanwhile, those of us who didn't like VII and had been playing Dungeons & Dragons, and eventually Ultima Underworld and the Wizardry games didn't need to be introduced to the genre at all.