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What's the best Final Fantasy game?

I think those who had the chance to play the first one on the NES will agree that the VI is the best one (3 in US). If you are a bit younger (less than 30), you will probably say that VII is the best one.

I would be curious to see a correlation between the player's age and their favorite.

As for me, the first JRPG I played was Dragon Quest (first one) on the NES and when Final Fantasy was released, it was so "much" more better than DQ. I was hungry for more, waited several years to get the IV one (2 in US), reading all the Nintendo Power and such at that time. When the VI was released in the US, it was the first game that got a powerful emotional impact and at that point, I considered that video games were in fact a new art medium, not more just some platforming games and such. There's only a handful games that moved me emotionally like the VI had done, I can remember Ico, maybe one Metroid and I guess I should REALLY play TLOU (I didn't yet..)
 
Fapol said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAlphgohJBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oMisYCyNN8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYaQKAVVrbQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v6BtJaBQmo

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It's absolutely Final Fantasy VII, for me. VI and IX come so very close, but it's the fleshed out cast of VII that keeps it at the top. While being excellent, VI and IX both have a few particular party members that feel rather like filler.

VII explores almost every character's backstory in a meaningful fashion, stories that tie in directly with the game's overall themes of identity and loss. Every character in that game has a significant character development arc, except for Cait Sith. And while the game barely even attempts to get into Reeve's motivations, even Cait Sith still has a significant input into some of the more important points of the main plot. He's the least expounded upon character, but he's still important enough that the game wouldn't play out the same if you just took him out completely.

VI, VII, and IX are all nearly perfect masterpieces, but I feel like the cast of VII is the most cohesive, therefore making it my favorite.

Ranking, just for fun:

1. VII
2. VI
3. IX
4. IV
5. XII
6. V
7. X
8. VIII
9. III
10. I
11. II
12. XIII
 
IX and Tactics. I greatly prefer Final Fantasy games that are actually fantasy and not sci-fi.

Disclaimer: I have not played VI. I'm horrible I know.
 
This can of worms again, eh?

Well, since everyone’s making lists...

1.
Tactics
has thebest gameplay, and if you get the retranslated very, the story is pretty good too. If you get PSone version, you’ll get an awful mess.

2. VIII had some of the best scenarios within the first 2 discs of the game. So I like it, because it’s like a cool action movie, mixed with some fantasy, and a little sci-fi. The gameplay was fun, even if the character leveling system wasn’t deep.

3. IX has the most understandable, and probably well written/translated stories of all of them. It’s also just cute, with great FF1-5 styled gameplay. If I were to show FF to someone who doesn’t play games, I would show this one. It’d be the least embarrassing.

4. VI has a great story, music, and awesome enemies, along with a good cast.

5. XII has amazing, if not the best gameplay, though the story isn’t for everyone.

6. IV

7. XIV

8. VII


There’s no consensus. They all have strengths, weaknesses, and people’s emotions are attached to a lot of them.
 
VII is just shockingly better than the rest. It has the most immersive world of anything I've ever experienced and is a refinement of the technology meets old world mysticism that the series had been fine-tuning. The pre-rendered backgrounds give the iconic locations an amazing sense of place, and the music takes it all to the next level.

Battles are fast paced and materia feels like everything opens up as opposed to the chore of assigning summons in VI.
 
Tactics. Not even close.

Tactics has the best protagonist, one that is honorable, likable, and isn't a whiny mess. A story of political intrigue mixed with fantasy and side stories that are running parallel to yours and intersect with yours but also go about being their own thing without you.

It includes the best system for characters in the Job system. Every class is distinct enough and has enough flavour on it's on that you can pretty much build your team as you want.

The game is hard, and will not hold your hand. With the exception of the rooftop fight, it's really fair (and that fight is only really a bitch if you're trying to steal).

It has moments of charm, humour, friendship and loss.

Their first playthough, everyone has that moment of hate because they had one save file and when they got to Riovanes Castle Keep that taught them forever to always keep multiple saves, but more importantly, the moment even when you fucked up, but managed to beat Wiegraf you feel like you accomplished the impossible.
 
I think 6 is the best by far. The way they were able to push the visual on a 16bit system to create such an interesting world and amazing cast of characters, plus the plot with so dense but everything fit together so nicely. The way the second world opened up for exploration was incredible.

That said, I've always thought 9 was a close 2nd or 3rd. It never gets enough recognition.
 
I grew up playing Final Fantasy I & II (well, I & IV), somehow missed playing III/VI, but wound up playing VIII, X and XII later on.

I recently went back to finally play Final Fantasy VI for the first time though, and man, yeah, that's probably the best one I've played so far.
 
There are things I think individual titles do best in their field, but usually something tarnishes them also.

  • FF5, hands down, has the best game mechanics and systems for me. The story is kind of bland though.
  • FF6 has a really strong narrative, but some of the characters feel tacked on and incomplete.
  • FF7 has fantastic presentation, but the story is overly confusing and not communicated very well at times.
The other great entries like IX, IV, and X are all fairly consistent but don't shine in any of the above areas as much as the aforementioned, so I find it really difficult to pick one above the other for overall 'best'.

Chrono Trigger.
 
FFV: Has my favourite world (
land, air, sea, and... underwater!? Aw yeeah!
), has the awesomest job system, fun cast of characters and story, some of my favourite dungeon designs from the franchise.

And FFXII: another fantastic world that's extremely well realized, best localization, hunts, deep addictive gameplay, Ivalice, good characters.
 
IX. The world itself and the artstyle used with the music fits so perfect together. Like a JRPG medieval fairy tale.

And I liked learning abilities from gear - it's what I was hoping to see in the XIV armory system.
 
FF9 because it was my first FF. It set the reference for me. I still remember the funny bavarian conversations with that one character in the german version. Can you remind me, who was that guy?
 
Tactics, IX, and XII:IZJS are god-tier. The gameplay for XII, the story and world and characters for IX, and all of the above for Tactics.

Then the popular classics: VI, VII, X

Then the good but not great tier: III, IV, V, VIII, XIII

And then the skippables: I & II.

I'd put XI and XIV in their own category between the classics and good not great, but I only kept the list to the SP and non-sequel titles.
 
Mine is
VIII
VII
X
IX
XII
XIII

VIII like VII just stand out to me as the peak of FF imo, we might get another IX if we are lucky but I doubt we'll ever have another VIII or VII.
 
Tough choice! Considering Final Fantasy is my absolute favorite franchise, the only ones I don't really ever feel like replaying are FFII and FFXIII. (FFII's gameplay and mechanics aren't really my favorite, love the story and everything else about it though.)


If I had to pick one.. My favorite is Final Fantasy VII.

I love the story, characters, soundtrack (Jenova's theme<3), setting and the feel of the world of FFVII.

Midgar, Nibelheim, Northern Crater is forever burned in my memory and I think puzzling Cloud's personality and flashbacks together was a very interesting character development.

I recently replayed FFVII on the PS4, and I think the game has aged very well. Mainly in Gameplay, the graphics do show their age but the amazing art style carries it well.

Overall I love every single FF for many reasons and I could go on forever!
 
I'm glad the holy Trinity of IX-VII-VI has been mentioned. It's impossible for me to classify the rest though. X, XII, IV, VIII, V... all great games.
 
X, XII & XIII (XIII got it's problem namely story and pacing but the combat system was really fun)

For the life of me I have tried to play VII in preparation to the remake but I gave up after 30 mins, it's really boring o.o
 
Best Final Fantasy: my favorite one

Worst Final Fantasy (and an argument could be made for worst video game of all time): your favorite one
 
Haven't played 12, 11, or 8

I'd rank them like this

7
14
4
9
10
13
5
6
3
2
1

I like 7 just simply because I think the Materia system was a lot of fun and easy to use. It's very customizable and very flexible. I especially love the setting and the world in this game.
 
Favorite isn't the same as the best.

Maybe you can objectively say that 6 & 7 are the best, but subjectively I can say that my favorites are

X
IX
VIII and
V

The best of them all -objectively and subjectively- is Tactics of course ;-)
 
Andromeda said:
The one you grew up with.
Click to expand...

There , the answer . Mine is FFVIII , then FFX then FF9

FF8 was MAGICAL the first time playing it . Balamb Garden felt like a real place to me , really surreal . I can still remember every corner of it , but that's because of finishing it like 10 times already .

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FF8-0050-Balamb-Garden-Dorm.gif


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So much feels ;_;
 
I can say without a doubt that 7 is still my favorite after all these years. It's the first video game I ever played, and despite all its flaws that I was blind to all those years ago, I still enjoy its tone, characters, and world more than any other Final Fantasy.

As for the rest of the series? It's so hard to rank them. Each game is tied to a nostalgic memory of me playing it a decade ago.

For example, I remember being underwhelmed by Final Fantasy 9 when it came out but absolutely blown away by Final Fantasy 10 on the Playstation 2. Having played the FFX HD remaster and the most recent FF9 port, I'm finding that FF9 is far more interesting and memorable than FFX. But I didn't feel that way 10+ years ago.

Like so many people, I came into the series in the Playstation era and therefore don't have a background in the SNES games. I played FF4 on PSX (FF Chronicles release) and loved it. I played 5 and 6 back then as well but never completed either. It wasn't until the past 5 or so years that I went back and actually invested time into FF6. And what an amazing game it is. But where does it rank? So hard to say.

So, in summary, FF7 is the clear winner for me but the rest of the games I played over too long a period of time to directly compare them. I can, however, list the games that I "enjoyed" the most, in no particular order: FF9, FF10, FF4, FF5, FF6, Tactics, and FF14: ARR.
 
Hard too choose a direct favorite but Final fantasy 3, 5, and 11 are the best ones in my book.

I really like the job system in those games. 1 was ok but it felt fixed like the rest since there wasn't a whole variety of jobs.

And in FFXIV most damage dealing jobs play the same and the action rpg style gameplay boils it down to "Do these moves in order for 10 minutes and avoid the Enemy's scripted move set and you win! Enjoy your new reward for 3-6 months before you throw it in the trash!"
 
IV, I feel it has the most charm in its story and is simple yet enjoyable gameplay not bogged down with weird design decisions like some of the other Final Fantasies
 
VIII is still my favorite I think... I loved the story, the characters, and how they were modeled both in and OUT of combat.

Replaying VII and VIII over the years, I find VIII better paced as well. More of that game sticks with me than VII does. Heck, I forget about entire playable characters from VII until I'm reminded of them (Cid and Kate Sith). While I have fond memories of all characters from VIII. (Though I admit I don't remember half of them by name... but I'm more visual.)

But yah... VIII for me.
 
Final Fantasy 9 for me.

i played a lot of them and I'm going through ff9 on my vita and it really captures the magic i felt playing a 3d final fantasy for the first time.


I do love 7 and 10, but 9 is really hitting a spot with me. It's the characters and story that are capturing me.
 
XII is the best, in my opinion. It's a huge game with a ton of new ideas for the franchise, many of which were unfortunately discarded in the regression that was XIII.

As for my favorite, though, it's either VI or XIV. Going purely on time played, XIV is the obvious winner there.

Edit: Oh, and if we're including titles outside the mainline entries, I'd have to say that Tactics is definitely my personal favorite. It's the one I've replayed the most and have the nostalgia attached to.
 
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