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

FF7 was the first final fantasy I ever played and it was a great experience as a 10 year old. I then obtained an SNES emulator for my PC from my cousin and played FF VI (FF III) and that has been my favorite FF ever.
 
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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8 is very under rated. Its the o e you were told to hate. Amazing character development. It is near the top for me. Even better than 7. 7 isnt even in the top 3 for me

for me id go 4,8,12,10,9,6,7
 
I've never understood the love that people have for IX. I actually found the STORY in VIII to be more interesting despite the fact that the gameplay was a mess.

Of the ones I've played:

VI, VII, IV, VIII, IX, X, V

I stopped playing them entirely when they moved to a more linear format, and I never had the opportunity/desire to play the first three.

I am looking forward to giving XV a shot when it comes out in a few weeks.
 
I played the first. Not sure if I ever tackled warmech and won but I don't care to try at this time. I always heard stories about 4 white mages and I'm trying to imagine how slow that must have been.

1,2,3 usa have been my favorites. 7 on ps1 was pretty good. Played part way through- couldn't push myself through the slog that it is. Had my older brother let me beat ff7 on his save and that really ruined any chance of me caring after that.

I tried the mmo and that one was good but I ain't got time for that anymore :( ain_t_nobody_got_time_for_that_by_amaranthos_fx-d6kc5xh.jpg
 
Kinsaras said:
Not yet but I've heard things.
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Story's OK, gameplay is fantastic. Worth a play for sure.

I think that story, in general, is important. Don't get me wrong (re: Final Fantasy specifically), you can't help but feel that it's not that great in most of the series. It's overly dramatic, generally overly done, and there's almost always some weird shit that happens right near the end (i.e. FF8, we're going to space all of a sudden?). I'm a fan of the juxtaposition though, so that's why I'm always first in line for each game. It's different, and it's timeless.

NeoNemesis said:
I've never understood the love that people have for IX. I actually found the STORY in VIII to be more interesting despite the fact that the gameplay was a mess.

Of the ones I've played:

VI, VII, IV, VIII, IX, X, V

I stopped playing them entirely when they moved to a more linear format, and I never had the opportunity/desire to play the first three.

I am looking forward to giving XV a shot when it comes out in a few weeks.
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I think the story in 8 was pretty great (albeit a bit difficult to follow if you weren't 100% engrossed in it from the start), and in this case (based on my comment to Kinsaras), the combat was odd for sure, especially with the Junction system. Development of characters was pretty great, and you could tell the put some thought into tying everyone in. It wasn't the greatest storytelling I've ever seen, but it was solid.

That being said, the story in 9 was very classic Final Fantasy, with great set pieces and score. The character development wasn't quite as strong, but if you related and/or empathized with any one character, it had to be Vivi, who exuded quite a lot of real-world fears and emotions throughout.

In the end, I think it's absolutely a toss-up. You either liked element(s) x,y,z from 8 and not in 9, or the other way around.
 
Never been a fan of the gameplay besides the Tactics series, and now XV which is more action real time type combat.

So i'll go with Tactics. Tactics Advance on the GBA is one of the best games.
 
NeoNemesis said:
I've never understood the love that people have for IX. I actually found the STORY in VIII to be more interesting despite the fact that the gameplay was a mess.

Of the ones I've played:

VI, VII, IV, VIII, IX, X, V

I stopped playing them entirely when they moved to a more linear format, and I never had the opportunity/desire to play the first three.

I am looking forward to giving XV a shot when it comes out in a few weeks.
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Part of the love for 9 comes from the fact that it was following 2 back-to-back super serious, mostly human games. So the more whimsical elements really jumped out. Similarly the plot wasn't as half-baked as the last 2 games.
 
CptCabbit said:
Part of the love for 9 comes from the fact that it was following 2 back-to-back super serious, mostly human games. So the more whimsical elements really jumped out. Similarly the plot wasn't as half-baked as the last 2 games.
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It was definitely a more straight forward game, I'll give it that. The problem in my mind is that it didn't even attempt to do anything different. I didn't hate the game, but I've also never had the urge to revisit it as I did with 6, 7 and to a lesser extent, 4 and 8.

Bigbacon said:
8 is very under rated. Its the o e you were told to hate. Amazing character development. It is near the top for me. Even better than 7. 7 isnt even in the top 3 for me

for me id go 4,8,12,10,9,6,7
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I'll bite my tongue with 7, but putting 6 second last is an absolute fucking travesty. It is, without question, one of the greatest games ever made.
 
NeoNemesis said:
I've never understood the love that people have for IX. I actually found the STORY in VIII to be more interesting despite the fact that the gameplay was a mess.

Of the ones I've played:

VI, VII, IV, VIII, IX, X, V

I stopped playing them entirely when they moved to a more linear format, and I never had the opportunity/desire to play the first three.

I am looking forward to giving XV a shot when it comes out in a few weeks.
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IX felt more like a classic FF than VII and VIII did to me; like if they took one of the NES or SNES games and translated it to 3D. As far as setting goes I was never a big fan of the pseudo futuristic backdrops we have in the more recent games, and IX is the last game we have before going all in on that setting. It could be argued that XI is the same way, but a lot of people don't count the MMORPG titles in the main series.
 
n370zed said:
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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I don't have to kill you, because you're already dead inside if you couldn't get into Tactics.

(just kidding, of course)




(actually, not kidding, you soulless monster)
 
I'll vote for the one with Cecil and Kain kicking some tail in the beginning, then things picking up from there (2 in the US, not just about the JP number). Just for nostalgia reasons.
 
S
viscountalpha said:
I played the first. Not sure if I ever tackled warmech and won but I don't care to try at this time. I always heard stories about 4 white mages and I'm trying to imagine how slow that must have been.

1,2,3 usa have been my favorites. 7 on ps1 was pretty good. Played part way through- couldn't push myself through the slog that it is. Had my older brother let me beat ff7 on his save and that really ruined any chance of me caring after that.

I tried the mmo and that one was good but I ain't got time for that anymore :( View attachment 53871
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Sadly, I know the woman in this meme. She's from my city.. (OKC). How she ended up in a FF Thread I'll never understand.
 
memnoch998 said:
S


Sadly, I know the woman in this meme. She's from my city.. (OKC). How she ended up in a FF Thread I'll never understand.
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I always pray I never become a meme. Heaven knows I deserve it. Although i may be responsible for planking (before it was popular)
 
I don't think you have anything to worry about. But...

OT. Six will always do it for me. All of the snes games were great, barring MQ, 8 and 9 were great as well.. other than that, the series majorly veered off course when it comes to 7, 10 and on. It's not final fantasy. Its scifi junk. If i really want blended genre rpgs, Ill go play star ocean.
 
memnoch998 said:
I don't think you have anything to worry about. But...

OT. Six will always do it for me. All of the snes games were great, barring MQ, 8 and 9 were great as well.. other than that, the series majorly veered off course when it comes to 7, 10 and on. It's not final fantasy. Its scifi junk. If i really want blended genre rpgs, Ill go play star ocean.
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Not judging or disagreeing just genuinely curious as to why 7/10 are sci-fi junk but 8 isn't. I haven't played 8 since I beat it when it first came out so I should probably revisit it.
 
I consider V the best overall. Good mix of story, combat, class flexibility, and sidequests.

My rankings (disregarding XI, XIV, and XV):

I: Very strong when compared to its contemporaries (Wizardry/Ultima/DQI), but hasn't aged particularly well. 3/5 for historical context, 2/5 when viewed standalone.
II: The idea of leveling up the skills you use the most is a good one, but the implementation was crap and ruined everything. 1/5.
III: Solid is unremarkable entry. 3/5.
IV: First entry where characters and story came front and center. Solid entry, but again hasn't aged that well. 3/5.
V: Strong combination of story, combat, and expansion of the class system introduced in III. No real obvious flaws to speak of. 5/5.
VI: Exceptional story and characters hides a lot of issues with the combat system (which is badly unbalanced). 4/5.
VII: Exceptional characterization, but false narrator leads to a lot of story confusion*. Combat broken and unbalanced more then in VI. 4/5.
VIII: Draw. Draw. Draw some more. Characters are unremarkable, and the story is even more unsensible then VII. Triple Triad is the best part of the game. 1/5.
IX: Nice throwback entry, but unremarkable in the grand scheme of things. 3/5.
X: You either love it or hate it. Does some things well, some things not nearly as much. 3/5.
X-2: No. 1/5.
XII: Final Fantasy Autobattle. Is Vann even necessary to the story? 1/5.
XIII: Follow the line. Extremely linear. Shallow characters. Decent combat system, if you're willing to ignore everything else. 2/5.

III-X were all solid at worst entries, though I believe the series has gone steadily downhill since V came out. Then again, I've always been a Dragon Quest guy.

*If I hear one more person claim you chased Sephiroth throughout VII, I will tear my hair out.
 
gamerk2 said:
X-2: No. 1/5.
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Lol! X-2 gets a lot of crap, understandably so. I like to argue it did have one of the best combat systems in a FF game. If you can look past the weird girl power theme, it's an amazing use of the job/class system. Shame we couldn't get this combat system in another FF that isn't like playing nails-across-the-chalkboard: The Game that X-2 is.
 
gamerk2 said:
II: The idea of leveling up the skills you use the most is a good one, but the implementation was crap and ruined everything. 1/5.
VIII: Draw. Draw. Draw some more. Characters are unremarkable, and the story is even more unsensible then VII. Triple Triad is the best part of the game. 1/5.
X-2: No. 1/5.
XII: Final Fantasy Autobattle. Is Vann even necessary to the story? 1/5.
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6,4,7,9,15,12,10,13,8,5,3,1,2. Anything else is wrong. XI proabably #1 to me cause I spent 11 years playing that damn MMO. 14 can go fuck itself.
 
My favorite was and still is IV.
My mom surprised me with it shortly after it it was released. I was in 2nd grade.

I'm a fan of VI but didn't feel the characters like IV. Plus hollow earth and taking a spaceship to the moon...

I did go nuts on 7 when it came out. I remember the play timer was capped at 99.99 hours for quite some time before I was finished.

I couldn't really get into any of them after that except X.
 
My personal order:
FFT > FF3/6 American > FF7 > FF15 > FF5 > FF9 > FF13 > FF10 > FF8 > FF12 > FF2/4 > FF1

Between the MMOs, 14 > 11 but honestly didn't play either extensively.

Man I can't believe I remember all these damn games because for the most part, they're all so different from each other.
 
Twinsen said:
My personal order:
FFT > FF3/6 American > FF7 > FF15 > FF5 > FF9 > FF13 > FF10 > FF8 > FF12 > FF2/4 > FF1

Between the MMOs, 14 > 11 but honestly didn't play either extensively.

Man I can't believe I remember all these damn games because for the most part, they're all so different from each other.
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XI>>>>>>XIV. 11 had a variety of content and actual community. 14 is just rehashed content that is just a dance. They have strick formula that they barely deviate from. Sure the combat wasn't as fast in 11 but the different jobs were unique. You weren't stuck in a bubble separated from the rest of the server and forced to actually interact with others to get stuff done.
 
Armenius said:
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Let me be clear: There is NO defending II and X-2. Too many things are flat out wrong about them.

People want to prop up VIII, but lets admit it: It's combat system is crap. It's story is crap. It's characters are crap. It's crap, stop trying to defend it.

Pretty much same deal with XII, with the addition of gambits farther dragging it down. Sorry, but any game I can literally walk away from and win is not a good game.
 
7 is what started it all for me and was my first foray into RPGs.

Other than that, 9 stuck with me a lot. I went back and played 6 which was really good as well.

I also loved the crap out of 13 but 13-2 was horrible, and never finished 13-3.

Just started XV last night and looking forward to it.
 
FF V and FF III (nes) are underrated gems but it is understandable why. For the longest time the only way to play them was with fantranslated roms so not that many had a chance to play them in their youths. And when they finally had an official western releases (and remakes) people tend to compare them to FFVI which they have so many nostalgic memories about.
 
MaZa said:
FF V and FF III (nes) are underrated gems but it is understandable why. For the longest time the only way to play them was with fantranslated roms so not that many had a chance to play them in their youths. And when they finally had an official western releases (and remakes) people tend to compare them to FFVI which they have so many nostalgic memories about.
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I loved the job systems in III and V. It makes the gameplay mechanics in VI feel very shallow by comparison, in my opinion. I do still enjoy games where characters have their set roles and progression like in IV, but in VI I never fully understood why certain characters were the way they were.
 
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