PSN Final Fantasy help.

[jebara]

For a long period of time I have been avoiding JRPGs with the exception of Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts, but in the past couple of years I've tried Persona 3 and 4 and fell in love with those, that led me to try SMT games like Nocturne and I enjoyed those too.
Now its time I feel I gave other JRPGs a shot and with the FF discount making some of those games within the budget in my PSN wallet I wonder which one I should try.
I hear FF was really good up to a certain point and these are at the supposed age I hear was its golden era, there are a few I'm considering like FF9 which sounded good from what I heard in one of the Jimquisitions.
Another is FF6 which I have heard and seen a few things from but I'm hearing the PSN version is not that great,is that true?
What else is a good start?
Note: I've tried FF13 and hated it, but I hear that it is from the worst days of FF.

 

[shrekfan246]

I haven't played VI from the PSN, but I've got IX and it's really great on the Vita. Playing them on the PS3 is a bit awkward because it doesn't upscale the resolution (from what I've seen, at least) so everything looks really blown up and pixelated.

As for good starting points, really any of them from VI-X, and if you enjoy MMO or Dragon Age-style combat systems, XII. It also depends on exactly why you didn't like XIII, though. If you didn't like the crushing linearity, X probably won't endear itself to you. If you didn't like having control wrenched away from you and teleporting you to another set of characters every few hours, you might get annoyed by IX. If you didn't like the weird pseudo-fantasy pseudo-sci-fi elements all smashed together, you probably wouldn't care for VII or VIII. If you didn't like the combat system, don't worry, it's dramatically different than the system used for the rest of the franchise.

EDIT: Personally, I consider IX to be the high point of the franchise. 3/4ths of the way through the story it starts going all "WTF" on you, but it's really well-paced and written, and the cast of characters are all incredibly endearing, in my opinion.

A lot people will probably recommend either VI or IX, to be honest. I've never really managed to get in to VI, though I'm not sure why.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

The PSN versions of the SNES Final Fantasy games - that is, IV, V and VI - are pretty poor, being as they're based on the PlayStation versions of the games. You get long load times and an awful looking display, essentially, although of course, the gameplay and story is still great.

Final Fantasy IX is always worth your time though. VII is rather good, obviously. I've always been a fan of VIII, and it's worth a play in my opinion. I'm not sure if the NES games are on PSN though - I would guess I and II are, being as they had a PSP release? If they are, I'd give them a go as well.

But yeah. Try IX. You can't go wrong with that one.

 

[kyogen]

The PSN versions of the SNES Final Fantasy games - that is, IV, V and VI - are pretty poor, being as they're based on the PlayStation versions of the games.

FF IV on PSN should be the "Complete Collection" version that was remastered for the PSP and includes After Years. It's shiny and runs well, in other words. V and VI are the Playstation versions, so they're still rough.

EDIT: FF VII might be the way to go if you don't like really traditional JRPGS or the newest iterations of FF, OP. They messed around with gameplay and presentation in interesting ways. Otherwise, FF IX is cute without being insufferable.

 

[jebara]

I haven't played VI from the PSN, but I've got IX and it's really great on the Vita. Playing them on the PS3 is a bit awkward because it doesn't upscale the resolution (from what I've seen, at least) so everything looks really blown up and pixelated.

As for good starting points, really any of them from VI-X, and if you enjoy MMO or Dragon Age-style combat systems, XII. It also depends on exactly why you didn't like XIII, though. If you didn't like the crushing linearity, X probably won't endear itself to you. If you didn't like having control wrenched away from you and teleporting you to another set of characters every few hours, you might get annoyed by IX. If you didn't like the weird pseudo-fantasy pseudo-sci-fi elements all smashed together, you probably wouldn't care for VII or VIII. If you didn't like the combat system, don't worry, it's dramatically different than the system used for the rest of the franchise.

EDIT: Personally, I consider IX to be the high point of the franchise. 3/4ths of the way through the story it starts going all "WTF" on you, but it's really well-paced and written, and the cast of characters are all incredibly endearing, in my opinion.

A lot people will probably recommend either VI or IX, to be honest. I've never really managed to get in to VI, though I'm not sure why.

The linearity and characters are the biggest reasons I hated 13, gameplay was weird to me too but when it comes to weird gameplay, it takes time for me to get used to it and enjoy it, till then, other aspects of the game have to pull me in.

Nice to know my hunch on IX was right, now can someone tell me about this complete collection?
Not that I'm able to get it, I have around 7-10 bucks on both my EU and US accounts.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Snip

Try IX, I mean really how can you refuse Jim?
IX is a good game, it doesn't take itself too seriously, but aims to have a good story none the less. It also has the best and most endearing cast overall (in my opinion). You probably won't want to punch most of the characters in the face.

I'll also recommend Dragon Quest VIII when you get the time/ money. It's considered one of the great JRPGs and made no effort to be innovative, it's just a solid, well crafted game.

Since you don't like linearity, you're pretty much good with anything pre-X.

 

[shrekfan246]

The linearity and characters are the biggest reasons I hated 13, gameplay was weird to me too but when it comes to weird gameplay, it takes time for me to get used to it and enjoy it, till then, other aspects of the game have to pull me in.

Well, I can't say anything about the characters of the other games because it'll be a "Your Mileage May Vary" situation either way, but for what it's worth, I found the characters of IX to be far more endearing and enjoyable than the ones from XIII, even while replaying the game without my nostalgia goggles.

As for the linearity, every Final Fantasy game is linear to a point, with XII being the most open in my opinion, and generally it takes anywhere from 5-20 hours to get to the more open parts, depending on which game you're playing. IX doesn't really open up until the third of four discs, but you're still introduced to the entire world map multiple times and see how vast everything is, which gives a much greater sense of world-building than anything XIII does.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Final Fantasy IX, X and XII are my three favorite Final Fantasies. I vote for those.

 

[scorptatious]

Definitely get IX. Fantastic game. VII is also really good as well. Haven't played IV-VI or VIII. Well I have played IV on the DS, and it was pretty good. So that alone might be worth getting as well.