Support NeoGAF

[ULTROS!]

I know there might be many threads regarding ranking FF but since FFVII was shown more in-depth, might as well ride with the hype, no?

How would you rank the mainline Final Fantasy games?

1. IV = VII = X

What I love about these 3 games is that they got the magic of FF from what I’ve played and what I expect usually from FF.

My first experience with IV was nearly 10 years ago via the PSP and I’ve got to say I loved FFIV’s simple adventure and how it’s very loyal to the traditional foundation of JRPGs with charm.

VII due to the introduction of the dystopian cyberpunk world of Midgar, man that was sure memorable 22 years ago...

X because of the cutscenes, graphics, world, OST, and CGI, those were beautiful. This is probably my top FF game due to the strong charm and presentation but the VII and IV have their charms also.

2. VI = IX

You might be surprised that VI is my no. 2 despite my Ultros name but I still love this game. I’m not a big fan of the latter half part but it’s still a strong game overall.

I do like IX also and it’s incredibly charming as well but as time went by, I thought the presentation was a bit too... kiddy for my taste. Still a great game none the less. This FF also has my favorite final dungeon presentation.

3. XV

Ah, one of the controversial FFs. I liked this game for its different risky take but it still showed the FF charm in the end (ending was fantastic). Sure the game’s individual elements may be half-assed but as an overall game, it was still a good game for me. I also love the battle music of this game, probably top along with VIII.

4. XII = XIII

Another two of the controversial FFs. Previously XII was below to XIII for me but ever since the TZA release, they’re now equal to each other.

Talking about XII:TZA, this game fixed my issues with OG XII. I found the original XII slow and a bit of a bore but TZA introduces double speed and made the overall game much better. My major gripe with XII is that I’m not fond of the dull “realistic” presentation, I’m more used to the fantasy oriented, “anime” presentation of the other FFs. I’m not super into the battle system in this game, reminds me of MMOs for some reason.

XIII on the other hand, I disliked the story and characters because they were confusing and not interesting but I do love the battle system, battle theme (Blinded by Light), and presentation. Probably has my favorite ATB system to date.

If XII and XIII were to combine, it would probably be my favorite FF to date.

5. VIII

What can I say.... I really hate the junction system but I love the world, presentation, and music. VIII probably has my top FF OST next to X and XV’s battle themes. It also has my favorite rendition of the Final Fantasy Theme.

6. V

I’m not a fan of the job system but hey, this is kinda like IV... with the job system.

7. III

It’s like the lesser version of V but with soulless characters.

8. I

Way too old school for me but I understand it’s roots.

9. II

Trash.

 

[Pejo]

Man there's a name I haven't seen in a while.

On Topic, I've done a lot of thinking about this over the years. More than it deserves for sure. FF used to be my favorite franchise until the last 5 years or so.

On to the rating

11=4>6>7>9>12>15>5>3(remake with Luneth and pals)>1(on PSP)>2>14>10>8>13

11 was the best MMO I've ever played, probably my most played in playtime as well. Fantastic experience in its 75 cap days and we will never have a game like it again.

4 and 6 got switched back and forth a lot on this list for me over the years, but I think nostalgia combined with the awesome characters, locations, music, and general flow of the story cements this as my favorite non MMO game in the series. I can replay this game endlessly.

If you made me pick a game that has the "soul" of Final Fantasy, I'd say 6 every time. Phenomenal game, great characters, huge cast, tons of secrets and side quests.

7 really brought deserved popularity into the series. It was a fantastic transition of 16 bit sprites to 32 bit polygons. Retained the feeling of the past games, but gave us a more sci-fi fantasy feel, and the cutscenes for the time were jaw dropping.

12 and 15 I admire for trying different things. 12 was the better overall game, but 15 had some really fantasic high points. 15 could have been an all-time great with another 3-5 years in the oven.

I'm going to skip the middle rated ones and just say that 13 was the biggest piece of shit that this franchise ever gave birth to. I enjoyed FF14 1.0 more than 13. Hallways, awful characters, play-itself battle system and all of the lore being in text logs were my biggest complaints of 13, but I could go on and on with why I hated that game.

 

[Petrae]

Awesome Five: FFIV, FFVI, FFV, FFIX, FFX
Shitty Five: FFVIII, FFXII, FFXIII, FFXV, FFII

I’ll be honest: FFIV (Easy Type) was the first RPG I ever played, and is still the only one I’ve ever beaten. I still love everything about it, and replay it every so often.

FFVI comes close, and the opera scene gives me chills to this day. I never could finish it, sadly, as a few sequences with splitting the characters later in the game confused me and turned me off.

FFIX comes the closest to the feel of the SNES trilogy, though it’s still infested with another card game that I can’t fucking stand.

FFX, to me, has the most enjoyable ATB combat of the lot. The characters and plot are stupid, but the game was gorgeous by standards of the time and I had fun playing it.

As for the shitty games?

FFVIII was, to me, an epic disappointment with its overly confusing Junction system (which required multiple tutorials to attempt to understand) and its annoying-as-fuck busywork through either a shitty card game or soul-sucking marathon sessions of drawing magic from enemies and never being able to use it lest you mess with how it’s junctioned.

FFXII initially got my hopes up with its nods to FFIV, but that MMO-inspired combat system SUCKS. The characters are lame at best.

FFXIII is one of the few games that I’ve traded in less than 24 hours after buying it because I thought it was so bad— it literally killed my Final Fantasy fandom. Any game that you have to play for X hours before it “gets good” is bullshit.

FFXV sucks because the story is secondary (Having to buy/rent a movie to understand what’s happening in the plot is fucking silly) and I can’t stand the combat system. Again. Pretty-looking game, though.

FFII’s level of awful is pretty well known.

Oh, and not enough love is given to Theatrhythm: Curtain Call. It’s a fun rhythm game that celebrates the best parts of every Final Fantasy game: the music.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

6>9>4>5>3>12>7>10>8>13>2>1.
Ranking is based on gameplay, story, music, world and characters.

 

[ULTROS!]

Curtain Call is severely underrated. I love the game and it’s incredibly addicting. To be honest it should be ported to more platforms.

 

[Orenji Neko]

4>6>5>12>14>11>3>7>9>1>2>10>8>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>13>15

4 and 6 are far and away my favorites. I started with FF1 when it released (still have the NP that covered it and got me interested in it.)

I have completed them all, including the storylines for 11 and 14 (well, 14 for now as it soon expands), but 4 and 6 are the two I can replay anytime, and still do.

Still consider the Dragon Quest games to be superior and far more consistent in quality.

 

[xellos2099alpha]

4>6>5>12>14>11>3>7>9>1>2>10>8>>>>>>>>>>>>>13>15

The games that come prior to 13 and 15 above are the games that capture the feel of Final Fantasy to me. I started with FF1 when it released (still have the NP that covered it and got me excited for it.)

I have completed them all, including the storylines for 11 and 14 (well, 14 for now as it soon expands), but 4 and 6 will forever be my favorites in regard to just about every element. If I had to define what Final Fantasy is to me, it is those two games.

I disagree on 12 story better than xiv. I agree stormblood is a bit of disappoint but I felt Dragon Song War story is among the very best story SE have written in the past decade.

 

[Graciaus]

7>6>9>4>5>10>12>8>3

Just based on my enjoyment overall. All the others can be skipped. Tactics is the best.

 

[sid2vicious]

SSS Platinum Tier:

1. Final Fantasy VII -This game is in a class of it's own. To even compare it to other FF is an insult imo, since it's so much more and it's my favorite game of all time! Everything about it is perfect, characters, setting, music, ect. People think it's overrated, I think they're delusional. It's just that damn good!

Gold Tier:

2. Final Fantasy X - This game pushed the series to the next generation, with it's amazing visuals, ocean setting, love story and amazing music!

3. Final Fantasy IX - This game screams charm from every corner, it's a true fantasy game setting, with interesting characters. There's something magical and lighthearted about this story that just makes me feel relaxed. Also this game wins for best ending of the entire series!

4. Final Fantasy IV - To me the staple of the FF series. When I think of FF games, I first think about this game first and it's turn-based mechanics. If other FF stray too far from this formula, then to me they're no longer a FF game or FF in name only. Also it has a solid story.

5. Final Fantasy I - This game on the NES started it all for me, so yes I will have fond memories of it, and without it, we wouldn't have our cherished FF games as it wouldn't be a series. So the importance of it is really high, everything from the turn-based mechanics to the music, it all started here!

Silver Tier:

6. Final Fantasy XV - People love to trash this game, but all for the wrong reasons. The game has unlimited potential, I just want to explore everything. Even now I wish SE continued expanding the lore for this game rather than focusing on FFXVI.

7. Final Fantasy VIII - After 7 comes 8, and while they improved the visuals, everything else was a downgrade imo. Still a step down from perfection is still really good, just not as good as the games above.

8. Final Fantasy XII - While the story and setting was fantasy like, the battle system was completely revamp, thus doesn't really feel like a FF game and more like a single player MMO or sorts. I felt the story was average at best and it felt more like side quest fetching for the most part.

9. Final Fantasy VI - Overrated. All the shitty characters and damsels in distress ruined it for me. Maybe if you're a woman you'll enjoy this game. I could listen to Terra's theme all day however, so I didn't completely hate it, but one song don't make a game.

Bronze Tier:

10. Final Fantasy V - generic and forgettable.

11. Final Fantasy III - another generic and forgettable FF game.

12. Final Fantasy II - yet another very generic and forgettable FF game.

13. Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns - What worse than generic? A bad game. FF13 convoluted story split in 3 parts, bad writing, forgettable music, linear gameplay, pretty much tarnish the name Final Fantasy and everything it stand for.

 

[ULTROS!]

You'll be surprised... I've never played Tactics haha.

If I'd do a definitive FF ranking, the only thing I'd leave out are the MMOs, mobile games, Crystal Chronicles games, Tactics, and Dirge of Cerberus.

 

[cireza]

1 = FF X
I find that it has the best gameplay and mechanics of all games. Even if I did enjoy quite a lot other FF titles, this one has the best battles. I also find that it is a game that ages pretty well.

2 = FF XV
Even if the combat is a bit limited, I found that it was a fantastic game, loved the story, characters and the world. I also find that it comes back to the roots of the series with a pretty simple story about good and evil, yet the characters are great. Ardyn is a great villain as well.

3 = FF VIII
My favorite old FF game. I also played all 6 first games but they aged way too much in my opinion. FF VIII is the oldest FF I would easily dive back into. It is also the most broken one, but this is still entertaining. I really like the atmosphere of the game (soundtrack, setting) and the main character is fantastic.

4 = FF XIII trilogy
Pretty solid entries as far as mechanics and gameplay go. Even though the world is more elaborated, I find the stories and characters much less interesting than FF XV for example. I still enjoyed these games quite a lot.

Not ranking the others. Never played XII.

 

[sid2vicious]

Just finished FFXV, it was pretty good, I don't know what all the hate is about. Placed it in the Silver bracket.

 

[base]

1. FF7 with FF8.
2. FFX
3. FFIX
4. FFXIII-2

My fav villain is Sephiroth. I like Cloud and Squall, didn't like Zidane that much.
To me FF8 had one of the best OST. While FFXV was a really bad game it also had some great tracks.

 

[Boss Mog]

FF11 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FF6 = FF7 > FF12 >>>>>>>>> FF9 = FF4 >> FF14 > FF5 >>>> FF10>>>> FF15 = FF13 >>>>> FF8 > FF3 > FF1 >>>>>>> FF2

I'll elaborate later, I gotta go out now.

 

[Arachnid]

Of those that I've played:

FF6 >>>>>FF7>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FFX>>>>> FF9>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FF15>>FF13

15 and 13 are close because I liked everything about 15 more except for the combat. Dear god, I hated the combat in 15, whereas 13 at least had some of the best combat in the series (literally the ONLY thing it had going for it). FF6 is by far the gold standard of the series with the the most heart, best story, the best characters, and the best villain in the entire series (one of the best in gaming IMO). Also, Cecil is forever the best FF character ever conceived.

Also, if you guys love FF and want more, get into the Bravely Default series. They're both better than most FF games IMO (that I've played anyway) while being very similar.

 

[Virex]

6>8>9>XII>11>X>3>7>1>2>VII>XIII>XV>

 

[Rodolink]

Pretty much agree, although Id put XIII in the Trash tier at the bottom. And X was okish but not great.
To me the top 3 that make the name Final Fantasy for me are
VI, VII, IX

Then:
FF I, FFXV, FFVIII

 

[Ma-Yuan]

For me its:

1. FFVII PSOne

First JRPG ever for me. Before my PSOne I Only had a NES, SNES, GB, Mega Drive, Game Gear and N64.

And those weren't JRPG machines in Germany back then. Yes you had Action Adventures like Zelda or SoM but nothing like FFVII. So I was blown away by FFVII.

I just got my PSOne in 1997 and still had no Memory Card when I rented the game for a weekend. I always had to start new but I didn't care the game was so good. It really was a milestone in my gaming childhold I don't want to miss. And besides Xenogears one year later nothing ever captured me like it again. It was like an entry drug to JRPGs. I modded my PSone shortly after to be able to play import games because back then europe didn't get all JRPGs like Xenogears and I wanted to play the Japanese FFVIII demo that came with Brave Fencer Musashiden. Also the US got all the good stuff before us. No world wide releases on the same day in general.

2. FFVIII PSOne

It didn't capture me like FFVII but still made me for the time being adicted.

3. FFVI PSOne version

Played that way after the first two I mentioned here and it didn't was what I expected but still I had fun non the less.

 

[MikonJuice]

VII > XV > X > XII > VI> IV > Whatever else...

Seriously.

 

[IKSTUGA]

I really like VII, VI and IV. XIII I strongly dislike. Haven't played others enough to rank them.

 

[Psykodad]

VII = XIV

Both easily at the top, VII having the best story, cast and music.
XIV is everything I want out of a FF in the present.

Then, we have:

- IX

- VIII

- X

- X-2

- XV

- XIII

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I wrote a post detailing why FF IX is the best one but fuck it, it will be biased as fuck which I don't wanna be because the passion in that game is blazing hot.

FF IX, VII, IV, VI and V are good.

Everything else is shit besides VIII which I haven't finished. Not wasting my life playing an MMO, sorry.

Also anyone rating X higher than any game from the PS1 era has bad taste. X is one of the worst games in the series, it's a straight line with constantly reused enemy skins for every fucking area, a dumb story and mediocre characters, when Sakaguchi bounced so did Uematsu which is why the OST isn't even primarily done by him. Good battle system and the Sphere Grid being fun can't salvage mediocrity.

 

[Stefan.North]

Out of those I played

1. FF VI - very immersive game, very good story, lots of good characters with cool exclusive skills
2. FF IX - same reasons as VI, just somewhat less of each quality
3. FF IV - somewhat basic, but liked the story the most
4. FF I - veeery basic, but good for time it was released
5. FF II - piece of trash

 

[PhilipDoesMatter]

I'll just say top 1 and trash.

FF VI - the epitome of JRPG goodness. The most important game I've played in my life. I learnt English through that. I started my piano lessons because of Celes' Theme. God-tier battle system, crazy tier of customization, epic story, epic protagonist(s). I can't stress how good this game is.

FF XV - the epitome of SE stupidity. All-male party (for a series renowed for great female chars), all dressed in freaking black, a horrendous story, a bland protagonist, random summons (!). I can't stress how bad this game is.

 

[JohnSpartanLee]

1. VII - Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Materia
2. VI - Terra's theme, best looking 2D FF
3. IX - Vivi, medieval setting, best PS1 FF gfx
4. IV - Dark Knight/Paladin + The After Years
5. V - Jobs, Gilgamesh, The Bridge
6. III - Best 8bit FF, everything works, challenging - it's like the Super Mario Bros. 3 of FF
7. VIII - good story and characters, inferior RPG mechanics compared to 3-9
8. I - challenging classic, too simplistic story
9. II - Garbage SaGa system, good story

10+. X-XIII - No overworld, corridors, no FFs in my opinion

 

[Daymos]

Top Tier, I love these games! - 7, 8, and 9. The story pacing, the music, the enemy designs, the end game/mini games! So good!
Tier two, fantastic but not quite as 'magical'- 10 and 12
Tier 3, good games, but hard for me to still play due to no enemy animations (and i hate ff4 3ds) - 1, 4, and 6
Tier Crap, I beat them, but didn't enjoy doing so- 2, 3, 5, 13

FF 15, 11, and 14 I don't really consider to be final fantasy games. I loved 11 and was addicted to it for 5 years, 14 I barely played, and I beat 15 but I don't know what to think of it.. it's nothing like the other games. I really enjoy driving around in the car in 15 just listening to the old music, which then makes me want to play 7-12.

 

[Ozrimandias]

Im on a quest...... play every Final Fantasy.

Ive played XV - XII - VI

Now, im replaying VI, its amazing.

Wish me luck.

 

[Xeaker]

1) X
2) XII
3) VII
4) VI
5) VIII
6) V
7) IV
8) IX
9) II
10) I

Ranked after Story, Gameplay, Music, Characters

 

[socksfelloff]

I can only rate the few I've played but I'll contritube!

1.) FF6
Incredible story, music and art. Perfectly paced and jaw dropping when the bad guy actually succeeds with his evil plan!

2.) FF10
I disliked this game from start to finish. I hate Tinitus so much. The limp arm dude was cool though

3.) FF13
Trash tier. Don't touch this game, ever. I quit after disc 1

 

[Airbus Jr]

FF 12 have the best Final Boss music soundtrack

Check it out

Amazing

Beautiful

 

[SpiceRacz]

6 > 7 > 9

 

[Fuz]

VII - My favourite and - I think - the first FF I played. Sephi is one of my favourite villains ever.¹
IX - Amazing game, fresh and interesting. Great cast (Vivi is adorable), fantastic art style. A bit too much piloted, there isn't much free exploration and not many party choices for most of the game.
VI - Huge and beautiful. Another great villain. And the "plot twist" is fantastic.
VIII - Honestly? Don't remember much but I really liked it at the time. Good cast.
X - Another good game that was a bit too linear and a little preposterous at times.
III, IV, V - Don't remember anything. Only that I liked them. Fun, simple games.
XII - Some great things (art style), some good things (open world exploration), some bad things (combat), some awful things (story, cast, writing).
X2 - Refused to play it after seeing the intro at a friend's place.
XV - Refused to play it.
XIII- Refused to play it.

HONORABLE MENTION: XIV - Amazing game that I don't remember why pissed me off and stopped playing. Maybe farming and the horrible netcode (I couldn't do Ifrit due to it, that much I remember). Wanting to go back to it for months but I don't have the time for such an undertaking.







¹ Fuck nomura.

 

[Psykodad]

FF 12 have the best Final Boss music soundtrack

Check it out

Amazing

Beautiful

Completely forgot about XII.

Says it all, I suppose...

 

[Väinömäinen]

Really difficult!
I noticed, that I would have to write pretty lenghty explanations, and I don’t have time, so I’m sorry, but I have to just drop a list.

1. 6

2. Tie with 4 and 12

3. 7

4. 9

 

[Dthomp]

Hmmm, this is a thinker for me but I think:

1. FFVII
2. FFXI
3. FFX
4. FFXII
5. FFVIII
6. FFIX
7. FFXIV (Didn't play much though)
8. FF
9. FFXIII-2
10. FFXV
11. FFXIII

*I know its blastphamy but I have never played SNES 2 or 3, but I would assume they would be in my top 5 knocking out 12 and 8.

 

[Spukc]

1.12 gambit system
2.5 class system perfected
3.7 nostalgia is gud
4.14 cool system shame it's sub based
5.6 well 6 is supposed to be the best 2d ff?
6.4 worse then 5 and 6
7.1 cool start semi liked it on my nes mini
8.2 eeeh
9.13 tube simulator the game
10. dogshit
11. greta thunberg
13. 10 fuck this game
12. 15 Soyboy simulator the game

 

[Fuz]

Also, Cecil is forever the best FF character ever conceived.

Yeah... Cecil is FFIV, though.

I've never played Tactics haha.

Didn't age well.

 

[Arachnid]

Yeah... Cecil is FFIV, though.

My bad, I've never played 4 (I've always heard great things though; I bought it during the last steam sale so I'm looking forward to it). I'll correct that to Celes.

 

[Graciaus]

Yeah... Cecil is FFIV, though.

Didn't age well.

In what way do you not think it aged well?

Also might want to give try X2. Yeah the story is weeb trash but the combat/job system is the best in the series.

 

[Fuz]

In what way do you not think it aged well?

Some obscure mechanics, too much grinding, WAY too much grinding and you can get stuck in certain places. I think there's a notoriously bad fight close to the end that may force you to restart your game. Not sure, I stopped at the "execution" because of the insane grinding required.

 

[NahaNago]

From what I can remember it would be number one as 9,7,8,14,10,12,15, and then 13 at the bottom. I did play some of the earlier ones but I honestly don't remember much from them. The first three honestly could switch around just due to the mood I'm in. I tend to get nostalgic for 7, but love the laid back feel of 8, and generally just love the fantastical world of 9. For 14 I mostly played before the reborn stuff but really loved the oldish school feel that reminded me of the ps1 era. What I mean is that the characters tend to be more expressive with the bodies action similar to how ps1 had to do in order to show emotion or for storytelling purposes. I honestly don't like the majority of the characters from 10 but that blitzball opening and the ending were just plain awesome/touching. 12 was weird to me but I liked the medieval like world but the game felt incomplete and it didn't really fill out some of the characters stories to give that extra umph. 15 I just plain haven't finished but I have enjoyed some of that world but I really do wish the story felt more impactful from what I have played. It needed a better ratio of cut scenes to regular gameplay. 13 would be last because I hate the fact that you can't really go off and explore until the very end and I hate or find all of the characters boring. I did play a couple more of the older ff games on the ps1 and emulator but that was ages ago and didn't leave enough of an impact for me to remember them enough to rank them.

 

[Sub_Level]

Sum of #1 rankings as of post #40

VII - 13
VI - 10
IV - 5
IX, X - 3
VIII, XI, XII - 2
XIV - 1

 

[Graciaus]

Some obscure mechanics, too much grinding, WAY too much grinding and you can get stuck in certain places. I think there's a notoriously bad fight close to the end that may force you to restart your game. Not sure, I stopped at the "execution" because of the insane grinding required.

Chapter 3's final location is the notorious noob trap. It's fairly simple if you know what you are doing. But it is a multi stage level and you can't leave if you save inside. That fight you stopped on is an early difficulty spike. But one of the best characters in the game joined just before that. That is usually the only time in the game I grind just to catch her up.

My opinion is biased but there is a reason SRPGs try (but always fail) to copy FFT. If they released it on PC I'd probably have a pathetic amount of hours sunk in.

 

[Jigsaah]

I didn't discover Final Fantasy until I VII so I don't even think my word holds much weight, but I love the franchise so here it goes...

Of the games that I've played

XI - My first and still favorite MMO of all time.

VIII - I love the story and actually played this before VII

VII - Went back and was confused why everybody shrunk. Spent the next 20 years randomly singing the Sephiroth song. (en Falsetto) SEPH--I--ROTH!

X - Was stoked to play blitzball and having summons join your team. And...Yuna. Luh me some Yuna <3.

XIV - A bad mmo remade into a good one...save for the stupid WOW-esque combat system. IF everything you do is a weaponskill...then you can only pop-off in boss battles when you get a limit break? What kinda peanut butter n jelly shit is that? I liked the TP system in FFXI waaaaaaaaay better. They just fuck skill chaining with teammates too huh? Fantastic production value, pretty as hell, colorful, story is ok...i guess

IX - Another great story, still not in love with the more "kiddy look"

XV - I always looked forward to the world traversal in FF games. The traversal in this game was absolutely atrocious. Did not like them continuing the trend of lacking a turn based fighting system. Even when you

Spoiler

get the flying car

it made traversal even worse. Who thought it was a good idea to have a final fantasy without at least one female playable character. Sorry this game pissed me off. Oh let's not forget the dreaded chapter 13 debacle.

XIII - Absolutely the worst final fantasy game that I have ever played. This linear garbage with cringey characters, terrible voice acting and a dull ass story.

A side note: I have the original ff12, then they came out with this Zodiac age crap and I'm torn as to which one I should start. Like am I missing much if I just play 12?

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

I'm not going to lie, VII through to X were perhaps some of the best games that I have ever played, period. The creativeness and design of each game being so different and yet so familiar leaves modern Final Fantasy something to be desired. I wasn't old enough to play the older entries by I did enjoy Final Fantasy 4, 5 and 6 in their own ways. I have the Origins and Anthology collection for PlayStation 1 to thank for that. But outside of Crisis Core, I genuinely thought after the debacle that was XIII that I would never buy another Final Fantasy again. Yet when the time came, I over-looked Final Fantasy XV happily but I genuinely loved World of Final Fantasy. Surprising isn't it? I do believe WoFF is a more enjoyable game to me than XV. I don't look forward to the future.

 

[cartman414]

SSS Platinum Tier:

1. Final Fantasy VII -This game is in a class of it's own. To even compare it to other FF is an insult imo, since it's so much more and it's my favorite game of all time! Everything about it is perfect, characters, setting, music, ect. People think it's overrated, I think they're delusional. It's just that damn good!

Gold Tier:

2. Final Fantasy X - This game pushed the series to the next generation, with it's amazing visuals, ocean setting, love story and amazing music!

3. Final Fantasy IX - This game screams charm from every corner, it's a true fantasy game setting, with interesting characters. There's something magical and lighthearted about this story that just makes me feel relaxed. Also this game wins for best ending of the entire series!

4. Final Fantasy IV - To me the staple of the FF series. When I think of FF games, I first think about this game first and it's turn-based mechanics. If other FF stray too far from this formula, then to me they're no longer a FF game or FF in name only. Also it has a solid story.

5. Final Fantasy I - This game on the NES started it all for me, so yes I will have fond memories of it, and without it, we wouldn't have our cherished FF games as it wouldn't be a series. So the importance of it is really high, everything from the turn-based mechanics to the music, it all started here!

Silver Tier:

6. Final Fantasy XV - People love to trash this game, but all for the wrong reasons. The game has unlimited potential, I just want to explore everything. Even now I wish SE continued expanding the lore for this game rather than focusing on FFXVI.

7. Final Fantasy VIII - After 7 comes 8, and while they improved the visuals, everything else was a downgrade imo. Still a step down from perfection is still really good, just not as good as the games above.

8. Final Fantasy XII - While the story and setting was fantasy like, the battle system was completely revamp, thus doesn't really feel like a FF game and more like a single player MMO or sorts. I felt the story was average at best and it felt more like side quest fetching for the most part.

9. Final Fantasy VI - Overrated. All the shitty characters and damsels in distress ruined it for me. Maybe if you're a woman you'll enjoy this game. I could listen to Terra's theme all day however, so I didn't completely hate it, but one song don't make a game.

Bronze Tier:

10. Final Fantasy V - generic and forgettable.

11. Final Fantasy III - another generic and forgettable FF game.

12. Final Fantasy II - yet another very generic and forgettable FF game.

13. Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns - What worse than generic? A bad game. FF13 convoluted story split in 3 parts, bad writing, forgettable music, linear gameplay, pretty much tarnish the name Final Fantasy and everything it stand for.

Go home, you're drunk.

 

[FMXVII]

VI = GoAT: The best cast, the best story, the best villain, and Kefka (yes, you read that right).

IV=XI=Tactics: Second best story, cast, mechanics, etc, et al.

V: Because JOBS done right.

III: Because Mah Jerbs!

I: O.G.

II: At least it TRIED.

VII: Because that Limit Break insta-gib.

XII: Because Bunny Women > than the entire cast of XIII (and I fucking loathe furries).

X: Tidus wasn't as bad a corridor shooter as Lightning, and he had the grace to die.

XIII: Because, at the end of the day, having a game play itself down a junior high school hallway is still better than Squall.

VIII: Squalid.

 

[sid2vicious]

Go home, you're drunk.

After I went all the trouble to get you your favorite drink...

 

[FMXVII]

VI = GoAT: The best cast, the best story, the best villain, and Kefka (yes, you read that right).

IV=XI=Tactics: Second best story, cast, mechanics, etc, et al.

V: Because JOBS done right.

III: Because Mah Jerbs!

I: O.G.

II: At least it TRIED.

VII: Because that Limit Break insta-gib.

XII: Because Bunny Women > than the entire cast of XIII (and I fucking loathe furries).

X: Tidus wasn't as bad a corridor shooter as Lightning, and he had the grace to die.

XIII: Because, at the end of the day, having a game play itself down a junior high school hallway is still better than Squall.

VIII: Squalid.

I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT FFXV...

...was an actual thing.

I have yet to subject myself to it.

I cannot fathom its possibly being worse than Squall Tier (even XIII isn't).

So... tied, with Squall Tier?

 

[Gromph]

1. XI
2. XI
3. XI

Will develop later.