Best Final Fantasy to Start With?

[Atmos Duality]

If you're doing the older series, I actually (and I cannot believe I'm saying this) recommend FF9. It has better pacing, probably the easiest to follow plot this side of FF6, and solid gameplay.
Plus the translation job is easily the best in the entire series.
The only reason I don't hold it in higher regard personally, is simply due to the art design and direction (that, and the main character does a few things that genuinely annoys me).

Otherwise, yeah, I also recommend FF6. It's good, though the concepts will feel quite dated in comparison.
Apart from those two, the rest of the series from FFX onward is fairly unremarkable. FF12 had potential, if only the plot was deep rather than PRETENDING it's deep. FFX has serious plot related issues, though the gameplay is fairly solid (if not leaning on the too-easy side).
FF7 is quite overrated and you need a road map to make sense of the plot, but it still makes more sense than FF8 (which is probably the worst of the PSX titles, if only because that game is horribly, HORRIBLY unbalanced. The plot makes no sense at all either).

 

[BlueSinbad]

1-10, you've got to try them all, they're all so familiar but also rather unique, you've just got to, give them a go

 

[Mnemophage]

Man, does this series ever get some violent responses.

Time for an unpopular opinion! I... LIKED X-2! Not the tomatoes, this shirt stains easily!

All the storytelling elements are ridiculous. The j-pop opening is murder to the ears, the characters that X spent so much time fleshing and exploring are turned to short-skirted caricatures of their previous selves, and it's impossible to get the 'good ending' without spending more time than anyone should unlocking 100% completion.

But... it has the most solid and intrinsically fun mechanics of the series. The battle system is the most well-polished example of the turn-based system I've seen, and the whole proto-Job system (I refuse to say "dressphere"... except, I just did) is interesting to explore and meddle around with. I like how you can change your class in the middle of a fight, complete with choreographed clothes-change dancing. If this game had abandoned all pretense of being a Final Fantasy title and instead been, say, Sailor Moon (the very thought makes my inner eight-year-old squeal) it would have been a solid and fondly-remembered title.

All right, I found a slicker, you can start with the tomatoes now.

 

[cryogeist]

I'm not sure how I did it, but I've made it through 16 years of life without playing a Final Fantasy game. I can't even remember ever playing part of it at a friend's house. So I'm curious as to what the best game to start with would be. It would be work but in theory I can get pretty much any console (NES and stuff might be hard) and with the magic of the internet I can probably get my hands on most of the games.
So in you guys' opinion what's the best game to start on? I know the stories don't continue from one to another so I guess I could start where ever I want. While I'm not a huge fan of turn based combat I can deal with it, it's just the random encounters that bug me so if there's a game without those I'd like to play that one.
Thanks for any help you guys can give.

well if you want different then get a ps emulator and get final fantasy tactics but if not then start from 1 to whatever they have now
only 2 kind of sucks...

 

[FogHornG36]

forget all of these games, if you like turn based combat, go jump on the super Nintendo and play "super mario legend of the 7 stars".

 

[Defense]

What determines Final Fantasy as the game that decides the love of the series? It always seemed like one of the less Final Fantasy-esque Final Fantasy games in the series. The story is simple, character personalities don't exist, and there aren't really any over-the-top moments or melodrama like other Final Fantasy games. It seems like FFIV would fit the criteria more than anything.

The story is simple but it doesn't need anything past that. The character personalities don't exist because you create them. They can have whatever personality you want! As for over-the-top moments? Ummm... Did you even play through Final Fantasy?

Yeah, I played through it about 3+ times, and I'm on my fourth, I think I'm sequence breaking and getting the Airship before Marilith. The only absurd moment in the game was with Chaos explaining the storyline, in my opinion at least. But the game doesn't seem at all like what people think of when they hear Final Fantasy.

And I believe that Final Fantasy was always more about characters than actual story after IV, but feel free to argue that.

Final Fantasy 9

I was smart and didn't subject myself to this one after the previous two disappointment, but by all accounts almost (if not just as) bad as Final Fantasy 8.

Most people said the opposite, from what I can see. Since it's a throwback to older FF games, I'd expect you to like it much more than the other FF games. Not that I could bring myself to play it, I really couldn't stand the art style of the game.

What made Final Fantasy II so good? Why was it deserving of the FF name more than the other titles? Note that I am capable of appreciating and liking older games(I played and enjoyed I, III, IV, V, and VI, and I still enjoy the Dragon Quest series).

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

Grab you an SNES emulator and FF3 for snes.

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

forget all of these games, if you like turn based combat, go jump on the super Nintendo and play "super mario legend of the 7 stars".

made by squaresoft lol. that would be my second favorite RPG of all time, second to FF3 for snes.

 

[Chibz]

And I believe that Final Fantasy was always more about characters than actual story after IV, but feel free to argue that.
What made Final Fantasy II so good? Why was it deserving of the FF name more than the other titles?

You know, I can't actually remember FF2. Any of it actually, how odd. Especially given that I've played through it less than three days ago.

WHAT IS THE FIRST WORD IN THIS? ANSWER ME!

 

[Wayneguard]

F... F... IV...

It's like the definitive final fantasy game and it's not too hard. It's my personal favorite too

 

[The Rockerfly]

To some of the people in this thread, have you even played a final fantasy? I mean seriously some people saying "VII is where it took a downturn" that's ridiculous VII was an amazing game, especially for the time. Look I realise Yahtzee said VI was the best and you can say it's your own opinion but honestly to say that VII took a downturn just makes you look like a jackass

You're right, clearly anyone who comes to a different conclusion than you do about something is a "jackass".

Yeah yeah I respect peoples different opinions and all that crap but it is such an ignorant thing to say, look at every single final fantasy before VII and just see the improvement over the last. I admit previous ones were good but how many people cried in any of previous games? I know I didn't, and along with that look at the graphics. Yes we are an indie culture so graphics doesn't matter as long as gameplay is good but the transition is incredible and it's so notable. The world is so beautiful and locations are so much more significant than having them in a 2D world
Maybe you felt the story wasn't as deep or the music was slightly worse than others but seriously saying the series went down after VI is laughable to me

Oh and Final Fantasy IX is one of the best in the series, it's of much higher quality than VIII and is one of the finest JRPGs to date. If you have heard it's similar to VIII then I suggest you get a similar source because the world is so different it's unreal

 

[Chibz]

Yeah yeah I respect peoples different opinions and all that crap but it is such an ignorant thing to say, look at every single final fantasy before VII and just see the improvement over the last. I admit previous ones were good but how many people cried in any of previous games? I know I didn't, and along with that look at the graphics. Yes we are an indie culture so graphics doesn't matter as long as gameplay is good but the transition is incredible and it's so notable. The world is so beautiful and locations are so much more significant than having them in a 2D world
Maybe you felt the story wasn't as deep or the music was slightly worse than others but seriously saying the series went down after VI is laughable to me

Oh and Final Fantasy IX is one of the best in the series, it's of much higher quality than VIII and is one of the finest JRPGs to date. If you have heard it's similar to VIII then I suggest you get a similar source because the world is so different it's unreal

You're right, clearly graphics are the ONLY important part of a game. Forget the inferior soundtrack, story, music and gameplay. GRAPHIX!

 

[The Rockerfly]

You're right, clearly graphics are the ONLY important part of a game. Forget the inferior soundtrack, story, music and gameplay. GRAPHIX!

well the fact that the graphics added depth to characters, locations and the overall world, that and it looked beautiful. Plus gameplay? I snorted with laughter, There is almost no difference between the two. You select a move you select an enemy and you execute the move. Occasionally you have a move you can pull off after a certain amount of damage but both have a variety of minigames, bosses and hidden bosses. At least VII could take advantage of both 3D and 2D aspects in the gamplay

Also soundtrack and music are the same thing last time I checked and that comes down to personal opinion

Story I will admit, has cloud whining too much but honestly a lot of the games story makes up for it but I will assume you haven't finished it, while for me it's fresh in my mind from a couple of months ago

 

[Chibz]

well the fact that the graphics added depth to characters, locations and the overall world, that and it looked beautiful. Plus gameplay? I snorted with laughter, There is almost no difference between the two. You select a move you select an enemy and you execute the move. Occasionally you have a move you can pull off after a certain amount of damage but both have a variety of minigames, bosses and hidden bosses. At least VII could take advantage of both 3D and 2D aspects in the gamplay

Also soundtrack and music are the same thing last time I checked and that comes down to personal opinion

Story I will admit, has cloud whining too much but honestly a lot of the games story makes up for it but I will assume you haven't finished it, while for me it's fresh in my mind from a couple of months ago

There's literally no comparison between FF7 and FF3 for gameplay (For example). Plus I HATE being shoehorned into having their incredibly-shallow characters hangin' around. ANOTHER generic group of androgynous teens? Count me out.

Also, technically soundtrack is different from music. At least when I use the term. I use it to mean the smaller sound effects that don't quite qualify as music.

Also to Square (Enix): Stop putting Cid in EVERY GODDAMN GAME. You even ret con'd him into the first game. We get it, you've got a major hard-on for Cid. But if you love him so much maybe you should propose to him already.

 

[The Rockerfly]

There's literally no comparison between FF7 and FF3 for gameplay (For example). Plus I HAVE being shoehorned into having their incredibly-shallow characters hangin' around. ANOTHER generic group of androgynous teens? Count me out.

Also, technically soundtrack is different from music. At least when I use the term. I use it to mean the smaller sound effects that don't quite qualify as music.

Also to Square (Enix): Stop putting Cid in EVERY GODDAMN GAME. You even ret con'd him into the first game. We get it, you've got a major hard-on for Cid. But if you love him so much maybe you should propose to him already.

Cloud has his entire family killed in front of him, thousands of people crushed to death because he failed to save them and his home town burned to the ground. I think he is one of the few emo characters who gets to be miserable

eh, most of the small effects in combat were probably recycled from previous games so it doesn't bother me much

Agreed, I don't know what it is with Cid and having one main bad guy in every game. Why not have a gang style approach to it similar to GTA, I'd love to see Grand Theft Fantasy or Final Auto Theft