The makers of The Longest Journey is from Norway
Haven't played it yet though, probably should sometime...
On RPGs:
I don't think character development is all that is needed for something to be an RPG, though I can agree that FF is something of a hybrid.
I have not heard anyone mention the *real* PC RPGs yet...the Ultima series (nine installments so far if I remember correctly) is probably the most successful of these. Then there's all the online RPG games, both the old type (MUDs, multi-user dungeons, mostly text based) and the new MMCRPGs (Massively Multiplayer Computer Role Playing Game, like Ultima Online and EverQuest).
If you have a look at the original meaning of RPG (pen, paper and strange dices) it becomes clear it is quite far away from the console RPGs (whether or not they should be called RPGs are another discussion), PC RPGs stay much more true to the RPG tradition. Not that that makes the console games any less fun (I'm not much of a PC RPGer myself).
[EDIT: Added section on RPGs]
[This message has been edited by dagsverre (edited July 02, 2001).]