General

for me 7 is where i started and its either been backtracking or going forward. I remember renting it for a week and returning it the same day so somebody else could enjoy it. It's very flawed, but still holds its own for me.

8 i was not a fan of. spent more time playing cards than enjoying anything out of the story or gameplay. never beat it, don't plan to either.

9 gets a lot of love by purists, but for me it was a huge miss. There's some great things 9 has to offer, but i just didn't really care for it like some do.

10's very underrated, but to me it almost feels like an incomplete game. So much more in game content that they really could have expanded spira more.

Tactics is a fantastic game. Although a challenge and definite grind at times. the game play and story more than make for for it.

12 is my last favorite final fantasy game. It's done so beautifully and was way ahead of its time. The zodiac age addition just makes a huge bonus on replays. Although the story was more of a chore than an enjoyment. It still set a great tone throughout all the game.

I really liked 5? the best loved the job system introduction. although 6's a phenomenal game i think just for me playing it after 7 felt very different, but don't take that the wrong way from not enjoying it.

don't remember much about mystic quest and origins just wasn't for me.

past 10 x-2 is nothing special. The entire 13 series is forgettable. never played 11. i don't like paying online monthlies and same with 14, but that game was an absolute disaster on launched they they basically 360'd the whole thing on a patch or release if i'm not mistaken.

15 was a major letdown and i was pumped for that title only to be spewed what we received on launch.

The 7 remake i'm not a fan of. partially for the game play, but also how its release is being handled. I find it absurd the money sony is banking on this title across multiple gens over just giving it the time and justice you're doing a disservice selling a 200+ game as a none CE or LE product. I'm over it till its out done and its 100% available.

there's also tons and plenty of spin offs here and there, but for the actual title sequencing i hope this helps.

What makes final fantasy so great or was great in a way was that there's no need for chronological progeresional order in playing them as they are truly made as stand alone titles.

For me my final fantasy preference is all but dead considering the transition from turn based to hack and slash and it's a shame when you look back on it and realize Nintendo would have never gone in that direction with the franchise, but hey Square just pumped out 16 to Nintendo's origami king so i think we know who's taking that to the bank.

which is why i'm so glad to see a ton of indie developers just sticking to what's worked and going forward with that vs reinventing the wheel like square attempts, but didn't often succeed in doing.

6 was where I started (on the SNES) and I have never had an FF click w me to the same extent. I always hated 7 and didn't finish 8. I do remember finishing V on the PS1 and 4 on the GBA, as those are the two most similar to 6. Years later I tried 4 on the PSP and it's much harder than I remembered. So I think the difficulty was nerfed in the GBA ports. I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that. It might actually be a good idea to okay the GBA ports of 4-6 for this reason, unless the US PS1 versions also had their difficulties nerfed. (or maybe the US versions were nerfed the entire time and it wasn't until the PSP version where the original difficulty was preserved)

I played X-2 for the first time this year on the Vita and it's really fudging terrible. I probably ought to have played X afterwards for a side by side, but I had already played it years ago on the PS2 when it came out and I never liked it enough to finish it.

12 is pretty mid. It technically works, the battle system is pretty neat, but it has a B game feel, not something you'd expect from a mainline FF title. It's just a dungeon slog. The universe on the whole is pretty uninteresting also.

1-10 all have random encounters. Be warned.

Final Fantasy Tactics may be the best one. Best way to play it fastfixed PSP version that has the slowdown removed. The original Dissidia is also superb. Seems the best FF related things are spinoffs.

IX is in my top 10 favorite video games of all time. Easily my favorite FF.

VII & X are also classics, with VII obviously highly regarded as one of the best games ever.

VIII is loved by many but I never cared for it, though I’m interested to give it another try.

VI is the best of the 2D games, but V (or IV? whichever has the character Cecil) is also real good. The rest of the 2D games are run of the mill classic RPG material.

Tactics and Tactics Advance are both great, but they’re tactical RPGs and not the traditional “turn based” style of the classics.

Haven’t been overly impressed by any FF post-X other than VII Remake, which was good but a bit overhyped.

XV is my least favorite FF by a mile and may be among my least favorite games in general.

Haven’t played XVI yet.

HEHEHATE wrote:
Ha! Same. I played a lot of that card game, battling random characti, trying to collect the cards, instead of continuing the game. But I don't regret it. Its a fun mini game.

I'd recommend trying one of the handhelds. They were nicely done.

Final Fantasy V GBA was very good. III and IV were good too.

I'd say go with IV or V

nonamesleft wrote:

I forgot, I do own the DS version of IV and it's hard as fudging crap.

I have 8 and 9 on my PS3/5 but if I'm ever gonna get to it, I guess I'm gonna need to rebuy on switch. Portable makes those so much more enjoyable in the modern era.

theyrhere wrote:
It's been a long time since I played it. What was difficult about it?

It's just got the original difficulty, not the American one. It's hard lol everything can wipe you out at any time. At least from what I remember

If you go back to FF9 play it on PC with Moguri Mod. As far as the Pixel Remaster - yes FF6 is what should be next. It's by far the best out of those games, and possibly the only one out of the bunch that doesn't require a level of nostalgia to enjoy. Also don't sleep on Final Fantasy Tactics. It's a great game best experienced on PSP with the anti-slowdown patch applied. There are rumors of a PC port, but who knows if that will ever happen.

Mystic Quest. Thank me later.

theyrhere wrote:
It's been so long. I do recall some monsters being very difficult. I guess I just trained a lot. I do remember enjoying the game though. But I liked V even better.

@theyrhere Glad you're enjoying 12. It's an absolute gem. And yes, you have to play 6 at some point. It's arguably the best game in the series.

Some good points/suggestions have already been made, but I want to make a case for 13 and 15 because no one else will lol. Both are flawed, sure and I can't really speak to how well 13 holds up today, but I have really fond memories of both.

13 is linear so it breaks the mold and is unique in that respect. The battle system and the music are phenomenal and there are 2-3 characters that are among my favorites in the entire series. I adore this game and I want a PS5 remake even if no one else does lol.

15 is an interesting one. It's even more flawed than 13 and the gameplay takes some getting used to, but the banter between the party members and the way the story escalates is next level, imo. If you give it a chance and get to the point where the combat clicks and the story reaches a point where you connect with the characters, I think you may be surprised by how incredibly underrated it is as a game. Flawed, yes but kinda like FF12, its flaws are part of what makes it so special in my eyes.

You may not enjoy 13 or 15. Not many people did. But I think you're coming in with a fresh perspective since you're new to the series and don't have the lofty expectations most fans of the series had going into both games.

Forget about FF and play Chrono Trigger instead 😜

SwiftJAB wrote:
Ha!

Chrono Trigger was fun. Great soundtrack too.

US 2 and 3 are good starting place. Numbers get weird in US because in Japan US 3 is their 6. Hence the jump to 7 in US. 7 is a pivotal point in the style of the series. 9 is an attempt to return to form after 7 and 8. X is trash. XII has the best combat system imo. 14 is a really fun mmo. 15 is a good rpg- with some classic characters- love the villain- but lots of missteps.

They’re all better than most out there- you’ll enjoy them if you like jrpgs.

Feeb wrote:

I'm about 8 hours into 7 right now. Works much better on the PSP than when I tried it on PS3. It's really good so far. Also slowly working through 12, love the battle system.

7 is ok once you finally leave Midgar. I do not get the love for X except that it was next gen on launch big PS2 release. The ending was the zeitgeist WTF Blair witchian stuff that piqued folks back then too. It’s a walking sim / digital novel.

4/6/7/9 are the ones I really enjoyed and finished. I recently started 8/10 and just could not slog through. I'm similar to OP where either it clicks or it doesn't and when it's not clicking I usually drop a game. Sometimes I'll come back and start games that didn't click over again. I think Xenogears it clicked on like the 3rd try, depends on my mood a bit.

I won't even bother talking about 13 too much, legitimately one of the worst video games I've ever played.

Just go with 16 and go backwards possibly. I find 16 more action oriented play style might help you settle faster. 15 can be bought for $5 or free with the right subs.

15 as a video game was actually a pretty cool experience. Good music, graphics, ok world and story etc. It just hurt the FF fans in the feels.

1 was OK but the frequency of the random enemies you can’t see makes it drag some. 4 was pretty good. 15 looked great and had some impressive bosses and cut scenes, but the main characters were among the most annoying I’ve ever encountered, and the traversal was incredibly tedious when you were on foot (given the stamina stuff). I’m probably 2/3 of the way through 16, and it’s great so far.

FF1 is just beyond atrocious. There are actually spaces where an encounter happens on every single step. I was so overleveled that I was dispatching every enemy in one hit, but that didn't help.

Farming the rare enemy tank - I would have taken more encounters.

I never rocked the first 3 on NES, nor 11/13/14, nor the spinoff games

My favorite was 8 but strong chance nostalgia plays a key role there, and i dug the junction system. It was the first one i played, first jrpg in general actually (i remember initial confusion like - uh, what is this, what do i do other than walk around the campus and talk lol)

SNES ones:
4’s great, 6 is better, 6 is truly excellent
5 is cool because of the job system but I actually got stuck on a boss and never beat it, like 10 hours in. Don’t remember it much:

7 is a classic although I prefer 8 and 9.
9 has a real comfy nostalgic feel to it

10 was good but I remember thinking it’s way too linear
12 I played the remastered zodiac age recently, definitely up there with the best

15 is flawed as hell but has this cozy “drivin’ around with the boys” aspect that does hit a certain spot

will play 16 eventually but not anytime soon
i’ll try 13 sometime this year too

Mystic quest is kinda cool in a starter SNES RPG way, basic but effective, final fantasy only in name really

The triple triad in 8 is great. It’s also heavily in 14. Love it.

DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:
9 is one of the ones I haven't played. Though I've heard high praise for it from several people on here over the past few years.

Feeb wrote:

It's a lose lose. The encounters tend to get in the way while exploring, but when leveling or farming players are invoked to pace back and forth like a fudging idiot.

For me it goes SNES final fantasy's first
Then 9/7 are basically a tie
I strongly dislike 8.
14 being an MMO was super fun but I've only played the main story, not the well regarded DLC.
I haven't played enough of most the others to really have an opinion. I'm playing ff16 now but kind of stuck on it and diablo

Just posting to show some love for 8.

Best1989 wrote:
:)

8 is fun. I should continue it. Played it for several hours, but didn't continue for some reason. But I was enjoying it, so that I didn't continue, I don't think it had to do with the game.

I'll probably end up continuing by playing the card minigame if I continued 😅

Best1989 wrote:

There are DOZENS of us!

FF8 is a great game to play when you're a kid. You can lose dozens of hours in Triple Triad, and there are all sorts of fun ways to break the game. Squall and Zell were always in the yellow health bar for me so I could spam limit breaks. The summon boost system was absolutely idiotic, though, and a giant middle finger to the critics saying that FF7 summons were too long. They went full troll mode in FF9 by making the abbreviated summon animations do less damage and requiring learning a skill to guarantee the full animation and damage.