Seriously, though...

I was kind of let down by both Final Fantasy 4 and 6. After years of seeing people at the Game Pond tear each other's throats out over which was better, I was expecting two extremely overwhelming gaming experiences, and instead, what I got were two average RPGs with some above-average music. They're not bad in any sense of the word, but they just didn't feel like two of the greatest games of all time - Just two very well-made games. And as for the plots - FF4's was threadbare, and FF6's had way too many characters and crap going on at once for me to stay interested in one thing for long. I agree with those who say it "forgets" Terra halfway through (it's more like 1/4 of the way through) and I thought it could've been good if it was going to stay focused on her, but it didn't. And now that I've finished both, I feel even more perplexed by the fact that I took some heat at that board for saying Final Fantasy 1 was my favorite of the series, because it still is. And the gameplay of FF4 and FF6 was nearly identical, and call me crazy, but I prefer Chrono Trigger's. Final Fantasy Tactics is, by far, the best of the FF games I've played, as far as forcing you to think, use strategy, and whatnot.

But I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings by this. I feel the same way about Earthbound. I don't see what's the big deal about it. It's an average RPG in a quirky setting, but that doesn't make it some phenomenal out-of-body experience. I think that, in general, RPGamers tend to really exaggerate the quality of their personal favorites when in reality, there's not all that much difference between them (perhaps, that could've been a topic for a thread of its own, if only I had the time for these boards like I did in the past...) And it's funny to me that a lot of RPG fans diss Pokemon as being too "kiddie", but you'll probably use a lot more thought and strategy in a game of Pokemon than in most of their favorite RPGs combined.
You take a chance, you throw the dice
You risk it all, it's just a part of life
You hold on tight, to what you know
You can't hold back, you gotta let it go
Every little step that you embrace
One road ends, another begins and
takes you to a better place
Deathamster's Nest