Well, the point is that Pokemon and Final Fantasy could even reach a mainstream level of awareness. Admittedly Pokemon isn't famous for being RPG because it doesn't embody the idea of RPGs.
Dragon Quest is frigging big in Japan, I've heard DQ's Creator (Yujii Horii) is more well known than Miyamoto over there. But I know it's an obscure series in the west.
Pokemon and Final Fantasy are the top of it, with pokemon being much higher in terms of being well known and mainstream.
I don't think anything else really comes close. I mean Dragonquest in it's home market, and SMT in certain markets as well. In terms of sales more recent Bethesda games are likely up there but don't think they come anywhere near the brand recognition.
While this very topic seems like a kind of shit and lame way to find out who is the biggest hipster, some RPGs that I don't think are mainstream that I have played:
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
LISA: the Painful RPG
Divinity 2: Ego Draconis (I still haven't played the prior entries)
Demon's Souls (all right this one is fairly mainstream but it's severely underplayed compared to Dark Souls)
Final Fantasy Tactics (read above, best Final Fantasy is the one with some of the least recognition)
If we are counting tactics RPGs the now death series Ogre Battle was pretty damn good.
As it was mentioned before, I'm surprised that more people don't know the Shining series in our day and age. Some other little (retro) gems: Knights of the Nightmare and Riviera (both available for DS/GBA respectively and PS Vita).
Ah yes, Disgaea, haven't played any of them but I have heard interesting stuff. Certainly not the kind of game I'd consider well known.
Some other series that I'd consider popular among RPG fans (but still not on a FF level) is the Tales game series. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are established brands because of their historical relevance. Fire Emblem has established a cult following around the world in the last decade or so. Then you have series such as Ultima or Breath of Fire, which most informed retro gamers would know, but do not belong on the bulk of RPG representatives.
Just gotta bump this by saying, if you've played Divinity II, and the Original Sin games, you owe it to yourself to play the original games: Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity, they go on sale a LOT for very cheap and they're awesome games.
Also good for the thread due to being criminally underplayed compared to its younger siblings, so much so to the point that people had no idea the older games even existed when I informed them about em.
Exanima's a great one if you like Gritty, realistic brutal-as-**** combat.
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is just pure fun.
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Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.