That age old question of which Final Fantasy is the best, answered by the franchise's creators

Armenius

Armenius

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https://blog.eu.playstation.com/201...y-games-as-chosen-by-the-franchises-creators/

I and V are the most popular in this list. VI doesn't get as much love as the fans give it. VIII, XI, XII, XV and side stories/spinoffs are not mentioned at all.

VI was my intro to the series as a kid, but I never really got into the RPG genre until I became a teenager. Since then I have played all the mainline games in the series through XII, including the MMORPG XI, and I have to say that overall IX is my favorite. Ironically, VI is my least favorite now.
 
FF Tactics would be my first if we are counting spin-offs. Otherwise...9, 6, 4, 10, 5, 12, 13, 7, 10-2, 8, 3, 1, 2.

The original 3 have not aged well at all. Note I never touched the MMORPGs nor do I really count them the main series.

FF XV is on my list of games to play. I'm just waiting on that Steam sale now.
 
Although by now I've played basically all of them, 7 was my first intro into the FF series and you could actually play as a dog/tiger that ate ice cream. So I'd say 7, 6, 9,10, everything else.

If we include more atypical FFs, FFT would take top, 14 would be between 9 and 10.

When I get around to trying the remastered zodiac version of 12 we'll see if it gets a higher placing. My experience of original FF12 wasn't terribly memorable.
 
OQZyJsn.jpg

Obviously
 
There's only 1 FF that was so overwhelmingly popular to cause Squinix to cave and officially create a remake. When the entire premise of the Final Fantasy Sequels is based on the fact they aren't related to those before them, I think that's all that needs to be said.
 
FlawleZ said:
There's only 1 FF that was so overwhelmingly popular to cause Squinix to cave and officially create a remake. When the entire premise of the Final Fantasy Sequels is based on the fact they aren't related to those before them, I think that's all that needs to be said.
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My opinion on that matter is I agree, simply because it was initially being developed for an inferior storage medium and suffered because of it. The story was pretty memorable, but the game itself is not the best. That is at least why I think it deserves a remake.
 
FlawleZ said:
There's only 1 FF that was so overwhelmingly popular to cause Squinix to cave and officially create a remake. When the entire premise of the Final Fantasy Sequels is based on the fact they aren't related to those before them, I think that's all that needs to be said.
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Only one had an immediate sequel...

Nuff said.
 
My list:

7
American 3
Tactics
American 2
9
8

I never played 1 seriously. At the point in my life where I was getting into RPGs, Final Fantasy 2 and 3 were already out on SNES. Also the rest of the Square RPGs had already spoiled me rotten so I when I tried 1, I didn't enjoy it much. I stopped playing them again after 9. I owned 10 but never even gave it a shot. After those, I started playing MMORPGs and haven't really looked back.
 
The popularity of 7 was a perfect storm of timing, tech, a great game, and a system that wasn't in a 50/50 heat with the competition. I consider it to be one of the best, but I consider 6 to have more depth. I also still think 7 felt unfinished. It was like a murder mystery where they wrap everything up in the last 2 minutes and explain everything was "because of stuff."
5 was like a precursor to 6. Super compelling, but I think 6 was better in nearly every way. The early ones had neat job mechanics, but the stories were clumsy.
Tactics was great for what it was, although I dunno if I consider it to be a "true" FF game.
8 was a really neat world that was hampered by an awful game.
9 was a very cool return to form that was held back by its look. The retro thing (and a comically bad villain) made a lot of people not take it seriously. If it looked like 8, it could have been way bigger IMO.
Anything from 10 = kinda dead to me. It's almost like the move to live A/V ruined Square's ability to tell a story. Characters that could have worked on paper came off as awkward and clumsy.
Anyway, I think 6, 7, and 5 are my faves. Tactics would be 3rd if you count it.
 
Final Fantasy 14 is fun. I realize its an MMO but it has lots of nods back to the classic PS1/SNES era FF games.
 
So unlike, the other Final Fantasy fans here I have struggled for YEARS to get into Final Fantasy at the urging of my friends. I have a problem with virtually every JRPG I try in one way or another... can't seem to survive through any Persona game, tried many Final Fantasy games and I just hated them all. A big turn-off for me is how stupid I find turn-based combat games. I bought the Final Fantasy X, X-2 remaster for my Vita and quit after 2 hours after REALLY trying to get into it about a month ago.

But, now in my early 30s I finally found a Final Fantasy game I LOVE... Final Fantasy 15! A lifelong friend and huge FF final quit FF 15 after 30 minutes because he said he was bored as hell playing it, and honestly I didn't REALLY get into the game until the game world opens up and you leave the desert setting beginning area. Despite the rough start I am absolutely in love with the game. I think the biggest welcome change is the real-time combat. That taking turns bullshit is soooo stupid and frustrated me to no end with all the other FF games, but the change of pace along with the tone as well as the great setting, characters, and music really make me like FF 15 a lot.

As long as the future FF games can stay with this style that FF 15 brought to the table, they will be day one buys for me. It's also nice for old fans of the games that there is a wait mode for those who like the turned-based combat.

Quick question to the big FF fans in here... what makes a FF game a FF game and not just like every other JRPG? The stories don't really connect so what make a Final Fantasy game Final Fantasy? Is it the art style? The game world? What exactly?
 
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7 because not only was it released completely broken.

That some of those bugs made the game hilarious.

Like skipping the entirety of the midgar raid

Or killing Ruby with 7 shots from Vincent
 
Armenius said:
https://blog.eu.playstation.com/201...y-games-as-chosen-by-the-franchises-creators/

I and V are the most popular in this list. VI doesn't get as much love as the fans give it. VIII, XI, XII, XV and side stories/spinoffs are not mentioned at all.

VI was my intro to the series as a kid, but I never really got into the RPG genre until I became a teenager. Since then I have played all the mainline games in the series through XII, including the MMORPG XI, and I have to say that overall IX is my favorite. Ironically, VI is my least favorite now.
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I swear this is the damndest thing, but after reading this I started searching for other FF games to play and I just happen to find that Final Fantasy 12 Remastered is launching on Steam tomorrow.

 
6, 7, tactics, 1.

However, nostalgia compels me to reorder that list thusly:

6, 1, 7, tactics

I don't even want to think about how many hours I lost on those games. 6 in particular...well...using materia to teach spells and increase stats on level really got me hooked. I don't recall what level I finally got my characters to, but it was nearing 100.
 
zamardii12 said:
So unlike, the other Final Fantasy fans here I have struggled for YEARS to get into Final Fantasy at the urging of my friends. I have a problem with virtually every JRPG I try in one way or another... can't seem to survive through any Persona game, tried many Final Fantasy games and I just hated them all. A big turn-off for me is how stupid I find turn-based combat games. I bought the Final Fantasy X, X-2 remaster for my Vita and quit after 2 hours after REALLY trying to get into it about a month ago.

But, now in my early 30s I finally found a Final Fantasy game I LOVE... Final Fantasy 15! A lifelong friend and huge FF final quit FF 15 after 30 minutes because he said he was bored as hell playing it, and honestly I didn't REALLY get into the game until the game world opens up and you leave the desert setting beginning area. Despite the rough start I am absolutely in love with the game. I think the biggest welcome change is the real-time combat. That taking turns bullshit is soooo stupid and frustrated me to no end with all the other FF games, but the change of pace along with the tone as well as the great setting, characters, and music really make me like FF 15 a lot.

As long as the future FF games can stay with this style that FF 15 brought to the table, they will be day one buys for me. It's also nice for old fans of the games that there is a wait mode for those who like the turned-based combat.

Quick question to the big FF fans in here... what makes a FF game a FF game and not just like every other JRPG? The stories don't really connect so what make a Final Fantasy game Final Fantasy? Is it the art style? The game world? What exactly?
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You should give the star Ocean games a try if it's the combat of the other FF games you dont like.

As for what makes an FF game, it's a combo of everything you said. The games' plots might seldomly overlap, but countless other things do from NPCs and lore to items and locations.
 
I played 5-9 and 12 but it is tough to choose 7-9 as all were good for their own reasons. I just liked 8 the most though.
 
zamardii12 said:
So unlike, the other Final Fantasy fans here I have struggled for YEARS to get into Final Fantasy at the urging of my friends. I have a problem with virtually every JRPG I try in one way or another... can't seem to survive through any Persona game, tried many Final Fantasy games and I just hated them all. A big turn-off for me is how stupid I find turn-based combat games. I bought the Final Fantasy X, X-2 remaster for my Vita and quit after 2 hours after REALLY trying to get into it about a month ago.

But, now in my early 30s I finally found a Final Fantasy game I LOVE... Final Fantasy 15! A lifelong friend and huge FF final quit FF 15 after 30 minutes because he said he was bored as hell playing it, and honestly I didn't REALLY get into the game until the game world opens up and you leave the desert setting beginning area. Despite the rough start I am absolutely in love with the game. I think the biggest welcome change is the real-time combat. That taking turns bullshit is soooo stupid and frustrated me to no end with all the other FF games, but the change of pace along with the tone as well as the great setting, characters, and music really make me like FF 15 a lot.

As long as the future FF games can stay with this style that FF 15 brought to the table, they will be day one buys for me. It's also nice for old fans of the games that there is a wait mode for those who like the turned-based combat.

Quick question to the big FF fans in here... what makes a FF game a FF game and not just like every other JRPG? The stories don't really connect so what make a Final Fantasy game Final Fantasy? Is it the art style? The game world? What exactly?
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The narrative, characters, and art style are what really do it for me. The world structure is pretty consistent between the games, as well, even though they're all not connected. Tetsuya Nomura's style has been unmistakable in the series since Final Fantasy VI.

Turn-based or real time battle systems don't really matter to me. What FF has been able to do over the years is make constant changes to the battle and ability system to both make things seem fresh and also keep character progression interesting. The latter is the most important to me as far as the actual gameplay systems go.
zamardii12 said:
I swear this is the damndest thing, but after reading this I started searching for other FF games to play and I just happen to find that Final Fantasy 12 Remastered is launching on Steam tomorrow.

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https://hardforum.com/threads/final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age.1901780/#post-1043426787
OrangeKhrush said:
I played 5-9 and 12 but it is tough to choose 7-9 as all were good for their own reasons. I just liked 8 the most though.
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I think VIII has the best story, but I do rather enjoy time-bending paradoxical scenarios. The diversity of characters and ability system in IX are what put that one over the top for me, even though the battle system has its issues.
 
zamardii12 said:
I swear this is the damndest thing, but after reading this I started searching for other FF games to play and I just happen to find that Final Fantasy 12 Remastered is launching on Steam tomorrow.

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Daaaamn, might be in for this one based on the reviews.
 
Out of the Final Fantasy games I've played, FFVII, 8, 9, 10, 11 & Tactics,

My favorite is FF: Tactics. I like 10 too.
 
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I'll never get the appeal of FF 7. It wowed me for its time but hasn't aged well. Story is a mess. Go back and replay it.
 
Kinsaras said:
I'll never get the appeal of FF 7. It wowed me for its time but hasn't aged well. Story is a mess. Go back and replay it.
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The story is as much a mess as most of their other games. Granted some are more straight forward than other but I think 7 is as convoluted as everyone that followed it.
 
Tactics was my favorite, but I can't seem to go back and play it.

XI was good, XII nearly as good (but in different ways)

I didn't mind XIII, it wasn't great but was still a good game. XIII-2/3 were too much. Same with X and X-2.

XIV was good, 1.0 was ok, ARR was much better and I still sub to that game. I liked XI as well, but was into more Western MMOs at the time it released.

I liked the battle gambit system in XII - it was almost like a crude programming language for scripting battles. And for as much as I liked Tactics, you would think XII would be top of my list, but the story was hard for me to really get in to. I look forward to attempting to replay it soon on Steam remastered.
 
Kinsaras said:
I'll never get the appeal of FF 7. It wowed me for its time but hasn't aged well. Story is a mess. Go back and replay it.
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To me it felt unfinished. I thought the story for the first 60% was shaping up to be amazing...and then it's as though they didn't know what to do with it. It's funny because they've had a lot of additional non-gaming content that has attempted to flesh it out more. Yet the tacked on resolution they went with limits how much anything can actually fix.
I remember marathonning that game when it came out. Half the floor of my dorm was either watching or helping to level up in shifts. Yet I don't think a single person didn't roll their eyes once Cloud's origins started being explained.
 
zamardii12 said:
what makes a FF game a FF game and not just like every other JRPG?
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the music IMO, at least up until FFX which I think was mostly another composer, had very strong unique melodies that tied nicely with the scenes and characters, so that when I hear or simply recall them again many years later it pulls me straight back to those moments and hits me hard in the feels... not unlike a great John Williams or Danny Elfman theme for all those great movies/series
 
I was never able to get into any except 15, so I guess that is currently my favorite.
 
Youn said:
the music IMO, at least up until FFX which I think was mostly another composer, had very strong unique melodies that tied nicely with the scenes and characters, so that when I hear or simply recall them again many years later it pulls me straight back to those moments and hits me hard in the feels... not unlike a great John Williams or Danny Elfman theme for all those great movies/series
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FF15 definitely has some great music. It's the first FF game I am enjoying and the music is really great at times.
 
I'd say FF Tactics is the best but that is more of a spin-off and very different from other FF games. The story was pretty good too. For your typical FF games, I think 6 and 7 were probably the best ones. FF games were pretty fun overall but stories were kind of weak- not much depth. After playing games like Planescape Torment or Baldurs Gate, FF stories were much to be desired.
 
I'm glad one of the creators preferred FFII, because that's my favorite one, despite it being one of the most despised games by the general audience. I prefer the gain by use rather than the level up mechanism, and would love more RPGs to have it. Also, I guess I'm more of a fan of simple stories. Save the princess is good enough for me. I played most of the Final Fantasys, and while I can tell you the stories for 1-6, from 7 onwards, I really can't. I honestly found VII to be vastly overrated, and mainly popular, because at the time, it had massive marketing for its movies. I guess this is a reason I tend to prefer Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy.

As for Tactics, I got near the end of the game, but had one of those multi-memory cards at the time for my PSX which died and all my games got erased, thus, never got around to finishing it.
 
My only real complaint about Tactics is that it had a cast of like 500 characters and most of them weren't really needed. It got confusing if you didn't marathon the game because they just keep introducing new/similar characters. I've played through that game 4 different times, which is pretty unusual for me. Most of them have been 1 and done.
 
For me VI (i will always call it final fantasy III though) will always be the best, just amazing game from my pre-teen years. Out of all the ones i've played i'd rank them:

VI, tactics, tactics advance, V, IV, Legend II, VII, VIII, Legend 1. I didn't think VII was very good like everyone else seems to and VIII was even worse so i stopped playing these games. I actually went back and restarted playing Dragon Warrior/Quest games which I now think is the better franchise overall.
 
9 is by far my favorite. I've since played it multiple times on the PSX and Vita, in both English and Japanese. It holds a special place in my heart. First game I played with a rich story and world, and a few of my friends were into it too, making for some great conversations during sleepovers.

After that, I really liked 8, 7, and 6 (in that order). I'd like to play all of them at some point. I enjoyed 11 and most recently 14 as MMO experiences, but those weren't as long-standing in my lineup as WoW was for example. 15 is definitely at the top of my favorites list, with it's great fluid combat.
 
I think 8 actually did a ton of things better than 7 did. The game world from 8 was unforgettable for me. The catch is that the actual game suuuuuucked. Rather than simply gaining traditional levels by winning battles, you were also stuck "draining" random enemies for stat-increasing abilities. It was unbelievably tedious. They tried to disguise the draining functionality as magic, but it was worthless when actually used that way. The game's slow speed didn't help either.
9 went further down the rabbit hole by having nearly every unique enemy packing steal-able collectibles and (of course) making your steal function a total crapshoot when it came to success. If you missed your chance or forgot to try, you didn't get another crack at it.
It's almost like they wanted to make those games tedious.
 
Domingo said:
I think 8 actually did a ton of things better than 7 did. The game world from 8 was unforgettable for me. The catch is that the actual game suuuuuucked. Rather than simply gaining traditional levels by winning battles, you were also stuck "draining" random enemies for stat-increasing abilities. It was unbelievably tedious. They tried to disguise the draining functionality as magic, but it was worthless when actually used that way. The game's slow speed didn't help either.
9 went further down the rabbit hole by having nearly every unique enemy packing steal-able collectibles and (of course) making your steal function a total crapshoot when it came to success. If you missed your chance or forgot to try, you didn't get another crack at it.
It's almost like they wanted to make those games tedious.
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I think I realized that a little late (replaying as an adult was when I started to analyze rationally). Replaying 8 today is just tedious (but fun with a group, chatting while playing), and replaying 9 is mostly for the nostalgia factor for me. I still enjoy the combat and story. Steal wise, it was something akin to how Pokemon would throw random legendary's at you and if you didn't catch them or they ran away, you'd be screwed (they'd never appear again). I was never a fan of that approach in any game.
 
BiH115 said:
I think I realized that a little late (replaying as an adult was when I started to analyze rationally). Replaying 8 today is just tedious (but fun with a group, chatting while playing), and replaying 9 is mostly for the nostalgia factor for me. I still enjoy the combat and story. Steal wise, it was something akin to how Pokemon would throw random legendary's at you and if you didn't catch them or they ran away, you'd be screwed (they'd never appear again). I was never a fan of that approach in any game.
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Same. I hate when games give you one crack at something and you need a hint guide to even realize you missed it. With FF8, some of those steals took dozens of attempts...often in difficult or boss fights no less.
I was in college when 7-9 came out and I recall liking all of them (especially 7), but there were huge caveats to them. The rise of actually really good western RPG's (like Baldur's Gate and the TES games) also probably affected my opinion of them. Yet I don't feel 5, 6, or Tactics had any major problems. They were technically inferior, but the games didn't have any major issues. Especially 6. I still don't really have much negative to say about that one. I guess some of the Gau stuff was a little tedious, but that's really all I can think of.
 
Domingo said:
Same. I hate when games give you one crack at something and you need a hint guide to even realize you missed it. With FF8, some of those steals took dozens of attempts...often in difficult or boss fights no less.
I was in college when 7-9 came out and I recall liking all of them (especially 7), but there were huge caveats to them. The rise of actually really good western RPG's (like Baldur's Gate and the TES games) also probably affected my opinion of them. Yet I don't feel 5, 6, or Tactics had any major problems. They were technically inferior, but the games didn't have any major issues. Especially 6. I still don't really have much negative to say about that one. I guess some of the Gau stuff was a little tedious, but that's really all I can think of.
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Well, with 6, you were punished for opening chests the first time round. To get the better drops, you needed to leave them be until later on in the game. And as with you and other people, that's one thing that bothered me. I remember in FFIV (well, 2 on the SNES), playing through, and it was where you infiltrated the enemies base which blew up, and I took the wrong turn and went directly to the enemy, only to find out I missed a few treasure chests which dropped gear which would be useful for a bit. If it's one shot and done for mediocre gear, that's one thing. But especially with the PSX Square games, that's where they were notorious for the one shot under ridiculously obscure situations.

And that's what I loved about the earlier RPGs of the NES/early SNES era, along with western RPGs. The world was always open to you, and as such, you could never miss anything. The SNES era was when the games started to become linear in that a town might be destroyed, so you were always pushed forward and usually only had a choice of going between a few towns.
 
Don't kill me but I could never get into Tactics. I hear people saying it's great and what not but I could not get thru the first few scenarios. Combat was slow and the tile based movements just didn't catch my attention for very long. Probably why I never liked Strategy RPGs. Now it's been over 15 years since I last played tactics but if I didn't like it when I was 15 don't think it'll hold my interest at 30. I've played 7-10 as a youngin and would say that 10 was my favorite with 9 being a close 2nd.
 
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