Poll: Your favorite Final Fantasy game before 7?

[FakeSympathy]

Starting with FFVII, I see the games becoming pretty divisive among gamers.

However, the original 6 games are considered some of the best games within the series. Which one is yours?

Rules:
1.Must have played the game you voted or played to some extent
2.Remakes/re-releases on GBA, PSP, 3DS, Steam, and other platforms are allowed
3.Must come up with legit reason why you prefer that game over other 5 games

I personally favor FFVI. not only is this the first game that I played on my GBA, it's also the first game in the series. I instantly fell in love with all the characters, different tactics that they bring, and its story. Kafka was kinda one-dimensional, but I loved this psychopathic nature of killing everyone he doesn't like.

 

[dscross]

I can tell you right now the general consensus will be 6, with 4 coming in 2nd. A few oddballs might choose 5 and a small number of nostalgia whores may choose 1. I'd be very surprised if anyone chooses 2 or 3 unless they are just doing it to be different or because they haven't played the others. I'm going 6, btw. It's my favourite in the series. If you want my reasoning, the story and setting is the best in the series, I think. Best bad guy too. I've only played the SNES version.

Btw, would you really say 7 and 9 are that divisive? I think everyone agrees 7 was good, it's just many people (including me) think it's overrated. There's a big difference between thinking something is bad and not believing it was the 2nd coming. I haven't really heard many people say they dislike 9 either tbh, because it's largely a throwback to the older ones. I agree 8 and 10 people moan about, 8 because of the junction/draw system and 10 because of it's linearity. (I think these complaints are unfounded, personally, as I enjoyed all the FFs in this era).

The next few were certainly divisive but I'd also question whether 15 should be categorised as such. Most people seem to rave about it.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I actually like Final Fantasy 1, especially the PSP version.

 

[sXeth]

4 for the story, 6 for the characters, 5 for the mechanics.

4 doesn't give you a lot of leeway in terms of party choice, and a lot of the characters are fairly stock tropes. But overall the restriction on choice generally lends itself to a tighter narrative. And we see some active consequences and impactful departures of characters because its not trying to keep a giant roster in play.

6's characters tend to have more individual flavor to them, rather then seeming like basic archetypes of their jobs and stereotypes. There's some exceptions (particularly among tertiary optional characters). The interaction between the characters is more interesting then the wider narrative though. Following the broad roster makes for a bit of a choppy story though. There's 2 (or even 4*) people you could class as the main character, and a few extended detours that don't do much for actually advancing the story (Sabin's world tour after getting downed by Ultros for instance).

5 has a likeable enough cast (and the original death of a party member, though more in heroic action then abject stupidity that 7 went with), but most of the story is pretty standard schlock. The real meat and potatoes is playing around with the Job system, which would basically vanish from the series after this other then Tactics entries (there's token nods in 6, and Jobs exist in 9, but aren't customizable)




**

Spoiler

Terra or Celes or the obvious main character candidates. While Terra is the "canon" (as per Dissidia) main, she spends a lot of time on the shelf, particularly after Celes joins the party. Then in the World of Ruin outright rejects joining the party again initially (and even that much can be ignored if you walk past that town, although it is more in the direct path then Sabin)), only rejoining by an optional sidequest later. Locke also drives a lot of the plot. And Edgar could be considered a co-main for his contributions. Notably, in the end game, Celes, Edgar, and Setzer are the actual mandatory characters. Locke in the World of Ruin vanishes entirely from the storyline, only popping up in the quasi-hidden bonus dungeon.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

VI. I love the characters and their interactions. I love the different combat styles of each character. Also besides 1 it's the only one I've played all the way through. I did like the characters in IV esp. Cecil's whole redemption pilgrimage, but I got incredibly frustrated with the Magnetic Cave esp. when the Dark Elf boss pulled a Dragon Ball Z "This isn't even my final form" on me after I he'd already pretty much flattened me in his first form.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

VI looks like the winner for me, but I always loved the first one's story towards it's end. It felt incredibly and appropriately epic. The problem with the first one though is that everything else about it has aged horribly.

 

[Dalisclock]

6 has the best overall package, despite the fact the world of ruin is literally "Gather your party and go fight Kefka!". It's not terrible but it doesn't quite work the same way the first part of the game does.

5 would be my runner up because of the Job System and the world is fun to explore.

 

[dscross]

6 has the best overall package, despite the fact the world of ruin is literally "Gather your party and go fight Kefka!". It's not terrible but it doesn't quite work the same way the first part of the game does.

5 would be my runner up because of the Job System and the world is fun to explore.

I like the 2nd part of 6. I like the fact Kefka has basically already won and, even if you defeat him, you are essentially just doing damage control.

 

[Maximum Bert]

However, the original 6 games are considered some of the best games within the series.

Are they though? by whom? Well anyway my vote goes to 6 its the first FF game I ever played and gotta say I frikkin hated it and quit after only a few hours after being bored out of my mind.

Wasnt till years later after finishing VII I went back and tried it again on the PS1 (instead of SNES as I had got rid of that copy) that I came to really enjoy it. I liked it for the same reasons I liked VII and that is characters and story. Along with X its my second favourite in the series tbh.

I do like IV a lot as well for the same reasons 1 and 3 were a waste of time by and large for me and 2 is horrendous. 5 I did like but it was mainly for some of the characters as the story felt a bit to recycled i.e it was 3 which was 1 all over again with far to little deviation in theme for my liking. The job system has also never been something I have enjoyed always felt it took away from the identity of the characters.

I would say 4 - 10 are much more likely to be considered some of the best in the series.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I've always been a huge fan of 4.

The SNES original was pretty good, and the DS remake is just freakin' phenomenal. Legit my only complaint is how the moment Cecil climbs Mount Ordeal he stops being an interesting character.

I tried playing 6, and it was good, but for one reason or another I just lost interest and never finished it. *shrug*

 

[Auron225]

I have yet to play 1 and 5. I consider 2 to be pretty garbage and 3 is kinda meh.

Both 4 and 6 are pretty stellar though - I actually can't choose between them.

 

[Dalisclock]

I have yet to play 1 and 5. I consider 2 to be pretty garbage and 3 is kinda meh.

Both 4 and 6 are pretty stellar though - I actually can't choose between them.

5 is similar to 3, but tightened up as far as the job class goes. And the final dungeon isn't nearly as painful.

I like 3(sometimes I feel like the only one), but that entire final dungeon run is just brutal.

 

[Kyrian007]

That is tough because before 7... I was still a kid. I still had the free time to properly enjoy a full Final Fantasy experience. VI was stellar, and a huge game in my high school years... but I had to go with 1. I was a part of the "got Dragon Warrior for free with Nintendo Power" crowd, and I really got hooked on it. When a friend picked up FF and I was still crowing about Dragon Warrior he said, "That's the free one... This is the GOOD one." He was right, 1 completely hooked me on the jrpg and I still remember that first play through.

Although, I have a soft spot for 4. It makes me laugh. To keep you going through the different characters they had to not only keep introducing more, but taking away ones you had been using for a while. And it seemed like the only way they could figure out how to do that was to have every character (some of them multiple times) take one for the team. And the ridiculous amount of self sacrifices happened so often... it just kept getting funnier each time.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Chrono Trigger

*pushes nerd glasses up nose*

*pushes too hard, sending a chunk of nosebone into his brain*

If SaGa Frontier hadn't come out a few months after 7, it'd've been my hipster choice.

I suppose, taking it seriously...FF1 is the only one I've beaten despite owning the lot. It's the only one short enough I don't get lost in the grind.

 

[Kotaro]

It's VI. Yeah, obviously VI. It's tied with IX for my favorite FF game. Among the 8 & 16-bit FF games, and RPGs from that era in general, it has some of the best, deepest characters. Which admittedly isn't saying much, because there's only so much you can do to develop your characters/story within the memory limitations of the era, but it was still quite an achievement to have a large cast as well-defined as that of FFVI.
V comes pretty close though, due to the really excellent Job system, which has really only ever been done better in Bravely Default/Second.