Hey guys, this isn't an article, but rather, a question, and I want to hear from you! I've been curious about this for years, so feel free to weigh in with your own opinion. The question is, what is the golden age of JRPGs? I'm inclined to think the answer would be the SNES era since the console was home to so many incredible JRPGs, some of the best in gaming history. However, the PS1 era also had a huge slate of great JRPGs, some of which are also revered as landmark titles. But what about the DS era? The DS and PSP are both home to a large library of JRPGs. Or do you think that today is the golden age with games like Persona 5, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Dragon Quest XI? Please comment below, I'd love to hear from any of you on this one.
I think a lot of people have their own personal golden eras. For me, nothing has topped the psone era with the FF trilogy and all the other JRPGs. But I also have deep respect for the SNES era.
Yeah, it's hard to pick between SNES and PS1 eras. Both are incredible, but JRPGs did become more popular in the West during the PS1 era.
PS1. Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, King's Field, Lunatic Dawn 3 broke away from the moldy mold of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. A major leap in the evolution of the genre, such that hasn't been seen again.
Can't disagree there
I've always felt that turn-based jrpgs were the best and when they started becoming more actiony in the battle system they lost me. That was probably in the early 2000s. So probably around FFIV and DQVI is the sweet spot for me.
Okay, but there are still turn-based RPGs today (have you played Octopath Traveler or Dragon Quest XI?)
True that. I've played both. However, there is something about playing an old jrpg on an old system, no frills, no online or anything 3D, that is special.
The PS1 era. The SNES's RPG library, while it has some enduring classics, was pretty dependent on Square, at least in the US since Dragon Quest V and VI were not localized. The PS1 and PS2 had a much deeper and broader library of RPGs. We had a lot more different styles of RPG on PS1 and PS2, including some of the best SRPGs, and companies like Capcom, Namco, Konami, Working Designs, Tri-Ace, Level-5, Atlus, and many others contributing to the PS1/PS2 RPG pool.
I'd honestly say that the Nintendo system with the best RPG library is the Switch, and the Switch is damned near an RPG golden age in itself that's coming pretty close to the PS1. DQXI, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Valkyria Chronicles, and SMT V are all amazing.
Your point about the Switch is spot-on. Thanks to "everything gets ported to the Switch," I was able to play DQ XI, and I'm finally playing FF X for the first time. A ton of other PS1 era RPGs are on the Switch too, which is really awesome.
I was really excited when SaGa Frontier got ported to Switch and PS4. I'm hoping they do the same for Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, and especially Xenogears and FF Tactics. i'd think Nintendo itself would be interested in Xenogears as it's ths origin of one of Nintendo's tent pole franchises.
We missed out on too many hidden SFC classics, like DQ5-6, FF5, Trials of Mana, and the Fire Emblem games, just to name a few. It's too bad something like Operation Rainfall couldn't have been organized back then.
Yes, but what about Xenosaga????? 
Well for me personally, the Golden Age of RPGs was with the SNES. That's when I was really into RPGs anyway. I can understand why people would say the PSOne era was great for RPGs, too, but that's when I slowly got out of RPGs. They're just too long nowadays. But I think we can all agree that the entirety of the 90s had a lot of great RPGs.
I was thinking about other "Golden Age" eras the other day. Like how the 80s had the best arcade games, but the 90s had the best console games. And Namco's Golden Age was probably in the early 80s arcades, but their "Silver Age" was probably on the PSOne.
I have a soft spot for many SNES JRPGs too. FF6 is my favorite RPG ever, and Chrono Trigger and Earthbound are both up there too.
Not only is FF6 my favorite RPG ever, it's also one of my top five favorite games of all time. Plus, my favorite FF character and villain are from that game: Terra and Kefka. I really liked Chrono Trigger as well. Unfortunately, I didn't like Earthbound.
Although I was late getting into RPGs with the FF7 demo back in the day, I say that the golden age of RPGs was firmly in the late Super Nintendo/Game Boy era through the entire lifespan of the PSOne. Square was at the forefront of it and they could seemingly do no wrong until they started making PS2 games and there was a sharp decline in the quality of their non-RPGs properties.
Yeah, Square was on fire between 1994 and 2001. There are so many landmark titles in those years, and Square was willing to experiment with different kinds of RPGs.