Final Fantasy... maybe?

[silentk59]

1 is seriously boring. 2 is ok. 3 sucked. 6 was good. 7 is amazing. 8 was good. 10 was the best in my opinion and 12 was good.

If you dont mind the retroness I recommend getting a playstation 1 or 2 and buying the two in one game of 1 and 2. 2 was unlike any FF and one was boring but still so epic because, its the first.

[Asher13]

Guess I'm one of the few guys that actually preferred 9 over 7. I prefer the 4 character combat rather than three, and the level up system in 9 was much more to my taste. Oh btw OP, other than the storyline, the leveling/combat systems are what makes each FF game unique. They all have similarities such as being turn based, (aside from 12 and 13, but even so were semi turnbased). 8 is a bit weird with the draw system for magic, and is my least favorite combat system. The sphere grid, and the ability to change out your party members in 10 is probably my favorite. They are all worth a play through though, at least 3-12. The first 2 are kinda hard to get past the graphics. (Also not a big fan of 4 but meh.)

[Temsen]

How much time do you plan to invest?
If it's just one game I'd say VII or X, I prefer X as I like the more romentic touch and prefer CTB way more compared to ATB.
If it's gonna be some more time I'd say VI, VII and then X in that order (even if it's just for the increase in graphics ) V, VIII and XII are also great, even though I didn't like XII storywise as much as the others, it's way less character centered.
I and II are both fun, the "leveling" system in II is great (and so easily abuseable it's not even funny) but the story is very lacking so I wouldn't start with those. Didn't play III as I don't have a DS. IV is fine, but the GBA version seems... not that well programmed, most combats felt kinda lagging and somewhat sluggish, ruined much of it.

[Hikari]

Each FF game will take hours and hours to play. So I'm gonna recommend just a few.
VII and X are must play. (I recommend not playing X-2; it ruins the beauty of the X storyline.)

Definitely play VI if you have time. Such a great game.
Personally I love the medieval setting of IX. The game itself is just okay though.
VIII is all right, the storyline is quite interesting, but the setting itself didn't really fit my appetite. To be honest I would not have bought it if it wasn't FF.

[Skizzit]

FF7 is probably one of the first FF most people played, it has a very good story, a LOT of side quests and extra story lines to discover, some of the best character (Sephiroth) and such.

It's my opinion that this is the reason people always say VII is the best. JRPGs were not that popular in the US before VII was released. When it came out, for whatever reason, it caught on and really opened the doors for JRPGs in the US. Many of the current fans of the genre never played any of the FF games, any many still have not, that came before it and have such fond memories of playing FF VII that first time that they will always think it is the best of the series. Rose tinted glasses and all of that.

[Deleted]

Been playing FF since i was....8?

Play all of them from 7 onwards. (Apart from 11 and 14, no point really)

P.S PAY ATTENTION TO THE MUSIC!

[shamori85]

our ff2*jap4* was def one ofthe best in terms of storyline until 7 came along. but any is a good start especially the older ones if u dont mind poor graphics. 10 had my favorite side game*blitzball*

[smartAXE]

10 was the one i enjoyed the most probably, twists and stuff should keep you from putting the controller down.
ps3 has quite a few of the older ones on the store for 9.99(or less)

[Asher13]

I guess my biggest gripe with 7 was the characters. Some were amazing and well though out, but others (barrett, cait sith, red 13, cid, and yuffie to an extent) were horrible IMO. Well maybe not barrett... He was ok. But cait sith? Come on man. A stupid cat on the back of a giant doll. I hated Quina from 9 as well. Falls in to the category of misfit ff characters.

[Skizzit]

Oh, and if you own a PSP you can get VII, VIII, IX and I think VI off of the PSN for pretty cheap. Then you can also get Xenogears (one of my top 5 RPGs ever, also by Squaresoft) as well. Portable RPG action at its best.

[Grym]

While not exactly a Final Fantasy title, but if you got a SNES emulator, definitely try Chrono Trigger as well

[xGLxAnubis]

Okay I hope that nobody shoots me for saying this, but I have never played a Final Fantasy game.
I don't know anything about them. I've never really had the opportunity to play one, really. I've just never done it.

But I am certainly interested in it now that I am not really committed to any game at the moment. But there are so many Final Fantasy games, I'm a little overwhelmed and don't know where to start! Does it matter which game I choose to play first? Is there any particular game that every Final Fantasy fan should play? Which is the best one? Graphics aren't an issue for me, so if the first game is really the best one, I'll play it. I just could really use the advice. I'm pretty stuck.

You'll get mixed answers on which is 'best' so here's kind of a breakdown:

FF6 is the last of the 'old school' style RPGs in the series. I'm talking the 2d map walking around, levelling up gives you abilities at X levels and you have pretty rigid classes. The story and characters are of course excellent nonetheless.

FF7 is overhyped IMO, because it had one of the coolest villians: Sephiroth. This is actually the only FF I've never beaten, because I didn't enjoy the game and quit part of the way through.

FF8 is one of the most complex in terms of character development, because you completely tailor what stats you increase and what abilities are available to each character via the Junction system. This is my favorite game, as the story is very engaging and differs from the other FF's in terms that the story is primarily about the main character opposed to the party's overall 'quest'. All FF's have some focus on the main character obviously, but FF8 is entirely about the main character and his relationships to the other characters as well as his journey of discovering what 'Fate' means.

FF9 goes back to more of an old school style where you have very rigid classes and gear setups, but it's a 3D game and expands a lot on the levelling system. To elarn different skills and passive abilities you have to equip certain pieces of armor/weapons and after levelling you'll be able to use the passive/ability all the time, without the piece of armor/weapon equipped. Each characters class has access to different abilities and passives though.

FF10 is the first Ps2 game, so has a lot too. My favorite mini-game blitzball can keep you entertained for hours, but in the higher levels (You level up your blitzball team) I feel it gets a bit stale so likely won't carry you to the end of the storyline before you stop playing the minigame. The levelling system is one of the best IMO, where you don't gain levels, but instead gain 'Sphere levels' which you send to move along a huge grid picking up stat increases and abilities. Every character can learn every ability in the game and effectively play as any 'class' you want, though in the beginning of the game levelling is painly slow and each character starts in their own area of the grid, disallowing them from 'cross-classing'. The international version (If you have access to an international PS2 or you are using an Emulator) adds a lot to the game via extra end-game bosses as well as a better levelling grid. The game lacks world exploration that all the other games had, ufnortunately.

FF11 is online, and not a 'real' Final Fantasy in terms of the other games.

FF12 levelling takes from FF10, but only in terms of skills and abilities. You still gain levels normally but have a 'license' board that you unlock the ability to use different types of weapons/armor as well as spells and the like. Whenever you unlock something, you then have the ability to unlock the squares around it, so you have to take certain paths to unlock certain things. The story line is pretty good and there's a lot of side quest stuff to do. The game was enjoyable, but doesn't stand out in my mind very much. The game has free world exploration, where there is no longer an 'over world' map that you use to travel to cities and whatnot.

FF13 was garbage in terms of a final fantasy, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. As a stand alone game there's enjoyable moments, but when compared to any of the previous FF games, it's trash. Gameplay is very un-interactive, strategy is mostly nil on boss fights, and the game is entirely linear except for a small portion of the game near the end. World exploration doesn't exist, no real choices exist in terms of levelling up, and there are no party choices until the end of the game, and fights consist of mashing X. The battle system COULD have been good, but it felt like they decided to stop developing it. The story was pretty terrible and I didn't find many of the characters even really believable. If you have nothing better to do, play this game. otherwise, do something else.

[0bsessions]

It depends on what you're looking for. As someone who's played through all of the first twelve , (Tactics and X-2 included and I dabbled in XI, which was garbage).

The only ones I'd say are completely without merit are X and X-2. X is just a completely juvenile piece of crap and the only redeeming quality it had was the ability to switch out characters mid-battle. None of the characters are even remotely likeable and the battle system is the same old thing from every other JRPG.

VI has the best story and some of the series' most definitive music and most of the characters have an extraordinary amount of depth to them. I chalk it up as my favorite. Go after it early because so many of the things it did got copied so frequently that if you play through too many other games of a similar nature first that you might mistake it for old hat as opposed to innovative (Like if you were to read Lord of the Rings after any modern fantasy novel).

VII, well, I consider it exceedingly overrated. The variable nature of the characters has its benefits from a gameplay perspective and it has the most to do outside of the main storyline, though I'd say one's appreciation of it is directly proportionate to one's interest in anime and manga. As someone who's not huge on either, I think the story is by and large a convoluted mess and the characters are pretty much all Japanese pop-culture stereotypes (The mysterious blonde haired protagonist, the silent ominous villain in a trench coat with no discernible motivation outside of killing stuff, the guy who swears a bunch, the annoying teenager, etc). I've found people are most apt to like it if it's their first RPG.

IX is very light on story compared to others, but exceedingly fun and has the best characters of any of the PS1 era games.

V has, to be blunt, an awful story. BUT, it has one of the best character customization systems of the entire series.

IV, well, I can see its merits. The story is top notch, but the gameplay is very much standard.

XII is fun. There's nothing about it that stands out, but it's a whole bunch of fun for some reason.

I-III are, by and large, forgettable.

VIII is one I'm hard pressed to really judge. It was my first FF and I have a soft spot for it, but the story is ridiculous and the junction system is idiotic in retrospect.

Of the FF series, VI is the one I'd consider an absolute must play. If you're starting out on JRPG's, I'd also recommend Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG (I'm not kidding, it's among the all time greats) Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II and every game in the Suikoden series except for IV (Best JRPG series ever, but it was a niche game, so good luck tracking copies down).

[Bcons]

6 and 4 are far and above my favorites. Don't get me wrong, 7 is definitely good and it made some improvements on the series, but in general I think it gets way more attention than it deserves. And I think this is because A LOT of the newer (relatively) FF fans started with this game and feel pretty nostalgic about it. As was mentioned earlier in this thread JRPGs weren't nearly as prevalent in western gaming before this game, and it definitely started a pretty massive trend

As I said, 7 is definitely worth a play through, a very solid game, great story and characters, but as a 20 year RPG vet I've gotta give my vote to 6, then 4, then possibly 7 (9 is quite good too though and can compete here IMO). If you can deal with the retro 16 bit graphics, 6 and 4 are VERY difficult to beat in terms of pure immersion.

I didn't much care for 8 (the level up system was ridiculous LAWL DRAW DEM MAGIKS) and the newer ones (12, 13) were meh as well.

10 was alright, game play was fun and one of the better leveling systems around (apart from every character ending up being the same, that coulda been fixed), but the whiny main character along with a little too heavy of an emphasis on the love interest story kinda set me off. Pretty solid game all around though.

EDIT: Kinda surprised by how many people are listing off a bunch of the newer ones and listing pros and cons and not even mentioning the older classics. Really makes me realize how many people got into the JRPG genre with 7, and that makes me sad. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE if you can live with an older 24 bit graphics engine and you enjoyed the newer ones, 6 and 4 are some of the best games in the series, and 5 isn't half bad either. Give em a go!

[Penatar]

i'm probably the only one in the entire world that still plays through mystic quest and loves it.

EDIT: and honestly, I think every game in the series would have been better had it been done with the graphics of the SNES titles. I'm a sucker for 2D rpgs. Zelda, FF, Lufia, etc. I still play them all the time. I usually can't be brought to be the 3D games more than 2-3 times before getting bored.

[Doriath]

If your wanting to get into the series,The best game to start with is Final fantasu X.
IMO all the people that are wanting you to play VII are wrong to say so,it changed the way RPGs were played..But it doesnt mean it was to good at it.VIII and IX are much beter in terms of story,characters,combat,graphics,music but are just lacking the nostalgia of the first RPG as VII is for most people.You really should play it,but start with X,also play IV,VI,VIII,IX and XII.

[melignance]

I agree with talk of 6 being the best of the bunch. Great story and characters. I saw Final Fantasy Tactics was posted by someone, and while it is probably my 2nd favorite FF game, its nothing like the others, so if you were looking for a first one to play i guess I'd suggest you shy away from that one. At least in the interest of first opinions.(I do recommend playing it sometime though)

[Deleted]

Since you're new to the series I'd start with 7, 9 or 10, any of those has a good way of letting the player get into the gameseries in a very nice way. Personally my first game was 9, although I had seen 7 and 8 when I had been at some friends, and I loved it to bits, I've finished the other games afterwards aswell and I truly enjoyed them aswell but in different ways.

The story of all the games are great IMO.
7 - got a cold feel to it, in the sense that you feel that you're in a very corrupted world with the end of the world coming closer in a fast pace.

8 - isn't the best starter game of the series IMO, as it can be kinda icky and stiff at certain points, but the game is still great as a whole imo, but there's "better" (in lack of better words) choices to start with.

9 - is a game I love to bits, to me it feels a bit of the opposite of 7, the surroundings are warm and cozy and I think that the humour is lighter in this game compared to the 2 above mentioned games.

10 - Probably the most straight forward game of the ones I've brought up here, easier to understand but as it was with 9 it's got very cozy surroundings, I believe that the higher quality of graphics both in game and during cut-scenes makes it easier to notice it.

But as I said in the start, I'd probably start with any of 7, 9 or 10 as my first game. But you should play all of them really at some point

[yumee]

7, 8, 9, 10 (X), 12 and 13 are just ... <3 !
11 is online-only (haven't played it yet) and 10-2 (aka X-2) just sucks.

so go for the rest I just mentioned!
DO IT NOW!

[Dryc]

IMO FF 9 its the best! 8 was great and 7 is a great game but waaay too overrated.
Then X is great also, but in my personal taste the story is way too romantic for me. X-2 is garbage. Despite what most people say XII i really enjoy it even the story isnt that great the mainquests are fun and the optional quests are even more fun. And 13 i enjoy it overall i pretty must recomend you any saga (just skip X-2 i repeat is truly garbage)

Y also recommend you this awesome PS1 game a truly jewel of RPGs,