For CBR, Frank Reyes made the argument that the PS1 gave us the golden age of JRPGs:
Japanese role-playing games had been on a roll since the Super Nintendo era, but it was with the arrival of the PlayStation that they finally tapped into a hitherto untapped potential. The arrival of discs meant lower production and development costs, plus discs could now also hold more information than cartridges. This ensured that several developers were interested in the new console.
Sony might not have pioneered compact disc use for gaming—we had a variety of consoles that used CDs in the early 90s—but none of them had the computing power or games library to push things forward. And it’s hard to argue against the PS1 giving us legendary JRPG titles and series. We’re talking Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest (where both acrimoniously moved from Nintendo), Chrono Cross, Arc the Lad, The Legend of Dragoon, Alundra, Breath of Fire… and that’s just some of them.
