Persona 4: Current generation Final Fantasy 7!?

[Tyrant_Valvatorez]

As a brief opening statement, this is in no way meant as criticism of either games quality as that is entirely subjective.

An interesting thing I noticed lately after they hype leading up to Persona Q, is that Persona 4 follows the exact same pattern as Final Fantasy 7. That being that FFVII was an RPG that caused massive waves within the genre and things such as; becoming a highly acclaimed title with a large fanbase, spawning a series of spin-offs and adaptations (Compilation of FFVII), said popularity leading to claims of being overrated, fans unhappy with specific title hogging the spotlight.

This all also applies to Persona 4 and as the main topic suggests, Is Persona 4 the current generation Final Fantasy 7? What are your thoughts and if there are any other current games you can think of, that are the equivalents to highly acclaimed games of the past then please do share them! As it is interesting to watch the industry grow and also see how things sometimes do repeat the past, sometimes for the best and sometimes for the worst.

 

[Foolery]

No. Persona 4 is a niche game. Shin Megami games aren't that well-known, aside from the dedicated fanbase. Final Fantasy VII had mass appeal, and generally introduced a lot of Westerners to the JRPG genre. FF7 is a household name, even to those who aren't much into video games.

In other words, they just aren't comparable.

 

[Superlative]

I have to agree with Dead Century, Persona 4 is way too Japanese to have mass market appeal. If you don't like anime and have no interest in Japanese culture your not going to like they game. Come to think of it, being able to hit on Ayane would throw a lot of people off.

 

[Foolery]

Oops double post. If the mods would be so kind as to to delete this, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Fox12]

In terms of popularity, no. Not even close. Persona pushed the boundaries of the JRPG genre. FF7 pushed boundaries in the medium of video games as a whole. It's a juggernaut, even today, and is the standard by which we've judged games for years.

In terms of quality, I'd say yes. Persona, as a series, is much stronger right now then FF, as a series. I'd still hold FF7 as my favorite RPG (I'm playing it now, actually) but persona has a consistently high quality. Atlus is pretty niche. They aren't willing to compromise too much, and I respect that. They said that they designed Persona 4 to be more accessible. Think about that. The most accessible game they've ever produced is about teenagers using obscure gods from every religion in the world to explore the nature of the collective unconscious and jungian archetypes. That's what they consider accesible, and I love them for it. Persona, as a whole, is one of the few Japanese titles I really look forward to anymore.

 

[VincentX3]

If by current gen you mean 2 gens ago, then it would still be a no.

Final Fantasy is still more well known than any Persona game or series, and it's still only beggining to get more appeal west.