They were always here, they never left:
Dragon Quest
SaGa
Bravely Default
Octopath Traveler
and so many others, these to name a few from Square Enix
But what clout people reffer to, is Final Fantasy.
They dont care about others, but FF and mostly FF7 that is a separated IP.
You know what I really like in jrpgs? That one bro character. The Barret to my Cloud, the Dogi to my Adol, etc. Carver from Dragon Quest VI has been such a bro lately. He will be protected throughout my entire playthrough.
Sometimes I really wish a lot and I mean a lot of people cared about this series especially appearing in directs. But I think about the negative possibilities about that so who knows
Dragon Quest character of the day #119:
Erik the prominent thief party member from DQ11 who was once enslaved by vikings, protagonist of Treasures (both game & manga) along with his sister Mia, & protag in the manga DQ Elegy of Thieves by the Fairy Tail creator.