Opinion Let's do this. FF List Thread.

[SpikeHitman]

You know this place has to have one.

List 'em off. Best to worst.

However, This is not 'nam. There are rules.

Rules:

• Only rank games you have played. If you haven't beaten them, that's fine, but you should at least play any of the ones you're listing.
• Explain in at least a sentence or two why you feel the way you do about it. If you rank FF13 first, that's fine, but I wanna know why. If you rank FF6 last, same thing.
• If you want to include the online games, that's up to you. If you don't, that's fine too. I'm personally omitting 11 & 14 even though I've played 11, because I haven't played it enough to really form an opinion on it.
• For that matter, same goes for the sequel games. I'm omitting XIII-2, Revenant Wings, etc. but don't let that stop you if you wanna talk about 'em.
• Responding to people's rankings is fine. Encouraged, even. Most folks feel pretty strongly about Final Fantasy and discourse/discussion is why forums even exist.
• With that said, keep it as discussion and try not to shitpost.

Okay, I'll start!

• VII: They say the one you grew up with is always going to be your favorite, and FFVII is no exception. It's not the first FF I ever played, but it is the second, and it had a few factors that I think contributed to it being my favorite. The graphics were great at its time, the music and characters were catchy and iconic, and the minigames were plentiful and varied. The materia system was really well paced, doling out new mechanics and new ways to use materia as the game went on (different command types, summons, all materia, elemental links, etc.) which along with the minigames helped to make the game not feel stale as you went into discs 2 and 3. My one flaw with FFVII is the plot was fucking nonsense.
• X: The first voice acted one, and the first one to get rid of the world map. But it didn't make too much difference; I hardly noticed it until I got onto the airship and was able to travel through the world to previous locations (and the omega ruins). The switch from ATB to turn based was fantastic and is sorely missed (I loved being able to strategize based on who went when, and manipulate the game to give me extra turns). The plot was pretty great and the ending brought me to tears.
• XIII: I don't care what y'all say, I fuckin' loved these corridors, I fuckin' loved these characters, and I loved the shit out of the Paradigm combat system. All the "press X to awesome" assholes conveniently omit tense fights like Barthandelus where you were flipping between paradigms constantly trying to alternate between keeping the party safe, healed, and going back on the offense. I loved that you healed back to full after every fight, because it opened the game's combat system up so it wasn't an endurance race to the end of the dungeon; any fight could challenge you. I honestly didn't even really care too much for Gran Pulse, which everyone notes is the only time the game "opens up". Man, sometimes you just want a really good linear story. And yeah, I did read the codex entries. Sue me.
• VIII: I've really warmed on FFVIII in recent years. Back in the day, I hated it. Drawing magic for hours was a boring as shit grind, and it was too easy to make stupid OP characters. Oh, and FFVIII is the game where I instituted a personal rule of not playing any JRPG with a final boss that had more than three forms. But I've really warmed to the junction system, and a few narrative nonsense points aside I find myself really looking forward to the day that they remaster FFVIII, somehow, someway.
• IV: As I found myself going back through the series, one of the first games I tried picking back up was FFIV, and I only ever got as far as Mt. Ordeals before I stopped. Going back though, This game was *great*. FFII had some good moments, but not like this. Palom & Porom, Tellah, Edward...just bringing up their names pulls in a wave of memories. If you've played through it, you know what I mean.
• XV: Oh hey, the boy band game. The road trip game. The THAT'S IT I'VE COME UP WITH A NEW RECIPE game. I really loved this game for the first...7 or 8 chapters, then the game ran into weird pacing issues and fell apart at the end. The combat was fun, the characters were fun, and it had a lot of great moments. My only real wish for XV is for them to have expanded on the second to last chapter, the big explorable zone that ended up not being big and explorable and felt about as open as the second disc of Xenogears.
• VI: You're a heathen, why did you put this so far down the list? Because the world of balance is great, but the world of ruin always makes me lose interest. To this day I've never finished this game, but not for lack of trying. I love the characters, I love the systems, there's so much to like about FFVI...I just wish I had the stomach for the quasi open world shenanigans the game throws at you in the last third of the game. It's funny, because I praise the open aspects of XV and hate the linear parts of XV, but the exact reverse is true for me of VI.
• IX: Good 'ol FFIX. The callback game. The "we brought the crystals back" game. Fair warning, I never finished it, but I'm told it was great. I'd like to finish it some day, and I might on ... PS4? Steam? I don't remember which one, but I got the version that lets you cheat. And let me tell you, you want to cheat in this game. Why? SO YOU CAN SPEED THE FUCKING THING UP HOLY CRAP THIS GAME IS SO SLOW.
• XII: I actually really like FFXII, but my main problem that I'm still trying to get over is that I wanted it to be something it's not. That is to say, I kept playing the game, and referring back to my "world map", and waited for my "midgar moment", where I leave the region and go globetrotting, and the world map zooms out to show off the rest of this vast world...and I never got it. It's a regional story, and it doesn't leave the region. I realize this is my own hangup to get over, but that's the problem I have with it.
• V: I like the job system, I like the characters. But the game bored me to tears and I never stuck with it.
• III: I like the job system here too, although obviously it's more fleshed out in V. But I didn't stick with it with a fan translation of the NES rom, and I haaaated the DS "remakes" of this and IV.
• I: The original and classic. The first FF I played. It was also balls hard, and the remakes really showcased how barebones the game really was in retrospect.
• II: Mother *fuck* FFII. I *hate* the levelling system in this, just like I hated it in the FF Legend games. I appreciate that it's the first in the series to try to have an actual plot, but fuck everything else about this game.

 

[RionaaM]

• XIII: I don't care what y'all say, I fuckin' loved these corridors, I fuckin' loved these characters, and I loved the shit out of the Paradigm combat system. All the "press X to awesome" assholes conveniently omit tense fights like Barthandelus where you were flipping between paradigms constantly trying to alternate between keeping the party safe, healed, and going back on the offense. I loved that you healed back to full after every fight, because it opened the game's combat system up so it wasn't an endurance race to the end of the dungeon; any fight could challenge you. I honestly didn't even really care too much for Gran Pulse, which everyone notes is the only time the game "opens up". Man, sometimes you just want a really good linear story. And yeah, I did read the codex entries. Sue me.

Man, this is exactly my opinion on the game. I loved it for the same reasons. The combat system feels so dynamic with all the paradigm shifts, even though you're basically pressing Auto Attack most of the time.

I haven't played any of the other games long enough to speak about them. I do know that I absolutely love the Theatrhythm series, and consider Curtain Call one of the best 3DS games. That game has an absurd amount of content, it's incredible.

 

[Nahkapukki]

I've only played FF 7 and 8 so... (I've played others but I didn't play enough to form an opinion of them)


1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Final Fantasy 8

 

[iosefe]

All all the games, ive only put major time, that is past disc/act 1, into 5, 7, tactics(and tactics advance) , 9, 10, 12, and 13. I'm fairly bad at beating games

Ranking them is difficult to me. So here they are in no particular order, since at some point I considered each of these my favorite.

FF5 was one I remember playing on Psone as a kid, then it disappeared. Years later I got the GBA version and I just played and played. Having played this after tactics mostly, the job system was familiar and that helped keep it interesting, since I knew what to expect. Also the music was great

FF7 goes without saying. It was my first final fantasy, and put that love in motion. Quite liked the materia system. Such a memorable experience.

FF9 was the first one I saw credits, as I had a file and brother had his, I watched along has he did the final stages with the airship.

Tactics was so intriguing. The customizing on your characters was something unheard of to me when i finally got to play it. Though as a kid there was a point that I got stuck (at the execution, where you cant really turn back to level up anymore in chapter 2). Been replaying it with WotL on my phone. Not a fan of the touch controls, so it that gets ported, I'm getting it asap.

Tactics advance did scratch the tactics itch in a time when the OG was unavailable to me, but we all know it couldnt compete. But i still enjoyed it

FFX was also fantastic. The story and gameplay was really gripping for young me, and the music too. Tried learning To Zanarkand on piano. Also, I loved blitzball.

FFXII: As a fan of tactics, going back to Ivalice was confusing at first, but once the game started to show just what it was, I was In. I liked the gambit system and how adjustable it was.

FFXIII is a contentious entry in the series. I was so excited for it I even preordered it. I did find myself taken in by the characters, the story, and just how beautiful game looked. When I finally got a handle on the paradigm shift, it was satisfying. It did kind of lose me after hitting gran pulse. Not sure why.


As for ranking, some edge closer to 1 than others.