Favorite and Least Favorite Final Fantasy Games

[kamikazekeeg]

With Final Fantasy XV on the horizon and looking, to me at least, to actually fun and entertaining for once, I figured we could kinda bring up the games we liked in this huge franchise and what games we didn't, if you feel like doing so.

For me, I never really played any of the pre-FF7 games.  Something I'm sure FF6 fans are saying is a travesty, I know, I just never played it.  All of my experience with the series is with the 3D ones.  My two favorites would actually be Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X.  VII I played with a friend all the way through and it's something I really enjoyed.  Tons to do, characters to like, and I really loved the world.  I still remember me and my friend both laughing as Aerith died, kinda more out of shock than anything, we were just so taken aback from what happened.

Final Fantasy X on the other hand, I have problems with characters like Yuna and Tidus being super annoying, but at the time, that was one beautiful PS2 game, and I really liked how it played.  It had some cool summons, the world was bright and vibrant, I liked the sphere grid system, and though I never finished it (Stopped somewhere before the last fight against Sin and then lost my memory card), it was the last Final Fantasy game I remembered enjoying.  I might go and pick up the HD set someday...less so because it has FFX-2 in it...Wasn't a fan of that at the time lol

After those two, I played about half of FF8, didn't care for it, dabbled in FF9, but never really got to far there.  XII is where things started to get really poor.  This began the idea of playing a game for awhile, not getting any further, and people saying that it doens't pick up till later on.  I hate that.  If your game can't hook me in the first 15 hours, you have failed as a developer and should be ashamed.  There was no reason to have Vaan as the lead in that game.  It wasn't his story.  It was also the start I think of their weird ATB system or whatever it was, where you seem to be kinda half involved in the process.  I really don't like these systems.  Either be full turn based or be full action based.    FF13 was where the series just took a nosedive.  Not only did it feel like it was linear to a fault, the characters seemed generally awful, the story confusing, and I hated the combat.  I got 15 hours into this and heard people saying it gets good when you get the one area that opens up like 25 hours in.  Screw that crap. I poked FF13-2, but nope, and I'm not even gonna breath in the direction of the third one.

That all comes back to Final Fantasy XV, a game I never thought would get made with how much they were dragging it out.  I'm very excited for it, especially after watching the demo that's been out.  A little wonky, so hopefully that's fixed by release which is a long ways away, but it looks fun.  Action combat that seems fairly engaging, an open setting to explore and do missions and such in.  The character designs are rather bland, but at least they don't seem like the usual overkill designs they've been pushing in Final Fantasy.  I'll take realism over ridiculous if I have to lol

[pizzasafari]

Allow me to be the first of 'those guys' and brag about the fact that I've played every main series Final Fantasy instalment.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Well, except 14.

Anyway, my favourite Final Fantasy game is VIII, which is largely down to nostalgia, but I still love it nonetheless. It was one of the first games I ever played, and was the first story-driven game I'd ever played, so being able to wander about wherever I wanted in an open world and take part in a big-ass story was just mind-blowing to me. I know it's hardly the popular choice, and I know it has a lot of problems, but FF8 is my bbygal and I love it unconditionally. It's been knocked off its old pedestal of being my favourite game of all time by Persona 3 but it'll always have a special place in my heart.

So as for the other games. I kind of like 1, I never got that far into it though. It's weird playing it if you've played the later games first, it really feels more like an old Zelda game than a Final Fantasy game. I found 2 to be extremely meh, the villain is a major redeeming factor, but it's a chore to play through, the encounter rate is WAY too high, and the leveling system... my god. Good idea on paper, mental torture in practice. Again, never got that far into it, but I've been meaning to get back to it for the villain alone. 3 is my least favourite. I've only played the DS remake so I'm probably not in that big a position to judge it, but I found it really, really boring, and from what I've heard there isn't much to look forward to. 4 was where it started to get good for me, again, never finished it, mainly because my disc is scratched to hell and the game is really glitchy because of it, but when I get a new copy of Anthology I'll have to play some more, 4 seemed okay. 5 really surprised me, I absolutely love that one. Once again, never finished it, but I got a lot further into this one. I really like the job system in 5. I need to get back to it soon.

You really don't know what you're missing with 6, it was the first FF that can really be called mindblowing. Overhyped a little maybe, but it's still great. I had a disappointing experience with 7, not because I didn't like it, but because before I played it I'd had it spoiled to no end by the fanboys, I'd seen clips of Advent Children, and I'd had it way too overhyped. I do like 7, but not as much as I should, and I'm really miffed that I'll never have the experience with it that the people who played it early on did. 8 I've already mentioned. Mm-mm. FF8. FF9 I loved to no end when I first played it, but when I replay it and when I look back on it, it feels a bit lacking compared to some of the other games to me. Mainly because half the world is completely empty. FF10 I like, but it's definitely not nearly as good as the earlier games. Which makes sense if you know about its development. 10-2... I played it for about an hour, and I spent nearly every second of it cringing in agony. Yeah... no. Jesus christ.

FF11 I played for a grant total of about five minutes, but it's an MMO, and I usually hate MMOs. It had 12's combat system so I wasn't tempted. 12 was where things started to go really sour for me. I haven't played that far into 12, but I really couldn't care less about anything that was happening, and this was the first one I'd played where they changed the battle system, so I was really disappointed by that too. I really really don't like 12's battle system. And Vaan's voice really bugs me for some reason. 13 I don't hate as much as most people, I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it was going in so I was pleasantly surprised, and I was happy to see them bring something similar to the ATB battle system back. But the more the story went on, the less it made sense. And don't get me started on the characters. My god. For the record, the 20 hours in where people say it starts to get good, that was where it started to get unplayably dull for me. And the grinding... the grinding! JESUS CHRIST THE GRINDING. MAKE IT STOP. Never finished 13 so I haven't played 13-2, and I have no plans to play Lightning Returns.

If we're talking about 15 too, with the direction FF has gone under Square Enix, I'm really not hopeful for it at all. I'll play it and give it a chance, but I won't be expecting much.

And this post is getting way too long so I won't get into the spinoffs, but yeah. Favourite 8, least favourite 3. As much as I hate 12 and 13, at least they had SOME substance. 3 is just a barebones FF game.

[MJMaranan]

Are we only talking numbered titles or does every Final Fantasy count?

[haloofthesun]

VI is my favorite

XIII is my least favorite, with X as a close second.

[kamikazekeeg]

Are we only talking numbered titles or does every Final Fantasy count?

I'm sure most folks will be picking main releases, but you can do non-main releases if you want, such as the Tactics series or other spinoff games.  I haven't really played any of the side games myself. I know there's things like Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, Tactics, Type 0, etc, but they never seemed as interesting to me.  They seem to be more of the ones that try and be entirely different experiences to the usual turn based combat of the main games.

[MJMaranan]

Final Fantasy Tactics is definitely my favorite.  The story, job system, customizable abilities, and gameplay made me forget what time it is and how long I've played.  Even when I realized what time it was and needed to do something else, my attention was still focused on the game.

Numbered title-wise, I would definitely go with Final Fantasy VI.  I was definitely immersed with everyone's backstory and still making sure to see all of Shadow's dreams to find out more about him.  Even side characters tugged my heart and made me want to have them in the party roster, too.

Least favorite is between Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X.  Squall and Tidus definitely annoyed the hell out of me, but at least there were some decent moments in Final Fantasy VIII.  Technically, I didn't even play Final Fantasy X, I only watched my brother's gameplay.

[davifus]

Favorite: FFX
Least:ATM FXII

[argyle]

I've also only played VII and onward, tho I swear one day I'm going to play through VI. One day... I have finished every main-numbered entry since VII except for XII and Lightning Returns. Lightning Returns I haven't really sunk my teeth into yet, and it's still in my backlog - I liked what I played of the game quite a bit, actually, but I was disappointed that it doesn't appear to have much connection story-wise to XIII-2. XII is my least favorite in the series that I've played. I've tried at least twice to get into it, played around 10 hours or so both times. I've just decided it's not for me. I don't like the characters, I don't like the look of the world (far too brown), the political nature of the story does nothing for me, and the combat has serious issues. The overly-complex Gambit system just seems like a way to try to make up for shoddy AI.

XIII is probably my next least-favorite, but I did finish it and it did have redeeming qualities, mainly the combat. A good friend of mine tells me that playing through it a second time, knowing what to expect going in, it's actually a much better game than it seems. I may give it a go one day, because I absolutely *loved* XIII-2. Just a fantastic game from start to finish.

My favorite in the series is FFX. And interestingly, it's also one I didn't care for much my first playthrough. I was letting my expectations get in the way of seeing & enjoying the game for what it was. That friend who told me that XIII is better after a second playthrough? Well, I worked with him at the time and we'd often get into conversations at work about FFX. He'd constantly defend the game so finally he wore me down, and since FFX-2 was on the horizon at the time I decided to give FFX one more shot before it released. And this time, it just clicked. The story made far more sense the second time through, and I suddenly appreciated the depth of it. The combat was near-perfect (tho the perfect system would be the one in X-2...) and addictive. There were a ton of side things to do, and I just loved the world. Tidus never bothered me like he did a lot of people, but to me Wakka made the game - I just love how his character is so supportive & encouraging to the rest.

And for the record, when the HD collection came out & people started joking about how it was one good game and you got the "bad" X-2 for free, I thought they were nuts. Yeah, the story is silly, but it's still very cool to revisit the world & see how everything has changed. And like I mentioned, the combat system in that game is perfection.

[maximo310]

My favorite Final Fantasy games are Final Fantasy VI and V. I just loved everything in VI story, area, combat, stuff to do, etc, and it has one of the best soundtracks in vgm history, better than FF7's soundtrack in my opinion just because of the more diverse music throughout the game, especially the final boss theme Dancing Mad which is based on motifs taken from earlier songs and woven together in a fugue-like manner( except for the last part) and it makes the game much more enjoyable. For Final Fantasy V, the job system is the best part of the game and I like how it gives you a ton of freedom to use different strategies against different enemies, and over time, combine abilities in your base class to become pretty powerful( and with item maniuplation you can break the rules if you want). The story is weak, but the world, music, and gameplay make up for a majority of its problems, and it looks pretty good for a 1992 game.
For some of my other Final Fantasies
I- It's ok, a good start to the series, very easy to beat, II- pretty annoying and one of my least favorite, III- pretty good from what I've played so far, IV- above average and dated, but still a fun game, VII- this one is pretty good as well, music is the bomb, VIII- haven't gotten too far, but the leveling system is kind of odd along with the whole card game stuff, X- ok so far, X-2- really liked the music from this game ( fans hated the music for this, but cmon its Noriko Matsueda, you'd have to except the jazz to seep through considering her work on Front Mission 1,2, Bouncer, and Bahamut Lagoon),XII- haven't liked the game so far

My least favorite FF is Final Fantasy XIII. I just couldn't get past the direction they wanted to take for progression, and the combat system and story just felt really boring to me in a way that turned me off from enjoying the game. All I can say is that it does have some neat graphics.

[kashell]

My favorite non-numbered Final Fantasy is Final Fantasy Tactics, of course. It has a great job system, an intriguing plot, fantastic visuals, amazing music and the potential to sink 200 hours of game play time. I've gone through this game so many times and with each new play, I find something new. The PSP version's upgraded script, stunning FMVs and new jobs/characters makes it the perfect definition of "enhanced port."

Now, if we're talking numbered FF, it's a tie between Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IX. FFIV was the first RPG I ever saw. Ever. This was, obviously, in the early 90s when it was released here as FFII. I had no idea what was going on in terms of actually playing, but I loved reading the story and getting to know Cecil and the crew. Many years and many remakes later (seriously, Square...you've remade the hell out of this) it's still fun to pick up and play. I highly recommend the PSP version for those that still haven't touched the game yet.

Final Fantasy IX is great because it's a return to what made FF so unique at the time. Unlike FFVII and FFVIII, characters were not built the same. Vivi would never land a regular attack for 9999 damage. Zidane would never heal the party. The character differences and the whimsical plot came together to make Square's PlayStation swan-song a memorable one.

There is also a tie for my least favorite Final Fantasy. The first is Final Fantasy III. The NES/Famicom version was fine. So, how is it possible that Square managed to mangle the hell out of the DS and PSP versions? Slow combat, long dungeons lacking save points and a boring story with nameless characters were tolerable in the NES days. These days? Not so much.

The other is Final Fantasy X. I can't stand the characters. I can't stand the Sphere Grid. I can't stand the combat. I can't stand the story. Everything about that game I can't stand.

[bikingjahuty]

Favorite 5

1. VII
2. X
3. VIII
4. IX
5. VI


Least Favorite 5


1. XII
2. XI
3. Mystic Quest
4. XIII-2
5. XIII

[turf]

Final Fantasy 3 is the best.  Yes, I said 3 because it was released in The United States of America as 3.  I will always call it 3, because I'm an American.

The worst is every Final Fantasy that is not 2 or 3.  I can't really say, because I've only tried 1,2,3, and 7. 

[gf78]

Final Fantasy VII is definitely my favorite.  The story really stuck with me because I feel quite strongly that humans (as a whole) are abusing the Earth and using up our resources at an alarming rate.  Just take a look at the huge island of trash circling out in the Pacific Ocean called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  Estimates currently range from 270,000 square miles to as large as 5.8 million square miles, mostly made of small subsurface particles.  But we are not affecting our environment.     Anyway, I see similarities to the Shinra corporation literally draining the lifestream of the planet in FFVII.  I love the characters, the aesthetics of the world and the death of Aeris/Aerith is one of those moments in gaming that has stuck with me.  Sephiroth is perfect as a villain because while you hate him, you feel remorse for him and what was done to him.

Final Fantasy X was probably my least favorite.  It was gorgeous, but at the time of it's release much of the exploration elements of the series was stripped away and made linear.  Combined with Titus' winy ass, I just didn't ever play much of it.  I have the HD version now and plan on playing it to see if my opinion has changed.

[devancowan]

Best
-Final Fantasy 9 has to be my favourite. I might just be because it was one of the first games that I ever played that had a great story and characters. To this day it still is one of my favourite games of all time!
-Final Fantasy 4 Is another great one. I'm currently playing (Stuck as of right now) through it on the DS and am very pleased with it.
-Final Fantasy 12 The open world concept in this game is great. It feels so much bigger then all the other FF games and is one of my favourite PS2  up to this point!

Worst
-I'll get a lot of hate from this but FF7 is one of my least favourite. I know people adore it but I just couldn't get into it. Granted, I haven't played it in along time, I should really go back and give it another try.
-Final Fantasy 13 I hate this game, and I tried so hard to like it. The story in my opinion is so confusing. Theres so much back story you have to read its crazy. I was at the last boss and just couldn't even be bothered to finish it!

[desocietas]

I can't really give a good best/worst answer as I'm one of the few RPG lovers out there who really doesn't have a connection with FF.  I never played it growing up, so I don't have the love for any of the FF games that folks have.  I never played VII, VI, VIII, IX... pretty much all of them I haven't played except for some of the ones that were out on the DS.

My first FF was XII, and I really enjoyed it.  I liked the open world outside of the cities, being able to see giant monsters that you couldn't have a chance with in the beginning of the game but, after a few hours, you find that you can finally tackle it (just barely).  I didn't care for Vaan, but I loved Fran and Balthier.

I tried out Type-0 HD and really didn't care for it from the hour I've played of it.  I watched the bf play the XV demo last night, however, and thought it looked pretty cool.  I wouldn't normally be into an action-oriented RPG (a "western"-style RPG, even), but I definitely would be interested in trying it over going back to Type-0.

A lot of folks came in to watch him play and said the game looked awful, and that they hate where Square-Enix is going.  I didn't care for XIII (the little I've played of it), but XV looks good and seems to play well.  I think a big issue is that FF fans are really tied to the older FFs (which is totally fair) and want another "classic" RPG.

Unfortunately, considering the trend of consoles, games are so often trying to demonstrate the tech and specs and are more interested in making a good looking game... and unfortunately a 2-D, turn-based RPG may not attract new players nowadays, and I think that's what a lot of developers are concerned with when they are developing a new game.