Final Fantasy

[Luca72]

FFX is probably the easiest to get into, and it tells a really surprising story. In fact, I'd say it's one of the most original (not necessarily best) plots in the whole series. The characters are complex, the voice acting is generally good, and the setting is creative. All those points ALMOST manage to counter the absolute shittiness of characters like Tidus and Seymour. I'm playing XII for the first time now, and I actually quite like the characters that aren't named Vaan or Penelo (or maybe I just like how much of a medieval fantasy pimp Balthier is). It's harder to get into though because of its mechanics, and plays more like an MMO style RPG than a traditional one.

I'm not even going to get in to why VI and VII are excellent. Both have lackluster gameplay and dated graphics, but some of the best stories and characters you're going to find in a game.

IX is a personal favorite of mine, but it's built kind of like an homage to past Final Fantasy games, so you might want to play that one later if you liked the others.

And the best of all, and I mean by FAR the best of all is Final Fantasy Tactics. The original has some pretty bad translations, but there are patches out there that fix it, and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions on PSP is a remake the fixes the translations and adds some new stuff. It's an SRPG like Tactics Ogre, Advance Wars or X-Com, so it's fundamentally different than others in the series. Easily has the most unique and varied gameplay in the series, with my favorite class system of any RPG. It also has well-written characters that are a bit more down to earth and relateable than what you usually get in a JRPG.

Skip XIII. It's about pretty people running down pretty corridors in a completely nonsensical world.

 

[xplosive59]

Go with the SNES ones to start with: Four, Five and Six which in my opinion are the best. The only really good ones after them are Nine (which is really good) and, to an extent, Seven. Avoid Ten and X-2 though, they both suck massive amounts if balls!

Oh and play Final Fantasy Tactics and Crisis Core as well, they are both great spin-offs.

 

[Realitycrash]

6, followed by 7.

 

[havoc33]

Not much to say here that has not already been covered, but I'll chime in anyway.

Six is great, and has aged really well. Has a superb villain in the all out crazy Kefka. This is the SNES at the height of its powers. Seven was my first, and is still my favourite. Loved the cyberpunk setting, amazing story and characters. Also, the materia system is highly rewarding and flexible. Eight was not as good I thought. It was marred by poor pacing (things finally got going on disc 3), and an annoying main protagonist in Squall. Seing that I'm a romantic smuck though, I loved Rinoa in that game, she's a beauty!

Nine is the second best in the series IMO, and is a homage to the games that came before it. It has a more traditional fantasy/medieval setting (VII and VIII were increasingly sci-fi), and some of the most lovable characters in the series. Steiner is funny as hell, and made me laugh out loud several times, which never happens when I play a FF game (except for the infamous Kefka).

Ten is good game, but the story is a tad confusing, and even worse; it contains Tidus, one of the most annyoing characters ever. Never got to play Eleven, as its online. Twelve: fantastic world and art direction. It's basically Star Wars set in a medieval Final Fantasy setting, and personally I loved it. It doesn't hurt either that the game ditches random battles completely (finally!!), and introduces the series best Gambit system. Not to everyones taste, but for me a definitive breath of fresh air and a personal favourite.

Thirteen is a mixed bag; great world and amazing graphics, but extremely linear and boring battle system.

If you want to go really old school, I can recommend Four, or maybe even Three as a good start. Personally I wouldn't go any further back, I just found those games to be all out grinders and too tedious.

 

[Sacman]

Also XII is really great. the Plot, Music, Art, Scenery, Level and enemy design, and battle system are all amazing. I just hate the characters in that fucking game.

I'M CAPTAIN BASCH VON RONSENBERG OF DALMASCA! DON'T BELIEVE ANDORS LIES!

Seriously all the character can go die.

HEhe... yeah... FF12 was great... almost entirely because of design focus... it provided a really engaging experience that actually involved the player... which is a big problem in Final Fantasy games... though the characters were pretty much all terrible... boring at best... though Captain Basch was actually the most interesting and I would forgive a lot if he was the protagonist... instead of Vaan... who contributes not a damned thing to the story...<.<

 

[Bloodstain]

My favourite one is FInal Fantasy IX. Great story, great setting, great humour.

I don't see why Final Fantasy X is hated upon that much, though -- yes, the main character Tidus is incredibly annoying, but apart form that, I quite liked it. I didn't like VIII that much, on the other hand.

 

[Tiddles]

There is no correct answer to which is "best" since it's all opinions... but the correct opinion is that FF6 is the best. >.>

The only reason to start at FF1 is if you are interesting in seeing how it's evolved, which you probably wouldn't be interested unless you a) played them as they evolved or b) already really like some of them. So if you want to play one of them, just pick which one looks the most interesting to you and remember that 6 is the best one

I like you burningdragoon.

OP, starting with XII or X (like most others have said) is probably the way to go. If you enjoy X give VII, VIII and IX a go and if you still want to play more play the remakes of the others. I have both remakes and originals and it's purely my opinion that the remakes flow a little better than the controls with the old NES games.