I know I’m a mutant, but 10, 8, and 10-2 are my top 3 (in that order). 6 and 7 are close on their heels…
The ones before 7, but Chrono Trigger still beats them.
Chrono Trigger huh? OK fuck this FF. I change mine to Earthbound.
Oh, my hero…
I liked the first one a lot. Also, I want Dragon Warrior on the Wii Virtual Console.
Definitely 12, but I haven’t played all of the previous ones to death.
7 here. First time ever that I played a FF game since “Mystic Quest” (if I remember it was a FF game…)
I also like Chrono Trigger better than all the Final Fantasies, but if not that, then VI. The job system in V is amazing, but the game had no story to speak of. I hear Tactics has a great job system, but I honeslty haven’t played it before. I suspect it may be my favorite when I finally do get around to playing.
I would have to say 12 so far for me. On the other hand, I have never played 6. Time to go and pick it up I guess.
Final Fantasy XII is my favorite and I think the best FF game. I beat it a few months ago, right after it came out, and sat on that thought because I, like a lot of people, tend to beat a game that they’ve really enjoyed and think, “Okay, that was the greatest game ever!” I’m pretty serious (read that: a colossal dork) about my console RPGs, so I wanted to give it some thought. I just adored every second of XII and poured about 140 hours into it. It won’t be the last time I beat it, either.
After XII, my favorite is VIII. I don’t think any FF game inspires such a polar reaction from gamers I know, but I thought Squall was an awesome lead character, I loved the slightly European vibe the game world had, the evolution of Squall and Rinoa’s relationship, and just the feel and style of the game. I was perfectly fine with a Final Fantasy game with rifles and machine guns and airships and all that crazy crap in Esthar.
From there it’s VI (first one I ever played), then VII, then X, then IX. I haven’t played the earlier ones all the way through yet, though I’ve picked them all up, including III on the DS two days ago.
Also, Final Fantasy Tactics is the greatest tactical game of all time and the dialogue only reinforces that. “Life is short! Bury! Stasis sword!” “Surrender or die in obscurity!”
Well jesus, if the goalposts have moved and I can vote for Chrono Trigger as best Final Fantasy game then I shall do so, since it’s obviously way better than any of the actual FF games.
I. It’s the only one I ever finished (not counting Mystic Quest).
the first one is my favorite.
half the fun is picking your own party. If I want a party with all white mages then let me do that. All blackbelts? Go for it. Feeling brave enough to actually use the thief? So be it. Sure you only have 4 letters for a name, but that red mage has a big floppy hat with a feather in it so im gonna name him GAY? whether you like it or not.
They arent really even role playing games anymore because now in the cutscenes they tell you what the characters are saying and feeling. You have basically 0 choice in the matter nowadays. Im tired of the main character being a whiny reluctant hero who eventually finds his inner bravery to save his girl / avenge his father / whatever. At least they still let you rename the characters usually. And a pox on all the people who get freaked out that anyone would dare rename them.
maybe just maybe id like my whole party to be a bunch of jerks who are just looking to get a few thousand gold and live a dissipated life.
Oh well if we count Tactics then it’s still 12, but not by the wide margin it was before. I really liked 12, and I hope somebody at least continues in that vein for the JRPG market, because I see lots of room to improve. More western in my eastern rpg please.
I don’t really see any of the ‘good’ ones being fundamentally superior to any of the others. Ultimately my enjoyment of most of these games didn’t differ wildly from one entry to the next.
I do have a soft-soft in my heart for FF9, just for having such a vivid world design and taking a dramatic step-forward in the use of NPC scripting, even if the plot faded into obscure nonsense far too fast, it was breathtaking.
Final Fantasy uhh… one… was the first that I played. Wave after wave of 8 bit imps and ogres in various colors. 6 is by far my favorite, with 7 coming in second. Haven’t played 12 yet.
I liked the mini games and sidequests in 8, but HATED the characters. Squall was such a whiny emo bitch that someone should have kicked his ass to the curb. God, he was better in Kingdom Hearts.
Didn’t like 9 very much, but I’m going to give it a second shot if I come across it. I was halfway through it and found out that I had missed a ton of sidequest opportunities.
X was a lot of fun despite the first 3/4 of it being completely linear. Blitzball was a joke and completely worthless.
If we’re still talking about FF games then 6 for it’s great cast of characters. Also that phantom train segment was great. My other favorites are FF 12, Chrono Trigger, then Earthbound.
Final Fantasy Tactics is in fact the best console game ever made, so for this first time I find myself in complete agreement with Mr Robert Sharp.
If we are restricting ourselves to the main series and not allowing offshoots like FFT, then I must nominate the original FF tough it only narrowly edges out FF-III.
I’ll vote VI for absolute best, but IX is really close.
From IV on, they’re all pretty great. I don’t have a taste for the Famicom ones, though. The Origins/Dawn of Souls updates made them somewhat more fun for me.
FF6 and FF5 for game design, FF6 and FF10 for story.
FF12 was good for its design, but not as good as the classics. And the story was pretty paper-thin.
I don’t get all the love for FF9. It struck me as nonstop fanservice.